A Hike I will NEVER Forget

My Favorite Picture that day --as we hiked on the String Lake Trail in the Tetons (9/13/18)

Dear Friends,   Today I am re-living a rough day I had on Sept. 13, 2018.....  George and I were on our West Trip to Montana and Wyoming (from Sept. 6-17)---and even though I had had a rough year with my heart medications and my rapidly beating heart,  I had been doing fairly well on that trip until this day.....

Since I had been feeling pretty good,   we decided to take a SHORT hike  (or at least we 'thought' it was going to be short) around String Lake.   To say it bluntly,  I wasn't prepared for this hike AT ALL.  What turned out to be a one to two mile hike became a FIVE mile hike.... Of course,  we hadn't prepared to get lost,  and have to turn around a couple of time... AND ---since it was only going to be a short hike,  we didn't even have any water with us on that very warm day in September.    GADS--we weren't ready for that hike!!!!!

The directions we had been following deceived us ---BUT it was our fault for not doing enough research ahead of time.  I love the hikes in the Tetons  --but those trails are not marked very well and ONE has to know where they are going .....  We obviously did NOT!!!!!!

The backside of that trail didn't go directly around the lake  (like we thought it would) ---but headed up into the mountain behind.  At first,  we thought it was SO pretty back in there.   And --as you'll see below,  we got some great pictures that day.  BUT---once up in those mountains,  there were several different trails (unmarked)...   It got very confusing  --and the GPS didn't help at all....

With A Fib and with the medications,  one HAS to stay hydrated.... That is hard when I'm sweating and  hiking that far with no water.   I got extremely weak  and light-headed---and was barely making it....  I was also scared because I thought I was going to faint... (Luckily I didn't!)

After we got about as far as I could go,   I convinced George to go ahead  to the car to get WATER....   He didn't want to leave me --but I insisted. Needless to say,  he walked MORE than five miles that day --going to the car and then coming back to find me.... Bless his heart.  He is truly an amazing guy!

We didn't see many hikers on that trail that day ---but I did meet a couple of younger ladies.  They shared some of their water with me (which helped)....   There was nowhere to sit down, so I kept walking (albeit VERY SLOWLY) ---and finally got BACK down to the lake --and found a bench....

It was cooler by the water ---and I started feeling some better mainly just being able to SIT for awhile and because those wonderful ladies had shared their water with me.   I walked some more ---and George finally got back to me.  We were SO glad to see each other.... This part of the trail along the lake was fairly flat and there were benches here and there, and it was shady... We both finally made it back to the car..... What a hike!!!!!!   As I said in my title --this is one I will never forget...  AND --it's one that taught me to take water with me NO matter where I am going.... Duh!!!!!

NOW---forget all of that story and sit back and enjoy our beautiful pictures from the coolness of your home!!!!!!!   I would do that hike again sometime  (IF I could) --so that I could enjoy it much more...

The beginning part of the hike,  as we walked along String Lake

When we first started heading up the mountain on the back side of the lake

It was very pretty back in the woods....

I was amazed at how huge some of these Evergreen Trees were

George's gorgeous picture of the Tetons 

At this part of the hike,   I felt okay --and was enjoying it.

Look at  how lush and healthy those Lodgepole Pines are --as we hiked along,  on the trail

My Sweetie is STILL smiling at this point..... As I said,  we both loved the first part of the hike...

 A little hint of FALL along here

Yeah ---we can now see the lake from the other side

Now we are up higher ---and this is one of the areas where we turned around!!!!  BUT--we did come back after finding out that we had been on the correct trail all along...

You can see how high up we were by now---but it was good to even see the lake!!!!

This ELK was hiding from me!!!!!   There was evidence of MOOSE --but we didn't see one.  

I didn't take many more pictures that day (one reason I'd love to go back) --but did get a good picture once I was back down to the lake.  This shows some of the areas UP there where our hike took us.

After almost getting back to the car,  we saw a Mule Deer grazing .  Look at those big ears.... 

Well Friends ---see how beautiful that place is!!!!!   I knew that I loved hiking on the Taggart Trail several years before this trip ----but this one was gorgeous also!!!!!   That's why I'd love to go back sometime (now that we know to be prepared)....

Have a great week --and drink plenty of WATER.... We are having a hot SUMMER here in Tennessee so far!

Hugs,

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