Two day itinerary in Grand Teton (min hiking version)

There are many beautiful snowy mountains and lakes in Grand Teton National Park. There are also many hiking trails there. However, if you are looking for an itinerary where it does not involve too much hiking, this is for you.

Summary

  • Where to fly to?

  • Where to stay?

  • Day 1

    • Jenny lake boat tour

    • Drive up signal mountain

    • Leigh lake trailhead

    • Menors Ferry Historic District

    • Grand Teton national park sign

  • Day 2

    • National Museum of Wildlife Art

    • Albright View Overlook

    • Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center

    • Blacktail Ponds Overlook

    • Mormon row Historic District

    • Glacier view turnout

    • Schwabacher Landing:

    • Jackson Hole

    • National Elk Refuge


Where to fly to?

Jackson Hole airport is the closest one. We flew to Salt lake city and drove there instead. It is about 4.5 hrs drive from SLC.

Where to stay?

There are many places you can stay while visiting Grand Teton: Jackson, Wilson or Teton village.

Day 1

Jenny lake boat tour

From the Jenny lake visitor center, you can walk for about 5 min to the boat tour location. From there, you can either take a 1 hr scenic boat tour, or you can take the one way (or round trip) boat shuttle to cascade canyon, where you can then hike to hidden falls and the inspiration point. You can also start the hike from the Jenny lake trailhead, but it will just be a way shorter hike to take the boat to the west shore boat dock first. We booked the boat tour in advance.


View from the boat:

Drive up signal mountain 

It is about a 40 min drive from Lake Jenny visitor center. The drive is seasonal. Road closed Nov to May. 


When you drive to the end of the road, there is a very small parking lot at the end of the road. There is an overlook near the parking lot, where you can see the snake river passing through the land.


When you drive down from the top for a little bit, there is another small parking lot. From there, a short walk to Jackson lake overlook:


Leigh lake trailhead

This is the only hike we did while we were there. You can do a loop around string lake (3.7 miles) or walk along the east side of string lake and Leigh lake, and you can turn back whenever you want to.


We hiked all the way to Leigh lake portage and turned back, which is about 2.4 miles round trip. This photo is taken at the Leigh lake portage:


Menors Ferry Historic District

This is a historic District with a 0.4 mile loop to see historic buildings and a boat replica. The original boat was used to cross the snake river.


From the parking lot, you can take a short walk to the Chapel of the Transfiguration. 

It was open when we got there. Inside the chapel, you can see a nice panorama view of the mountains.


Grand Teton national park sign

You can take a pic with the park sign and grand Teton in the background here.


Day 2

National Museum of Wildlife Art

This is not part of the Grand Teton national park, but it is pretty close by. It opens daily 10- 5pm. The fee was $17/ person when we visited in 2022. It features paintings of wildlife throughout the centuries. There are also a few Thomas Moran paintings there.


Albright View Overlook 


Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center

This visitor center is very informative. It felt like a museum, and it is free!

Blacktail Ponds Overlook

Mormon row Historic District

This is a historical place where Morman settlers came in the 1890s.

Glacier view turnout 

When we were there, there is a small wedding taking place there:

Can you imagine getting married in such a beautiful place and not need to pay for a super expensive wedding venue? 

Schwabacher Landing:

You can take a short walk to the "beavers dam sunrise" from the parking lot. The beaver dam looks pretty impressive:


Jackson Hole

We got dinner at Jackson Hole. Afterwards, we walked around Jackson Hole.

There are a few arches there, which were made of real elk horns. However, since elk naturally shed their horns every spring, no elks were harmed in making these arches. More info can be found here.


National Elk Refuge

We drove around the national elk refuge area. We did not see any elk there, but it is a beautiful place to drive through. I think it might be easier to see elk there during the winter.




There you have it: a two day itinerary in Grand Teton with min hiking involved. We hope you enjoy your stay there.

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