What a cold night. We expected some cold, just not so soon. Salt Lake City greeted us with 29 °C yesterday, so we didn’t go all-in with our various sleeping bag and ski underwear options. It was not freezing cold, but cold enough to not enjoy the sleep. Around 8:00 in the morning, one hour before the alarm was set, we eventually gave up and decided to call it a night.
We started slow with an extensive breakfast: peanut-butter sandwiches, fresh fruit, and of course pancakes with apple-sauce.
With the sun coming up quickly it got warmer.
After a hot shower, we sorted all our stuff at daylight and organised it for the trip. We left the camp site at “elevenam” which is the campsite’s WiFi password – #gentlereminder.
Today’s goal was to reach Grand Teton and to do some hiking. Marius set the cruise control and we drove north, mountains to the left, planes to the right.
Along the route in Alpine, we stopped for gas and bought a can of bear spray. Better safe than sorry.
We tried to enter Grand Teton National Park at the southern Granite Canyon Entrance Station. We got our annual USA national park pass, but had to make a U-turn as the road ahead was closed.
Luckily there was another road to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center we were trying to reach. Once there, we acquired some input on trail length and duration, the boat ride across the lake, and open camp sites in the area. Time to gear up for our first hike.
We took a 10 minute boat ride across Jenny Lake, and followed the Cascade Canyon trail for a few km. It starts with some height meters through forests, a creek to the left and rough mountain chains on both sides.
After a few km the forest gives room to an epic view on a wide valley.
We kept walking for a bit, and returned the same way back to the lake. From there, we followed the signs to the Hidden Falls and ascended towards Inspiration Point for an open view over Lake Jenny.
We could only go up to the Lower Inspiration Point as the rest of the trail was closed to give nature some time to recover.
Instead of taking the boat across the lake again, we took the southern trail around it.
Here’s the GPS proof:
After finishing this 10 km warm-up hike, we drove about half an hour the Colterbay Campground.
When we arrived around 21:00, the check-in was already closed but there were instructions to just pick a spot and pay in the morning.
It took us a few circles to find a vacant tent site in the dark, but we eventually succeeded. We had a rather simple and quick dinner: some soup-ish canned food with bread and some scrambled eggs.
Next quest was taking shower. What sounded simple enough turned out to be impossible, as showers are only open from 08:00 to 20:00, while laundry is 24/7 – disappointing, given the rather high camp ground fees with additional showering fees of 4.50 $.
After using the wash rooms, we returned to our tent site – which was a 5 minute drive by car – and went to bed around 23:30, alarm set for 7:30. Tomorrow we are headed for Yellowstone National Park.