Miles: 23 Steps: 19,806 Vertical gain: Strava.com Blake Robinson Liquid consumed: 115 oz Wildlife: Elk, huge loud birds, squirrels Faith in Humanity:lots of people waved back at me on the road walk , cool people at general store at Jenny Lake Another amazing day! I was nervous the long road walk would be painful, but it wasn't so bad at all! A positive mindset can truly do wonders! Woke up at 6, quickly packed my things and hit the road! First up was a 4.5 mile dirt road to Jackson Lake Lodge. I was warned about a momma bear and her cubs, but I made a lot of noise and didn't see anything except these huge birds that made such a huge loud noise when they sensed my presence. I did manage to take a wrong turn for about a mile before the trail dead ended. They were cooking breakfast at apparently s horse riding destination site. No food for me, just turned around and hiked back to the wrong turn. Oh well! Didn't explore Jackson Lake lodge much other than taking a break at a picnics table and asking some pretty cow girls how to get to the main road. Next up: the road walk! Dun Dun Dun! Pretty shaded the first part, with a nice convenience store about 5 miles in, complete with wifi and plugs to charge your things. Thanks Signal Mtn. Camp area! I drank an ice cold Gatorade and was really quite happy! I chatted with some motorcycle riders from Georgia that were really nice. More road walking followed. I felt like a little kid, playing wave at the cars as they passed. A lot of people waved back which definitely increases my faith in humanity. The view was just stunning. STUNNING! Like out of this world beautiful, for almost the entire walk. The Tetons are really quite the range! Dramatically rising with no foothills whatsoever and then boom, towering mountains. Supposedly some of the youngest in the world, with sharp jagged peaks. Very cool. I also listened to glorious, oh so glorious music on my road walk today. This made me overwhelmed with joy. Seriously, today was kind of out of this world good! Feel so lucky! I only took a couple of breaks, too. Not so bad! I arrived at the civil time of 2:30, found the hiker campsite, setup my tent, talked to some rangers about my trip and potential backcountry permits (I didn't get one due to availability , but saved $25 in the process). My route now goes through the park, but doesn't camp in the park, thus no permit. Talked to a really cool guy and his middle school son about my trip and they were excited. His son taught me that I don't know my state capitals as well as I should! Ask yourself: capital of Michigan, North Dakota, Oregon. Now look up the answers. I didn't know any of them, haha! I also met and talked extensively with a bikepacking couple from Stanford, CT who were amazingly cool! I met them yesterday too. Previous AT thru hikers who were just a joy to talk to. We had two in depth, long conversations about a wide variety of topics including bikepacking gear (Velcro on handlebar for ebrake front brake, tighten spokes regularly, Bell for warning pedestrians and bears), backpacking, putting name on a piece of paper and down seat tube to prove ownership, spokes in foam in seat tube), Austins butterfly video(everyone look this up, it's worth a watch), and so much more. So fun to meet people and have such a great connection so quickly where conversations flow so smoothly. So awesome! Thanks for the banana bread too, so good! We stayed up late by hiker standards (10:30, gasp). I hope we get to meet again, thank you! Another amazing day!