Heaven! Grand Teton National Park.

I had forgotten just how much I love the Tetons. It's probably been over 10 years since we have been there. That was back in our working days when we would fly into Jackson for a week long backpacking trip in the Tetons or the Wind River Range. We would explore the Tetons while we were there, but we didn't really have time to relax and enjoy ourselves or to fully explore the park. This time was different. We had nine nights to stay and play in the Tetons until our reservation in Yellowstone.

 


We were on the road early and left Dubois about 8:00 am with our bellies full of breakfast skillet from the Cowboy Cafe We wanted to get to the Grand Teton National Park and Gros Ventre Campground as early as possible. Gros Ventre CG does not take reservations, and this was the week of the Fourth of July. We wanted to make sure we secured a good camp site. Not to fear. We arrived about 9:30 and were assigned a site on “The Thoroughfare”, the road that connects all the camping loops. It was a nice sunny site. We prefer open sun when we are dry camping; solar panels seem to work better there. We initially signed up for 4 nights, but re-upped later for 5 more. Harry was parked in a nice site directly across the road. We had excellent views of Blacktail Butte and the Teton crest ridge beyond.

Mt. Moran and Oxbow Bend on the Snake River

The Tetons got their name from the French fur traders who came through the area. They came upon the magnificent peaks and called them “Le Trois Tetons” meaning “The Three Breasts”. I guess they had been away from civilization too long, and were missing the ladies. They are however the most impressive mountains I have ever seen.

When you just gotta go!

We pretty much did it all. We did three moderate day hikes. The first was to the top of Blacktail Butte, the most prominent hump near our camp. Just after we put on the trail a herd of bison came through between us and the car. They paid us no nevermind and continued on into the valley near our campground. The hike was about 5.5 miles, and we climbed about 1100 feet. At the peak we observed some storm clouds headed our way, so we beat it on down the mountain. Even so we enjoyed some lightening and a short hail storm about half way down.

 














Another hike we did was to Phelps Lake and into the mouth of Death Canyon. This day we hiked about 6.5 miles and climbed about 500 feet. We hiked up to an overlook of Phelps Lake and then a little further until we could glimpse into the mouth of Death Canyon. The hardest part of this hike was finding a parking spot at the trail head. It is apparently a very popular destination.

Phelps Lake overlook

Death Canyon

Shy moose

Our third major hike was around Jenny Lake. This was a 9.5 mile loop hike. The trail was pretty flat except for a 500 foot climb to Hidden Falls and Inspiration point.  Dorcas saw a black bear on the trail.

Hidden Falls

Marmot

Mule Deer

Harry has a Jeep Wrangler that he tows behind his Tiffin Breeze motor coach. One day he said he was going “four-wheeling” and asked if I wanted to go. I said sure; I'm always up for an adventure. We went across the Snake River and about 20 miles along the River Road, which basically runs along a plateau overlooking the Snake River on the west side. I guess I had never been “four-wheeling” before, but I now surmise the objective is to break the spine of your passenger.

Four-wheelin'

 


We made several excursions into Jackson. We attended their 4^th of July parade and the fireworks display. The parade was fantastic. Folks in the parade were throwing out trinkets, such as candy and beads, to the crowds. Our favorite trinkets were whole ears of corn chucked out from the float sponsored by the local farmers market. We snagged six ears, enough for two meals, and cooked them on the grill. YUM! We ate lunch one day at the Snake River Brewing Company and enjoyed a pitcher of their brew. Harry bought a growler and we worked on that later that evening.

 


 

This guy brought up the rear, as Santa does during Christmas parades back home.

 







Finally, we did a paddle on the Snake River. I've always wanted to paddle on the Snake, but have never been here with a boat before. Harry carries a kayak, but Dorcas was not terribly interested in going so Harry paddled in the bow of our canoe while Dorcas ran shuttle. We put in just below the Jackson Lake dam and paddled about 15 miles to Deadman's Bar landing. It was a very easy paddle and the current was ripping; much of the time we were going 6-7 mph. We had great views of the Teton peaks from the water. We finished so early I was tempted to paddle the next section from Deadman's Bar to Moose landing. However, that section is fairly braided, and there are multiple channels, sometimes with very swift water, flowing into log jams. The literature strongly suggested not going unless you knew the river. Several rafts had put on just before us, and I knew we could follow them down through the proper channels, but I could not get takers. Maybe another day.

Pronghorn on the Snake River

One aspect of traveling for many months at a time is that sooner or later you have to collect your mail. Our friend Ann at home picks up the mail at our house then sends it to us when we are parked in one spot long enough. This usually happens once every 3-4 weeks or so. We have very good luck using “General Delivery” at local post offices.  Generally the smaller the post office the better. Well this time I think we went too far to the extreme. We had Ann send our mail to the post office in Kelly WY, which is a small community (one store and a post office) just a few miles from camp. We figured it would be a great choice. How could they lose our mail in a post office that consists of a 10' x 12' log cabin? What we hadn't anticipated was their limited operating hours, 10:00 to noon.  And it seemed to take them 1 ½ hours to sort the days incoming mail. That left us a window of just about ½ hour to pick up our mail. Not a long time when you want to be out playing in the park. After about 3 attempts we did finally collect our mail.

Our camp at Gros Ventre

Life is still good!