Grand Teton National Park - 48 Hours Exploring Jenny Lake, Cascade Canyon & More

Grand Teton National Park is easily one of the most beautiful places in the United States the way that Teton range dominates the landscape is something you have to see with your own eyes this park is often dwarfed by its neighbor Yellowstone but is well worthy of your time and Adventure here's how I spent 2 days exploring Grand Teton National Park and stay to the end where I show you my favorite spot in the park for photography let's jump into it I spent the previous day exploring Jackson Wyoming with my cousin so check out that video in the description if you're interested but for the next 2 days I set out to explore as much as I could of Grand tiah National Park from the minute you leave Jackson and start driving towards the park you'll be impressed with how amazing the mountain range is out in front of you it's just iconic and you can see it from all over the park I got super lucky and was able to find a parking spot right near the entrance and now we're going to take the boat across Jenny Lake and do some hiking the Jenny Lake area is probably the most popular spot in the national park and parking can fill up fast especially in the summer I recommend getting there early and planning on spending about a half day there before setting out on the boat to cross over the lake and do the hiking trails there's a visitor center you can see and there's a store that has ice cream snacks and other drinks be sure to check the schedule so you don't get caught on the other side and have to do the 2-mile hike back but when I went it was 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. when I went it was $20 for a roundtrip boat ride and boats left every 10 to 15 minutes so it never took very long to wait for one if you don't want to pay for the boat and just want to walk around the lake it is 2 mi additional each way so 4 mil total round trip you can just do the boat One Direction if you want to as well after loading up in the boat we set out and it takes about 10 minutes to cross the lake I have to say this is well worth the price as the views you get from the water are stunning of the Teton range and the park all around you plus there's a guide who gives you information on the area and the hiking trails as you make your way over once you dock you can get out and explore for as long as you like and then when you're ready to come back you just have to wait on the dock for the next available boat and to cross headed to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point if you want to go to both of these is about 2 m round trip with 400 ft of elevation gain and all that elevation gain is basically on the portion that heads up to Inspiration Point this is a beautiful Trail steady uphill but you're right along the water and you got some good mountain views there are about 40 people on my boat but the trail didn't seem too busy as everybody kind of just spaces out and Hikes at their own pace this was right in the middle of summer though which is the busiest time to be in the park made it to Hidden Falls Hidden Falls is right around 100 ft and the viewing area is actually pretty far away from the Falls so it's hard to tell how big it is there is some seating here though and it's a nice spot to relax and have a snack before continuing on Hidden Falls is about a half mile and 150 ft of elevation up to Inspiration Point is another half mile and about 250 ft of elevation some people opt to just go to Hidden Falls and back as the hike up to Inspiration Point is definitely Steep and it has some big drop offs in one section it is pretty much in the Sun the entire way as well when you get here you may think that you're Inspiration Point but you're not it's actually way up there you can see the people on the trail this Viewpoint is also a great place to stop if you don't feel like continuing on as you can look in the canyon behind you and out across Jenny Lake in front of [Music] you about two more sets of switchbacks and then we've made to Inspiration Point note that there's not a ton of shade on this Trail and it is steep so be ready this is the part of the trail where I noticed a lot of people getting nervous who didn't like to have big drops on one side of them I would say the trail is relatively wide and it's not bad at all but just something to note before you go we made it to Inspiration Point and look at these views wow the views up here are massive and dramatic and it's interesting that you can look out across the park and not see big mountains like you have behind you Inspiration Point is stunning and a worthwhile destination I'm going to head up a little bit longer go into Cascade Canyon a little bit before looping back to the boat at this Junction we're leaving Inspiration Point Trail and we are officially on the Cascade Canyon Trail I wasn't even planning on doing any of cascade Canyon but when I got up there I felt pretty good and decided to continue on that ended up being one of the best decisions I made during my entire time in Grand Teton National Park you've already done a lot of the elevation game by getting an Inspiration Point and so it's just a gradual uphill into Cascade Canyon plus once you make it into Cascade Canyon the views are unlike anything you have ever seen before we're about a mile from Inspiration Point and the views just opened up into Cascade Canyon hiking all the way through Cascade Cannon is about 3 mil each way so 6 mil round trip you guys views are just blowing my mind right now this is so incredibly cool check it out there's a moose right here along the riverbank I've never been hiking and seen a moose before it's not doing anything which is good I don't want to get any closer but man that's pretty cool to see when I think back on National Park experiences being able to see a moose in Cascade Canyon with waterfalls and massive ragged Peaks on both sides of me is something that I'll never forget and one of the best national park experiences I've had all right we went about a mile and a quarter to get to this spot which was well worth it you absolutely should do it the views of the canyon mountains incredible I spent too much time with the Moose though so I'm turning around here it actually gets wooded right there as well before coming back out again the ranger told me about 20 minutes from here is another great view so if you have more time to hike then do it if not head back like me on the way back I just retraced my steps past Inspiration Point and down towards where you split off to go to the waterfall the views are even better on the way down as you got to soak them in more instead of trying to catch your breath all right so I did 3.75 miles and 680 ft of elevation gain to get where I got now we're loading up on the boat to go back there was a sign showing how long the line can be and that it could take 45 minutes from a specific spot to get on so I'm guessing it must get really busy during the weekends During certain times of the year but for me I only had to wait about 5 minutes to get on a boat it was really cool to be able to look back on Cascade Canyon after having hiked in it myself back from that incredible hike and now we're going to go tour around the park in our car do a bunch of overlooks because tomorrow we're going to do another crazy hike right as I was pulling out of the parking lot there was a deer that was just hanging out munching on flowers with the Tetons behind it Grand Teton is one of those national parks where you have to have a car and to drive around to really experience it the park is pretty big and there are a lot of hiking trails but many of them are long and relatively inaccessible for the average hiker because of that one of the best ways to see the park is just to drive the scenic route and pull out at the many different view points all right once we turn right here this is one of my favorite views in the park this view as you're approaching the Jenny Lake Scenic Drive is pretty impossible to beat as you turn onto the scenic drive it becomes a one-way road with a lane for cars and a lane for bikers Runners and Walkers it's a really nice route to drive and there's one major Viewpoint so hopefully you're able to find a parking spot when you drive by it that's the canyon that we were just in hiking around right there if you're able to grab a spot take your time walk on the trails head down to the beach just take it all in this is a really tough Overlook to park as the parking lot's small and it's a one-way road so you have to go all the way back around if you miss the parking area but it's definitely worth getting out for it's beautiful as you leave here you'll continue driving along the lake but the views are not great as you can only see it barely through the trees I think one of the best things about Grand ton National Park is just how easily you you can access these insane views of the mountains there's so many turnouts that look just like this making it super easy here's another viewpoint on the Drive North this one's cool cuz you can really see the outlines of the entire range from here we just kept driving north to see more of the park those people are very close to that animal I hope if you're watching this I don't need to tell you to not get that close so we're at that weird in between where I didn't really eat lunch and it's almost dinner time so I'm going to have something to eat let the sun go down a little bit more so all those viewpoints that we're going to see maybe it'll be closer to Sunset my cousin Clark who's a chef told me I should have lunch at the Trapper Grill and that I should order a half order of nachos he's never steered me wrong so that's what I decided to do the half portion I can't even imagine the full that is pretty crazy so yeah I didn't finish my meal here but I have to say it was really good and look at the view two things first ask for a table outside if you can it was beautiful overlooking the lake second those nachos said they fed two people those could easily feed four I can't even imagine how much a full order could feed maybe like two or three families had on to do some more in Grand TS as we headed north we were driving along the massive Jackson Lake and we stopped to see the Jackson Lake Dam if you're interested there are stairs that'll take you down closer to the dam and let you see where the Snake River emerges from Jackson Lake plus you can walk across from the parking area and get some views of Jackson Lake from this spot as well as you cross the river Teton Park Road ends at US Highway 191 you can head north to go towards Yellowstone or you can head south to continue your drive through the park heading south there's a lot more viewpoints to see in the park with the first being at Oxo Bend continuing from here there'll be another Park entrance as if you had come down from Yellowstone and then another Junction before you continue South right around the elk Ranch Flats turnout I saw a huge herd of bison I feel like I'm in a lion king with all these Birds Landing on top of the Buffalo this is a popular wildlife area in the park and you'll often see bison and sometimes even elk here there was a bison Jam here as a lot of the Bison were crossing the road and stopping the cars but I wasn't upset about it I spent about 45 minutes just hanging out so the first herd ran by and it looks like this second herd is going to run by again too there they go they just ran across the road and then sprinted out into the pasture it was such a cool view to see these animals with the mountains behind them all right saying goodbye heading on to the next spot but that was that was really cool as you're heading back on this road you're a lot further away from the mountains than we were on the way up but there's still a lot of great viewpoints so these next few viewpoints aren't actually very good at sunset time they're more sunrise and early morning type viewpoints but I wanted to show them to you case I don't get here again and you can go see these when you come visit this is the first one which was made famous by the anel Adams photograph here's the photograph that made this spot famous right here you can see that the uh trees have grown up a lot since then as someone that started their career as a landscape photographer I always enjoy being able to see the places that anel Adams photographed even though I've been to this Viewpoint many times there's always a sense of magic here to end our first day in the park we made our way over to my favorite Viewpoint schwabacher Landing you have to drive down to this one on a dirt road but I've never really had any problems doing it in a lower car all right this is our last stop of the day and 100% my favorite viewpoint but unfortunately it's another Sunrise Viewpoint if you're a person who gets up for Sunrise then you have to do this when you're here it's one of the best views I've ever seen at Sunrise the water here is a small offshoot of the Snake River and when the wind's not flowing it creates a perfect reflection of the Teton range can you guys believe how beautiful that is that reflection and the stream and the Tetons that's some Next Level stuff right there there's a short trail that you can walk out to that goes to a beaver dam but my favorite spot is just right at the beginning taking in the view of the water with the mountains and with that our first day in Grand tons National Park is done we'll see you tomorrow for a lot more [Music] exploring I stayed the night in the town of Jackson and so I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. got coffee at the only place that was open Cowboy coffee and then made it into the park Before Sunrise I wish I could have gone to my favorite Lookout to take sunrise pictures but I had heard about how notorious ly difficult this Trail is to park at and so I wanted to make sure I had the best chances of getting the spot it's 650 right now and the upper parking lot is entirely full already this is the Lupine Meadows parking area and if you don't get into the upper lot or close to it you could easily add a mile or two onto your hike just to get to the trail head starting the trail to surprise an Amphitheater Lakes this is a 10m roundtrip Trail to two beautiful lakes and it's going to take probably most of the morning to complete also note that parking lot was full at 650 on a Sunday and you had to park down the road and walk up so you got to get here early if you want to do this hike we're a/4 Mile in and that's the entirety of the flat portion on this hike from now on it is uphill all the way to the Lakes this Trail has over 3,000 ft of elevation gain so it is basically uphill the entire way the uphill is on Switchback so it is more Gra SCH but it's still a very difficult hike it's a bear you see him he's walking all the way over there outside of catm national park in Alaska I have never been on a trail with a bear before so this was something new for me there's a bear right in front of you guys he's about to walk across the trail I think unfortunately the only shot I got of the Bear Cross ing over the trail was in vertical mode but uh here's the shot if you want to see it all right well that was pretty crazy there was a bear on the trail I think it was a black bear not sure it was pretty small still kind of terrifying and kind of exciting at the same time remember to have your bear spray on this trail of course 99 times out of 100 you won't need to use it but it's just good to have right around the 2m Mark that's when the switch backs start and it switch backs all the way to the lake from here as you continue on the trail is well-maintained and easy to follow it's highly trafficked because it's also used to access the popular Delta Lake but that's not an official national Park Trail with no signs and I saw multiple people lost trying to get there I wouldn't recommend you do it until the national park creates a trail for it as I try to stay only on the recommended Trails myself I heard that Delta is amazing though so I hope they turn into an official Trail one of these days we're right about 2 and 1 half miles in right at the bend in the Switchback it's beautiful while it seems like I'm going really fast here it actually took me about 6 hours to complete but I'm just trying to give you the highlights the views keep getting better and better but they also don't really change much as you're basically just going up the side of the mountain two things to know about this Trail first it's a lot of direct Suns I wouldn't do it in the heat of the day it's going to be pretty brutal and two it's higher elevation so I'm at like 85 ft right now if you come from sea level and try to immediately do it it's probably going to be pretty tough on your lungs so take that into consideration only a few more switchbacks before we make it to the first Lake once you make it to the top of the switchbacks the trail levels out and you start walking towards the lakes here we go the turn off for Surprise Lake elevation 9540 and just like that we have made it to surprise l Lake Surprise Lake was a stunning high altitude lake with great reflections of the surrounding mountains so it took me just under 2 and 1/2 hours to get up here and I'm the only person here right now we're going to head up to the second Lake though and that's where we're going to stop and have some lunch Amphitheater lake is 2/10 of a mile Surprise Lake was beautiful but multiple people had told me the amphitheater blew it out of the water so I wanted to get there as quickly as I could Amphitheater Lake elevation 9,698 I have to say that upon seeing it they were completely right Amphitheater Lake sits in a large bowl with the Grand Teton out in front of you so that mountain right there a little Tip Top that is a Grand Teton and this one right here is called Disappointment Peak because they climbed all the way up there thought they could get to the Grand from there and then when they got up there realized that they couldn't not a bad spot for a snack break right here there were probably five other people who were enjoying the view with me Amphitheater lake is easily a place I could have spent the entire day at there was even a couple who decided to jump in the lake and they let me know it was freezing [Music] cold there was even a cute little Pika that was running back and forth and we got to watch while we were having [Music] lunch this view was definitely worth the Steep hike up all right it's been about an hour hanging out here just an incredible Lake beautiful views I wish I could spend the entire day but we're heading back down and I'm putting this away once I made it all the way back down it's pretty impressive to see how much you climb to get to amphithe Lake plus as you can no doubt tell getting there early for parking was definitely the way to do it after finishing the hike I headed to get lunch before doing a few more stops to end the video for lunch I headed to dorin which is a fan favorite for pizza and it's right next to the park entrance I mean have you ever seen a better view while you're eating pizza back at the same Viewpoint we went to last night but I didn't want your impression of this Viewpoint to be anything less than theep view that it is so I wanted you to see it again I mean come on right look at that that is next level beautiful look at that reflection and look at how much the Tetons are standing out right now wow you guys believe me now about how incredible this Viewpoint is right after hanging out at the Viewpoint for a little bit longer I made my way to my last stop in the park last up was the Mormon row historic district this area features the remains of a community that was settled in the late 1800s at one point there were 27 homesteads in this area and there was a church and a school it's now most well known for the historic barns which make amazing photos with the Teton range behind them when I was there there were volunteers dressed in historic clothes giving you insights into the life of the settlers which was a cool touch and with that our time in Grand Tetons National Park is done hopefully you enjoyed exploring this beautiful park with me get out here and see it for yourself and let me know if I left off your favorite spot in the comments we'll see you on the next one

Channel: Through My Lens

Views: 125,921

Keywords:

Id: mmYjxQIQEsU

Length: 21min 50sec (1310 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024