Hiking Delta Lake (Grand Teton National Park)

I'm always down for a challenging hike, especially if there's promise of a great view at the end! Delta Lake certainly didn't disapoint with the views or the difficulty! Here was my experience hiking one of the most beautiful hikes in Grand Teton National Park and honestly one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen -

The Delta Lake hike is an 8-mile out and back hike located within Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. It is considered a challenging hike with about 2300 feet of elevation gain. The hike starts at the Lupine Meadow Trailhead and is very easy to follow for the most part. The parking lot is pretty large, we arrived pretty early on a weekday in September, so we personally had no issue finding parking, but the parking lot was definitely busier when we finished the hike.

The elevation starts pretty much right off the bat, but is definitely manageable. The hike starts off surrounded by beautiful, tall pine trees and eventually opens up to some amazing views. There were 5 of us on this hike, my boyfriend, brother and I who are pretty avid hikers, and my other brother and his girlfriend, who aren't huge hikers, however, nobody really struggled in the beginning. We all just kind of hiked at our own pace and did what worked for each of us!

At around 3-miles we had already gained about 1600 ft of elevation gain (according to my apple watch) so as you can tell, the elevation gain is pretty quick, but definitely doable. However.....then we hit the rock scramble....

I had read so many reviews about this hike on Alltrails beforehand, and every single one mentioned the rock scramble being the most difficult part. I had done several hikes before with rock scrambles, so going into it I wasn't super worried....but boy was I humbled by that scramble!! The rock scramble lasts about the last mile or so of the first half of the hike and pretty much goes straight uphill. This part isn't super super well marked and was the only part we got slightly thrown off at....just remember to keep going in an upward right diagonal and you'll reconnect to the dirt trail. The rock scramble, without a doubt, was the hardest part and definitely added to the difficulty score of this hike!! The views were wide open though, so we took our time and took in the views. By the time we had finished the rock scramble, we made it to about 2,000 ft of elevation gain!

At just about 4 miles in, we were really starting to struggle, but we knew we were so close to the lake, so we pressed on! Sure enough, the lake was only about .25 miles or so past the rock scramble. The views were absolutely breathtaking, the pictures truly don't do it justice! The color of the lake up against the mountain backdrop was so spectacular. The lake itself is enclosed which made it even more beautiful. You can swim in this lake, however, we went at the end of September so the water was really cold, so we just opted for dipping our feet in.

We spent about 45 mins at the lake before heading back down. The first mile or so down are pretty steep as it's pretty much just straight down. It's very important to make sure you stay on trail because it's very easy to find yourself off track in the wooded area if not! The only wildlife we saw on this hike were some deer and chipmunks, however, grizzly bears are not unfamiliar to this trail so always make sure to carry your bear spray and be bear aware! In fact, on our way down, we passed a couple who said there was a bear spotted just a little while back by where we just came from.

Since this was an out and back trail, the views going back down were just as amazing as they were coming up. The hike down was obviously much quicker, but still pretty steep so make sure to take your time.

Some tips for this hike: bring plenty of water!! I recommend bringing a few snacks too such as protein bars, trail mix, meat sticks, etc. Proper hiking shoes are not an absolute must, (by this I mean regular sneakers would work if necessary too) but definitely highly recommended, especially for the rock scramble portion. Take your time and go at a pace that's comfortable to you, realistically hikers of any level could probably do this hike as long as you hike smart and are conscious of your capability as a hiker. This hike is definitely a marathon not a sprint! Bear spray is another must as it's not uncommon for bears, including grizzlies to be seen on this trail, remember, you're in THEIR home!

Overall, the hike took us a little over 4-hours (not including the time we spent at the lake) and ended up being a little bit under 8-miles, one of my longest hikes that I've done!

I definitely recommend the Delta Lake hike if you find yourself in Grand Teton National Park!

Thanks for reading, and as always, there's always more to be explored :)

-Nicole Elizabeth