Grand Teton National Park Photography Oxbow Bend Sunset

The Pandemic Roadtrip – Day 7 – Cascade Canyon

Author: Alec Sills-Trausch
Updated on

Hallelujah! We awoke Wednesday morning and for the first time, we were able to see the Grand Tetons.

Hiking into Cascade Canyon

Once we packed up from the hostel and ventured outside, we headed to hike Cascade Canyon, a stunning glacier valley to the right of Grand Teton. We opted to take a boat across Jenny Lake, saving us around 5 miles round-trip. After a mile of switchbacks, we emerged into the valley, with views of Grand Teton towering above us on our left.

Halfway in, we found two moose munching away near the lake. After shooting WAY too many photos, we kept going…only to start getting rained on. Dammit, mother nature! I thought we were done with this stuff!

We kept going, even with thunderclaps above us, and just a few minutes later the skies were perfectly clear. We’ve learned weather moves incredibly fast through the mountain range.

Grand Teton National Park Photography Cascade Canyon Grand Teton National Park Photography Cascade Canyon Grand Teton National Park Photography Cascade Canyon Grand Teton National Park Photography Cascade Canyon Moose Grand Teton National Park Photography Cascade Canyon

With a view of Grand Teton above us, we stopped right before the fork in the canyon and enjoyed some snacks before beginning the 5 miles return. On the way back, again, the rain hit for a few minutes and then subsided. This allowed us to really cruise until -screeeechhhhh- we rounded a turn and there was a fully grown bull moose, antlers and all, directly in front of us.

This was super cool and allowed us some amazing photos…but we were also on a deadline. We had two miles to the boat docks and the final ride was at 7 – and we had less than 45 mins to get there.

Eventually, we trekked above the trail and around Mr. Moose, continuing down the trail with no further issues. With a few running parts sparsed in between, we eventually made it down with 3 mins to spare.

Sunset in the Tetons

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Austin and I headed to the ever-popular Oxbow Bend for sunset. The view of the mountains, plus the reflection makes it a fan favorite and arguably one of the best photo spots in the park. The sky absolutely lit up and gave us a killer burn.

Sleeping debacle

I won’t go on and on here but this is the tldr: Austin had a dispersed camping spot in mind we were going to go to…that ended up being all taken. Now at 10 pm, we didn’t technically have a place to sleep. When we entered the park that morning, all the campgrounds were open. So we tried three campgrounds throughout the park, spanning over 2 hours – only to have all be full. So we spent an uncomfortable night in the car. One my back is still reeling from.

Thankfully, the next morning had a decent sunrise.

 

Until next time adventurers, take care and be safe.

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