Tetons

On our way to Yellowstone for fall break, we stopped for an afternoon in the Tetons to explore their incredible fall beauty. 

So breathtaking! We decided right then and there that we were very overdue for a longer stay in the Tetons (and now we have backpacking permits along the Teton Crest Trail for summer, woohoo!). 

Jenny Lake is always breathtaking. 

Are you kidding me with this view from the Signal Mountain Lodge dining room? 

We also tried the Signal Mountain of Nachos. It was...an experience. (We barely dented it.) 

We watched the sun set and then drove on to West Yellowstone. 

Where we checked into our hotel and I promptly locked in and started grading midterms, just what everyone wants to do on vacation! But I was really pleasantly surprised to see that our three queens room was actually more of a suite so I could close the door and work in quiet. 

And then the next morning I woke up at like 4 am and ended up going to work out in the Madison Crossing Gym so I wouldn't get eaten by a bear. (The next few days I gave up and just brought bear spray.) 

 

Jackson Lake

We had such a fun time hiking out from Coulter Bay onto the little promontory that goes into Jackson Lake. It was a pretty warm day, so when we got to the end of the promontory, the youngest five kids stripped down and went skinny-dipping while the adults & Abigail looked on longingly. (Luke has given me strict orders to post zero skinny-dipping photos.)

About two minutes before these kiddos said goodbye to their clothes...

 

Cascade Canyon and Jenny Lake

We only had one full day in the Tetons, but we were determined to make it count!!

We took the ferry from the Jenny Lake dock over to Cascade Canyon. That view--unbeatable!



I'm typing this post almost three years later in 2021 and it's crazy how much the kids have grown (Abigail: "I look like Juliet!")




Although tbh this dirty little guy looks about the same, haha. 



Such a beautiful view! We opted for the ferry since it cut off 4 miles of hiking around Jenny Lake, but I was so glad we took it just to see the view from the lake itself. 



In hindsight, I think this was the first "big hike" we ever really did with our kids. Matthew was 1.5 and Nathan was just barely 5, so we were basically going at Nathan pace and distance. I want to say we went maybe 5 miles on this hike? (It's a much longer hike; we basically just turned around when we felt like it...which is so weird for me because I like to have a very distinct end point! It was bugging me the whole time, haha.)

Anyway, this hike rises SHARPLY from the boat dock towards Inspiration Point & Hidden Falls, which very very sadly were closed while we were there because there had been a pretty significant quake a couple days earlier. 

But as we didn't know what we were missing, it was pretty darn breath-taking. I thought of this hike when we were at Avalanche in Glacier and I was wishing for those constant wide-open views! The Tetons are always what I think of as "mountains" (my dad is from Idaho; his father was a very experienced climber who had first ascents on many of the routes through the Tetons and died there not long before I was born).  I love those jagged outcroppings of sheer rock clawing at the sky and any other mountains (looking at you, Utah) just don't have quite the same visceral punch for me. 

On our way in we saw a HUGE moose! He was pretty far off the trail but even my little phone camera could pick him up since he was so enormous. 

I made this with my mom earlier that summer--I think it's on my keys now. Someone years ago told me they always thought of the Olympic motto in connection with me and it's one of the nicest compliments I've ever received. I was having a really tough time that year (this was the trip we took right after Ruth was diagnosed with stage 3B breast cancer) and I needed this reminder. 

On our way back we stopped for a long time and played in this stream. We were hot and our feet were aching and the icy water felt AMAZING.

Legit could have stayed there all day. 




DYING over his long shorts! I think he and Nathan both wore those interchangeably for several years (they still fit Nathan...)



Isaac wants you to know he was still wearing shorts--just rolled up really really high. 

Eventually it was time to start back...

Gorgeous wildflowers everywhere!

And insanely gorgeous views. 

This part of the trail was SO SO SO HOT. I wanted to get right back in the stream!

Plenty of boulders for scrambling!!

When we got back to Coulter Bay, we decided to do some laundry, so we started a million loads of laundry and then went back to our campsite to drop off the older four kids, then went back to swap the laundry into the dryer. While we waited for it to finish, we took Nathan and Matthew to grab ice cream (we needed to kill some time!). We told Nate not to tell the older kids and he did such a good job keeping his secret, haha, until like a month later he was like "HEY GUYS AT TETONS I GOT ICE CREAM THE END." 

Loved the ice cream sizes! 



Pretty apropos...a very fun day.