Grand Tetons

Moose, Bears, and Introverts, Oh My!

What’s a good adventure for introverts? How about spending a week backpacking through the Grand Tetons where marmots and deer outnumber the humans? Sign me up!

So that’s what we did back in 2022 at the end of August. Not only were we able to take in all that the Tetons had to offer, but the planning was also highly involved. Double win!

The Planning:

The thought about backpacking in the Grand Tetons started when we had a quick, passing by visit the year prior where we hiked parts of the Cascade Canyon Trail (We would highly recommend this trail if you only had a little time in the park). We fell in love with those jagged peaks and with being so close to Yellowstone where all the crowds were, it felt a little more intimate. Then, the researching and permit hunting began!

First, a little about Grand Tetons’ permits. Permits are not required to enter the park, but one is required to camp overnight in various designated camping areas in the national park. Only one/third of these permits become available to purchase online and in advance. The remaining permits are available the day prior and can be purchased at various centers around the park. They are extremely competitive so plan in advance the best as possible. Permit information can be found here.

Even though I was prepared and was refreshing the page for it to go live every second, I was not able to secure the required permits online. So now, we had months of waiting and stressing. All this did was lead to more planning, which is not necessarily a bad thing for us. Though most of it was now a waiting game, we still had to plan our packing strategies, which is one of Carrie’s strengths. Me? I usually just cram things in and hope for the best. For this trip though, I was going to have to find my inner-Carrie and Tetris the heck out of this while also being mindful and efficient with everything going in the pack. I wish I could have just done an exciting Rocky-like training montage, but it was just a lot of packing and repacking. It definitely helped determine what was absolutely necessary though.

The Packing:

For this trip, we needed to balance bringing enough food to survive for five days along with all of the rest of our gear. For clothing, layers were the name of the game…we knew the weather would be variable with the altitude changes and being able to stay comfy was key. We also needed to bring the usual backpacking gear: tent, sleeping bags, stove, way too much fuel for the stove, etc. And bear spray. Definitely bear spray. We decided to divide and conquer with the joint supplies. I carried the tent and Carrie handled the stove, first aid kit, and water filter.

Grand Tetons also requires that you carry food and scented items in an approved bear canister. If you do not have one, you can acquire one for free through the visitor’s centers. However, make sure you plan for this space in your pack because they are cumbersome and come in various sizes.

Here’s Carrie’s packing list as an example:

Backpack
Trekking poles
Garmin inReach (safety first!)
Dry bags (to hold clothing, sleeping bag, and misc items that couldn’t get wet)
Sleeping bag
Sleeping pad
Inflatable pillow
Poop shovel (very important!)
Toilet paper (also very important!)
Bear spray
Water filter
2 liter hydration bladder
2 “Smart Water” bottles to mix electrolyte powder
Stove
Titanium spork
Mug (instant coffee is still coffee)
Sunscreen
2 short sleeve merino wool t-shirts
1 long sleeve merino wool t-shirt
1 pair of pants
1 pair of merino wool long underwear pants
2 pairs of socks
3 pairs of underwear
2 sports bras
Rain jacket
Puffy jacket
Gloves
Beanie
Ball cap
Sunglasses
First aid kit
Knife
Toothbrush and toothpaste
Five days worth of food
- 4 freeze dried dinners
- 2 freeze dried breakfasts
- 2 instant oatmeal packets
- All the snacks (bars, nuts, peanut butter M&Ms, goldfish crackers, pretzels, etc)
- Instant coffee
- Skratch hydration powder
Bear canister
Hiking boots
Sandals for camp (sooo nice to get a break from the boots)

Fully loaded with food and water, our packs weighed around 30 lbs….not exactly ultralight, but all that food adds up! Luckily, every day the packs got lighter as we ate our way through our stash.

The Insecurities:

Even though this trip was right up our alley, it was not without its struggles starting with not being able to get our permit when online registration began in January. Needless to say, but I am saying it anyways, we are planners. Planning helps us deal with our anxiety and insecurities for anything that we do. Not knowing what our itinerary would be or if we’d be able to backpack at all led to a long few months. So, what did we do? We planned for the uncertainty of course! We had backup plans on backup plans, including a list of day hikes if we could not get a permit at all.

Other insecurities that we had were just about the backpacking itself. It would be our longest time out in the wilderness with just ourselves to rely on, and we had worst-case scenarios going through our minds (bad weather, injury, eaten by bear). Luckily, none of these came to fruition. Though the bear one ended up being a possibility…SPOILERS…but again, we planned. We got a Garmin InReach (link), calculated how many calories we should be consuming, and checking maps for water sources along our route. This approach limited our anxiety going into it, but we were still stressed not knowing what our adventure would be.

The Adventure:

The morning prior, before any other living thing was awake, we showed up to the permit office (two hours before opening) and got a prime spot at the front of the line. Score one for over worrying because we got our permit as we had originally hoped! To quote the great introvert, Bilbo Baggins, “I am going on an adventure!” So what was the adventure? Five days, four nights covering 58 miles looping around the Tetons backcountry.

We now had a day before we were off into the wilderness. All we did was do some cycling, napping, double-checking our packs, then checking them again. We also checked out the trailhead area where our journey would begin, because planning. It’s a good thing we did because our van probably would not have made it to the actual trailhead without losing the generator on the uneven dirt road.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh…it’s the morning of our grand adventure! With all of the planning that went into it, it was a relief to pull up and take those first steps towards the trail. At this point, whatever happens, happens. It was a calm and crisp morning. Much like most of our time out there, the weather was perfect. Day one was pretty uneventful, despite us hiking on the Death Canyon Trail, which is supposedly named due to a member of a hiking party getting lost in the area and never seen again. We kept to mostly woodlands while ascending most of the day. The best part though, we only came across a few people all day! Just what we were hoping for out of day one. I did not sleep well though as it was windy and my mind went to a tree falling on us for most of the night. It’s always good to set up camp around healthy looking trees! Not surprisingly, no tree fell on us during the night but now I was worried that my lack of sleep would impact me with so much left in our journey.

Day two was filled with more inclines and with that, better views as things started to open up. Particularly, towards the end of the day hiking on the Death Canyon Shelf, which is also where we camped. We came across some more people this day with us passing popular areas like Marion Lake.

Day three was probably our favorite day as we traversed the most diverse landscapes of the entire trip including the Alaska Basin, Schoolroom Glacier, and up to my favorite view, Hurricane Pass. It was there that I took my pack off, sat on a rock, and just breathed for about thirty minutes. This was my happy place. Though I could have stayed there the rest of the day, we pushed onwards and down through a picturesque canyon where we made camp. But it wasn’t that simple…

As the day of hiking would wind down, I usually trekked out ahead and scouted for a good camping site for the night. This day of scouting came with a surprise visit on the trail ahead when I took a corner to see a momma bear with her cub. Eeeek! “What do?” I thought. I stood there for a moment frozen. They probably were wondering who this weirdo was then turned and went the other direction down the trail, out of my sight. I turned around and met up with Carrie to give her the details. Long story short, we shared a campsite with another group consisting of three guys. Not what I was hoping for in my introvert adventure but safety in numbers I suppose. The night came and went with no one getting eaten by a bear. We packed up the next morning and were on our way before the guys got up to prevent any more awkward, forced conversations.

Turns out, this area was home to more big mammals as we came across Mr. Moose shortly into our day five hike. It looked like he did not have his coffee yet so we went off the trail and passed with extreme caution. Tensions were high as moose can be very unpredictable, and he was pretty close. Probably, a little scarier than running into the bears the previous evening or going to a party where you don’t know anyone.

We were onward to the Jenny Lake Visitors Center via the familiar to us, Cascade Canyon Trail, and the summer crowds. By this time, we likely had a certain aroma and look to us reminiscent of Pig-Pen from Peanuts telling everyone to stay away from these two. Thank you non-verbal cues! We did have a lovely chat on our final day with an older couple that had been touring national parks. They showed us pictures from their recent visit to Glacier National Park that looked amazing. One day we’ll get there! It was nice to have some human interaction as long as it’s not like a Black Friday at Wal-Mart.

Getting back to day four, we were able to dispose of trash, grab some snacks, refill our water, chug a Coke, and use the indoor plumbing facilities (no digging a hole!) at Jenny Lake. This was a nice reset and came at a great time. The rest of the day would be climbing up switchbacks to our final campsite by Surprise Lake. Probably the most relaxing of the campsites, but Death Canyon Shelf was up there too. Get it? Up there. Both were above 9000 feet above sea level and the highest campsites of the trip. Anyways…

Day five was pretty uneventful as we made our way back down the mountain-side and hiked on fairly flat trails for the remainder of the time. It was the final day that we needed after four strenuous days in the wilderness. We made the final trek down the dirt road that we came in on with the Tetons now behind us, hoping that the van was still where we left it. To keep things interesting, an incoming car warned us of a grizzly bear sighting up the road. With bear spray in hand, we never did see one when the van came within sight. Adventure concluded. Next stop, showers!

The Aftermath:

This trip was built around getting away from it all and enjoying our own thoughts while still challenging our physical and mental comfort zones. With that being said, it was nice to get back to civilization at the end of it (mostly due to indoor plumbing). Whether you are an introvert or extrovert, we believe that it is good to get out into nature on occasion to relax and reflect. If you have a chance to visit the Grand Tetons, take it. It’s probably our favorite national park that we have visited so far.

Sure, we worried about a lot of things that were out of our control leading up to our trip, but that’s just us and what we do. Some of it is human nature and other parts are just us being us. The biggest point is to be you but stretch those boundaries and see what you are capable of and find your way to minimize the stress and anxiety. For us, this is planning for anything and everything that could happen. Sometimes this can be cumbersome but is also something that we enjoy doing. I think the biggest planning win was me not feeling hungry at all during our entire time out in the wilderness. In the end, we had an amazing adventure with limited issues. I dare say that this trip ranks number one on my life experience list and has strengthened our love of the outdoors and backpacking. But I know we are not done exploring yet! We are just getting started!

Onto the next adventure!

What are some of your favorite Tetons’ spots or favorite backpacking trips? Tell us and have a chance to be featured in our “Your Stories” section and on our social media. Email us at introvertingadventure@gmail.com or share in the comments.