Delta Lake Hike was one of the most stunning hikes I have ever done in my 26-years of life! The contrast of the bright blue water, green trees and white snow was unreal. I could have stayed up there for weeks and been happy!
This was a very challenging hike but it’s doable for most able-bodied people still! I’l write about the hard parts later in the article.
Follow me in Instagram for more of my in-the-moment adventures! @maggmountains
What to Bring
I went in the start of July so this is the gear I recommend for mid-late summer and early fall!
- Your beautiful body!
- Good hiking shoes, I have some Columbia ones that are awesome!
- A LOT of water. I bring a Hydroflask with ice AND a camel back on long hikes to be safe.
- Snacks for the top. It’s a long and hard hike so you are going to appreciate a little energy boost. My friend and I brought the Jet Boil and a lasagna backpacking meal, it was great! Good carb/energy boost. If you haven’t tried a Jet Boil with backpacking meals, I highly recommend it!
- Back Pack
- Phone/ Camera
- BEAR SPRAY (mandatory) and bear bells. We saw 3 bears on this hike! (I’ll talk about that later). Every single review on the All Trails app said they saw bears or some sort of wildlife. You can get them both in town but everything is more expensive by or in national parks so I would recommend buying from Amazon or your local REI before you go!
- Sweatshirt & Sweats. It can get cold at the top and when the sun goes down. Feels so good to put a dry and warm sweatshirt on after you exert all your energy on a long hike.
Location
“To reach Lupine Meadows Trailhead (from Jackson, WY) head north into the park on US191. Make a left at Moose Junction onto Teton Park Road. Stay north on Teton Park Road for just over 7 miles where you will then turn left onto Lupine Meadows Road, it is unpaved but relatively well maintained (my FWD sedan made it no problem). Follow Lupine Meadows Road to the end where you will a parking area and the Lupine Meadows trailhead to begin the hike.” (from www.theoutbound.com).
You can always ask a park ranger for help as well if you are having a hard time finding it! We made sure to get maps from the visitor center so we could see where we were at even when we didn’t have service!
Parking is limited, there’s multiple trails that start here. Get there early for guaranteed parking!
There’s also some amazing cliff jumping not too far from the Delta Lake trailhead.
The Adventure Up
This hike is a total of 9 miles up and out with 2,329 in elevation gain. It’s a doozy! A very beautiful doozy.
The first mile or so is fairly easy! Once you get past the first part, the ret of the hike is pretty much all-uphill with no breaks!
Don’t be ashamed to take breaks! We took A LOT on this hike and we are both very experienced hikers. When you have a pack on with water, food, bear spray and other goodies, it makes the hike even harder!
The trail splits off into two different trails when you get closer to the top. It isn’t super obvious but you can see it. Delta Lake goes off onto a new trail to the right, while the original trail leads to some other alpine lake. We wanted to do all of them but ran out of time! Look it up on the All Trails app and you might be able to get more specifics on this turn off!
Follow me in Instagram for more of my in-the-moment adventures! @maggmountains
After the turn off you hike for a little ways and then you get a to a massive boulder field. The boulders are easy to climb but it can get confusing on where to go. There are little rock sharons (those little balanced rock towers) throughout the boulder fields, follow those and you will find your way to the top!
As soon as you finish the boulder field you will make it to the lake! It is absolutely BREATHTAKING. You are below the big peak in the Tetons with a bright blue lake. The color of the lake was unlike anything I have ever seen.
Safety Tips
As mentioned before, you NEED to bring bear spray. Do not do any hikes in the Tetons without it. We saw three bears on our way down the hill, a mom and her two cubs. It was scary, but we stayed calm, played music and let the bears know we were there so we didn’t startle them. We each had bear spray and a knife and kept them in our hands until we knew we were completely safe.
Bear bells and bear spray can both help prevent a bear attack! The bells help create noise so that the bear can hear you coming and you won’t startle it.
Make sure to give yourself plenty of time! Give yourself two full hours of sunlight to get down, you don’t want to be in these mountains in the dark!
Stay safe and have fun!
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My-Outdoor-Guide 
Looks like an amazing place and very nice photos too!
Delta Lake seems like a place to visit at some point in my life.
Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you! It’s one of my all time favorite places. You should definitely go ✨🌎
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Hopefully, one day I’ll be able to come from that side of the world and I can enjoy the stunning nature you have there.
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