The Grand Tetons are breathtaking, made all the more stunning as backdrops to the beautiful lakes. It was the perfect setting for our third national park hiking vacation!
Our cabin view at sunset
Full disclosure: After seeing Cariane’s pictures from her trip to Grand Teton National Park last summer, I told my husband I had figured out our next hiking destination. He was on board and we were able to book a week my daughter and her boyfriend could join us, making it a family vacation of sorts.
Hiking In Grand Teton National Park
We stayed in the park, at Signal Mountain Lodge, which is on a southeastern shore of Jackson Lake. We had a cabin with a full kitchen which was important because my daughter and her boyfriend are vegan. (The restaurant had one potentially vegan breakfast item—avocado toast, one vegan lunch item, and one vegan dinner entree.) Information on the website said only the smaller cabins have lake views, but as you can see the views out our windows and from our front porch weren’t bad.
Sunrise view from Signal Mountain Lodge
The Signal Mountain recreation area was a convenient home base, with the Jenny Lake recreation area about 10-15 minutes south and the Cotter Bay recreation area about 10-15 minutes north. It has a restaurant/bar, gift shop, and convenience store. You can rent kayaks and swim in the clear but chilly water—something only my daughter’s boyfriend was brave enough to do.
I was happy to soak up the scenery from the water’s edge.
We had three full days for hiking, and planned hikes at Jenny Lake, Signal Mountain, and Colter Bay. In addition to taking Cari’s suggestions, we used this map/guide for planning, and it had great tips that helped us make the most of our time hiking in Grand Teton National Park.
Hiking At Jenny Lake
For our first hike, we drove to Jenny Lake and took a boat ride across the lake to start from the other side. We got there early to beat the crowds, but didn’t make the first boat at 7 am like my daughter wanted.
It was chilly at 7:30!
We started with the popular Hidden Falls/Inspiration Point route.
Hidden Falls
Inspiration Point
Then we hiked back around the lake with an intentional detour around Moose Pond and an unintentional detour through Lupine Meadows.
Moose Pond
We were supposed to stay in the green zone
but got led astray into Lupine Meadow following signage for cars
This hike ended up being about 6 miles. We spent the rest of the day chillaxing in our cabin and exploring the Signal Mountain recreation area.
Hiking At Signal Mountain
We did the hardest hike on our second day, leaving from our cabin and hiking up Signal Mountain. The hike wasn’t that hard, but we are convinced it took us through the mosquito breeding grounds for all of Wyoming. The mosquitoes were ridiculous! Luckily we had brought the Deep Woods Off!—I ended up spraying my hat and keeping my jacket on even after I warmed up as protection from the swarms.
The views at the top were worth it,
but we had to share them with others who drove up. 🙄
On the way back, we stopped briefly at a lily pond between mosquito swarms.
This hike ended up being about 7 miles door-to-door with 1000 ft elevation gain.
Hiking At String Lake
I couldn’t get enough of the lake/mountain views, so for the main hike of our last day we chose the String Lake trail. Jenny Lake, String Lake, and Leigh Lake are three glacial lakes in a row—like a string of pearls according to the NPS description—and, yes, my daughter’s boyfriend braved the String Lake water too!
Footbridge near the south end of String Lake
The lake was gorgeous, and the trail also took us up into the ridge line and through woods for some welcome shade.
Footbridge near the north end of String Lake
Hiking At Colter Bay
We did two short afternoon hikes at Colter Bay—one to Heron Pond and one around the Lakeshore Trail.
We had wanted to do a Swan Lake/Heron Pond loop, but the Swan Lake Trail was closed, so we ended up doing an out-and-back to Heron Pond.
Heron Pond
Jackson Lake
This out-and-back hike was about 4 miles.
We took our time on the Lakeshore Trail figure-eight loop, which we did as our last hike on our last full day.
The figure-eight loop was about 2 miles.
True to its name the trail mostly follows the shoreline, but we were surprised when it climbed up into the woods, and had to stay alert because others had just seen a bear scurry inland from the shore.
Ah!
There’s a strip of beach between the loops of the figure eight. My daughter’s boyfriend waded in to swim. The rest of us were content to enjoy the water from the shore.
It was hard not to stop for pictures every few steps.
So that’s the highlights of our week hiking in Grand Teton National Park! Of course, I have 100 more photos on my phone, including a few I’m saving for our next coffee date. 🐃
In case anyone else cares, I kept up my Peloton streak by starting my day with a 10 minute stretching/mobility class to wake up my hips, quads and hamstrings. I probably should have tacked on an evening stretch, but was too involved with dinner, card games, and crashing early. 😉
A huge thank you to Deborah and Kim for hosting the Weekly Run Down link up.
Which National Park should we visit next?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
My sister and i spent a day at Grand Tetons during our trip to Jackson Hole. We loved it and it made me want to go back! It looks like you made the most of it. Was it crowded? !e were there in October and everything was closed, but we had it mostly to ourselves.
We went into Jackson Hole for lunch and groceries on our first day — cute town!
The only place that felt crowded was the Jenny Lake visitor area in the afternoon, which is why we did our hike early!
Looks like you had some fabulous hikes and boat rides out there with amazing weather. It doesn’t look too crowded either!
There were people at the “beach” areas, but the hiking trails were not too busy at all.
What a great vacation. Even more perfect to make it a family one.
I went there years ago but we didn’t hike.
Even now my hubby is not a hiker.
It’s gorgeous no matter where you are!
GAHHH! It’s so beautiful! I want to come along with you next time! I’ll help cook the vegan meals : )
Seriously, this scenery is breathtaking. And, how fun that you made it a family vacation! I’m definitely envious. And I love that it wasn’t crowded- it sounds like my dream vacation.
Ah, I’ve been waiting for this post. Spectacular!!
I just showed your photos to Kai and we both decided we have to go there one day. So beautiful!
I don’t like the sound of those mosquitos, though! Well, I guess they’re an important part of the eco-system…
If you had enough time, would you stay there longer? How many more days would you add?
That’s just what I did with Cari’s pictures last summer!
The trip was a good length for us, but with the serious hiking you do, you might want to stay longer — there are some longer hikes we didn’t do that sound really good — hiking through canyons to lakes. You also could do the Jenny Lake and String Lake hikes we did on the same day, and drive up to the top of Signal Mountain. 😉
It also would have been nice to have more time (even one afternoon/evening) in Jackson Hole — a cute town 15 min from the airport in the other direction.
That looks like some amazing places to spend a holiday and do some good hiking. So much beatiful scenery, and those trails! I’d love to go!
You should! 🙂
The mosquitos would be such a buzzkill! Glad you had such gorgeous views to keep your focus. All that hiking really sounds fun, and all the Peloton warm-ups were a great addition to the fitness 😉
They were only really bad on that one hike. It was nuts though!
Now this is my kind of holiday wow, mountains, lakes, hiking, boating and splendid views from the cabins! Your daughter’s boyfriend sounds like my husband – he is the only one brave enough to jump in chilly water!
He was on a mission to swim!
What a wonderful trip! I love, love, love the Tetons! We hiked the Cascade Canyon trail and that is where the bear was walking towards us on the trail. We will never forget that!
Oh, wow. That’s one trail we didn’t do. We just missed a bear sighting but saw fresh bear scat on the trail a few times.
This looks like an absolutely amazing trip! It’s so great that everyone could take part and enjoy and I would have had a hard time not stopping for every photo opp. I can’t wait to see what else you have to post.
I can imagine how amazing the air smelled, and those views! Swoonworthy!
I love the Grand Tetons – we honeymooned there and stayed in Signal Mountain Lodge! Our favorite hike during that trip was up to Lake Solitude, a 15-mile roundtrip hike where we saw very few people.
While living in northern Utah in 1981-83 Jackson was an easy day trip so we’ve been several times, most recently, though, in 2018 when I ran the Grand Tetons Half Marathon.