Jackson Hole

Jordan, Autumn, and I decided to spend our first weekend of our IHS rotation by traveling to Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons! When planning our first weekend trip, we checked with our preceptor and ended up taking Friday off. We looked at hotels, but they were all so expensive that we ended up booking a hostel in Teton Village (thanks to our well traveled Autumn's keen deal-finding skills). https://www.thehostel.us

We left Thursday after clinic around 4PM and got to The Hostel around 7:30PM. Jordan and I were pleasantly surprised by our room (the whole hostel thing was a little stressful for us). Due to COVID, we had a private room with 4 twin beds for the three of us. They even had coffee, tea, and hot chocolate every day with common areas complete with a full kitchen and lounge area. After getting settled Thursday night, we picked Teton Thai for dinner since it was walking distance from The Hostel. The food was delicious with great spice (Autumn might tell you her spice level was a little too hot to handle). https://www.tetonthaivillage.com

We were going to hike the national park trails Friday to avoid large crowds, but the weather was terrible so we spent most our time Friday just checking out the town. We walked around town and went in all the local shops. We bought a souvenir for what seems like every relative we have. 

We had breakfast at The Bunnery (https://bunnery.com) which was a great brunch for the price! After walking around we needed some caffeine, so we stopped in Cowboy Coffee. The coffee shop was awesome- great coffee and atmosphere. We stayed there for a few hours working on rotation projects, research, and Jordan even did some light reading! https://cowboycoffee.com

After coffee we weren't quite ready for dinner, so we decided it was time to venture to the National Elk Refuge (https://www.fws.gov/nwrs/threecolumn.aspx?id=2147512532)  The refuge is free to drive through, so we did just that- we tried to spot any wildlife we could! On the refuge we saw a few elk but we also had a very close call with a coyote! 

Before dinner we needed something to wet our whistle, so we headed to The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar (based on multiple recommendations). This place was so fun- lots of western decor, saddles for bar seats, and live music! https://www.milliondollarcowboybar.com

For dinner we headed to Bubba's BBQ (https://bubbasjh.com). The "que" was delicious and portions were huge! We headed back to The Hostel to get a good nights sleep for preparation for our national park day (hot chocolate first of course!)

We got up early and left for the park around 6:30AM. We had looked at AllTrails (https://www.alltrails.com) and decided we wanted to hike to Cascade Canyon- had great reviews, was highly recommended, and was our ideal hike length. We parked at Jenny Lake parking lot and started our hike to the canyon around 8:20! Instead of taking the ferry across Jenny Lake, we hiked the Jenny Lake trail (to get our steps and views in of course!) 

After hiking around Jenny Lake, we saw the Hidden Falls and started our hike up to the canyon. On the way we stopped at Inspiration Point (the inspiration was needed because hours on the stair climber could not prepare you for that elevation!) 



Along the way to the canyon, we saw lots of wildlife, even some moose (moose, mooses, meese?) We had some snow to trudge through, but it was all worth it once we made it to Cascade Canyon. 



The views were amazing and we even saw an avalanche!! At the top of the canyon (4.5 miles later) we ate lunch and started our hike back down to the lake. Our hike down was very crowded, so we'd recommend getting an early start. We were so tired after our hike, so we headed back to The Hostel, took some hot showers, and some great naps. We ordered takeout from Pizzeria Caldera in Jackson and slept like babies after our 9.4 mile hike. We woke up Sunday and limped to breakfast at Persephone- delicious food, pastries, and coffee! 

Sunday morning was cold and rainy, but we still wanted more national park; so we headed to Moose, WY to hike Schwabacher's Landing (short, 2-mile, easy hike). It was cold, but we had a great time looking at all the beaver dams on Snake River! This hike was on the way back towards he house, so we left for home after the hike (and hit lots of snow on the way back). 
























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