Wild Wyoming

Happy Saturday  to you! Alicia and I just spent the night camping at beautiful Grand Teton National Park. The Grand Tetons are definitely the most gorgeous scenery we’ve seen on the trip! But to get here we had to drive all the way across Wyoming. My idea of what the states would look like and how they actually look have been pretty different. South Dakota looked about right, but I always pictured Wyoming to be green and mountainous and for the most part it looks like a desert – at least the northern part of the does. We did drive through Big Horn National Forest which was how I imagined Wyoming, but that was maybe only 50 miles or so, then it was back to desert-like scenery. Cody looks like an old west town in Arizona, but as the altitude climbs, the green pine forest returns and you drive into Yellowstone and you really feel like you’re back in the Rockies.  I made my first big blunder, or near blunder at Yellowstone. We arrived at Canyon Campgrounds where I reserved a site for two nights only to find that I wasn’t in the system. The campground clerk did a further search and discovered that I had accidentally booked the campsite for July 20^th instead of June 20^th. Even though the sign said the campground was full they were able to squeeze us in for both nights, just at two different sites. It wasn’t a big deal since we had to pack up just about everything into the car at night so the bears wouldn’t get any ideas.

Wyoming - not Arizona

We got a campfire and dinner going and were immediately bombarded with mosquitos. That was the last critter I expected to run into at 8,000 ft. There is still some snow on the ground and our campground host said that one of the areas got some snow the night before, which was why there were so many of them. Fortunately we brought bug spray. The first night at Yellowstone was absolutely freezing. I’ve been camping when it was in the 30’s but that was in January, not late June. We were prepared for the cold, but it was still a major adjustment. Thursday morning we got up and drove the lower loop around the park. We hiked down to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and its rainbow-producing falls. Going down was fine, it was just the 150 or so stairs back up at an altitude of 8,000 feet that was the tricky. Alicia and I aren’t in the best shape but we’re not too bad, but man I felt sorry for the larger, older people who were heading down as we were struggling back up. Hope they made it up alive. We then drove on and saw a few sulfur and hot springs before getting stuck in traffic because the buffalos were fording the creek and crossing the road to graze on the vast plains. The buffalo tend to chill in the road for a minute before moving on, but it was a great chance to get some up close up shots. Further on the drive were amazing views of Mt. Sheridan from in front of Yellowstone Lake. It was like a postcard. The next stop was at Old Faithful.

Falls at Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

Old Faithful was kind of neat, but not really worth the hype. It did its thing for about ten minutes but it was just water shooting out of the ground with some steam. Around Old Faithful were other geysers and springs. They didn’t shoot nearly as high as Old Faithful, but the dramatic blue and orange coloring and clearness of the water was way more impressive. It was 5pm by then and time to head back to camp. The second night wasn’t nearly as cold as the first, but it was still chilly.

Heart Spring

The thing about Yellowstone is you need weeks to explore it and really enjoy the entire park. It’s just too huge to truly appreciate it in a day or two. Alicia says it’s like a buffet with its geysers, falls, canyons, mountains, wildlife, trails, hot springs and everything else. There’s something that will make everyone excited.  We didn’t see too much wildlife there, except for the buffalos. Most of the animals come out at night and we trying hard to stay warm by that point.

To the French it's Big Boob National Park

The Grand Teton’s though - pure beauty. Driving down the John D. Rockefeller Jr. parkway and coming around the turn to see the peaks for the first time will take your breath away. The mountains come straight out of the water, like the in the Alps. They are like no other mountains in the US. We found ourselves a campsite at Signal Mountain. Our site is about 100 yards from Jackson Lake and if it weren’t for the trees, we would have a perfect view of the range. After getting settled in yesterday we took a boat cruise on the lake. We saw a bald eagle perched atop a pine and were able to see some waterfalls that only appear in the spring and summer when the snow melts. After the cruise we drove down to Jackson for dinner and a night on the town. We ate at the Snake River Brewpub. We got the sampler plate of their eight drafts which ranged from a Bud Light-esque beer to a dark, chocolately stout, with everything in between including a sour cherry beer that tasted kind of like a bad wine but it was actually good. For appetizers we had pork, elk, and spicy buffalo sausage and for dinner I had an elk burger while Alicia got a beef brisket sandwich. We then walked around the town, experiencing all the dead animals Jackson has to offer. We considered a stuffed wolf, but we figured the $5,000 could be better spent elsewhere. We then made it a furrier. The girl working convinced us to try on a few coats. I looked pimp in a reversible black mink and leather coat and Alicia tried on the most expensive coat in the store, a $40,000 sable jacket. Since there’s not much need for fur in NC, Alicia passed on the coat. They do offer layaway apparently. At dusk we headed back to the park and saw moose make there away across the road. That went along with the young elk we saw after the boat cruise. This morning we had a chipmunk and a marmot hanging around in our campsite, definitely not afraid of us humans. Today will include hiking and photography.