Since getting my backpacking feet wet, I’d always wanted to explore the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. While I have a special place in my heart for the wet, mossy landscape of the PNW — the jagged peaks, wide open sage fields, roaming buffalo, and hidden alpine lakes of the Grand Tetons intrigued me.

My dear friend Anneliese flew down to Seattle and we hopped in my car and drove 14 hours to the park. The drive alone was spectacular, and we got to stop at Yellowstone along the way to check out some geysers, moose, and good-old-fashion gapers getting in and out of their tour buses, clad in high-water jeans and bucket hats. Thankfully, the Tetons had none of that.

We spent four phenomenal days climbing, exploring, and marveling at the beautiful peaks of the Tetons that nearly brought us to tears the first time we came upon them. It was 8pm, the sun was setting, we were beat from the drive, and all of a sudden…boom. The Teets. That’s an image that will stick with me forever.