Day 8: Boats, Cars, a Waterfall, and a Hiking Adventure

Day eight of our epic vacation began with laundry. Oh, yes, it did. I decided that with the significantly cooler than expected temperatures, all the shorts and short-sleeved shirts were pretty much unnecessary. So, I reorganized all of our suitcases—sounds fun, right? Ha!

One activity Nikki and Miguel and Jess (not me, the OTHER Jess, boy did that get confusing :) hoped to take A to do: horseback riding. They invited us, but we have grandpa access to horses, so we decided to pass. Well, then they found out that all the trail rides in the area were done for the season. Bummed! Until we noticed a line of beautiful horses (one, I am not joking, was grayish-purple-blue, I’ve never seen a horse like it!) riding on a trail directly off the balcony of our vacation home. 

As it turned out, there was a stable and horseback riding opportunity at the resort area in which we were staying. And to give you an even better picture of the community surrounding us, the tour guide who took our vacationing crew—none of whom had ridden horseback since approximately kindergarten—took the president’s son and his wife on a trail ride two weeks ago, along with their entourage of secret service men. Yup, that was our neighborhood. 

Another indicator—we were surrounded by hot off the presses Rolls Royce SUVs. They rolled up the hills with us in red, green, gold, black . . . as we left, we saw the film crew shooting commercial footage on these secret release vehicles. Just guess the estimated price tag. Just guess. $450,000 each!!!! We saw six. Four in one parking lot. Buck might have taken a picture. (Is it bad that I thought they were kind of ugly? Except for the red one, that one was sweet!)

Professional pics I found online from the photo/video shoots we saw

Buck's picture of the Rolls . . . I like his better (but not the color, blech!)

When our cowboys and girls returned from their adventure, our babysitting duties were complete (fun morning with baby S!) We all ate a little lunch and then packed up the kids for a trip to the Tetons! We snagged a Jr. Ranger book for Graysen to start working on (he was still in the midst of a Yellowstone Jr. Ranger book, but we knew we’d be back, so he didn’t have to rush either of these) at the visitor center. We also took this opportunity to ask a ranger about hike options. Now, remember, we’ve got a very varied crew wanting to wander. Mike and Jenn had taken the girls on the same Jenny Lake hike as under-ten-year-olds twenty years ago, now their grandson is that age! 

We decided to see the Hidden Falls. This required a drive to a second visitor center followed by an open boat ride—a “ferry” across the choppy, windy lake. Not only did we book one of the final ferry rides of the season, but on board was the owner of the whole operation. There were two hours left of boat rides back to the point of departure—until the next year. What to do? Well, the map promised a “moderate” two-mile hike back to the visitor center (which happened to be under construction, so was not open). The owner said, “Don’t miss the boat if you want a ride back, we drink champagne at 4:15 PM.” A nice hike around a lake with a busy 7-year-old, an arthritic mom carrying a small baby in a front pack, a couple of asthmatics, a guy recovering from back surgery, another guy who needs knee surgery, and a cancer survivor? No problem. We got this. Except . . .

Well, except the trail was up a mountain. And down a mountain. And through a mountain. The first part of the trek to the Hidden Falls might have been an indication of what we were up against. However, the boat owner fellow (who knew a ton about the area) walked with us a ways and gave us an impromptu tour. His words concerning the trail, “It’s a little hill up, and then a little ways down, and then flat around the lake.” Before we’d even left the Hidden Falls trail, Miguel had found a large walking stick and was busy removing the bark and branches so his brave wife had something to hold onto. I told him he looked very mountain manly . . . except for the pink diaper backpack :)

As you might imagine, we invited many folks to “play through.” At one point an older couple from Austria (we think) passed us, then excitedly motioned us over a few minutes later, “Do you want to see a moose?!” You bet we do! We’d seen a moose along the shore on our boat ride over. We thought maybe this was a better view of the old fellow. Ummm, it was a deer. But a good chance for us all to catch our breath and drink some water. “Sorry about that,” said the Austrian visitor. Lol!

Last boat leaving the lake . . .

Our hikers on the steep, rock slide mountainside waving them goodbye! I took a picture of my foot so you could get an idea how crazy steep it was; not a tumble we wanted to take to the lake for a swim!

As we hiked the remaining two hours (bringing our grand total to three), we encountered steep, rock-slidden slopes, golden Aspen leaves, quiet meanders, sweeping views of Jenny Lake, frosting covered animal crackers speckled with sprinkles (hikers need to eat), two moose across a river (nice spot by Jess, not me, the other one), oh and a storm blew up. By the time we reached the bottom of the mountain trail—everyone made it by the way—the trail we’d just taken was covered with gray fog. The boat access we passed through a break in the trees, sent a pummeling wind off the water directly at us. Oh that crazy mountain weather!

Zoom in on the moose across the river near an area aptly named "Moose Pond"

Buck got a picture of the break in the trees for boat access--I don't know how the phone didn't blow out of his hand!

A quick stop (but never quick enough) at the squatty potties, confirmation that the ferry crew were indeed toasting the end of their season, and back in the van and rental cars to warm up. Round trip from the cars back to the cars—three hours and about that many miles, up then down a mountainside. Whoa.

It was five o’clock; the dinner plan—lasagna, and we were about an hour’s drive from the big house. Did we turn back? No we did not! We went for a wildlife drive through the beauty of the park, around Oxbow Bend, past Jackson Lodge (looking for bear #399 and her cubs) . . . and saw, well, not much that trip. But, oh those gorgeous fall colors!

That night, dinner hit the table around about 8 PM—followed by chocolate Andes brownies and mint chip ice cream (Nikki loves to bake as much as our girls do!) Still no sign of the missing engagement ring, though we all kept searching (maybe in the couch cushions? have you checked pictures you took that day to narrow down at what time you lost it? maybe in a dirty diaper . . . ew?). And no insurance to replace the missing precious stone and memory. Ugh!!

Those were the mountains we were just walking on! Glad we got down to the bottom when we did.

Since we didn't see any bears in the wild, Graysen wanted his picture taken with one at the grocery store--we made a lot of trips to the grocery store :)

The storm that settled over the mountains after our hike left a light layer of snow across the tops which we could see the next morning. Though we kept our eyes peeled for the neighborhood moose, they eluded us. But we had other moosen hunting plans . . . back to Yellowstone!