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Home > Trip Reports > Road Trip/Backpacking at Grand Teton NP
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sunset from basecamp
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North Cascade - camp 1
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North Cascade - camp 1
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me at Lake Solitude
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water source near camp 2
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Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
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Beartooth Pass
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Badlands
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Road Trip/Backpacking at Grand Teton NP
June 2008
WY
posted by The Brandon
A group of five other hikers and myself rented a minivan and went on a roughly 4000 mile round-trip cross-country drive to Wyoming. We left at 4:30 A.M. Central Time on June 17. Except for a Super 8 Motel somewhere in Nebraska, we didn't stop anywhere for long.
When we finally made it there, we set up our basecamp at the Signal Mountain campground, on the eastern bank of Jackson Lake. We camped for two nights and hiked to the top of Signal Mountain before making our way into the Tetons. On day three, we drove to South Jenny Lake Junction, got our backcountry camping permits and bear canisters, and then we took the shuttle boat across Jenny Lake. The hike started with a long switchback to the top of Inspiration Point. We took a break, took some pictures, and then started hiking up Cascade Canyon.
Cascade Canyon was an easy, mostly straight, gradual incline with great scenery on either side. When we came to the fork of the trail, we took a break and waited for the group members that were lagging behind. This was around the area where the ground was still covered with snow, a roughly 7800 ft. elevation. Our plan was to hike up the Lake Solitude Trail, pitch our tents in the camping zone, and then hike farther up the canyon to see Lake Solitude before the sun set. Because the daytime high was in the mid-70s, the snow was a bit slushy within the top 6 inches. Stepping into pockets that make you sink past your knee really takes a lot out of a person, and is a little demoralizing, too. It took us way too long to make it to the camping zone because we didn't pack snowshoes. We finally found a dry patch of ground with easy access to water as the sun was setting over North Cascade Canyon. We were all cold and wet up past our knees by this point, so we didn't hike to the lake until the next morning. We set up our tents, ate dinner, hung our packs in trees, and went to sleep for the night.
We all woke up around 9 A.M. Mountain Time because the sun peeked into the canyon and made our tents feel like ovens. We ate breakfast, packed our bags, and four of us made our way up to Lake Solitude. The other two stayed at camp with our backpacks and stayed in touch with two-way radios. When we made it to the lake, we found that it was just beginning to thaw so there wasn't much to see. We told the other two guys over the radio we were coming back down. They decided to get a head start on us because they were constantly lagging behind the day before. We practically ran down from the mountains because it is so much fun to do in the snow. Along the way, a few of us did face plants in the snow, myself included. We put on our packs and hiked back down to the fork. We took a break there, and then caught up with the other guys while hiking up Teton Crest Trail. The snow was even deeper in this area, over 20 ft. in places. I'm not exactly sure where we camped that night. There were no footprints in the snow to guide us, and we lost the trail. After all of us became frustrated with constantly sinking thigh deep in the snow, we finally decided to camp on top of a couple of exposed boulders. Our tents weren't perfectly shaped because we couldn't properly stake them to the ground, but the rock did hold a little of the sun's warmth.
We had planned to hike farther into the Alaska Basin the next day so we could see into Idaho, but we had a group discussion and came to a decision to turn back because we just weren't equipped to deal with that much snow. I don't know if we even covered 20 miles, but it took us three whole days to do it. We came out of the mountains, took showers near Jackson Lake Lodge, and went back to basecamp. That next day, we spent an entire day sightseeing at Yellowstone. The highlight of that area for me was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The geysers just didn't live up the the hype for me. As the day was coming to and end, we made the long drive back to Jackson Hole to have a good meal. (If any of you readers ever find yourselves in Jackson Hole, WY and you like BBQ, you must eat at Bubba's BBQ. They have the most amazing ribs I think I've ever eaten.)
We camped another night at Signal Mountain, got up early, and we saw our first black bear just across the road from the campground. We drove straight through Yellowstone to Beartooth Pass, which has the most incredible scenery. We then began our long journey home. We weren't in Montana for long, but I really liked the landscapes there. We spent the night in Deadwood, SD, and slept in the van. Deadwood is painted as a historic western town in the Black Hills, but as it turns out, it is overridden with casinos now. We checked out the visitor's center/museum and then saw Wild Bill's and Calamity Jane's grave sites. There wasn't much else to see besides all the slot machines. We got back in the van and stopped at Wall, SD. Wall is a small tourist town, similar to Gatlinburg, TN, but without the junk. We spent some time browsing the gift shops and ate ice cream. From there, we headed to the Badlands, which was interesting. It would have been nice to see it in the evening when the sun brings out the colors like the photos you see in magazines, but I still enjoyed it. This was the last stop on our 4000 mile road trip. We drove in shifts and stayed on the road overnight.
We arrived back at home in the afternoon of June 26. Time flies when you're having fun, and this was no different. We've started planning next year's adventure. I think we'll be climbing Grand Teton. 
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