Saturday, July 17, 2010 – Nothing like flying for free
Bright and early, Joe and I headed for Jackson, Wyoming. As you recall, we were awarded free round-trip tickets for giving up our seats on the DEN-DFW leg of our trip last year to South Dakota, so that’s how we are traveling this year – on our free tickets. And when I say “free” I mean FREE!!! We didn’t even have to pay the TSA fee, taxes or anything. I was pretty surprised. I still feel slightly guilty for flying on a competitor, but it’s not like they’re making any money off of us, so what the heck!!!
We hit the ground rolling in Jackson. Well, except for the small problem of me leaving my suitcase on the plane. I watched Joe get it down from the overhead bin and I watched him start to walk up the aisle, so I thought he had it. However, what he had done was put it in a seat for me. I ran back out to the plane, setting off the alarm (de-planed with airstairs on the tarmac), but the captain said they had taken it to baggage claim. Sigh... It was just a little frustrating, but we survived!! And, we got the bag!
Our first stop was Teton Village, which is an upscale ski community. In the summer, it’s a little quieter but very beautiful. We stopped for lunch at the Mangy Moose, a restaurant that Joe had gone to with his snowmobile buddies a few years ago.
After lunch we decided to take the Jackson Hole Tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain. The tram takes you up 4,139 feet to the summit of 10,450 feet. From the top, you can see Jackson Hole, the Snake River Valley, and the Grand Tetons. We walked around a bit and down a path for a short way. We found some snow for Joe to stand in and then we went back down to the town.
Next, we headed towards Grand Teton National Park via Moose Wilson Road. Along the way, we had our first wildlife sighting – a moose and her baby in the river along the road. I actually did the cardinal sin of wildlife viewing and exited our vehicle to get a better picture. That’s not really a great idea. In the event that the moose were to feel threatened and decide to charge, it would be hard to escape. Of course, I didn't approach her, but I usually stay IN the car!!!
We arrived in Moose and stopped at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center where we got our first and second stamps of the trip in our passport - one for Grand Teton National Park and one for the Roosevelt Parkway, which we will be driving when we head to Yellowstone later in the week. The center is very modern and full of information. We watched a movie about Grand Teton National Park and admired the beautiful view out the windows of the visitor center.
From the visitor center, we headed further in to the park. Our first stop was at the Chapel of the Transfiguration. The chapel is quite beautiful. There is a beautiful view of the Tetons out the back window of the chapel – quite stunning. From the chapel, we took the trail to Menor’s Ferry. Bill Menor’s cabin is now a small country store and we saw a reconstructed version of the ferry. The ferry was the primary means of crossing the Snake River in the central part of Jackson Hole during the late 19th century. Also in the area was the Transportation Shed with a collection of wagons and coaches representing frontier transportation. Menor sold out to Maude Noble in 1918 and her cabin is also in the area.
We decided from here to go ahead and travel to our home for the next 3 nights – Jackson Lake Lodge. The lodge is very nice and we are in a patio room. We would find while here that the wildlife was close. We heard wild turkeys, wolves, and screech owls. It was nice, even though there was no air conditioning in the room.
We were tempted to call it a night, but the rodeo was calling. So, we headed back into Jackson for dinner at the Snake River Brewing Company and the rodeo. The best part of the rodeo was the Mutton Busting where the kids try to ride small sheep. It was totally hysterical!!! In the end, we were glad we had ventured back in to town and had some fun with a few locals and a few other tourists.
Sunday, July 18, 2010 – Lots of stops and a hike to Phelps Lake
We started out our day with a short loop hike from the back of the lodge, Lunch Tree Hill, complete with very pretty views over Jackson Lake.
After our hike, we set out for another full day of Grand Teton National Park. Our first stop was Cunningham Cabin. Cunningham was a cattle rancher in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, the cattle business collapsed during WWI. I’m not 100% sure what happened to the Cunningham’s, but their homestead is still left as a good example of homesteads in this area.
Down the road was the Snake River Overlook, famous for being the location where Ansel Adams took his famous pictures of the Grand Tetons. It was beautiful and provided me with a good photo op.
Next was Mormon Row where the most photographed barn in the United States stands. Mormon Row was once a “vibrant” community full of Mormon homesteaders. The town was once known as Grovont, but dispersed in the mid-1900s as the land was acquired to expand Grand Teton National Park and the settlers moved into Jackson or other more populated areas. While on Mormon Row, we watched a pretty large herd of bison grazing. There were a few on the same side of the stream as us. They crossed over to join their herd and didn’t seem to mind that we were visiting.
From Mormon Row we headed to Dornan’s, the commercial center in Moose, to grab a sandwich for the cooler. While there, we realized that we had missed seeing the cabin from the movie, “Shane” so we headed back past Mormon Row and towards the forest to see it. It was pretty much falling down, but we checked out the area. Then we put the movie on our Netflix list!!
From the cabin, we headed to the Scenic Loop Drive around Jenny Lake. We stopped at the large picnic area at String Lake for our lunch and even walked over to the lake. It looked quite refreshing and in all honesty, I wouldn’t have been opposed to jumping in. Except that I didn’t have on bathing suit, nor was I in possession of a towel. It was a pretty lake, that’s for sure. We drove on around the scenic loop and stopped at the Jenny Lake Lookout. According to our guidebook, Jenny Lake is the most beloved of the Grand Teton Lakes. It’s a pretty small lake, but is beautifully scenic.
Heading back down Moose-Wilson Road, we decided to check out the Laurance Rockefeller Preserve. Our guide book said it was a must-see, but it didn’t give it a moon, so we were slightly perplexed. The visitor center there was quite interesting. There was a very cool photo mosaic and a round room where you could sit and listen to the sounds of nature. Very unique. I couldn’t hold Joe back from a hike by this point, so we decided to hike out to Phelps Lake. It was another absolutely beautiful lake! I decided to take my shoes off and dip my toes in and it was so refreshing!!! (aka – COLD!!) We sat and admired the views for a few minutes and let out feet dry out before heading back.
On the way back toward Moose, we saw another moose on Moose-Wilson Road (2 for 2). But even more exciting was when we decided to head to our next stop – Signal Mountain. As we were driving up to the vista, Joe noticed a moose in a lily pad pond – kind of behind the trees. How he spotted that moose on MY side of the road while driving is beyond me, but we managed to park the car and check her out. She was IN the lily pad pond, so we couldn’t see her whole body, but it was really cool.
We took in more great views over Grand Teton National Park from the top of Signal Mountain. We actually saw some pronghorn sheep and a heard of elk, which was kind of exciting.
Monday, July 19, 2010 – Happy 7th Anniversary
Today was our anniversary, so I wanted to make Joe happy. We started out by heading back to Jenny Lake to do the most popular hike at Grand Teton. We opted to take the boat across the lake and cut a couple of miles off the trail. The hike to Hidden Falls was great and we really loved the falls. We opted to go ahead and go up to Inspiration Point because, of course, we can’t pass up a lookout! The view was beautiful and I was plenty proud of myself for making it to the top and for not whining about it! That would all change, however.
On the way back we decided to hike all the way back instead of taking the boat. It wasn’t too bad, but towards the end, I started getting really tired and I was being eaten alive by horseflies. That was just adding insult to injury, so then I greatly regretted agreeing to do the hike. I guess now that I’ve had time to reflect, it was a good decision to hike. It wasn’t difficult, it was just warm and I hate bugs. Joe was, of course, his patient and quiet self. He never once looked at me and said, “SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE ALREADY!!!” I was grateful for that.
We had reservations for a Snake River float trip, so after cleaning up a bit in the river, we headed to downtown Jackson. Our float trip was really fun. Joe would have preferred a white water trip, but I was afraid I wasn’t strong enough for that. The float trip was really relaxing and we enjoyed our guide, Liz, who is an English teacher when she’s not floating the river. We didn’t see any animals, but we did see several Bald Eagles and a few other birds. I thought it was really a good trip. When we returned from the trip, we were treated to a steak dinner with salad, beans, and lemonade.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 – Moving on to our next National Park
Today we would be leaving Grand Teton and heading to Yellowstone. But first, we decided to have breakfast in the Mural Room. The view from the dining room is so beautiful, but we had been timid about having dinner there since we didn’t have anything “dressy” to wear. We ended up having the buffet and I had a waffle just so I could take a picture of the moose that was in the middle. It was good, too. I noticed there were several elk in the distance in the valley and it seemed a little like we were having breakfast with them. Afterwards, we were walking around the lobby taking my pictures and heard someone say “There’s a Bull Moose…” I made a BEELINE for the back to check it out, but of course, we were both totally unprepared. I didn’t have the big camera with the zoom lens with me and Joe didn’t even have his glasses!!!! That will so teach us! After loading up and checking out, we went back to check and see if the moose was still there, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
Before heading to Yellowstone, we had planned to take a scenic cruise of Jackson Lake. We had purchased tickets the previous day and seconds before we were going to head toward the boat we realized our tickets were for the wrong day. We went inside and quickly explained to the lady that we had purchased the tickets the day before and REQUESTED today for the ride, but the girl had trouble and we just realized she had messed up and we hadn’t caught it. Fortunately, she went ahead and comped us for the day of and we sped down the dock to get on the boat. It is so frustrating when we do something stupid. We should have double checked our tickets and we KNOW THAT!!!
Thankfully that all turned out fine and we had our tour of the lake. It was pretty interesting and we enjoyed the girl who narrated for us – Bitty. She was a student from Missouri and it made me think that it would be really cool for Samantha to do something like that – work the summer at Glacier National Park – but I’m not sure she would and I’m afraid Mary would kill me if I suggested it.
After all that we were finally headed up to Yellowstone via the John D. Rockefeller Historic Parkway. We thought we had plenty of time before our cookout, but we sorely underestimated the size of the park and the amount of traffic that we would encounter. Our cookout was at 4:45 and we weren’t exactly sure where to go. Fortunately, we happened upon the stables on the road we were on and arrived at exactly 4:45. Turns out we really did have more time. There was a lot of waiting around and getting the horses hooked up, etc., etc. But, I’m glad we made it when we did. I was so anxious and Joe didn’t want me to be disappointed. God bless him.
I actually really loved the Roosevelt Cookout – it was one of my favorite things. We loaded in covered wagons that I’m pretty sure were exponentially more comfortable than the real things were back in the day. It took about 30 minutes or so to get to the cookout site. Once there, we had a little entertainment and they made “cowboy” coffee. I didn’t have any, but I took a picture of the open fire they cooked it over. They even sang a song about how to make it. Dinner was steak, watermelon, cole slaw, potato salad, beans, cornbread, and apple cobbler for dessert. It was actually pretty good. The only negative thing about the whole evening was the mosquitoes, but we had only ourselves to blame. We had Off wipes, but didn’t take any with us!!!
I forgot to mention that after we went over Dunraven Pass, we passed a lot of people standing along the side of the road looking down into a valley. We speculated what it could be and I told Joe it was probably our one opportunity to see a grizzly. It was kind of funny that we actually heard at the cookout that there had been a grizzly bear with her two cubs in that area!!! Doh!!! Figures….
After the cookout, we drove to the town of West Yellowstone where we would be spending the next 4 nights at the Three Bear Lodge. We got there kind of late and Joe said the front desk girl asked him when he walked in, “Are you Joe Foley?” “Well, yes, I am!” “You sure are lucky, Joe Foley. We’ve been turning people away and sending them to Bozeman, but you have a room!” Well…we better have a room – it was prepaid and I would have been down right ticked if they would have given it away!!!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 – Geyser Day
We started out our day with a very yummy breakfast at the Three Bear Lodge Restaurant. Today we had reservations for a yellow bus tour and after our experience with the park size and traffic yesterday, we decided to stay close to the area. So, from West Yellowstone, we headed to the geyser basins and towards Old Faithful. We stopped at many spots and drove a few extra drives along the way:
Firehole Canyon Drive
Fountain Paint Pot Area Trail
Firehole Lake Drive
Midway Geyser Basin
Biscuit Basin
Black Sand Basin
Upper Geyser Basin, including Old Faithful
Here are a few of my favorite sites:
Sapphire Pool at Biscuit Basin:
Emerald Pool at Black Sand Basin:
Old Faithful:
Grotto Geyser at Upper Geyser Basin:
Morning Glory Pool at Upper Geyser Basin:
Chromatic Spring at Upper Geyser Basin:
We had picked up a Subway sandwich on the way out of town this morning, so we stopped at Whiskey Flats Picnic Area when we were hungry. A couple of hours before our tour, we stopped at Old Faithful Inn to pick up our tickets and learned that our tour was NOT going to be in a Yellow Bus due to mechanical problems, so we opted not to go. Then we saw a Yellow Bus at the geysers on the way back to West Yellowstone, so we felt a little cheated (or at least I did). I had booked it because we had so much fun on the Red Bus Tour in Glacier N.P. but I think it would have gone to a lot of places we had already stopped at. Instead, we walked around the Upper Geyser Basin, which I really enjoyed.
I thought it worth noting that today was my favorite weather day. Our weather has actually been what other people would consider perfect – sunny and low 80s. Today was overcast and looked like it might rain, but it never did. I was glad it didn’t rain, but since the clouds were hiding the sun, it was really cool outside. In fact, it was so cool, that I had to wear a JACKET!!!! Refreshing! Unfortunately, we noticed that it looked like it was storming to the south and when we got home we learned that some mountain climbers had been struck by lightning in Grand Teton. One of them had fallen and died – very sad.
Thursday, July 22, 2010 – Mammoth Hot Springs and our first GRIZZLY bear!!!
We had such a good experience at the Three Bear Lodge Restaurant that we decided to start out day out there again. We then headed north toward Gardiner, MT because I wanted to see the Roosevelt Gate that welcomes visitors to the park at that entrance.
Our journey would take us to the northwest corner of the park. Our first stop was the Artist Paint Pots, which was a loop trail to more geyser-type springs. Our next stop was supposed to be the Norris Geyser Basin, but we circled the parking lot twice and couldn’t find a parking place, so we decided that we had seen enough geysers the day before and moved on. Here were our stops leading to and around Mammoth Hot Springs:
Roosevelt Gate:
Artist's Paint Pots:
Sheepeater Cliff:
Golden Gate and Rustic Falls:
Upper Terraces Area:
Lower Terraces Area:
Old Fort Yellowstone, including the Albright Visitor Center:
From there, we headed toward the northeast corner of the park:
Undine Falls:
Wraith Falls:
Petrified Tree:
After all that, we were back where we had the Roosevelt Cookout. This time, we decided to stop at the Roosevelt Lodge and have dinner there, which was fantastic. Maybe the best meal we had all week. The Roosevelt Lodge is just cabins without bathrooms (bathrooms are available, but shared). It’s a pretty cool place if you don’t mind sharing a bathroom.
We headed to the Lamar Valley because Joe wanted to see a wolf. We didn’t but we did see lots of bison, elk, and pronghorn. We headed back toward West Yellowstone via the Dunraven Pass and just as we approached, the traffic stopped again. As we rounded the corner, I looked up on the hill and saw brown and realized it might be a bear. As we got closer, we realized it was a bear – a GRIZZLY bear and her two cubs. So exciting. The people in front of us parked and never moved until she went over the top of the hill and was unseen. I felt a little bad for the folks behind us who didn’t get the opportunity to see the bear, but it was good for us, too, because we got to watch her for a little while. Joe was utterly and completely stoked. I think it was the #1 highlight of his entire vacation.
Friday, July 23, 2010 – Our last day
Another breakfast at the Three Bear Lodge Restaurant and then we headed in to the park for the last time. This time we were finishing the figure 8 by going past Old Faithful. We stopped at Kepler Cascades and then headed over Craig Pass, which also happens to cross the Continental Divide a couple of times.
The road hugs Yellowstone Lake around West Thumb and the north side of the lake. We decided to turn right at Fishing Bridge and find a nice picnic area on the lake. It was cool and windy, but very pretty.
Back on the main figure 8, we stopped at Mud Volcano for some geyser/mud pot type activity. While the geyser activity is interesting and awesome, it is also a little unsettling. The map of the park outlines the approximate caldera boundary, which is an impressively large area of the park. Furthermore, the volcano is 2,000 years late erupting. Anyway…interestingly enough, there was a bison just along the boardwalk here and after we passed, the rangers had to close off the trail because he was walking on it. Ha!
Our last stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We drove around and did a hike. It was actually probably my favorite part of the park. I don’t remember this from when I was kid (of course, I don’t remember anything except Old Faithful!). Our hike was quite strenuous…warning signs and everything. It was a staircase down to view the Lower Falls called Uncle Trail.
From Artist's Point:
Overall, we had a fabulous week at two of our nation's national parks. I had really thought we would have more than enough time in Yellowstone, but in fact, we could definitely go back. We didn't do much hiking there at all, which I'm sure was gravely disappointing to Joe. The park is far bigger than I imagined with tons of things to see and do. Guess I will put it back on the vacation destination wish list!!!
