Exploring Grand Teton in the Backcountry

There are hundreds of miles of trails in the Tetons. The Teton Crest Trail, all the canyons (Paintbrush, Cascade, Garnet, Death, Granite & more), you can climb all of the peaks (Grand, Middle, South, Teewinot, Owen, Buck, Moran, & way more). There is so much to do and explore. I definitely did not have time or skill to do it all- specifically climbing the Grand- maybe one day. But I did get to do a few, really awesome backcountry adventures that I recommend.

Paintbrush Canyon to Cascade Canyon Backpacking trip.

You could do this hike in a day or even one night out camping. But. I had a great time taking on this hike over the course of 3 days and 2 nights. We had so much time to relax and swim and appreciate the views. We camped out the first night at Holly Lake, so we did the loop starting at String Lake, going up Paintbrush, over the divide, and out cascade. This was definitely the more enjoyable way to do this loop, we saw so many people coming up the switchbacks to the divide from cascade that looked miserable. We saw marmots and pikas! I made it a goal to swim in all the alpine lakes that we encountered and I did it. Holly, Solitude, and String. Solitude was the coldest but I’m so happy I did it. We did about 8 miles everyday and that was a nice amount. On the second night we camped at North Fork Cascade Canyon, gorgeous spot, and we woke up at 11pm to take photos of the Milky Way which was incredible. If you have time to do a short backpack in the Tetons, I would recommend this. If you have time to do more, then start here and just keep going on the Crest Trail to Alaska Basin, Sunset Lake, you could go all the way to Granite if you had time to do the whole trail. But paintbrush is the best, also the wildflowers really made it so much better.

Delta Lake via Lupine Meadows

Now I shouldn’t really be endorsing this hike because it’s a social trail and there’s a ton of erosion. It’s a really popular hike, I did it with a friend visiting, and it’s beautiful. It’s right under the Grand and wow is it an awesome color. I would say to be more prepared if you are going to do this hike- we saw so many people in sandals and without water. The dirt and rock are loose, you need good footing and it’s super uphill the whole way so having a water filter would be smart and definitely sunscreen and sun protection. That goes for all the hikes here/ and bear spray!

Garnet Canyon

Wow this was a beautiful spot for camping. If I had more time I would have camped up here to do Middle Teton. You’re right under the mountains, in a lush meadow by a river. What more do you need. The hike up here wasn’t bad at all, about 3 miles from Lupine Meadows trailhead, up hill but the switchbacks are nice. I’ve run into a black bear cub twice on this hike. Also parking at Lupine can be really bad if you don’t get there at like 4 or 5am or 8 or 9 pm.