Our trip began with an idea – As happens, we were hiking somewhere, had just finished the day, and we’re talking about where to go next. Jeanne suggested one of the ‘big’ National parks, and that was it, we were off, planning away..

Planning really started on our trip nearly 1-1/2 years ahead of time, knowing that the in-park lodging fills up quickly, so we’d anticipated the trip for some time. And, as always, we started our weather watch 2 weeks before the trip – we were blessed with outstanding weather nearly the entire trip, spending the first four nights in Grand Tetons, another four nights in Yellowstone, and one last night in Jackson, Wyoming so we could catch an early flight home.

So, really…

Friday, September 12
Our trip began when the black car picked us up at home at 4:30 am for quick drive to Logan airport – at that hour, let someone else do the driving!

After getting our boarding passes and checking one of our suitcases, we somehow have acquired special TSA status and were directed to the TSA pre-check express line – but hold your “woohoos”. Sadly, TSA didn’t think it appropriate to be carrying a Swiss Army knife (part of our basic hiking ‘kit’) on the plane, so that was confiscated, but we were allowed to proceed. The rest of the trip to Jackson, Wyoming, including a 3 hr layover in Salt Lake City, went on schedule.

After picking up our rental car in Jackson, we stopped for a few provisions – trail food, coffee and a coffee pot(!) – the latter so we could start each day right! (After all, there is no Dunkin Donuts in the Tetons!). Well stocked, we left Jackson shortly before 4pm and drove the 30 miles or so, through the valley with the Grand Tetons looming large on our left.

Checking in to the Signal Mountain Lodge, we had plenty of daylight left to stretch our travel weary legs with a short, 2.2 mile out-and-back hike up to Grand View Point.   Billed as a “high-value” hike – great views for little effort hike – we headed out and weren’t disappointed. Getting to the ‘point’ in just about 1/2 hour, we were rewarded with some spectacular views of the Grand Teton Range just as the sun began to set.

What a great way to start our vacation!

Saturday, September 13
For our first full day in the Tetons, we’d planned a moderate hike on the 7.4 mile lollipop loop to the Signal Mountain Summit. Probably the first time in our entire hiking ‘career’, this was a hike we didn’t have to drive to the trailhead – it was only a short walk from our room and the lodge area!

The guidebooks/internet describes the Signal Mountain hike as moderate, so we were surprised when we reached the summit in an hour and a quarter!   Once we reached the summit, we met up with others who had taken the alternate route – an auto road – but it meant we were able to get someone to take a photo of us.   The hike down was just as easy, bringing us back to the car well ahead of what we’d originally thought for this hike.

Anxious to see more of the beautiful surroundings, we decided we needed to plan an afternoon activity since this hike took much less time than anticipated. On the recommendation of some Texans we met at the top of Signal Mountain, we drove to Jenny Lake for a boat ride across the lake, followed by a short 1 mile hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point.

Sunday September 14

Today’s hike plan was our most ambitious of the week – Paintbrush Divide – a 20 mile loop that followed Paintbrush Canyon deep into the Teton range, crossed over Paintbrush Divide (at 10,700 feet elevation), then followed Cascade Canyon to exit the range, back where we started.  

Even though we’d done another near-20 miler earlier in the season, it was ambitious, both for the length, and also for the elevation gain, over 4,200 feet.

Because this was such an epic adventure, we’ve captured it in a separate blog post – Paintbrush Divide.

Monday September 15
We awoke on Monday morning well-rested and with surprisingly little discomfort from the previous day’s strenuous hike.   We reviewed a number of options for a ‘rest’ day hike and wanted something to keep us moving but without too much exertion. We decided to head to Jackson Hole ski area where we could take the tram up the mountain and from there choose from a couple of hiking options – around the summit or hiking all the way back to the base lodge.

It was the tram operator who reminded (and convinced!) us that hiking down is hard on the legs, so we decided on a route around the summit that would take us down about 1400 feet, but then loop around and back up to the summit for a hike of nearly 5 miles.    

Sounded just about right for a ‘rest’ day.

While getting some hiking tips from the tram operator, Jeanne was also admiring her earrings – oval discs with silhouettes of the Grand Tetons and soon learned she got them from a store in Jackson, JC Jewelry. How often is there a jewelry story with your initials?!  That clinched it, so after the hike, we stopped in the store to buy a pair!

We headed back to the lodge, and started packing up our gear – tomorrow, we were headed to Yellowstone.  But not quite so fast, the park had a few more surprises for us.  While heading to the main lodge for dinner, we were treated to a bit more wildlife:

and with that, we said our goodbyes to the Tetons and headed north to Yellowstone for the second half of our National Park adventure.