Grand Teton National Park: Hike to Phelps Lake by Kolton

Kolton

This is me jumping off a thirty foot rock

Today we got in the car and drove down to a hike that went to Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park. We parked the car and then walked for about five minutes, trying to find the Death Canyon trail head. Then we began the hike. We walked about a mile to the Phelps Lake lookout point. We took a few pictures then we went on. We walked past a ton of mint plants, they smelled really good. At last we made it to Phelps Lake and we got changed into our swimsuits. I was the only one in the water and I played around for a while. Then we ate and walked on to a huge rock it was about thirty feet tall! Dad and I said we were going to jump off. Dad procrastinated for about thirty minutes then he jumped. “Now it’s my turn!” I said. So I got up on the highest point on the rock. I could not jump. It was like I was glued to the rock for another thirty minutes, procrastinating. Dad’s camera battery started running really low. I panicked then Dad started counting down: “5, 4, 3, 2” and then I started to jump and then stopped but it was too late. I tripped and fell over the edge, then I smacked the water. It hurt but it was amazing! Karson was sad. He wanted to do it but was too scared. It was hard for me and Dad to do it. Even Dad was scared. So we began the hike back and we all played in the water. We were all thirsty, so Dad and Kane went off to filter some water to drink.  Mom read and Karson, Kalista and I buried each other in the sand. Dad and Kane came back and I took a small drink of the water, and while Karson, Mom and I got our shoes on Dad and Kane started hiking back to the trail head. They were already way far ahead of us. Mom was tired so I volunteered to carry the backpack. It was hot that day and I was thirsty. I noticed that we were actually climbing a mountain. It was uphill and then downhill to our car along with the backpack. It was hard, but at about the half way point we met up with Dad and Kane. There was not much water left, so we hiked to the car and I drank a whole bottle of water. Then we drove back to the R.V.  Another amazing adventure!