Wilderness Wandering

July 29, 2024

We drove through Grand Teton on our way to Yellowstone last Friday. 

This afternoon we came back to see the park properly. 

Grand Teton NP is 309,995 acres in Wyoming, just north of Jackson Hole. It is named after the mountains of The Teton Range. Grand Teton is well known as a climbers paradise because of an abundance of granite peaks. The Teton mountains are interesting because they don’t have the typical foothills. They just ride majestically out of the plains. 

This is due to the Trim Fault at the base of the east slope as well as the range being too young to have eroded into soft hills. 

We drove south out of Yellowstone and traveled the 8 mile John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway which connects Yellowstone to Grand Teton. 

We stopped at the Flagg Ranch Information Station. Technically the center is not in either National Park. We discovered that when Tim stamped our passport and it didn’t read Grand Teton National Park. But, it was uncrowded and we got fantastic insight and information from Mark, the volunteer who was manning the station. 

We lunched in the parking lot and began the 42 mile scenic loop. 

We began with the Willow Flats Overlook for a view of wetlands and meadows as well as views of Jackson Lake and The Teton Range. The smoke from the wildfires significantly obscured the view. 

We did the Signal Mountain Drive up a steep, windy, narrow road. We folded our mirrors in and drove up 1000 feet.  Tim may have cursed at a few drivers speeding by and hogging the road, but we made it to the summit. The view was very smoky, but still impressive. 

When we reached the south end of the loop, it was after 4 PM, and our campsite wasn’t far away, so we decided to save the rest of the drive for the next day. 

We drove out to Gros Ventre campground. Its on the edge of the park close to the Gros Ventre River and some beautiful fields of sage brush. After dinner we went on a short drive in search of moose, which we have yet to see. We didn’t see any moose, but we did see a beaver crawl out of the river. And we experienced a wonderful sunset.

July 30, 2024

We were up in the dark to drive to the Mormon Row Historic District for sunrise. There are several iconic Mormon barns in the settlement and seeing the sun come up behind them is beautiful.

After watching the sunrise, we headed over to the southwest side of the park to The Laurence S. Rockefeller Preserve. The preserve provides a special opportunity to connect with nature in an environment designed to reduce congestion and provide an opportunity for solitude and reflection.  The Rockefeller Preserve is located down Moose-Wilson Road, a narrow, twisty lane.

The architecture of the buildings is innovative and gorgeous. The woodwork is striking in its simplicity. We fell in love with the structure and the preserve. It was designed with small parking lots so there aren’t many people on the trail at the same time. The park guide earned you to get there early before the lot fills, or you may have a several hour wait for a parking spot. 

We decided to do the Phelps Lake Trail Loop, a 7.1 mile moderate loop with 600 feet of elevation gain. It was a simply gorgeous hike. The first half of the hike we saw 2 people going in the opposite direction from us. One of them was a trail runner who told us he had seen a bear on the other side of the lake. 

There were three walk in primitive campsites at the north end of the lake. We saw a camper coming out of the water on his own private beach. On the last mile of the hike we ran into lots of people. One particularly memorable pair were Aubrey and Katelyn, young ladies who had met in Hawaii several years ago and meet up to travel together.  They were very cool people and we enjoyed our conversation with them very much! 

Update on Lassen Volcanic National Park- the forest fire there is a bad one and is only 12% contained. We spoke to a firefighter there on the phone and he estimated that it will be weeks before the fire is out and even then, may not be safe for visitors. Tim and I decided that we will head 1000 miles out of the way and go back to catch the two parks we were snowed out of last March. We are on our way to Sequoia and King’s Canyon! You have to be flexible!

It was a quick tour of Grand Teton, but the park is relatively compact, so I think we did it justice.   I would enjoy coming back someday when the views aren’t so smoky.