Glacier, Yellowstone & Jackson
“If you have not touched the rocky wall of a canyon. If you have not heard a rushing river pound over cobblestones. If you have not seen a native trout rise in a crystalline pool beneath a shattering riffle, or a golden eagle spread its wings and cover you in shadow. If you have not seen the tree line recede to the top of a bare crested mountain. If you have not looked into a pair of wild eyes and seen your own reflection. Please, for the good of your soul, travel west.”
Will and I just got back from a two week-long road trip through Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and Jackson Hole. Between the two of us, we drove over 60 hours from the beginning of the trip til the end (and over 4,000 miles!), starting and ending in our home town - Louisville, Kentucky - plus a pit stop at Camp Wandawega in Wisconsin to help with a photoshoot.
It is difficult to put to words the wonder and drama of the jagged mountains and rushing waterfalls of Glacier National Park. I’ll never forget how, after arriving in the middle of the night and deciding to camp in our car near St Mary, Montana, Will and I felt surrounded by a vast and unfathomable dark night - more remote and awesome than any scene from our Kentucky home. Outside our cars we stood to look for the Milky Way and saw the clearest night sky, like something you only think to see on National Geographic. Only when the sun rose did we really get our bearings, and could see we were surrounded in all directions by sharp towering mountains and seas of green pines. With only a few hours of sleep we set off down the Going To The Sun Road at 6am. For that 2 hour drive down to Bigfork, MT, Glacier made its first impression on us, and it truly felt like a land bigger than life itself. God made some of His best cathedrals in nature, and GNP is absolutely one of them.
During the rest of our week in Glacier Will and I hiked every trail and jumped in every lake we could find, fully immersing ourselves in the 21st century “mountain man” lifestyle. From kayaking Lake Macdonald to a tough 11-mile hike to Grinnell Glacier Lake (with icebergs in August!), we had a trip of a lifetime. But we decided we weren’t done with the West yet!
After a week of adventure in northwest Montana, with a handful of days before we needed to be in Wisconsin, we checked our map to chart a course for the long way home - leading us south through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, then east through the Wind River Range and, eventually, to Wisconsin. We packed up and left Bigfork for a long day’s drive to Yellowstone in Wyoming. We spent that afternoon driving through Yellowstone National Park, making quick stops along the way to view the wonders of Yellowstone, making it just in time to see Old Faithful!
Thrilled by Yellowstone but even more excited to see more mountains, we skirted through the park in a few hours and continued south to Grand Teton. One of the simplest but most beautiful moments of the trip was spent traveling down the remote highway between these two national parks during a magical, stormy summer afternoon. The drive was so magical and as we approached Jackson Hole, the mountains glowed in the layers of fog. When we finally reached Jackson Hole, we had a hard time finding a hotel, so we ended up driving into Idaho to stay for the night.
In Jackson Hole we spent some down time in the town center looking at art galleries and spending time at the cutest coffee shops. Worn from a week-plus of trails and long drives, we ended our time in the Tetons hiking a couple easy, but beautiful trails with perfect views of the mountains, saving our energy for the long drive to Wisconsin.
There are far too many photos and videos from our time out west for me to share them all in this journal, so feel free to hop over to my instagram where I documented the trip in full and shared so many beautiful photos and videos in my highlights! To me, traveling and music go hand-in-hand, which is why I like to create playlists for each of my trips. This playlist in particular fuels my soul so deeply, and I hope it resonates with you all as well!