HIKING THE TAGGART LAKE TRAIL | Sunset In Grand Teton National Park

Taggart Lake Trail is a 3 mile (4.8km) loop hiking track with mild elevation gain (360ft/110m), taking 1.5-2 hours to complete. It’s a classic ‘Lilian Pang bang-for-buck’ type of hike, with great views and low effort 🙂 . As we were starved of shopping for merch whilst in Yellowstone, due to many general stores being closed for the season in mid-late October, we spent the middle portion of the days in Jackson, and reserved early mornings and late afternoons for venturing around Grand Teton National Park. We timed it perfectly, arriving at the trailhead just after 4pm (with sunset at ~6.30pm), and witnessed glowing colours around every corner, and the late afternoon sun hitting the tops of the Teton Range the entire trail.

The trail traverses through sagebrush flats and forests to the lake, and begins at the Taggart Lake Trailhead carpark, 2.5 miles/4km northwest of the park’s Moose Entrance Station. It costs $35USD for a vehicle pass to enter the park, and there is a visitor centre just before the entrance station, the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Centre. This is the only visitor centre open outside of summer and is typically closed between October 31 and April 9.

After wandering down the first couple hundred metres of trail, you will reach a fork and take a right to continue on the Taggart Lake loop. Another couple hundred metres later, continue right at the junction on the footpath towards Taggart Lake, and you will cross a footbridge over Taggart Creek. The trail will start climbing moderately after this through a forest of pine and aspen groves, so if you are visiting in autumn, you’ll be treated to vibrant yellow and orange foliage. We visited between October 17-19 where 80-90% of the trees had already lost their leaves.

At the southeastern shore of the lake, you will have views of Grand Teton, Teewinot Mountain to its right, and Middle Teton to its left. During the hike, you will also see South Teton to the left of Middle Teton, as seen in some of the photos above. Despite being a popular trail, visiting in the second half of October in the late afternoon meant that we passed only a handful of hikers/groups, and it was such a peaceful and stunning hike from start to finish.

We returned to the car just after 5.30pm, headed north along Teton Park Road towards Jenny and String Lakes, and found a cluster of cars and people observing a stag on the side of the road. This was the perfect time to go animal spotting and we also saw deer at the empty String Lake carpark, and a sly fox running alongside our car for a few moments on the way out of the park! You can see it on my Wyoming Instagram stories 🙂 String Lake was one of my favourite spots with its near perfect reflections and stillness.

When hiking, always remember to stick to the trails to prevent damage to fragile vegetation. Where there may be bear warnings in certain areas, hike in groups of 3+, make noise, don’t run, and carry bear spray. There are rangers at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station should you need more information on-the-go, or to return lost items as we found later on the trail between String and Leigh lakes (I hope whoever lost their Zeiss lens cap picked it up!) Although we didn’t find the Taggart Lake Trail strenuous, be mindful that you are hiking at an average elevation of 6800ft (~2000m) in Grand Teton National Park. Pace yourself to prevent breathing difficulties and carry extra water as needed.

Other hiking and wildlife tips: carry out all the rubbish you bring in. There are food storage bear boxes for campers, otherwise never leave your backpack unattended, never abandon food, keep all food, cookware and garbage in a bear box or hard-sided vehicle with the windows up. Should you be approached by a bear when eating, gather your food and slowly back away to a safe distance (100 yards/91m). If a bear charges, remove the safety clip from a bear spray can, aim it downward at their feet, spray at a 1-2 second burst so that the bear must pass through a cloud of spray, and repeat if the bear doesn’t stop and continues to charge. Bear spray should never be left in direct sunlight in a vehicle as it may explode, and once it has been used once, it is difficult to tell how much spray remains in the canister so it should be recycled (it cannot be thrown in the trash, it can be recycled in the park at visitor centres and ranger stations).

A rule of thumb for safe viewing distance for animals is 25 yards/23m for bison, elk, moose and all other wildlife, 100 yards/91m for bears and wolves. Never position yourself between a female and offspring, and if your presence is causing an animal to change their behaviour, you are too close. It is illegal to feed any of the animals.

I will be writing an in-depth blog post about our 3 days in Jackson and Grand Teton National Park, so follow along and enjoy the video of this trip below in the meantime. Thanks for reading!