family hike day

tuesday was family hike day. papa smurf took pity on me and chose an easy trail. thank god.

we took a 3 mile hike to Hidden Falls in the Grand Teton National Park. it was stunning!

I have to say the hike is not what bothered me. my legs-even two days later-haven't even gotten sore. it was the altitude that almost killed me. I swear my chest was squeezing my lungs so hard the hiker next to me could hear them screaming for help.

I felt bad for slowing the group down and having other hikers pass us, especially when vegan mama was carrying nature boy in a pack on her back practically running the trail, and papa smurf carried a 50+ pound pack filled with his boy scout supplies. all I had was my 30 pound camera bag. stylish yes, but practical no. thankfully my right shoulder is well conditioned to lugging it around.

however, i felt extremely bad when there were elderly hikers passing us near the end. I became quite possibly the worlds worst hiker. I whined and growled with every 'we're almost there.'

so most of you that has had the pleasure to hear me babble about this trip, know that my worse fear was running into a bear. well guess what. no only did we come across a bear, we saw two!

one was smaller (papa smurf guessed a two year old) and was 20 yards left of the trail we were on and walked along side it for a few yards, but the other one (again papa smurf guessed she was the mama bear) came up behind us on the actual trail.

some stupid hiker tried to scare it off while she chased a marmot (did i mention he was stupid?) and she came charging after it oblivious to him. then I heard screaming and running.

great.

now let me say there was no complaining, no pain in my chest, no rational thought in my head that could stop me in self preservation mode. Nothing like knowing a bear was right behind you to put a new-found pep in your step! unfortunately I was so shook up I didn't get a clear shot of either. Niiiiiccee.

so we get to the falls and the glacial water that's rushing down the mountain dropped the temp sharply. the falls were HUGE. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it was.

we all walked down the other side and took the shuttle boat across Jenny lake back to the entrance. Jenny lakes water was crystal clear and ice cold. it was a great scenic ending to the adventurous hike.