Terran Greenfield

Having visited now two of the most handsome parks in the United States in the most excellent weather, we were feeling very well about ourselves and our trip. However, rarely do things ever go entirely right… and perhaps more rarely is weather ever continually perfect. These truths visited us on our trek to the Grand Tetons.
Our road to the Tetons went right back through Yellowstone, which gave us time to say goodbye to the sulfurous steam. We passed the mountain views at a glorious sunset, which, if you’ve seen craggy mountains at sunsets, cuts the shadows darker and brightens the peaks in a brilliant oranges and golds. This gave us bright prospects for the future.

The first night, looking back now, was the silence before the storm. It was perfect: chicken and waffles, a spectacular view, and a halfway warm bed. In fact, this flawlessness continued throughout the day. We crossed the highway to Colter Bay, a little collection of buildings squatting beside a cold lake that collects the snowmelt from the Tetons. Hermitage Point was our target: a nine mile hike that winds beside Jackson Lake and back around to Colter Bay. Near the start, we passed a small brown bear, which, with the idea of a grumbling mother bear somewhere in the bushes, hurried us on the first mile of the hike. And yes, we did find the Windows desktop image:

 

When we finished, we realized that the Tetons had both showers and laundry — services we desperately needed. We spent about four hours showering, getting laundry done, and getting work done like good boys, (smelly good boys, but still). That’s when the clouds descended, and the wind began to blow.
Back at camp, it had not yet rained, but we expected the storm soon enough. It started a sprinkle, which grew to grape-sized nuggets of hail screaming from the sky and bouncing off our car’s armor before settling in the gravel, defeated. We rode out the hail, and the sky gave us rain — lots of rain. We slept in the car that night.

DAY 2: GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK
Dark skies and dreary clouds lasted the night, and plagued us most of the morning with slow sprinkles of rain here and there. We unanimously decided that today would be a labor day, and we ventured to the nearest coffee shop to get our Fried Pickle Games work done. That’s where we spent our afternoon. Thunder and lightning heralded our arrival back to camp.

At home, I don’t mind storms, but when you’re in the middle of a gravel lot, in a cramped car with only the passenger and driver seat available, storms are restricting. At the next break in the downpour, we hastily erected our tent. The wind was not happy with our work, and sent a gust so strong the front half of our tent blew upwards and into the wind. I kept the tent down as River piled rocks on the ladder and secured the base. It seemed enough for now, and we had a pasta dinner in our tent.
The weather once again endured the night.

DAY 3: GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK:
Bravery emboldened us today, and despite the weather app’s protests of storms again at noon, we were determined to get a final hike in the lovely Tetons. We hiked to Bearpaw Lake. It was cold, wet, windy, and muddy, but a good time. As though sounding the end of our visit to the Tetons, sunlight broke the clouds, and made a rainbow. Our final night at camp was, at last, clear, and only threatened by flashes of lightning now on the horizon.

Grand Teton National Park, is the picture that appears when you look up the word ‘epic’ in the dictionary. Or maybe the word ‘mountain’. They are matchless mountains, after which all the host of mountains in America follow after in a jealous slog. Glacier is the closest friend, but, to me, not quite ahead of those grand, Grand Tetons.