Saturday 01 September

Jackson Lake and Signal Mountain

Driving by Jackson Lake we got our first view of the Tetons. And what a stunning looking mountain range they are, especially with the lake in the foreground. After setting up camp at Coulter Bay we went for a short walk by the Lake Shore accompanied by more stunning views and a little bit of rain. Not having much of the day left we drove up Signal Mountain to see the view from the top. It was obvious that a storm was rolling in but this enabled some cool moody photos of the Tetons. The storm properly hit on our way back to camp and, as it was obvious we wouldn't be cooking at the campsite, we got food in the cafe bit of the lodge before heading to bed.

Sunday 02 September

Paintbrush Canyon

The next day was spent hiking up Paintbrush Canyon as far as Holly Lake. This was a greater than 12 mile round trip with almost 3000ft of height gain. However it was well worth it for the views. It started with some nice views of String lake before we got some different views of the Tetons as we got higher up the canyon. Holly Lake itself was in a lovely setting and even had a backcountry campsite which I will have try to get if I ever do the Paintbrush-Cascade Canyons loop which we didn't have time for this trip. A tiring but very good hike. As we had some time left at the end of the day, and neither of us felt much like walking too much more, we stopped at a few pull outs on the way aback as well as driving up to the Two Ocean Lake trailhead. The hike around the lake looked like it would make a nice restful day hike for another visit.

Monday 03 September

Garnet Canyon

We struck camp the next morning as the plan was to hike up high into Garnet Canyon and camp before making a climbing attempt on Grand Teton the next day. However by the time we were quite high it was clear that Jen's blisters from the backup were causing quite a lot of pain, and that they certainly wouldn't be up to wearing climbing shoes the next day, so we turned round and headed back down turning it into a long day hike with very heavy packs. We were both exhausted by the time we got back to the car. We managed to get a camping spot at Signal Mountain and then we headed to the lodge for a very good, and reasonably priced, meal. Oh, I should say something about the picture with the weird patches on the tree - they're pheromone patches to try to stop the tree getting eaten by a beetle.

Tuesday 04 September

Jenny Lake

The next day we decided to hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. The shuttle boat across Jenny Lake had stopped running for the season due to low water levels so we instead had to hike around Jenny Lake. At Inspiration Point Jen turned back and did the shorter walk back to the car while I continued to walk all the way around Jenny Lake including a detour down one side of String Lake to get to some toilets I knew where there from our Paintbrush Canyon hike. Really glad I did this detour as I got some really nice views of String Lake and the Tetons. On the way back I managed to get really luck with a photo of a squirrel on a fence.

On the way back to camp we took a bit of a detour south through Moose. There was a moose in the river at Moose but due to the already manic traffic situation caused by tourists taking pictures we didn't stop. We then took the main road back to our campsite which allowed some more distant, if still hazy, views of the Tetons. That evening, our last evening in the park, we had a campfire and I played rather a lot with taking photos of it!

Wednesday 05 September

Horse Riding

The next morning we had horse riding booked for 11:45 and as we were up and ready some time before this we drove up Signal Mountain again to try to get some non-stormy shots. This time we mainly got hazy shots. Oh and a shot of a lake that Jen described as penis like. The horseback ride was two hours long and took us up toward Emma Maltida Lake, an area we'd not managed to explore. I had never ridden a horse before but still found it all very cool and enjoyable and we got many nice views of the lake, a river and even some birds of prey. A great two hours.

After the ride we headed back to Signal Lodge for lunch before we headed further south down the main road again which allowed us to get some more distant photos of the Tetons, as it wasn't now so hazy. I went for a short hike to an overlook over a lake. I forgot my camera so photos were taken on my phone but to be honest it wasn't very exciting although it did make a nice leg stretch before starting the drive back toward Denver.