For this day, we spent quite a bit of time packing out stuffs last night. But as usual, we set off @ 9am this morning. We'll be doing a short hike to the inspiration point from Jenny Lake. But before we head to the National Park, we paid 1 last visit to the supermarket. Coz i needed to get some plasters for a cut that I got from yesterday. I fell down whilst trying to capture a photo because the ground was slippery with ice then. Anyway back to today's hike in the mountains, we could not do a longer hike as we've got to get to the Jackson airport by 3pm. Coz we'll be taking the flight to Salt Lake City at around 5pm.
Entrance of Elk Horns (Jackson City)
'No Idling'
Jackson City in the morning
Anyway we drove to Jenny Lake. From there, my sister brought a backpack and inside it was our water and sandwiches. Coz the hike would take about 2++ hours. The total hike distance was about 5miles (to and fro). Along that way, the scenery was really beautiful. We had to move fast.... coz time was limited on our side. But before we head to Jenny Lake, we decided to visit the Visitor Center to check out some stuffs and road closure that sort.
Entrance to Grand Teton NP
mum & me with the fake moose (took this because i've got a feeling we may not get to see the moose)
Mirror image on String Lake
Looking out to Jenny Lake
The hikers (i'm behind the camera)
A bug crawling on the ground
Soon we reached the fork at the bridge. To the left was the view point for the Hidden Waterfalls. And to the right was the continuous road that lead upwards to the Inspiration point. However, there as an elderly couple standing there. My sister talked to them and they told her that there was a brown bear on the pathway. And they needed more people to scare the bear away. (then came a long 1 group of youngesters) We decided not to walk up to the inspiration point coz my parents were feeling a little tired. hahaha... in fact more like suffering from the heat (after the long hike) rather than tiredness. So we decided to sit at the viewing point of the waterfalls and have our lunch. Our lunch consist of the usual, sandwiches and water and some nuts and chips. After admiring somemore of the waterfalls, we decided to head back to our car (the long hike back).
Hidden Waterfalls
not long after walking away from the place, we passed by a mother and daughter. Then suddenly, the mother and daughter ran back to us. The mum's face was really pale and she was scared. She told us that she saw a brown bear standing at the bridge. She thought it was a human being wearing brown, but when the bear turned its face, she saw it was a bear! So she ran back to us in the hopes of getting us to go back with her to find her husband as he had gone ahead before her. So when we neared the bridge, we did not see the bear there.... but we did see her husband sitting on a huge rock. We looked around... then we saw the brown bear at the opposite side of the river! He was staring at us! and his look was as if 'Ahh.... so u guys are the ones with the ham!'. hahahaha.... hahaha...coz we believe he is hungry and looking for food. then after awhile, with more people making noises, the bear went back into the forest. Such a close encounter with the bear! The past few days we tried looking for the bear and we couldn't see any... and today... we were not actively looking for it nor expecting to see bear and we saw one!
Brown Bear staring at us
Overlooking out on Jenny Lake
Dried out dead trees standing tall
Another angle of the still waters of Jenny Lake
Walking away from the mountains
Baby eagle calling out to his mum (eagles are really smarty birds. they build their nests on the top of dead trees. In this way, their eagle chicks will be protected from animals or predators)
Some more sightings of the mountains
Soon, we were back to our car. After arranging stuffs, we headed to the airport. But we've got a about 3hrs to kill.... coz we were really early.... hahaha... so sat in the car a little more to admire the last sightings of Grand Teton mountains.
Lone barn in front of Grand Teton
Wheat stalks swaying in the winds
Goodbye Jackson & Grand Teton NP
Soon we were airborn and heading to Salt Lake City. I must say the pilot was really scary....But his flying skills were good. After 1hr on flight we landed in Salt Lake City and we had a couple of hours to kill. So we had our dinner before taking the plane again to Seattle. So by the time we reached Seattle, it was around 9pm. At least this time round we know the layout of the airport and where to take the hotel shuttle service. So very soon, we reached Mariott Fairmont Hotel. As this night was our last night... in fact i had to leave the hotel at 5am tomorrow, it i had to do the washings and packing that night. At least for my parents and sister, they will be flying the day after me at 2am. So they still have somemore time. =D
