A Few Words of Solo Travel Advice, Phelps Lake, A boy in the wild, and Gros Ventre Campground- 2021

A Few Words of Solo Travel Advice

Over the past few weeks, I have been asked, "How did you become a solo traveler?" or "How did I become a solo camper?" Some of them never knew the whole backstory. I explained how I "became" this person; it reminded me of a conversation I had one afternoon after my adventures at Phelps Lake. I stopped at Dornan's Pizza Pasta Company for a beer and a snack. Nothing like a post-hike beer! Another woman was sitting at the bar next to me, and we talked. She told me that this was one of her first solo trips and how she was nervous even though she was staying in a cabin and that she didn't have friends to join her, but she wanted to come to Grand Teton. She inquired if I was also on a solo trip.

I think solo travelers always know when they meet another solo traveler.

I said yes, but I was camping solo. The woman was shocked and said, “I could NEVER do that!” I laughed, “I said that same thing about a year ago, but here I am!”

We got to talking about how I got into solo travel; I simply had no friends to do stuff with. I did have friends in college, but those were mostly the ones you hung out with, partied, drank with, or became friends in a class to help each other pass it. I had less than a handful of good friends in college or grad school.

For my first solo trip, I went to Canada to see Niagara Falls and Toronto in Grad school. Back then, my friends didn't have the money (neither did I, to be honest) nor a passport to go. With the help of my aunt, who told me about hostels, I took my ’99 Chevy Cavalier to Canada for a few days. 

I could relate to this girl so much because I, too, wanted friends to come on my trips with me, but they simply couldn't. And when someone did go on trips with me, it ended up being a total clusterfuck, or I’d get terrible anxiety about making the trip unforgettable.

I started traveling solo because I had no like-minded friends and was fed up with myself for always waiting for someone to do something with me. 

I have previously mentioned that you should NEVER wait for a person to travel with you. Take that trip!

"But Bel, I don't want to go alone!"

But baby, you aren't alone; you have yourself. She wants to go on that trip and learn, see, do, and experience new things. She also wants to know about you, and she wants you to learn about herself too. I learned this lesson in my late 20s or early 30s, and I wish I had known this much sooner.

Phelps Lake

Full disclosure: I got lost looking for Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, the trailhead to Phelps Lake. I started at another location, hiked for about 20 minutes, and decided this wasn't it. Eventually, though, I found the preserve and started my adventure. 

You are thinking, this girl can't find her way around. Usually, I can find things pretty quickly, but GPS isn't that great out in the Grand Tetons!

The Rangers recommended that I do this hike since it has views of Death Canyon and the incredible mountains. It was also an excellent chance to see wildlife. Before this lake, I had seen all the wildlife except a black bear! And when I arrived, I missed seeing one in only a few minutes!

This trail goes around Phelps Lake, a moderate 6.4 miles around. You can extend this by adding the Aspen Ridge or Boulder Ridge trails on the way to and from the lake, which I did not.

This was a fun hike, especially when a marmot would not allow me to cross over this boardwalk. So I decided to become friends with him until he allowed me to travel.

A boy in the wild

At the lake, I saw this pretty good-looking guy hiking in the opposite direction. When we passed, we chatted quickly, and he let me know there was a moose in the distance. Then we went on our way.

Later on, I saw him by the big rock where people dove into the water, and we chatted for a good 20 minutes about our travels and where we were from, and we even exchanged numbers. I was pretty stoked because it felt awesome to finally have a guy interested in me after my ex. We went on our separate ways but made tentative plans to hang out since we were both staying at the same campground.

Gros Ventre Campground

This campground is the largest one in the southeast part of the park, and it’s 9 miles from Jackson. This campground is known to have some woodland visitors, including bison, moose, and mule deer.  I learned about this campground through my research on Google and YouTube regarding places to camp, and this had more openings than the other campgrounds in the park, like Jenny Lake, Coulter Bay, etc.

After my post-hike beer, I adventured back to my campsite to relax. I started a fire, pulled out the book I was reading throughout the trip, and started making some dinner. I was hoping I could finish preparing it before the rain came.

So, of course, the rain came … and so did the games. With the back door open, I crawled into the back of my SUV so my beer, food, and book wouldn’t get wet.

The guy kept texting me, and it became apparent that he was just playing games. If you know me well enough, that tends to happen to me alot. I always pick the winners ….

I started to get pissed I even texted my friend Megan to ask why this always happens to me. As always, she came up with a witty response and reminded me that it was not me. For a good 20 minutes or so, I felt something was wrong with me. And I felt alone and just wanted someone to hang out with.

Then it hit me……

I was being stupid. Here I was, in a beautiful place, with someone who actually wanted to be with me … and that someone was myself.