Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Day 6: Grand Teton National Park

We woke up early and checked out of hotel by 8:30 AM. We did not have a complete day to cover Grand Teton, as we had our stay booked at Green River, Utah for our Day 7 destination ‘Arches National Park’.

The plan was to take the loop starting from Moose Junction –> Jenny Lake –> Jackson Lake Junction –> Moran Junction –> Moose Junction. Per our study, this was the scenic route that covered all the beautiful turn outs, overlook of mountains, lakes, etc,

We spotted a moose on the way.

We stopped at the visitor center located at Moose Junction and purchased a souvenir of Grand Teton National Park. The view of Grand Teton Mountains from the parking lot of visitor center was amazing.

Beautiful View of Grand Teton Mountain Range

Our next stop was at Windy Point turnout. We did click couple of pictures with beautiful mountains backdrop.

Taggart Lake was another beautiful attraction. This lake was at a distance of 1.5 miles from the trail-head and were told as worth visiting. It was around 1.5 miles walk one way (total of 3 miles), so I stayed back and NK went on the trail. NK completed the 3 mile distance in 50 mins (possible only if you run or jog 1.5 miles). He mentioned that the view was absolutely magnificent and worth taking the 3 mile walk. The water was still at the lake displaying a beautiful reflection of the Grand Teton Mountain and Aspen woods. Some of the pictures he clicked :

Beautiful Reflection of Grand Teton Range as seen at Taggart Lake

There was another lake named Bradley Lake in the other direction but due to time constraint, we had to skip that.

We started from Taggart Lake parking lot around 11:30 AM. We were running out of time with more than 70% of the loop to be covered. Our next stop was by Jenny Lake. But on our way, we stopped by Cascade Canyon turnout for a beautiful view of the Teton Mountains.

Later we entered the Jenny Lake road from North and stopped by String Lake.

We then moved to the south of Jenny Lake road to see the beautiful view of the Jenny Lake and mountains around it. The lake is located at the foot of the cascade canyon. As the sky was clear, the lake appeared blue in color with reflection of mountains as seen from the Jenny Lake overlook.

Next we stopped at the Jackson Lake Dam.

We crossed the Dam to visit the Jackson Lake. Before we reached Jackson Lake, we took a stop at Colter Bay Visitor Center. The visitor center was closed for the season but view at the back was mesmerizing.

Our final destination towards north of the park was Jackson Lake Overlook. We took a few pictures and returned back to Jackson Lake Junction.

Enroute Moran Junction, we stopped at the Oxbow Bend Turnout. No doubt this is one of the most photographed spot in the entire park. The view of Snake River with reflection of Mount Moran was spectacular. The lake was surrounded by yellow weeds and trees making it even more beautiful.

It was almost 2:30 PM. We took the highway 89 to Jackson Hole via Moran Junction. The turnouts and overlooks of highway 89 is a must do. Keeping in mind that we had 8 hour long drive to Utah, we decided to leave the park by 4PM atleast.

Our next stop on our way was Snake River Overlook. As the name suggests, the river appears as a snake.

Next we pulled over at Teton Point Turnout. The alluring view of the Teton Mountains can be seen from here. Glacier View Turnout is over a small distance. The turnouts on highway 89 are located far from the mountains to give a clear picture of how tall they stand. Every pull out is unique and different. So if one has sufficient time, would recommend to stop by each turnout /overlook.

Our final stop of the park was at the Teton Park entrance which was around 4:15 PM local time.

We got out of the park, had some food and left for Green River, Utah. On the way, we stopped for dinner at an Indian restaurant around 8PM. We reached the hotel, Comfort Inn around 12:30 AM and were so tired that we rushed to bed as soon as we checked in.