Our first visit was in the summer of 2001. It was the last trip with our first Class C motorhome, we joke that it evicted us. The last straw was the awning unfurling while we were driving through Grand Teton National Park. We made the repair and sold it to Frank, a sweet man that was part of our town’s business charitable organization. Every time we saw him around town, he told us how much he and his wife liked the RV.
It was an exciting trip. We took the gondola to the top of the ski resort, did a sunset horseback ride, took the boys on their first white water rafting ride and had a bear encounter on a trail. It was great video but, the bear kept us from finishing the trail to hidden falls. This trip, getting to hidden falls was tops on our list.
Our home base this trip was Colter Bay RV Park at Jackson Lake in the tall pine trees. It’s a nice park with long pull-through spaces with walking paths to the visitors’ center, marina and the lake. After we set up camp, we rode our bikes around the park then over to the visitors’ center for maps and down to the marina. We planned to ride to the beach along the path but it’s pedestrian only which is not a bad thing.
We headed into Jackson for our late afternoon horseback ride with A-OK Corral. We rode with them 20 years before when we stayed at the KOA across the highway. The man that runs it now was both surprised and excited that we brought it up. Mark thought that was hilarious since I’m very good at remembering stuff like this. More on that later.
The ride was just as fun this time. It was super windy with a chance of rain but we didn’t care. Our path was different this ride, winding through aspen groves that were shimmering in the wind. When we got to the clearing at the top, the wind was really whipping. Our guide offered to take our pictures, as we she was positioning and taking pictures of others, I looked at Mark and said, “Do you remember the eagle rock from our last ride? I’m pretty sure it’s up here.” I got the usual shrug. It was our turn for a picture and as she repositioned us for a great shot, we turned and saw it. Mark looked at me, both surprised and not. This is life with me. I remember obscure little things; I joke that I’m who you want on your team for Trivial Pursuit.
We woke up the next day extra excited. Today was the day we were going to get to Hidden Falls! We’ve talked about this for 20 years; I was a little sad that Jeff and Kevin weren’t with us.
We met Mark’s cousin, his wife and daughter at the parking lot for Jenny Lake. They were staying on the Idaho side of the Tetons boondocking in her aunt’s yard. Kelsey had just finished her travel nurse assignment in Denver where she hiked up a storm. Keith and Linda were excited for this adventure with us.
We took the boat across Jenny Lake and started our hike. We crisscrossed Cascade Creek and I remembered all the pictures we have of our boys at every crossing. Wow, time was not my friend for the beginning of our hike. Maybe it’s because our boys were only 6 and 8. It sure seemed like we hiked a long way before our bear encounter. When we got to “that rock” where we turned to see the bear, we realized just how close we were to the falls 20 years ago. That rock was the last turn! I have to admit, I was a little deflated. We’d talked about returning for so long and I’d imagined this long hike that we had left before we reached the falls. It was a little like “it’s only 50 more yards??”
Hidden Falls is still very pretty, I am so glad we finally got to see them. Now I can’t wait to return when Jeff and Kevin can join us.
Our hiking on this side of the lake wasn’t done. Mark and Kelsey had previously scoured the AllTrails app for other trails. We decided to hike Cascade Canyon Trail with a photo stop at Inspiration Point. I am so glad we did; Cascade Canyon was probably the prettiest hike we’ve done outside of Hawaii.
The steepest part was getting to Inspiration Point. The heavily trafficked trail has several switchbacks and trail stairs. The view at the point is amazing and worth any sweat. We stopped for a few pictures and headed back into the canyon.
From here the trail has a gentle uphill that gets prettier as you walk. The creek was on our left for the majority of the hike. Sometimes we could see it and others we could only hear it. It was an unusually warm summer day yet shade was abundant and the flowers were still showing off. I was taking pictures like a crazy woman.
Other hikers were few, it felt like we had the entire trail to ourselves. Then, up ahead the trees disappeared leaving only huge bushes and we saw several people up ahead. My first thought was we’d reached the end of the out-and-back trail, I was seriously bummed. I didn’t want the trail to end this soon. It wasn’t the end of the trail, it was so much better.
It was two moose!
There they were, a male and female just hanging out along the creek far off to our left. The female was munching on bushes while the male relaxed. All we could see were his antlers. We stood there for a while watching. It was so cool! A father and son had been there a while taking pictures and they were kind enough to show us. Our phone pictures were so basic in comparison. You could see the fuzz on his antlers.
We continued on our way and thankfully the trees were back. We could hear water, hopefully a waterfall! Minutes later we could see it, way off on the left. We weren’t stopping now; we wanted a better vantagepoint and boy did we get it! That would be our lunch stop, waterfall dining is the best.
There was still a crowd watching the moose when on our way back. The female was out of sight and the male had changed positions. We snapped a few more pictures and kept going. The father and son were still there.
Hiker traffic going up to Inspiration Point was heavier, the line to get on the boat to go back across the lake was long. We got off the boat and headed towards our cars. I had a huge smile on my face, it was a truly great day.
Our last full day was another jam-packed day. We started with a ride on the Snake River. Linda’s cousin had a raft and two kayaks and generously offered to take us out. We ended up with only one kayak as we were missing one paddle. Mark jumped at the chance to kayak down. The river moved fast, much faster than I remembered from 20 years ago. We had fantastic views of the Tetons the whole way down, almost like they were watching over us. Linda snapped this great shot of Mark.
A quick change of clothes and we were off to Jackson Hole ski resort for a ride to the top in the arial tram. The resort had other plans, though. The arial tram wasn’t working this summer, we’d have to make due with a gondola that let off at the Rendezvous Lodge. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a good stop and the views were amazing. I was bummed it wasn’t what we did 20 years ago. We found a table close to the edge, enjoyed a drink and snack. We could see Corbet’s Couloir from our table. When we were younger, this was on Mark’s list of things to do.
And just like that our time was up. We had a monster drive the next day so we left the campground just as the first rays of light were rising. Our eyes were peeled for wildlife as we carefully headed on our way. We both had the same thought at the same time at how great a sunrise would look on the Grand Tetons. We pulled over a few times into hiking parking lots and other overlook lots and probably snapped 50 pictures. It was beautiful, even the smoky haze from wildfires didn’t screw it up much.
As we pulled out of town and made our way to Boise, we shared a smile about our fabulous few days. I sure hope we come back before 20 years!
