Grand Teton National Park

We were very interested in trying new and different things during our Yellowstone trip this year. One major change was to go out the south entrance to the park so we could visit Grand Teton National Park. Several people have told me they think it’s a great travesty that I’ve been to Yellowstone many times but have never seen Grand Teton. Let me tell you it was well worth the visit I made there!!!

The Tetons are breathtaking, and the best part of this tour was watching them get steadily closer and then you’re right on top of them. So gorgeous! I fell in love with both Jackson Lake and Jenny Lake. Years ago I read the book “Jenny of the Tetons” by Kristiana Gregory. I thought the story was sad because of the way it ended, but I loved seeing this lake named after the wife of Beaver Dick. Plus, the boat ride across the lake was one of the major highlights of the trip for the kids. They loved it, as you’ll see below!

Here are a few pictorial highlights of the trip.

Going out the south entrance meant we saw some different sites. This year that included the beautiful Lewis Lake. The kids enjoyed playing the water, and the adults enjoyed helping them rock the jetty.

We saw two new waterfalls on our way to Grand Teton that we’ve never seen before, Lewis Falls, left, and Moose Falls.

Here’s those beautiful Tetons I was just raving about.

Jenny Lake! It was gorgeous. As I mentioned, the kids LOVED the boat ride. I enjoyed it too. We had some people who were less than happy at that point and luckily, blessedly, the boat ride seemed to bring the happy out in everyone. On the way back we had a smart aleck driver who deliberately dipped the boat so it splashed up and got us all wet, but it was okay.

Once you get to the island on the lake, you can take a short hike up to Hidden Falls. Halfway there are some pretty wicked rapids, well they’re especially wicked this year because of the wet spring we’ve had.

Anyway, those were fun, but the falls were AWESOME!! We didn’t have much time to enjoy the falls because we arrived on the island at 6, and the last boat departs at 7, so it was kind of like hike as fast as you can and then hurry back to the boat. But it was so worth it! In fact, these falls were my favorite that I saw the entire trip.

It took forever to drive all the way through the park, stop at all the viewpoints, continue on to Jackson Hole and then make our way to Rexburg where we were staying that night. But, it was so worth it! Not only did we get to do something new and different, but we got to see some of the most beautiful scenery around.