Ohhhh the Tetons.
Ever since moving out West I had been enticed by the amazing Teton Mountain Range. Like The National Parks song goes, I desperately wanted to "belong here with the Great Tetons". So when a work trip to Wind River came along and Jordan and I had the opportunity to travel together, we decided to plan it juuuuust right so that it would coincide with both our anniversary and Independence Day (top tip: pick a wedding date that is on or close to a holiday - then if you take any anniversary trips, they will include a paid day off. You're welcome).
So, on June 29, 2019 - our 6th anniversary - we drove from Billings down to Grand Teton National Park, making a few pit stops in Yellowstone National Park to stretch our legs along the way.
It was a beautiful day for driving and once we arrived in the park, we made our way towards Shadow Mountain in search of a spot to pitch our tent for the night (shout out to our former coworker Giselle for the FREE camping spot recommendation - you're the real hero for introducing us to this incredible spot!).
<-- Side note: this is one of my favorite pictures I have of Jordan - such a hippie!
We spent the evening enjoying an anniversary dinner (boxed mac & cheese for the win), staring at the magnificent Tetons, and watching the remaining sunlight disappear slowly behind the mountaintops.
The next day
We woke up at 5:30am the next morning to get a jump start on our busy day of exploring. While Jordan made breakfast (oatmeal with chia seeds, cinnamon, almond butter, and banana chips) and I started cleaning up the inside of the tent, we were able to catch some of the sunrise. After we had loaded up on carbs for the day ahead, we packed up Pebble and made our way down to the park. Our first adventure of the day was to hike Death Canyon Trail, leaving the trailhead just before 8am.
We were about 8.5 miles into the hike before the trail became snow covered and disappeared. We decided to take a lunch break and head back to the trailhead so we could hit up another short(er) hike that afternoon. We couldn't have asked for better weather - blue skies, sunny and warm - and were treated to wonderful views of Phelps Lake and Death Canyon.
Back at our car, I convinced Jordan that we should do a "cool down" hike as I like to call them, since we weren't going to have a ton of time in the park. So after some grumbling (from Jordan...his old man knees were starting to bother him a bit) and snacks of course - nothing like cold watermelon on a warm summer day after a 17+ mile hike - we made our way to Taggart Lake Trailhead.
We hiked the 1.5 miles to Taggart Lake, where I somehow convinced Jordan that we should continue on and take the loop to Bradley Lake (which would turn our 3 mile "cool down" hike into a 6 mile hike). He complained pretty much the whole way but we finally made it (marriage is about compromise...right!?).
At this point we were both ravenous (hello - in one day we had hiked 23+ miles, gained over 3200 feet in elevation, and took over 50,000 steps) so we drove over to Moose Junction and ordered THREE EXTRA LARGE pizzas as fast as we possibly could - I don't even know if we fully knew what three flavor combinations we had chosen to be honest. Luckily, service was speedy and we shortly had three hot pizzas within our grasp. Now, with sore feet, tired bodies, and full but happy stomachs, we hit the road again, this time headed for Lander, WY for the actual work portion of the trip.
On our drive to Lander we came upon Dubois, WY, a charming old Western town with the neatest red rock/badlands-esque features. We drove up to a viewpoint to watch the cotton candy sunset over the formations, with the snow capped mountains as their backdrop.
Wyoming's beauty had pleasantly surprised me so far, and I couldn't wait to get back to The Tetons in a couple days time!