Into the Tetons..... Eventually

We woke up early in a sea of half-dead bodies at the Best Western and went downstairs to try to eat $300 worth of breakfast buffet. Then we headed back to our room to pack up our stuff and get an early start on our planned 14 mile hike in the Tetons. The problem was Eric couldn't find his car keys anywhere. He checked his duffle bag three times, looked under the sleeper sofa, checked the bathroom,scoured the room, and even searched through other peoples' luggage in case he accidentally put his keys in with someone else's belongings. The keys were still nowhere to be found, so the front desk was checked and Eric even looked inside the locked Civic just in case he could see the keys inside. Still no sign of the car keys. Out of options, it was finally decided that the keys must be locked inside the car somewhere where they couldn't be seen. Reluctantly, a locksmith was called. About an hour later, when the locksmith finally showed up Eric's mom ran out of the front door of the hotel with the misplaced car keys.

After paying $50 for nothing, we finally got the car packed up and headed into Grand Teton National Park. The views were amazing and we were feeling quite relieved that our ordeal was over. We arrived at Jenny Lake around 11 o'clock and took the ferry across the lake to the Cascade Canyon Trail. The beginning of the hike was crowded. Lots of people making the short trek to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point.

Just after Inspiration Point, however, the foot traffic started to get sparse.

Soon it was just Noelle, Eric, a smattering of other hikers, and some moose! That's right, we saw three moose on our hike.

As we made our way farther along the trail, the views just kept getting better and the people fewer. When we arrived at Lake Solitude, we surprisingly actually found a bit of solitude.

It was just the two of us and a curious marmot. After eating a snack and relaxing for a few minutes we headed back down the trail.

We moved pretty fast because we wanted to make it back to the dock before the ferry stopped running at six o'clock. Since the hike back to the dock was almost all downhill, however, it was a pleasantly brisk walk, and we did made it back with plenty of time to spare.

After getting back to our car we drove to the South Jenny Lake Campground where our Ranger friend Maureen had reserved us a campsite. (The campground usually fills by about 8 am. We never would have gotten a site after our car keys ordeal if it wasn't for Maureen.) We set up our camping gear and got a visit from our good friends Dan and Staci Pluta. Then we headed over to Maureen's where we spent some time talking and reminiscing before headed back to the campground for some much needed sleep.