Grand Teton: Inspiration Point
Sitting on the edges of the greyish rocks, you gaze onto the dazzling blue lake, being perfectly complimented by the promise of dawn, and polished off with every hue of blue you could possibly imagine piercing across the sky. Closing your eyes, you can practically smell the fresh aroma of the lake as you slowly trace your fingers along the spongy green moss that has gathered between the cracks of the boulders.
To get to this trail, and most others in Teton, you have to grab a ticket for a boat ride to whisk you across Jenny Lake, and towards the promised land of mountains. After waking up to the cold mist of the lake water coating your face in dew, you’ll be ready to start your journey towards one of the most popular destinations located in the entire park: Inspiration Point.
Although not a very strenuous hike, the views of the lake and mountains from Inspiration Point are enough to shatter your heart into plentiful little pieces the moment you realize you have to leave. This is the part of the trail that’s essentially the midpoint of your entire trip, and it should only take you about 20 minutes to venture back to where you started from. But, if you’re anything like me, and can’t read a map, you’ll accidentally add on another 14 miles of hiking to your journey. No ragrets people.
For some reason I continued walking toward the center of the mountains. Were they calling me? I guess? I don’t really know how I could’ve made that large of a mistake, but I can’t say it necessarily surprises me. But in all honesty, you can’t truly be upset or angry when you’re being waved to by colorful wild flowers that speckle Tetons valleys. They dizzily swirl in a flurry around you, forcing you to lose yourself in the deep majesty of these mountains, or should I say giants.
Although I never actually reached an end-point while on my detour, being engulfed by gray monsters was enough to transform my mentality of what it actually meant to hike. Unlike other trails that I had completed, this one was so much more tranquil. Less traffic = happier Wik. It also means you’re more likely to spot wildlife while trudging throughout your trip. I really don’t know why I ever left these bellowing hills, it’s a place that is too magnificent to even describe in words.
I’m not really sure what it was, perhaps God, maybe the heavens had broken and opened for me, or most likely the lack of food, water, and preparation had me in a daze throughout the entire trail. The mountains above me rose towards the sky and reached up to graze the royal blues, while the grass below my feet lazily drifted in the breezes, inviting me to lay down and forget that anything more beautiful could possibly exist. It enveloped me in a breezy hug, that left me clutching onto the scenery, the peace, and the vast aloneness that drowned out my entire being, begging me to return once more.
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