Driggs, GTNP, Hot Springs

 Mom and Tom came up to my neck of the woods after they checked out at Bear Lake.  (They went to the Minnetonka Cave first and attempted to make it to Bloomington Lake but the road was still washed out and they couldn't make it).  They had dinner with us and then I met them at an airbnb in Driggs.

In the morning we packed up and headed out to hike Cascade Canyon.  We had to stop at Albertsons in Jackson because I forgot to bring the bread that I had purchased, dang it.  Then we through our sandwiches together and got moving.  We took the ferry at Jenny Lake.

Saw Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point

Hiking this trail this early in the season, we knew we would hit snow.  I didn't know how far we would want to go, but we all brought poles just in case.  You would think Tom would be in bad shape after running two marathons but he did really well.  He was having some pain in his foot though.

There was a lot of snow melt coming off the mountain in waterfalls.  It is a really great hike with the Tetons.  The clouds eventually covered up the Grand for a good part of it though.

Eventually we hit snow.  It started out in patches that we could step around but eventually covered the ground.  They seemed to want to keep going so we did.

It got worse.  The snow was really hard to deal with.  There were times your feet would sink through.  There were some really deep holes that I saw, but my feet never went that far.  At times we could hear water rushing underneath the snow we were walking on.  It was unnerving.  But we made it just fine.  After a couple miles of walking through snow, we made it to the lake (it feels a lot further in the snow!  I could've sworn we were almost there for like an hour).

It looks cooler in the summer, lol.  But it was a good accomplishment.

Even with snow all around us, it was still quite warm out when the sun was out.  

We saw a cute little bear frolicking through the snow.  It was adorable.  We were worried about it's momma being around but we never saw another one.  We heard from fellow hikers about a lot of other bears around but we never actually saw any others.  When I first saw this one I thought it was another marmot, granted a large one. Lol.

Hours later the sun went away and it started raining and I was freezing.  Tom must've been hurting even though he wasn't telling us, but he was quite slow on the way out.  It was long.  We were a little worried about missing the last ferry, but it wasn't that close.  We did get ahead of him at the end so we could get a spot on the ferry that was there.  I was sooooo cold.  I've never been so cold on a hike.  The ferry ride was brutal.  But after that we got to go to the warm car and turn on the heat!

We had planned three days in the mountains.  We wanted to do Delta Lake but figured we would need a day off in between the two hikes.  I thought it would be fun to paddleboard at String Lake on the second day.  And that would've been great if it were like two weeks later, or even if we had a little sun.  But we could see it wasn't going to be good paddling weather so we thought about walking around String Lake but with the clouds and the rain we changed our minds and decided to hit up the hot springs instead.  That was a good choice on a cool, rainy day!

The cold plunge pool wasn't all that cold.  Certainly not warm, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (I heard it was not being cooled like it usually is?)

It was a pretty area!  We got stuck in construction traffic on the way there and it cut into our reservation time unfortunately, but we probably didn't need to stay much longer anyway.  We stopped at a restaurant on the way home that Mom's family started.

Later that night we walked over to the Emporium for some huckleberry shakes.  We had planned to hike Delta the next day but I was nervous about the weather.  I think I was a little traumatized from the cold and the extra long day at Lake Solitude.  I was mostly concerned that it would be cloudy and we wouldn't have a view.  And it was supposed to rain.  We ultimately decided to go find something to do in Idaho Falls instead.  I left that night to go stay at home and help with getting the kids places the next morning.  Mom and Tom woke up and went for a run and it wasn't even raining or all that cold, of course.  

They came to Idaho Falls and we went to the museum.  It was all about prehistoric creatures, air and sea.  I don't remember what it was called now, but it was interesting!  Then they left.  I was disappointed that some of our plans got ruined but it is what it is when you plan something June 12th.  There was nothing they could do with the races being that weekend though.  We will get to Delta Lake with Mom eventually.