Similar to our Rocky Mountain adventure, we had only one day in Grand Teton National Park. We were lucky to see an incredible sunrise, 3 stunning lakes, multi-colored wildflowers and lots of wildlife. I left feeling satisfied with what we covered but also wished for more time. With RMNP, I thought one day was perfect to cover the park but the Tetons left me wanting more.
What we covered
- Sunrise
- Mormon Row
- Schwabacher Landing
- Hiking
- Delta Lake
- Surprise Lake
- Amphitheater Lake
- Driving
- Jenny Lake Scenic Drive
- Parts of the GTNP Scenic drive
- Campgrounds
- Gros Ventre Campground
- Colter Bay Campground
Sunrise
Our first glimpse of the Tetons was when we drove into the park the previous evening just before sunset. The light at dusk produced a dull effect on the mountains, with shadows darkening them. We realized the best time for the most scenic views in the park is in the morning.
So we decided to haul ourselves out of our car camp at 5:15 am and drive to Mormon Row and Schwabacher Landing to see the first light on the Tetons. Our first stop was Mormon Row, where we saw the much post carded Moulton Barn in person.
Being a sucker for mountains reflected in the water, I decided that we would see the full sunrise at Schwabacher Landing. Schwabacher Landing was full of photographers. Finding a spot to get a good picture involved getting my feet wet and dirt everywhere while navigating the slush by the water. As the sun rose, the peaks went from having light pink tips to fully bathed in orange. It was magical.
Hiking
After some research, we decided to do the Delta Lake Trail. Our 15 mile hiking day in RMNP encouraged us to include Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes in our hike, bringing the total hiking distance to 12 miles and 3700 feet of elevation. Delta Lake on its own is around 8 miles with 2600 feet of elevation.
As soon as we began the hike, the fresh smell of pines overtook our senses. The first mile went through a shaded forest path and then opened up to a more exposed ridge. Thousands of sunflowers and purple flowers flanked the ridge and we could see views of Bradley and Taggart Lakes down below.
While climbing, we heard people talking about the bears they saw. We were skeptical until my husband whipped out the bear spray himself because he saw a bear looking down at us. Luckily, the bear was as scared of him as he was of the bear and it ran away.
Delta Lake
Around 3 miles in, we came to a fork in the path. We could do Delta Lake first or the other 2. The climb to Delta was extremely steep over a short distance (800 feet over less than a mile). The climb to the other 2 was a more gradual one with 1100 feet over almost 2 miles. We decided to do the steeper one first to get the harder hike out of the way. We got lost a couple of times and I even climbed a 100 feet up the wrong way trying to follow the AllTrails path. That wore me out by the time we got to the boulder field where the actual climb began. The climb through these boulders was the most strenuous portion for us. It was 100% worth it as Delta Lake was absolutely stunning.
We spent around 45 minutes relaxing at the lake – there were plenty of huge boulders to sit on and enjoy the views. Navigating the boulders to get to different spots around the lake was also a lot of fun. On the way down from the lake, we got extremely scenic views of the entire boulder field covered in pink wildflowers.
Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes
After the descent back to the fork, we started climbing up again to the other 2 lakes. This climb was very similar to the climb up to the fork. Even though it was just less than 2 miles, it felt never ending. Finally, we reached Surprise Lake and found it appropriately named because it appeared when we were not expecting it.
Surprise Lake wasn’t the most beautiful lake I’d ever seen so we hoped the final climb to Amphitheater was worth it. It definitely was and again, we spent some time at Amphitheater and relaxed on the boulders around the lake.
Going down was a lot easier and we were at the bottom in an hour and 10 minutes. The ascent time was 5.5 hours including our stops so the total hiking time was just under 7 hours. Because we started at 7, we had the whole afternoon to explore the rest of the park and Jackson.
Driving
Jenny Lake Scenic Drive
We wanted a break from hiking so we decided to drive around Jenny Lake. The main Jenny Lake parking lot was completely full but you only need to park there if you’re doing to full loop around the lake. About halfway into the scenic drive, there’s another much less crowded parking lot with views of the Lake. We stopped here and strolled for a bit.
Parts of the GTNP Scenic drive
After Jenny Lake, we decided to drive to Jackson for food. On the way to Jackson, we made a few detours to stop at several scenic overlooks and turnouts. These included Snake River overlook, Glacier View, Windy Point, Cascade Canyon and Teton Point turnouts and Antelope Flats Road. There were a lot of opportunities to spot wildlife along this route. We saw bison in the Elk Ranch Flats, antelopes in antelope flats and even a black bear hobbling into the forest on the side of Teton Park Road near Beaver Creek! Wildlife tip: whenever we saw a traffic jam in the park, it was because of rare wildlife.
Camping
Gros Ventre Campground
We spent the night before our main day at the park at Gros Ventre Campground. The location is perfect and only a 10 minute drive to Mormon Row and 12 minutes to Schwabacher Landing. This worked out well for our sunrise plans. There weren’t many facilities at the campground except basic bathrooms. We didn’t find this to be a problem at all since it’s only 10-15 minutes from the town of Jackson.
Colter Bay Campground
We spent our second night at Colter Bay Campground. This is one of the better campgrounds we’ve stayed at. We got hot showers and there were plenty of restaurants and stores. The campground is located just near Jackson Lake so we got to watch a beautiful sunset on the marina as well. This is a great base to explore the northern part of the park and is minutes from Oxbow Bend and Signal Mountain.
