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Grand Tetons - View from Jenny Lake

Saw bison along the way.

After a brief look at The Grand Tetons, we headed to The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

The Lower Falls from overlook just off the road.

Next day took an early morning (6:30am) private tour with guide Evan Stout, looking for animals. Although we didn’t see as many as we would have liked, we did see some highlighted by a pack of wolf pups playing in the distance. Without Evan’s powerful scope, we wouldn’t have been able to seen them.

Went to location where he had seen grizzlies the previous day but no luck. Very interesting site by Yellowstone Lake where trees had been killed by great fire of 1988 (1/3rd of park burned).

The fallen trees help to retain moisture which allows berry bushes to grow and attract bears as they get ready to hibernate for the winter.

We did see a large mule deer buck and a smaller buck shedding his velvet.

We then went for a hike along Yellowstone Lake to a point overlooking the lake. He thought we might find some owl but no luck.

The following day was our busiest. \240We woke to another cold morning and went out on our own to explore the canyon.

First stop was the brink of the Lower Falls

We then went out on a hiking trail recommended by our guide from the previous day, the Clear Lake Artist’s Point Loop. \240Starting in a clockwise direction, you first hike along the canyon and see beautiful views of both the upper and lower falls, eventually ending up at Artist Point. \240

From Artist Point, you then head away from the canyon. \240The terrain changes dramatically from forest to meadow to barren thermal features with vents and mud pots. \240The terrain then changes back to a large meadow (where another couple saw a large herd of elk several hours earlier) and finally back to the trail head. \240All in all, the trail was a little over 4 miles with some fairly significant elevation changes.

This was our hardest workout day with over 21,000 steps and 68 flights climbed!

After our hike, we returned to area around our cabin for a pretty lousy lunch (the food in the canyon area was the worst we encountered) and then headed south to the Upper Geyser Basin and our next lodging, the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.

That first evening we dined at the Old Faithful Inn, built in 1904. \240We had an Ok buffet for $38 each - probably more quantity than quality - but the best meal we had had to this point. \240Very interesting and impressive building.

It has been expanded and updated somewhat over the years. \240If you stay in the original section, known as the Old House, you will very likely not have a private bathroom and will have to share a small bath down the hall!

In 1987, a fire supression system was added to the roof just in time for the great fire of 1988. \240Without this new system, the lodge would have been destroyed!

The next day, we got up bright and early and went to the Black Sand Basin which was a short drive from our lodge.

This whole geyser region is very impressive, almost like a lunar landscape with geysers and vents and boiling, bubbling water coming out of the ground everywhere you turn.

The Black Sand Basin is known for it’s black obsidian around the edges of the pools.

We then returned to the Old Faithful area for a 9:30 hike and talk by a Park Ranger.

After lunch we headed up the road to The Grand Prismatic Spring which is in the Middle Geyser Basin.

We parked at the Fairly Falls trailhead and took a 1 mile, somewhat strenuous hike to an overlook of the spring, the best way to see the incredible colors of this spring.

After hiking back to the car, we headed up the road to get a closer look a the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Exhausted, we headed back to our lodge, went for a tour of the Old Faithful Inn and then returned for a nice meal at our lodge restaurant.

The next morning, it was off to The Grand Tetons.

One thing that makes the Grand Tetons so impressive is the fact that there are no foothills, you see the full extent of the mountains arising from the valley.

Our next stop was the Oxbow Bend but, first we stopped along the side of the road with several other cars and photographers in search of bear #399, a resident, somewhat famous bear who had been seen earlier in the day at the Oxbow Bend and was expected to be seen in this particular area soon. \240We waited about 20 minutes and left.

Oxbow Bend did not disappoint!

We then headed back to the Colter Bay Area where our cabin was located. \240We tried to get an early check-in but just missed out on a cabin and was told we needed to come back at 4:00.

We had a nice pizza lunch and decided to take another guided hike by a Park Ranger.

Colter Bay is a campground and cabin area with a couple restaurants and a Park information building.

Colter Bay is on Jackson Lake. \240There is an original Jackson Lake but perimeter of the lake was extended in 1911 by the damming of The Snake River. \240Interestingly, the water rights to this extension of the lake belong to the state of Idaho. \240Idaho has been suffering from a drought the past couple of years and has siphoned almost all of this extended water from the lake. \240Consequently, the Colter Bay region, which is normally on the lake, is now on dry lake bed.

Our hike took us past this dry lake bed to a section of the lake that had water.

Our Park Ranger was very interesting and gave us a lot of background on the origin of The Grand Teton National Park.

Once we returned from our hike, we were able to check into our cabin, a very small but clean and comfortable cabin. \240The bedroom areas couldn’t have been more than 10’ x 10’. \240The bathroom was small but nice with brand new fixtures. \240

After dinner, we headed back to Oxbow Bend to, once again look for bear 399 but without success.

After the excitement of the moose, someone said there was a bear in a nearby tree. A ranger informed us that this was a 1 year old black bear cub.

From there, we headed to Jackson, very busy, somewhat quaint town but also caters to the very wealthy. We saw some incredible sculptures and art work that sold for tens of thousands of dollars.

American Legion Building

After checking our Jackson, we headed back towards our cabin and had lunch at Dorman’s Chuckwagon Grill at Moose Junction, a spot that had been recommended to us and which we enjoyed.

We meandered our way back and, with weather threatening, stopped at Mormon Row where there are several old houses remaining from an old Mormon settlement. Many famous photos are taken here.

After a brief stop at an overlook of The Snake River, we finally headed back to our cabin where we crashed for a while and waited for the skies to clear.

We finally headed back to Jackson Lake Lodge (one of our favorite spots) for a light dinner at The Blue Heron Grill while overlooking Willow Flats. The views from inside the Lodge and outside on the patio are spectacular. We actually saw a couple more moose but pretty far off in the distance.

We watched the sun set over the mountains and then it was back to our cabin to get ready for an early morning departure for Tallahassee.

It has been a fabulous trip!