Yesterday was an inglorious day — not unexpected when you are travelling. It took 500 miles to get from Hungry Horse MT to Jackson WY, and we managed to hit most of the snafu’s that come with any travelling territory. Foiled by technology, road construction and closed on-ramps to interstate, we ended up going out of our way to Helena before we could pick up I-15 south. We left Hungry Horse at 7:30 am; we pulled into Jackson at 6:30 pm. The “only” high point was seeing the Tetons from the western side as we rode Rt 33 across the boney chaparral of Idaho.
But let’s skip to today. The sky was bright blue to the north, and as we drove up the Teton access road, the first thing out of my mouth was “Oh my!” The area around Jackson is so flat that the grey mountains look like a set of supernatural bear teeth rising abruptly from the plains. As we continued north, their aspects changed and a valley was revealed. We stopped at the first visitor center, where two story windows framed the truly magnificent view.
We took the scenic drive up to Signal Mountain Lodge, where we stopped to have lunch at the Trappers Grill (recommended), seated on a covered deck overlooking a lake and the Tetons. Just as a river runs through MT, so too do numerous creeks and rivers flow through WY. Sitting in the shade, the air was perfect, temperate and dry.
After lunch we drove to the Taggart Lake trailhead, supposedly one of the easier hikes to make in the Park. Hah! The park system is marvelously inconsistent when it comes to estimating the difficulty of a hike. Let me tell you, it was not easy. But it was satisfying when we finally reached the lake with the Grand Teton (as opposed to the other merely “great” Tetons) looming over it. The first mile was entirely uphill, supposedly rising from 6200 feet to 6600 feet, and largely paralleled an active creek, while looking suspiciously like an abandoned creek bed itself, complete with stones and river rock to negotiate and manage. Did I mention that Tom and I had already done our normal 3.0 miles earlier in the day…?
But the hot, dusty hike was totally worth it — Taggart Lake contains the same crystalline water that we had seen in MT, the color varying from clear green to deep teal. And people were splashing around in what had to be fairly frigid water. We found a spot for photos, rested a bit in the shade of conifers, chatted about movies and other nonsense, inspired by an helicopter summiting the mountain range for some non-apparent, non-urgent reason, and then began the 1.5 mile trek back– downhill.
Of course there is always the hiker, male or female, who made the trek in shorts and flip-flops, carrying the dust of the trail (literally) on the soles of his or her feet. If not insolent, they are at least nonchalant, making us mere mortals feel our age.
Tonight we crash; tomorrow we head to Yellowstone.
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