End of the Road

We arose on the fifth day eager to return to the world of showers, beer and fresh food. 

Holly Lake had treated us well, but we ready to get the heck out of the woods.  We took some pictures, ate some breakfast and immediately began heading down the trail. 

Sunrise.

Thanks for the memories, Holly Lake.

Smell ya later.

A reminder of what our last day had in store for us:





 See how I'm not too clear where the van is in the above photo? That would come back to haunt us later.

There was many a muddy stream crossing on our way down the mountain.  Thankfully for this clumsy twosome, the steam crossings were well tended to and I would have had to work to fall in the river.



 

 Finally, we reached String Lake.

We then began to look for our van at the String Lake trail head.  You see, we had paid someone to pick up our van from where we started at Granite Canyon Trail head and drive it to String Lake.  It might sound a bit strange or trustworthy of us, but it's a common practice and the Ranger Station actually recommended it.  So, I practically ran to the parking lot to find that beautiful blue beast we had rented.  We walked up and down the aisles.

And our van was nowhere in sight.

I almost started to cry.  Andy then couldn't remember if he had said String Lake of Jenny Lake.  He also wasn't sure if there were more than one parking lot in the area.  We spied another parking lot in the distance so we walked there and walked up and down the aisles.

You guessed it.  No van.

So we continue to walk along the lake for what seemed like a million years.  In reality, it was probably 15 minutes but my brain was tired and weary and couldn't process the passage of time correctly.  We finally arrived at another parking lot and this happened.

We hopped in and started heading toward the laundry and convenience store located aways down the road.  I stepped out to take one photo of what we'd conquered in the past few days.

We arrived at the laundromat, threw our disgusting clothing in, and bought lunch at the store.

Beer, fruit and cheese: the three food groups.  It may seem weird to buy fruit, but trust me, after eating rabbit food for 6 days, fresh fruit is amazing.

Once the laundry was done we took off for Yellowstone and stopped for one last Grand Teton photo.

I am holding Andy in the above photo but Andy seems less interested in making physical contact with me.  I mean, I realize I smell like a foot but just pretend you like me for the photo, honey. 

Thus ended our trip hiking the Teton Crest Trail.  It certainly had it's highs and it's lows, but overall was one of our best hiking trips.