Grand Teton National Park Part III - Excursions beyond the park

We took a couple of day trips outside of the Grand Teton National Park while we were there.  The first one we did was to revisit Yellowstone.  That was a big requirement for me because I LOVED it so much last year.  Since we were going to be so close I really wanted to see it again. In fact, I think of all the things we were going to do over our summer trip, seeing Yellowstone again was the activity I was looking forward to the most.

Yellowstone National Park:

Staying only 2 miles south of the entrance to the park was a big bonus.  It took us about an hour to get to the Old Faithful area, which is pretty close to how long it took us when we stayed at the West Yellowstone KOA last year.

Opal Pool

 Since we were just there last year, we focused on some areas that we did not get to explore.  The first area was the Midway Geyser Basin, which is just north of Old Faithful by about 5-10 miles.

Grand Prismatic Spring

 The big draw in this area is the Grand Prismatic Spring which is the largest spring in the United States.  Not only is it huge, but the colors from all the bacteria make it absolutely gorgeous.

Excelsior Geyser

The excelsior geyser was also really impressive to us.  Deep blues and all the burbling made it fairly hypnotic to watch.  It also causes water to pour down the cliff side into the river, which is fun to watch. 

Runoff from Excelsior Geyser into the river

From there we went back towards the Old Faithful area to have lunch in the historic Old Faithful Inn.  I was pretty pissed last year that we forgot to go in this building (I mean, we were RIGHT THERE!!!  Twice!!). So we made up for it this time and went in to see the old lodge that I have heard about and seen on TV several times.

Old Faithful Inn - stone fireplace, clock, wood beams

From there we headed out to walk the the boardwalk area to walk through some of the areas we didn't get to last year. 

Beautiful bacteria mat in runoff from one of the geysers

It was amazing to see Yellowstone again and I can't wait for the next time - I never get tired of it.  However, there were about 50% more people in the park (at least the areas we were in) than last year. That made the roads, parking, and especially the boardwalks VERY crowded.  Looking at beautiful nature and geology loses something when you are constantly surrounded by chattering people all trying to get their best selfie.  I don't know why the amount of people was different (time of year?), but that would have been frustrating if it had been our first introduction to the park. 

This geyser was so cool - the water sorta "hopped" up and down across the whole pool - it reminded me of a heartbeat or something. 

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort - Aerial Tram:

The next day, the weather started to turn and thunderstorms and rain started to move in. So we decided to head down to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort to check out the tram to the top of the mountain.

Looking back towards Jackson Hole as we climb towards the top. 

The tram takes about 15 minutes to take you all the way to the top at 10,450 feet.  

10,450 feet elevation and a balmy 46 degrees!!  Brr!! 

Once at the top you can take as long as you want to look at the views before catching another tram back down (although some people actually hike all the way down!).

One of the views from the very top

Of course, for us, the cold and the serious amount of wind kept us from lingering too long up there. 

Us clinging to the mountain hoping we don't get blown away

Even with the clouds and rain, it was incredible being up so high - being higher than the clouds is a very cool sensation. 

We are above (some of) the clouds!

After we had enough of the cold, we headed into Corbet's Cabin, a lovely little place on the top of the mountain serving waffles and WARM coffee (plus a little Baileys or Irish Whiskey if you want). 

WAFFLES!!!!

I am telling you - those waffles were the best damn waffles.  It may have something to do with how cold we were, or maybe how we just about damn flew off the mountain with the wind, or maybe the altitude was getting to us - but whatever the reason, if you ever find yourself doing the tram ride, you must get and share the waffles.

Enjoying the warmth of Corbet's Cabin

On the way back down, the clouds really rolled in, so for a few minutes it was pretty eerie - except for this amazing break in the haze to get this picture of the mountain peak.

A break in the clouds on the way back down

Once we were back down we browsed the area at the resort. I found a cute little bear that was ok for me to hug, while Jason proceeded to take things to second base?

And, once again, I found another piece of home - Some Umpqua Indian Foods Jerky!!!

So this concludes my posts on the Tetons.....I am sure that I could prattle on and share hundreds of more pictures of this park that captured our hearts, but the better thing is for you to go check it out for yourself and see if you can glimpse a little of the magic in those mountains. 

Grand Teton National Park part II - Hiking Edition

In this second post in a 3 part series on our stay in Grand Teton National Park, I am going to tell you about some of the hikes we did.  There are literally hundreds of miles of hiking trails that a person could do in the park. And, luckily for us, there are hikes for all fitness types.  Here is a summary of the 4 main hikes that we chose:

Hike #1: Lakeshore Hike at Colter Bay

This is an easy and mostly flatish 2 mile hike that goes, unsurprisingly, around the lake shore of Jackson Lake. The hike starts at the Colter Bay Marina and then makes a sort of figure 8 following along the lake.

Mountain view at the Colter Bay Marina (as seen from the visitor's center deck)

This was the first hike that we did and I am so glad that we chose it as our introduction to the park. You get a little taste of the park in the short 2 miles. 

Our first sample of hiking through wildflowers

We saw the lake, mountains, wildflowers (which were going crazy this time of year), and forests.

Mountains teasing us through the trees

Of course, the show stopper was the unobstructed mountain views about halfway through. We were the only people on this little "beach" - except for a boat trolling a little ways away.  We stopped here and had a picnic lunch.  Simply magical!

BAM! Now that's a view!

Hike #2: Two Oceans Lake Hike

Pretty delicate purple flowers start our hike

For our second hike, we chose the 6.4 moderate Two Ocean Lake Hike, which is so named because it apparently has two streams that flow into different oceans (one flows to the Atlantic and one flows to the Pacific).  I still think it could be named because the north shore and the south shore are like being on two completely different hikes. 

I could not get enough of these large vibrant yellow flowers

The north shore was like walking through a postcard. Beautiful meadows FILLED with wildflowers of all colors. My camera does not do it justice at all. Amazing purples, pinks, and yellows are the main colors, but there was also some red and white mixed in there as well. 

This picture does not do the view justice - that field is FILLED with purple flowers - just use your imagination!

Then, there are of course, the mountain views from across the lake. Throw in a few aspens and pine trees interspersed throughout the flowers and you get the picture of what the entire first half of the hike was like this. I have never seen a more beautiful hike!

Flowers along the path

Then, you turn and head back on the south shore. This side of the lake is a dense forest with occasional glimpses of the lake. I personally love hiking in the forest - reminds me of Oregon. And, as it was getting hotter and sunnier, it was nice to be in the shade.  HOWEVER the last 2 miles of the hike we were covered with mosquitoes.  We were followed by thick black clouds of the little blood suckers, and no matter how much bug spray we applied, it didn't seem to matter.  It was very frustrating to end our hike being chased out by bugs.

Trail through the south shore - forested section of the hike. 

Edited to add:  at the end of our Two Ocean Hike, I found another piece of Roseburg!!  According to this plaque, the building (which was quite lovely for an outhouse) was made in Roseburg! How weird! 

Hike #3: Inspiration Point/Hidden Falls

Jason enjoying the short boat ride

According to the different literature we picked up, this short 2 mile or so hike was supposed to be the most beautiful and the most popular hike in the entire park.

View across the lake from the boat

Generally we try to avoid things that are labeled "most popular" because that also means "most crowded."  So, to try and avoid other tourists, we got up at the crack of dawn to make the one hour drive down to Jenny Lake.  It started to rain, so we opted to take the boat shuttle across the lake to the trail head instead of hiking the couple of miles around the lake.

On a little bridge over the roaring "creek"

The point of this hike is twofold - to make it up a thousand feet to "Inspiration Point" which has a view of Jenny Lake and the surrounding area -and to hike along a mountain stream originating from a huge waterfall called "Hidden Falls".

Jason is master of this mountain! lol

We decided to skip the waterfall view (which happens about 3/4 along the trail) on the way up because a tour company was down there, and instead continue up the side of the mountain. I am really glad that we did it in this order because the rocks were fairly slippery from the rain which made the sorta narrow path alongside the mountain treacherous (to me at least) and it was nice to tackle it before it got super crowded.

We made it "inspiration point"

Then, on the way back down, we pushed our way through (literally - so MANY people and tour buses had started making their way up the path by this point in the morning) to see the hidden falls. 

The Hidden Falls were beautiful

Even though it was raining and it got crowded at the very end, I really enjoyed this hike. I am so grateful that we got there as early as we did to avoid the crowds as much as we did. 

Hike #4: Swan Lake/Heron Pond

On our last full day in the park we headed back down to the Colter Bay area for our last hike. This one was a 3.4 mile hike that went alongside two large ponds/lakes.  Once again it was raining off and on, and we again headed out early on this hike to try and beat any crowds (since this was very close to the busy Colter Bay area). 

Starting our hike through the forest. 

The hike starts off by Jackson lake, but then quickly heads into the woods.  The trail was really nice and wide - but we soon learned why - this is a popular destination for guided horseback rides from Jackson Lake Lodge. There was a lot of, uh, evidence, to the horses on the trails.

Canada Geese on Heron Pond

The way we went, the first body of water came up was Heron Pond.  We didn't see any herons, but we did see a fair amount of Canada geese and some other ducks.  

Mountain view at Heron Pond

The clouds occasionally cooperated giving us nice views as well.

Hiking through a meadow

This hike was partially in the forest and partially in the mountain meadows. I noticed that the flowers were starting to look a little sad so we must have hit the flower season just right!

Time for a panorama at Swan Lake

However, at the second lake, Swan Lake, the majority of the surface was covered with water lilies which had not really started blooming. That must be a gorgeous view when they hit peak season!

Misty Mountain

On the way back we got some nice "misty mountain" views, which in its own way was very beautiful.

Our last view of the lake and mountains

Right before the end of our hike, we got this last view of the mountains across Jackson Lake.  It was a great way to end our last hike of our trip.

Delicious pizza and lake views

We celebrated our last hike by heading to the pizzeria at Leeks Marina.  We had some amazing pizza (I got a mini buffalo chicken pizza complete with blue cheese!!) and Jason got the "maintenance man" pizza.  We shared some local beer that we were told was specifically brewed just for this pizza place - you can't buy it any other place - they don't even bottle it! 

There were a ton of other hikes that we really wanted to tackle -but those will all have to wait until the next time we visit the park, which will hopefully be soon! 

Grand Teton National Park part I - Headwaters Campground

If you love nature - being outside surrounded by mountains, lakes, trees, wildflowers, and wildlife, then there are a lot of worse places you could be than Grand Teton National Park. For the past week we got to have the majestic Teton mountain range and the Snake River as our backyard. Regardless of sun (like the first half of our visit) or rain (like the second half), I felt like we were living in a postcard. absolutely breathtaking and peaceful. Of course, that peacefulness also means that we were without cell or internet service, but that actually just lent itself to getting lost in the beauty of the park.  

Grand Teton North Entrance

Last year we went to Yellowstone (you can read about it here, here, and here), but we did not go to the adjacent Grand Teton N.P.  When we left, we made a sort of circuitous route through Idaho and around the mountains.  The view was staggering even from the outside loop we made, so we knew that we really needed to visit this national park.

The kitties LOVED this campsite!!!

So, we centered our entire summer trip around this park - filling in other places to see before and after - and after staying 7 nights I can definitely say that we made the right decision to come here. It would have been very easy to stay the two full weeks you are allowed to stay.  

Full on Jr. Ranger mode! Even got a nifty shirt to complete the look in Canyonlands! 

Once we made the decision to come here this summer, we started our search for the perfect place to camp.  There are only 2 campgrounds that take reservations (the rest of are first come first serve), and out of those two, we picked Headwaters campground at Flagg Ranch because this park seemed more private, but also because it is only 2 miles south of the Yellowstone south entrance - and I REALLY wanted to see Yellowstone one more time. 

This campground is sorta a cross between an RV park and an actual out in nature campground. We had full hook ups and access to 24 hour laundry and a nice (free) shower house.  But we were also surrounded by trees and we had an AMAZING view out the back of our camp. 

Our campsite. You can see the screen shelter and the mountains in the distance. 

There were no campsites behind us so we got a nice view of a large meadow next to the Snake river and of course beautiful snow capped mountains in the distance. 

The lush mountain view

Our spot was pretty big. We were able to easily put up our screened shelter tent (we put it toward the back of our site to take advantage of the gorgeous views) which was really necessary due to the crazy amount of mosquitoes - and rain later in the week.  Several other campers commented on how jealous they were that we had it - one lady even "offered" $1,000 for it!

Looking back towards our campsite. 

A little tapas before dinner

On our first night we tried to find the amphitheater, but accidentally found ourselves on a short path that led down to the snake river. It was a little overcast so we waited to the next day to head down to try and capture sunset over the river.(We did later discover the amphitheater and watched a presentation on wolves).

Nearly sunset on the Snake river

We came close to sunset, but the mosquitoes were out in force that night, so we had to retreat before too long. Got some nice "almost" sunset pictures and got to see the wildflowers all bathed in a warm orange. 

Wildflowers all aglow in the evening setting sun 

Besides the campground, Flagg Ranch is also a Lodge with a restaurant, a bar, a visitor's center/gift shop, and a convenience store. On our first night, we were so excited to be there that we decided to go out for a "fancy" dinner at our local restaurant. We got there 5 minutes after opening for dinner, so we got a nice seat right next to the windows.

Cheers to Headwaters Lodge!

Best damn onion rings on the planet!

We both felt that the food was overpriced for the quality (although it may have been what we ordered?).  However.....we got onion rings for an appetizer and I am telling you that they were by FAR the best onion rings either one of us have ever had. 

All in all, we are putting this on a short list of places that we MUST come back to soon. I would highly recommend the Headwaters campground for tents or RVs (they have both spaces).   

Sunset view of the mountains on our last night in camp 

In the land of dinosaurs

I, like most kids, went through a dinosaur phase. I can vividly remember 8 or 9 year old me reading a small, colorful book (it was almost like a guide book) about dinosaurs and another animals that went extinct over the different ages. I was fascinated by the size, spikes, armor, claws - the whole package deal. I had so many questions: Why did they exist? Why did they go extinct? What was the world like when they were ruling the earth?  Early thoughts like these is what made me so interested in science and eventually wanting to become a science teacher.

Camarasaurus skull and articulated cervical vertebrae at the fossil quarry 

So, when we were planning our trip and we had decided to go a little farther west to Moab, I noticed that Dinosaur National Monument was directly in our path towards Grand Teton National Park - and I literally jumped up and down and told Jason "we are going there!"  And that is how we have come to find ourselves in Vernal, Utah just outside of Dinosaur National Monument. 

Welcome to Vernal!!  

We clearly don't know much about the area so we chose to stay in an RV park in the middle of town to spend our few days.

Our nice shaded spot complete with actual GRASS!!

We explored the nearby Utah Field House of Natural History on our first day.

CHEESE!

I can pretty much safely say that we give the museum a resounding "meh."  It seems like it has a lot of potential, but while we were there I noticed that several areas were "under construction" - as in I saw a skull being held up with a rolled up paper towel and the outdoor area was full of weeds.  Plus, this is apparently the place to take your kids and tell them to run and scream as much as they want cause no matter where we were in the museum, we seemed to be surrounded by them.  I am glad they had fun, but it made it hard for me to read all the interesting (to me) signs about the geology of the area and the different fossils found in each of the areas. 

The skeleton of some large dinosaur. I honestly don't remember what it is. Diplodocus maybe?

The museum has a lot of potential, though, so I wouldn't cross it off of your list. It might have just been the time that we were there - maybe they do a lot of improvements over the summer or something. We DID manage to get plenty of great pictures with dinosaur pals in the outdoor garden area, though, so that sorta made up for what we felt the museum lacked on the inside. 

Time for a stare down!

On our second day, we drove out to Dinosaur National Monument.  The park is split between Utah and Colorado.  It has a fascinating geological history - but the main attraction for most people is the dinosaur quarry, which is luckily on the Utah side. (But, I, of course, loved all the geology stuff as well!!)

The almost complete skeletal remains of stegosaurus. Can you see the plates?

At the monument, you start off by parking at the visitors center. Then, a tram drives you up the protected quarry. There is an upper level to the quarry where you get a great eye level view of a cliff side that has been chipped back to expose the fossils of hundreds of different animals.  The most common dinosaur fossils belong to sauropods which are the large, long necked herbivores.  However, there are also fossil remains of stegosaurus (you know the plated herbivore with the spiked tail) and also a small number of theropods (the upright meat eaters, like Allosaurus below).  

Allosaur cast skeleton

In the lower level they have more of a small museum of sorts with complete skeletons of dinosaurs, areas where you can actually touch the real fossils, and some smaller exhibits of other fossils they have found (like seeds).  And, you can still see the fossil wall, but you have to look up to see them. 

Jason touching a real fossil in the quarry

I, of course, thought the whole thing was amazing. I was totally draping myself over this sign staring at the fossils trying to identify each of the bones (I got a lot right! Thanks anatomy classes!) until I realized that this lady was trying to actually read the display.  Oops.

Femur bone of a Camarasaurus.  That is one big leg bone! 

After the quarry there is fossil discovery hike you can do back down to the visitors center (and I really wish we would have been prepared so we could have done it - based on the guided tour brochure I picked up you get to see a lot more fossils from different time eras plus seen more of how the uplifting of the layers has effected the geology of the area. YAY!), or you can take the tram back down to the parking lot, which is what we did.

After the visitors center you can take a guided auto tour through the rest of the Utah side of the monument. It was all really fascinating to me - but at the end of the road there is a large area filled with petroglyphs made by the Fremont people about 1,000 years ago.  I was really enamored  with the lizards - especially this really large (maybe 4 feet long) pristine lizard. I haven't seen a ton of petroglyphs in my life, but I don't recall ever seeing lizards depicted like this before.

Petroglyphs at the end of the guided auto tour 

On the way back into town I spotted something completely unrelated to dinosaurs - a lumber yard in the middle of town selling Roseburg Forest Products lumber! What a small world to see a slice of home in Vernal, Utah!

Stack of Roseburg Lumber

I loved this area and I can definitely see myself coming back. I was blown away by the fossils and the geology - it was so interesting to me! There seems to be a ton of things to do in the region besides dinosaur stuff. Hiking, water sports, and fishing - but of course, the main draw is the DINOSAURS!!!