We had an (unexpected) long travel day between Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. The late-September overnight snow caused a few road closures. The detour provided us with final views of the Lower Yosemite Falls, Yellowstone Lake and the Absaroka Mountains before we arrived in Grand Teton to witness a picture-perfect sunset.

Grand Teton National Park is simply beautiful. The mountains are situated on the west side of the park and they glow in the sunrise, are accented by pink clouds at sunset and illuminate with the moonrise. The peaks were even more stunning because of the recent snowfall. It would have been incredibly relaxing to simply sit and watch the mountains all day. But, there were sights to see and canyons to explore!

We spent five nights in the Signal Mountain campground in a site directly on Jackson Lake overlooking the mountains. Mark’s parents stayed in a cabin at Signal Mountain Lodge and it was a quick walk along the beach or road to their rental.

We spent our first full day driving south along 191 and enjoying popular spots in the park. The reflection of the mountains was perfect at Oxbow Bend and Schwabacher Landing. We enjoyed the houses, barns and history at Mormon Row. And we were always on the lookout for wildlife! Bears, moose, bison, pronghorn, foxes and mule deer are all common in GTNP.

(Click on any picture to open the gallery and read the captions)

The next day, Mark and I hiked into Death Canyon. The Death Canyon trail is accessed by driving more than a mile on a really bad dirt road. I mean, really, really bad. Upon starting the hike, the route has a steep elevation to overlook Phelps Lake before heading down into the canyon. It wasn’t long after we passed the Phelps Lake overlook that we ran into a group of people standing on the trail. Our fellow hikers showed us that a family of moose (bull, cow and calf) had become quite comfortable standing on the trail. The bull moose was throwing off audible warnings for any hiker who was deemed to be ‘too close’.

We scurried back to the Phelps Lake overlook and waited for the moose to move on. Once we received the ‘all clear’ from others on the trail (about 30 minutes), then we continued into the canyon. A patrol cabin sits along this trail and a ranger told us to ‘hike to the cabin and then go a bit further.’ After reaching the cabin, we were both amazed when the canyon opened up and we were surrounded by mountains.

I saw a nice rockfall in the canyon that I thought would be the perfect spot for our lunch. Unfortunately, a couple was already there piloting a drone (not only annoying but also illegal in national parks). Instead, we found a spot in in a meadow out of earshot from the drone. About 15 minutes later, we watched a black bear walk along that same rockfall! We would have missed seeing him had we retained our original lunch spot! Oh, and the drone people?! – they had already left and completely missed the bear sighting! Ha!!

We hiked another popular trail into Cascade Canyon. This route was equally as beautiful but was much busier! There are two ways to reach the trail: either hike 2 miles around Jenny Lake or take a quick water taxi. We opted for the boat, made a stop at Hidden Falls and climbed the trail to Inspiration Point for lunch before hiking a few more miles into the canyon. The trail was beautiful but we kept an eye on time because the last shuttle left the dock at 4 pm. We were almost back to the trailhead when we happened across an adolescent black bear foraging for his dinner. We didn’t stay for long because I didn’t want to interrupt his meal OR miss the boat! Once back at the Jenny Lake Visitor center, we saw a fox! Talk about a wildlife extravaganza!!!

We spent our last full day in the park riding bikes along Teton Park Road. Our trek started at Dornans and we rode north to eat lunch at String Lake. We saw a couple of moose and pronghorn on our trip and the bikes were a great way to enjoy the scenery!

It seems that Grand Teton is a ‘drive through’ park that visitors see while heading north to Yellowstone. While there are several driving routes to see the gorgeous mountains, there are also numerous hiking trails and backcountry opportunities in this park. Our company for the week, the camping spot, the wildlife and scenery land this park ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ in my book! We had a wonderful time on this stop along our journey!

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