Wyoming

June 10-17, 2024: The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone

This blog is the fifth of a 7-part series describing our 8-week, 7,368 mile epic journey through the middle of the United States, in which we visited 10 national parks and many other state parks. 

June 10: We set out to Jackson, WY, taking a slightly altered route due to the Rt. 22 road collapse. We stopped and ate lunch at a boat launch along route 26/89, then stopped at Albertsons for shopping before arriving in downtown Jackson. We were able to park for free at Miller Park (I paralleled parked the van!). We were thinking of getting Thai food for dinner, but ended up at Hatch Taqueria and Taquilas for chips, salsa, guacamole, and spicy margaritas. We liked Jackson, but it is very upscale and touristy. We saw only a few pride flags for Pride Month. Leaving Jackson and driving the short distance into Grand Teton National Park, we arrived at our site in Gros Ventre Campground, a beautiful spot right along the Gros Ventre River. We had a spacious site with a bear box to put food and other stuff into. We are near the bathroom which was handy. The weather was beautiful - 70s in the day, 40s at night. We used our sleeping bag comforter for the first time since Mesa Verde. 

June 11: We slept in a bit which gave us a later start, but allowed us to have some good sleep. As we like to start our visits by going to a vistitors center, we headed to the Craig Thomas Visitor Center, and decided to do the Phelps Lake Loop today and Jenny Lake tomorrow with an earlier start. Because of our late start, we had to wait in line for over an hour to get a parking spot in the Lawrence S. Rockerfeller Preserve where we needed to get the trailhead. So we made lunches in the van, got our backpacks together, wrote these notes, and looked at hikes to do in the park. 

After about an hour of waiting, we got a parking spot and headed our to hike the Phelps Lake Loop. We started down the Lake Creek Trail to the Phelps Lake Loop to the Woodland Loop back to the parking lot. The hike took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to hike the 7 miles. On the way, we saw a marmot and little snake. No bears and no moose.

After the hike, we stopped at the Moose Overlook on Moose Wilson Road and saw two moose. We drove up 89 and stopped at overlooks where we saw a herd of bison from afar and a coyote. We saw a third moose on Gros Ventre Road on our way back home. We came back to the campsite around 6PM, washed up with a bucket bath using our privacy tent. We left a 5 gallon jug of water out during the day and it was pretty warm to bath with by the afternoon. Then we watched some TV and went to bed. 

June 12: We woke up at 6AM and were heading to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center parking lot by 7:15 to get a parking spot and beat the crowd. We found a spot no problem, took the boat over to Cascade Canyon to start our hike. We hiked to Hidden Falls and then Inspiration Point. Then we hiked about two miles into Cascade Canyon which was beautiful with views of the Tetons and Cascade Creek! We saw another marmot, a bunch of chipmunks, a pika, and a tiny snake. After an 8 mile hike, we got into the van, had lunch, and then headed toward the Jenny Lake Lodge and the scenic road which was not particularly scenic. We drove up the Signal Mountain Summit Road which was a narrow, windy road that first led to Jackson Point Overlook. That was a spectacular view of the Tetons, the valley, and Jackson Lake (which is huge). We continued to the top of the route which was not at all as scenic with a view only of the valley. Heading back down, we visited the Signal Lodge area (bought a loaf of bread), then headed back down to the Pothole Lookout, which was less interesting. And then stopped at the Church of the Transfiguration and Menors Ferry Historical District, which were very interesting. We stopped by the Moose Lookout one more time but did not see any moose. But during our drive, a coyote crossed the road, as did four pronghorn. Then we headed back to the campsite. After washing up and eating dinner, we walked through the campground and found a way to walk along the river, which was beautiful. We did not see any moose, but we saw a paw print and scat possibly from moose. Over the course of the day, we walked about 11 miles. As we were hanging out in the van, around 10PM, we heard a coyote howling for about 10 minutes. Very cool!

June 13: We left the campground around 10:30 AM and headed up toward Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is just north of the Grand Tetons, so the drive was easy. On the way, we passed by a huge herd of bison, some of whom were crossing the road right near us. We stopped at Colter Bay in the Grand Tetons to take showers. We arrived in Yellowstone from the south entrance and stopped at Grant Village Visitor Center to get information and plan our stay, particularly as Yellowstone is huge. We started our journey at West Thumb Geyser Basin and saw geysers, hot springs, and mud pots. Then we headed to the Bridge Bay Campground. We didn’t like our fist site (A loop) so we switched to B 85 which was a bit further back with more open space. After dinner, we took a walk around the area, first going to Lake Yellowstone and then headed to F-Loop where we heard there were elk. We saw one white mottled fox and four elk, all in our campground. 

June 14: Today was a long day going to geysers, hot springs, and mud pots in the southwest area of the park. We saw most of the major hot springs, including Sapphire, Grand Prismatic Spring, and many others. We ate lunch along the way. Throughout the day we saw elk, a sandhill crane, and many bison. We ended at Old Faithful around 5PM, just in time for the 5:35 eruption. Deciding to eat back at the campsite, we purchased some beer and snacks at the Old Faithful area, got some gas ($4.49 per gallon), and drove the 40 minutes back to the campsite, skipping showers for the night. After dinner, we walked down to the marina near the campground to see about the scenic boat tour and check out the small store there. No cell service in the campground this evening. 

Some observations: While the roads are not crowded, getting into parking lots to see the major geysers was crazy busy and very crowded. We were getting a bit tired of the crowds. Arriving later to Old Faithful was nice as the crowds had thinned a bit and parking was easy. And there were some roads that prohibit RVs, which is odd as some RVs (like ours) are smaller. They should have size limitations, not ban all RVs. But all the driving we did to get around the park meant that our house battery recharged which was important as we had no electric hook-up in the campground. 

June 15: We headed out to do the Mammoth Hot Springs area. It was very windy today. The Mammoth Springs were beautiful but crowded. Some of the springs had water and colors, others were dry and white. We saw many bison on the way up and down. And we saw a black bear on the way back to the campground. We also had a male elk visit the campground, first eating something blue and then just eating grass. We also saw a marmot, some trumpet swans, and Canada geese and goslings. The drive home was through Washburn Mountain which was beautiful but challenging driving the van, as it rises to about 10,000 feet. We have definitely learned to downshift the van. Albright Vistor’s Center was helpful as it had a Wi-Fi. We also stopped at Fishing Bridge to shower. And we hiked Storm Point Trail which was nice to be out of the fray. The walk was very pretty and very windy near the water. But it was also interesting to see bison poop all over the place without seeing the bison. 

June 16: Despite our desire to see wolves, we decided not to go to the Lamar Valley as it meant traveling back up Mount Washburn. So we decided to sleep in, have breakfast, and see the South and North Rims of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We left for the South Rim around 9:30 AM. On the way up, we stopped to see the Sulpher Cauldron which is a really big mud pot, one of my favorite features at Yellowstone. Arriving at the South Rim drive, we drove the scenic route, stopping at the two overlooks to see the upper and lower falls. Then we parked the car at the Wapiki Trail Head and hiked the North Rim Trail. Reaching the Brink of the Upper Falls parking lot, we saw a crowd watching a bear so we got to see the bear for a bit. Then we started hiking, knowing that bears were in the area. We met up with two women who were nervous about hiking by themselves, so we joined together and hiked to the Brink of the Lower Falls together. After that, they headed back down and we continued to Red Rock Point, LookOut Point, and Grand View. At that point, we headed back to the van (hiking a total of about 6 miles), and then drove up to Inspiration Point. From there, we drove to Canyon Village, visited the museum there and ate some very mediocre French fries. At this point, it was around 4:30 PM and we left for Fishing Bridge to do our laundry. We dumped the tanks while waiting for the wash to be done. Arriving back to the campground to get our stinky slinky, we saw two male elk in the campground. Then we headed back to Fishing Bridge, finished the laundry and came back for dinner. On our way back, we saw three elk outside the campground. A lot of people had cleared out of the campground, but we had a new neighbor with a dog. Having seen me doing dishes, she knocked on our door and asked if I was alone. She was a lone traveler and was looking for someone to hang out with. We chatted briefly but because it was cold outside, we retired to our respective RVs.  

June 17: Leaving Yellowstone, we stopped at the Fishing Bridge General Store to get some coffee. To our pleasant surprise, we realized that they offered a compost bin so we dropped off our compost there. On the way to Sheridan, WY, we saw two bison and a sandhill crane on the east exit of Yellowstone. We didn’t realize in our trip planning that we would be driving through the stunning scenery of Shoshone National Forest, Buffalo Bill State Park, and Bighorn National Forest, where we saw several antelope and deer, lots of horses and cows, and a moose.

The drive took us from about 7700 feet to 4400 feet to 9000 feet in Big Horn National Forest back to 4000 feet in Sheridan. We were impressed in Bighorn that they had signs about the types and ages of the rock that lined the road. On a whim, we stopped at Shell Falls Interpretive Center, which was beautiful. Absolutely stunning scenery throughout!

Stopping in Cody, WY for lunch, we ate surprisingly good Thai food for lunch at Thai Thai Restaurant. And we stopped to pick up some food and supplies at Walmart. 

Once in Sheridan, we walked around town a bit before heading to the KOA, a very nice place to stop for the evening. We took showers right before the rain started, had dinner, and used the Wi-Fi to map out the details of the rest of the trip.