If you are just getting started on what we lovingly call our “Epic Trip Out West,” where our family of four drove from Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, hitting all the parks we could in between, start with our FAQs and full itinerary here. Otherwise, here’s the low down on what we learned touring Grand Teton National Park with the family…
DAY THREE: Visiting the Grand Tetons
Drive Yelllowstone to Jackson Hole
Grand Teton National Park
Taggart Lake Trail
Lodging: friends in Jackson Hole
There are a two ways to look at this day: A) the day where family fighting overtook the natural beauty or B) the day we grew as a family and learned the secret ways to trick kids into hiking long distances. Glass half full or half empty?
Inside Yellowstone, we packed ourselves and were out the door, again with gas station coffee in hand, by 9 am. We were driving back down the part of the lower loop we had already done then out the South Entrance. Our biggest preoccupation of the day: weather. Even though we were seeing these parks in what is technically fall (late September), snow was a considerable presence.
On our way out of the park, we stopped a lot, of course. Checklist!
First was a stop at Brink of the Upper Falls, where it was so chilly and early that we were the only people there for at least 10 minutes. The mighty water roared down that waterfall in a display of God’s loud decree of his majesty and might.
We drove down the South Rim of the Canyon to Artists Point. While the views were sublime and, indeed, inspiring (there was much talk about the artist Thomas Moran’s artistic interpretations here), the giant buses of tourists rolled in. They yelled, stepped over the barriers and railings, and shoved us aside to take their group photos. They asked our son to move as he was looking out in awe over the canyon. They took trail maps, ignoring the donation requests, and generally ruined our religious vibe. We ran to our minivan to get out in front of the mega bus. The Great Race: we are coming for you next!
At our son’s request, we stopped at Sulphuric Cauldon, a huge bubbling cesspool of geothermal activity on the side of the road. We went on to Grant Village Visitors Center for parks passport stamps and stickers (and the bathroom and water bottle refill) and said goodbye to Yellowstone, even if we didn’t want to.
The drive was extremely snowy, yet the peaceful kind that douses the world in black and white and makes the valleys look like pen & ink drawings. It was breathtaking and the world felt quiet, just taking it all in.
Except, of course, for our kids’ singing inside the van. They love to put their iPod on, which they share with a splitter for the headphones, and sing loudly. They sing the same songs over and over again, and they could care less if they don’t know the lyrics. Actually, they probably don’t realize they don’t know the words. Starships gets replayed with them screaming “I wanna marry momma” instead of the “higher than a mother” true lyrics. So while mom and dad sat at the windshield taking in the dynamic and unique roads, the kids mutilated lyrics to songs we couldn’t hear at the top of their lungs. Can we keep them this cute forever ?
After we left Yellowstone via the South Entrance, it was a quick drive down the Rockefeller Parkway (which earned another passport stamp) and into Grand Teton National Park.
Since the only way to get to Grand Teton National Park from the north is via Yellowstone, they don’t even have a booth checking people in. So we didn’t get to whip out our fancy new National Parks Annual Pass, but it was a seamless transition.
Alas, the snow clouds meant the Tetons were entirely shrouded, as if they weren’t there at all.
We stopped at the Visitors Center for information, tips, a map, passport stamps, a sticker and smushed pennies. Understanding that the snow was to stay, we decided to just enjoy the day for what it was – a cold yet heavily quiet snow that stilled the earth.
At Jenny Lake we took the side road detour. Again, the Tetons were invisible. We could feel them, but couldn’t see them. They owned us, yet wouldn’t show themselves. We walked about a quarter mile on a trail in the woods against Jenny Lake just to stretch our legs. It was blissfully muted. The snow was fat, the pine trees protecting us, and it felt like a book scene. We ran into many other travelers like ourselves: desperate to see the Tetons but happy with what life gave them, just exploring the unknown trail to an unknown distance because they wanted to experience the park.
Part of this trip was challenging ourselves to be flexible. Nature cannot be controlled or predicted – we realized that we would have to honor what nature decided and make our decisions based on her whims. We made our way to our planned Taggart Lake Trail Loop with the understanding that if it was still snowing, cloudy and cold on our way, we would abandon the idea.
When we arrived at the trailhead, though, where we decided to do the initial 1.5 miles down to Taggart Lake, the sky had surprisingly opened up and even though the entire Teton range could not be seen, there were some peaks beaming through and the sun kissed their tops. We took it as a sign.
So we started.
About .5 miles in we got hot and started taking off hats and gloves; about 1 mile in our 5-year-old started complaining; about 1.3 miles in we went right instead of left (at the suggestion of a fellow hiker) and doubled back because it was the wrong way; at about 1.4 miles the complaining tripled; at 1. 7 miles our 8-year-old curled up on the ground announcing that his feet were too tired (after he spent 1.5 miles being a ninja and hopping off of every rock we saw); at 1.8 miles of hiking we arrived at the Lake where mom lit into some Serious Parenting about how they should be HAPPY TO BE ABLE TO WALK WHEN SOME KIDS DON’T HAVE LEGS and THEY KNEW THERE WOULD BE A LOT OF HIKING and LIFE IS ABOUT THE ATTITUDE YOU TAKE.
So for some unknown reason that can only be labeled as Stubborn on one side and Delusional on the other, we decided to drag our kids on the entire loop instead of doubling back. We were parenting and teaching strength and grit!! We gave them snacks and water, treated some foreign tourists to an American family fight ( you are welcome ) and then went on our way.
Here is how it went afterward:
Our youngest acted like he was in the national competition of complaining children and he was fixin’ to win. We saw Mule Deer in the woods. Mom got scared of bears that were surely lurking behind trees ready to pounce and started talking too loudly, which one son pointed out (‘Mom, why are you yelling?’). Fed up, frustrated, and exhausted we stopped to rest while we all fumed there in the woods, three miles into the Grand Teton National Park Taggart Lake trail. Ah, family vacations.
And it was at this point we stumbled on the secret success of hiking with kids: BRIBERY!
We had a family meeting then and there and decided the kids could earn points during a hike for not complaining and at the end of the entire trip trade the points in for a souvenir of their choice, depending on how many points they racked up. Each mile of noncomplaining hiking was one point.
Well, the kids zipped up their jackets, and we basically ran the last mile out of the park. Best idea ever.
It was good they booked it out, too. Since the sun had disappeared (probably pissed off and exhausted from watching us hike, too), the snow had picked up in earnest and this time it was a wet, accumulating snow.
We got in the car and, using BandAids, taped their new rewards chart for noncomplaining hiking to the back of seat.
The kids settled in to nap while we turned the car onto the less travelled Moose Wilson Road. But about 10 minutes later we had them out of the car again in the snow as a black bear was just off the road eating tender leaves off a tree. Another 10 minutes of travel and there was a black bear cub in the tree while her mama came out of the brush, followed by a second cub.
We got back in the car for good, and just when their eyes started to close, we hit the unpaved section of the road. We bounced and rocked hysterically in the snow.
Eventually, we hit the smooth, paved road and left Grand Teton National Park for Jackson Hole. We discussed the option to come back the next day if the snow moved out to see the mountains in their entirety, but for the moment we were meeting our friends at a new handfired pizza joint in downtown Jackson. We followed them home and snuggled up in a room with a view of the Tetons (when they didn’t hide behind clouds). We were done for the day.