I don’t go out and hike trails as much as I’d probably like to, but there are a few hikes that I’ve seen online that I’ve put on a bucket list of sorts. One of those was hiking up to the crater’s edge at Mt. St. Helens. I checked that off the list about 10 years ago with my friend Tim. Another hike on the list is Delta Lake in the Grand Teton National Park.
I told Rotchana that I wanted to go to the Tetons and hike the trail this summer, and to my surprise, she also wanted to go on the hike. Full disclosure, I think she said that in the hopes of finding mushrooms, but even when I explained that it was rated as “Hard” with several thousand feet of elevation gain and bouldering near the top of the trail, she was still intent on going. Overall it’s about 7.5 miles round trip with about 2,300 feet of elevation gain, mostly during the last mile before the lake.
We drove out to the trailhead around sunrise hoping to beat the crowds. It was a bit chilly, but we knew that we’d warm up quickly once we started hiking. We had prepared well with proper hiking boots, hiking poles, plenty of water & snacks, sunscreen, and bear spray. I also had my camera backpack that weighs about 30 pounds so I didn’t make it any easier.
We took about 3 hours to get up to the lake with a lot of stops along the way to take photos (catch our breath). The girls did great keeping up a pretty good pace and not complaining too much. It was only when we got into the bouldering section where Rotchana got some leg cramps and had to take a break. It was a pretty tough hike and full kudos to both her and Victoria for fighting their way up to the lake. It was hard for me and I’m used to hiking, or at least exerting myself physically now and then.
The view at the top of the trail at Delta Lake was definitely worth all of the hard work getting up there. Even Rotchana perked up and enjoyed the view. We stayed up at the lake for about an hour, but it started to cool down and rain was likely on the way down so we didn’t want to make a hard hike even harder.
The hike lived up to the hype and I’m glad that I was able to check it off of my list. I’m glad the girls enjoyed it as well. My guess is that this hike will remain the hardest hike they go on going forward.
