I sleep pretty well considering my head is about 30 feet from the highway. I wake up and make some coffee and take another look at the map of the Tetons. My main issue is that I have too much stuff to backpack with now as I need to bounce some of my carepackage food ahead to myself, and send a batch of stuff home…but I want to wait until after the OR Show which is this week because I know I’ll have more to send home.

Soooo, I thought I would try my luck at heading to Jenny Lake to see if there was somewhere there I could stash my extra stuff, and then I would do a loop of some sort in the park.

Jenny Lake

I hopped on a free shuttle bus that goes the length of the park and when I arrived at Jenny Lake Ranger station, Nick, the most excellent ranger there at the office, helped me find a place to stash the goods, and helped me figure out where to go for my 3 days/2 nights. Sweet!

I headed out about noon, and the first hour or two I was stuck behind all kinds of tourists walking all kinds of paces…no matter, I wasn’t in a rush and could take my time. The crouds petered out after a few miles when we were far enough from the parking lot for the day hikers…however there were lots of people deep in the park, an encouraging sign! I love to see others on the trails, there has been so few days on the CDT with lots of other hikers, but you can see why…this park is AMAZING.

I walked around the Grand Teton; it was hard to take in the entire view, the scale out here is immense, and the meadows, waterfalls, granite walls, and wildflowers were in their prime.

I made my way up to Hurricane Pass, part of the Teton Crest Trail, what a view! A glacier hung onto the north side of the pass, and the melt below was the most aquamarine shade of loveliness.

Make way for the horses!

I topped out and began my descent into Alaska Basin where I found a rocky ledge to camp on; there are quite a few other people out here in the Basin, and it’s not hard to see why: another incredible view after another.

I made the chicken chili Brooke and Adryon sent (thanks ladies!!! Yummmmm!) and spent the evening reading the PCT Communicator and Harpers that Kirk stuck in my resupply box.

What will tomorrow bring???