October 6 & 7, 2021
As soon as we entered the border of the state of Wyoming, my heart could only think about one place…
The Grand Tetons.
It has been on my list of places to visit in the US and needless to say I was beyond excited to have finally made it there! This place was so dreamy. One of my favorite National Parks (so far).
We drove about 1.5 hrs from our RV campground in Dubois, WY – where we stayed for a week with the goal of visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We made this drive on two different days! While I would not recommend that, we had to make the best of what we had. The weather that week was quickly shifting to more of a winter feeling, with rains and snowfall on the forecast. As RV newbies, we did not feel prepared to handle snow conditions (driving or surviving a freeze) so… let’s just say that the Grand Teton NP is a place that I want to come back to! I hear September can be an ideal month to visit, after the summer crowds have left.
Nonetheless, since we were already in Wyoming, I was determined to explore at least some of this park rain or shine. haha. There’s just something about the mountains that moves me deeply. I come alive in the mountains. Thankfully, my family was gracious enough to go along with the plans and overall, I’d say everyone ended up having a wonderful time exploring this National Park.
A few hours a day over the course of two days was not nearly enough time to explore and adventure this gorgeous place, but we made it work. We hiked. We marveled. We played. We got rained on (and hailed on!) and everyone agrees that we would do it all over again! It goes down as one of our favorites in our book.
Here’s a summary of our itinerary:
Day 1:
- We drove to Snake River lookout. You can pullover with your car and spend a good time admiring the gorgeous views of the majestic Tetons and the Snake River in the distance. We learned that apparently you can surf in this river! Jonathan wants to come back in the summer when the water is not freezing. My best tip for this lookout is to bring your binoculars because you might spot some bald eagles 🦅. Ahhhh they were such an incredible sight! Unfortunately we did not have a good enough zoom lens to capture any photos of them.
- We hiked the trail to Taggart Lake. it’s a 5 mile round trip easy/moderate hike. It’s a family friendly hike and you will see unbelievable beauty all around, beautiful trees, beautiful autumn colors if you visit in October, you’ll cross a little bridge over a mini waterfall, you’ll feel like you are in the middle of deep in the woods at some point of the trail and you cannot help but to marvel at the sight of the majestic Tetons right in front of you. They’re simply breathtaking, especially if you love mountains.
When hiking this National Park you are advised to carry bear spray and to look out for wild life: bears, wolves, elk, moose, chipmunks, etc. We brought our own bear spray, but we learned that you can also rent a can at the visitor center (for a lot cheaper!) – To the boys’ disappointment, we didn’t encounter any bears or wolves, whew. We assumed that all the wildlife was hiding because as we were a mile into the trail it started to hail like crazy!
We were soaked to the bone, but we continued anyways, and I’m so glad we did because the views once you arrived to Taggart Lake were incredible and completely worth it.
*** Once you arrive at Taggart Lake you can actually keep taking the trail for another mile or 2 to other lakes, but we were too wet to continue. - I forget to mention that we went to the Visitor Center, to receive the Junior Ranger Packages for the kids and to question the Rangers on all things bear, ha! The Visitor Centers are a great place to start, get maps, ask questions use restrooms, visit the gift store. The rangers and staff are usually quite helpful.
Day 2:
- Check out Jenny Lake. You simply can’t visit the Tetons and not go to Jenny Lake. This was a colder day. It had snowed the night before and you could see the beautiful white dusted mountains in the distance. We layered up and basically just went down and walked along the shore of Jenny Lake. We packed some snacks and enjoyed our lunches with a view! And what a view it was. I don’t think this place could look any less beautiful even in a cloudy and cold day. We skipped rocks on the lake and the boys had fun running around the shore and finding colorful rocks. There’s an actual trail that goes all around the lake, but what we did was good enough for the kids. We were cold buy happy, so we left before any meltdowns, ha!
Final Tips:
- If traveling in October, be prepared to pack for any type of weather. Depending on the week, you might need layers, beanies, gloves, rain jacket or simply a t-shirt. 🙂
- If traveling with children, pack plenty of water and snacks. Bring extra changes of clothes to leave in the car to change in case you get rained on. 😉
- Invest in some decent Binoculars.
- Jackson Hole is only another 30 minutes away, so it’s a cool town to checkout when not exploring the park.
- Keep a close eye on the last minute weather changes and alerts from the Tetons NP service: https://www.nps.gov/grte/index.htm
- It’s a $35 fee per car to get in. We purchased the “America The Beautiful” pass for a year, which gives us access to all NPs. Totally worth it if you plan on visiting 3 or more NPs in a year.
Grand Tetons, see ya later! We’ll be back next time to explore at least a full week of your majestic beauty!
