Grand Teton National Park

On our last day of summer holiday, Tom and I drove to Grand Teton National Park for a final day of sightseeing. We picked a looped route through the park, and were able to take in sights at Jackson Bay, Colter Lake, Jenny Lake, Moose Junction, Gros Ventre Slide, Snake River, Cunningham Cabin and Oxbow Pond.

The Jackson Lake Lodge sits on a scenic plain with lake and mountains in the background. The lodge is huge with 385 rooms, and was fully constructed by 1955. The lodge was was named a national historic site in 2003.

View from Jackson Lake Lodge.

Our next stop was Jenny Lake. Tom and I decided to make our way down to the lake edge via a short trail so we could dip our toes in the water and see how cold it was. I had only had a few minutes to snap a few photos of the lake, when a ranger at the top of the trail called down that everyone needed to come up the trail, because there was a bear headed our way.

A view of Jenny Lake.

There were about a dozen other tourists with a few kids at the bottom of the trail, and everyone started collecting their things so they could head up the trail. A lady started to make her way up the trail, when a couple of kayakers in the lake started yelling at her. 

"LADY! DON'T GO UP THE TRAIL! LAAAAAAAAADY! YOU'RE WALKING RIGHT TOWARDS A BEAR! LAAAAAAAAAAADY!"

At which point, about half the people started to FREAK. OUT. 

"OH MY GOD! A BEAR! WE CAN'T GO UP THE TRAIL! WHAT DO WE DO?"

There was a guy standing next to me that was holding a camera, and was perfectly calm. He called out to the kayakers, and asked what kind of bear it was. They responded that it was a lone black bear. At which point, I said, "There's a big group of us, just stick together, we'll be fine."

So there we were, about a 12-15 of us standing at the base of the trail, watching the bushes by the lake shoreline. A small black bear came out of the trees. He (or she?) looks at us, and appeared to be thinking, "Oh crap! What have a stumbled into?" The bear eyed us warily, and hurried past. As it went one way, the group went in the opposite direction up the trail. One of the women stepped on me in her haste to get away from the... Uh... Vicious bear?

Black bear at Jenny Lake.

The best part was that as everyone was walking up the trail, talking excitedly about their close encounter with a bear, a little boy said, "I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THE CAR! I WANT TO MAKE MORE MUD PIES!" And his dad told him, "No honey, there was a bear down there!"

Tom and I, unscathed after our bear experience.

Our next stop was at the Gros Ventre slide. The slide occured in 1925 after a heavy snowmelt and weeks of heavy rain. The slide created a dam over the Gros Ventre river, and eventually created the Lower Slide Lake.

Rock debris at the Gros Ventre slide.

Next we took in sights of the Snake River from a roadside outlook. 

View of the Snake River.

One of our final stops was the Cunningham Cabin. The cabin is a reconstruction of a homestead cabin built without nails or metal fastenings. John Pierce Cunningham came to Jackson Hole in 1895, but left for Idaho in 1928. The roof was very low-- Tom had to stoop in order to go inside. The cabin was also the scene of a shootout 1899, between a Montana posse, and some alleged horse thieves.

Cunningham Cabin

After viewing Cunningham's Cabin, Tom and I drove back to Big Sky for our last night in Montana. We made the 10 hour drive home the following day, and arrive home tired and satisfied.  If you like a good road trip, go check out Yellowstone and Grand Teton. You won't regret it!