The path on the right leads to Taggart Lake at the foot of the Tetons. It’s one of my favorite hikes. — Photo by Pat Bean
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Do you have a favorite hike that you would like to share?
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“There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives.” — Josephine Hart
Travels With Maggie
There is nothing that pleases me more on a hike than to be serenaded by the brisk giggles of a tumbling stream. If you add jagged mountains bearing glaciers on the horizon, you’ve taken my kind of walk from merely bliss to absolute glory.
While Mother Nature has recently been playing weather tricks on Texans, she was playing nice the summer day a couple of years ago when I hiked the Taggart Lake Trail in the Tetons, where glacial streams flow down from snow-covered peaks. Mother Nature’s mixture here of water, mountains, blue sky, wildflowers and twittering birds is a recipe of perfection.
Taggart Creek: A giggling beauty. -- Photo by Pat Bean
I had hiked this trail several times previously, each time finding new delights to awe me, like a red-tailed hawk circling low overhead, or Indian paintbrush coloring a patch of the meadow red with its blooms.
This day, I had brought along a couple of friends who were newcomers to the trail. I took great delight in their delight at almost every step as we hiked the mile and a half to the lake.
Sharing Mother Nature, however, is a conundrum for me. While I want everyone to have an opportunity to enjoy this country’s scenic magnificence, I prefer my hikes be taken on uncrowded trails.
I share the locations of my favorite paths, however, because I truly believe we would have fewer psychotic people who commit harm if they had more grand canyons, meadows of bluebonnets, red rock arches and peregrine falcons in their lives.
So, if you’re ever driving between Jackson, Wyoming, and Yellowstone National Park, take the Teton Park Road past Moose to the Taggart Lake trailhead. You’ll emerge from the trail more peaceful — even if you’re not psychotic at all.
Pat Bean's blog 
I know what you mean about the tumbling stream. On more than one occasion, the rumbling of mountain and canyon streams have taught me valuable life lessons. I learned some of those lessons while camping on Jenny Lake, at the foot of Mt. Teewinot. Enjoyed your post!
It would be hard to pick one hike as a favorite, but I do love hiking in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. There are other places I’ve been to once and would love to revisit. Yosemite. Point Lobos State Reserve, Asilomar State Beach, and the redwood forests south of Monterey, California. The Lakes District in England. The Highlands of Scotland. So many hikes, so little time.
I also enjoy hiking around where I live in northeastern Ohio. It’s probably not on everyone’s list of places to hike, but we do have some wonderful trails around here.
Another enjoyable post, Pat. Reading your blog has greatly expanded my list of places I would like to visit. I hope to check out the Taggart Lake trail someday soon. Your pictures are beautiful.
I have a favorite hike that I have only done once and it was with great effort. I was overweight and had no hiking, or for that matter walking, experience. I was told it was an easy hike. Well, not to me. It was not much of a trail and ascended steeply. There were big craggy rocks in the ground that I had to climb over , with help. But, at the top was a view of Squam Lake (in New Hampshire). I loved the movie On Golden Pond that was filmed there. I’d like to go back and hike it now. Since then I have become a walker, have even done one marathon (one was enough!) and continue to do halfs and 10K’s. This has really inspired me to write more about this. Thanks Pat!
Pat – your photos, as always, are so lovely… they transport me to where you are / or where you’ve been.
As for me, I’d have a hard time choosing a favorite hiking place these days… but ONE of my favorites is up on Roan Mountain — when the wild rhodadendrons are in bloom