The Hidden Falls

Day 17! We started our day by stopping for 'brunch' at Grant Village on Yellowstone Lake before driving through the South Entrance into Grand Teton National Park.

It is so arresting to see those mountains. No foothills, no lead-up, just 12,000 foot peaks out of flat land. Unbelievable.

Our plan for the the day was to stop at Jenny Lake and see the Hidden Falls. There are two ways to the falls -- either hike around the lake (about 2.5 miles from the Visitor Center) or take a boat across. We decided to take from both, hiking there and taking the boat back.

The hike itself was nice, although a little crowded. Green and lush, with that ever impossing view of the mountains.

After walking for a little over two miles we met up with the boat people and the trail got /very/ crowded. The Yellowstone guidebooks must advise people to come down and take the Hidden Falls boat ride -- everywhere else we roamed in Grand Teton was empty (even when we stopped to watch a coyote running through the plains). But we braved the crowd up to the falls which were terrific.

We decided to then go another mile up to Inspiration Point over the lake which helped us get away for a bit.

After taking the boat back, we hopped in the car for the 20 minute drive down to Jackson, Wyoming. Our original plan had been to spend the night there, but seeing as it was only 5:30pm we decided that we would be better off to begin crossing the Wyoming plains. We targeted Riverton near the middle of the state for the night.

The drive from Jackson to Riverton was gorgeous. We were impressed by Wyoming last time we drove through, and this time was even better -- there were these amazing 'painted cliffs' throughout the different canyons. Only negative was the extensive road construction we kept meeting.

Tomorrow we dash across the rest of Wyoming and reach South Dakota -- hopefully early enough in the day to see Wind Cave and Mount Rushmore.