Grand Teton and Yellowstone - August 6

Grand Teton and Yellowstone - August 6 - 12, 2008

Grand Teton is known I think more as the park to the south of Yellowstone than as a destination. But, as our guide book said if you are looking for alpine scenery, Yellowstone is second fiddle to the Teton Range. So while Elias stayed with both sets of grandparents, Holly and I toured Jackson and Grand Teton for 5 days and made a day trip out of Yellowstone.

Day 0
After arriving around noon, we had a good lunch at a cafe there and then walked around town a bit. Not finding too much to excite, we drove around a while, up to the ski resort area which was pretty dead, did some shopping for groceries and supplies, and then back to the hotel.

One of the arches made of elk antlers in the square downtown Jackson. The National Elk Refuge is right on the edge of town, the boundary not 10 blocks from this place. Tens of thousands of elk spend winter in the refuge.

Day 1
On our first full day, I got up EARLY to photograph sunrise scenery and then get in line at the backcountry desk to try to get a backcountry permit for our planned 3 day hike. Despite being the 3rd one in line, and the other two guys going elsewhere, I couldn't get anything for our hike even though supposedly 1/3 of the sites are reserved for 24-hour advance walk-ins. While in line (an hour before the visitor center opened), I learned from a fellow waiter that people reserve multi-day trips and then just skip the first few days, allowing them to get the high-demand sites multiple days in advance and making it nearly impossible to get walk-in sites in popular areas the day before. Needless to say I was pretty upset.

So I went back to pick up Holly and we resigned to likely not get to do our planned multi-day trip. We could still enjoy some nice day hikes. One of our first stops was at the Jenny Lake area, where we thought we might camp a day or two. We wandered into the ranger station, thinking that might be where the camping info was. I started telling our story to the ranger there, about how we couldn't get a permit, and he stopped me saying, "really?" and checked the computer. He then says, "Well, how hardy are you?". I said, "if you're going to tell us to day hike it, not that hardy." He said, well I could put you at Mica Lake the first night (avoiding the "full" backcountry camping zones in the area), but you'll have to hike a bit off trail. He proceeds to show us some pictures of the area, says we'll have to cross a boulder field and gain some elevation to get there. I would have agreed to pretty much anything, so we walked out with a permit for Mica Lake and Holly Lake the 2nd night. (Holly Lake was supposedly full when I was at the backcountry desk earlier that morning.)

We then spent the rest of the day on a quick driving tour of the park and then back to the hotel to pack up.

	Early morning Tetons
	From near the Moose visitor center

	Boat dock on Jenny Lake

	Driving towards the north end of the park, some tree clearing causes a traffic backup. There were bikers everywhere this week as the rally in Sturgis was the week before our visit.
	North towards Yellowstone
	Jackson Lake near Leeks Marina, where we stopped for lunch at the pizzeria (good stuff).
	Near the highway junction close to Jackson Lake lodge is Oxbow Bend, supposedly good wildlife watching though we saw mostly humans when we came back late one evening.
	Along the unpaved road to Two Ocean Lake, some beautiful meadows. We could definitely imagine some grizzlies in this area.
	Two Ocean Lake and the inlet
	Damselflies everywhere
	What the heck is this? See Dragonfly/Damselfly mating habits

	It's a different kind of national park, as we're leaving this remote feeling unpaved road to Two Ocean Lake, we run into the UPS man.
	Driving back to Jackson, we run into Triangle X dude ranch hands putting the horses out to evening pasture.
	The room at the Rustin Inn, pretty nice being just opened. Didn't need that fireplace though!

Day 2
We start our long hike early this AM, getting on the boat leaving the dock at 8am. Up Cascade Canyon today, ending near Lake Solitude. A little over 7 miles and 2200 feet gain on the first day.

	The shuttle across Jenny Lake cuts out 2 miles of lake trail to get you into the mountains quickly.
	Riding across with us were these climbing students
	A cloudy morning in the area around Hidden Falls, easy reach even for non-hikers by using the boat.
	Golden-mantled ground squirrel
	Climbing up to Inspiration Point, nice but didn't really inspire me much.
	Heading up into the canyon

	Tons of granite boulder fields

	I wasn't sure when we started, but turns out there were still plenty of wildflowers.



	The clouds start to break, and we did too, as we reach this stunning valley

	Just prior to reaching Lake Solitude, the trail crosses the gushing outlets of Mica Lake and Lake Solitude
	If you look closely you can see tomorrow's trail crossing the slope uphill left to right.
	Lake Solitude, about a half dozen people enjoying the setting, all of them apparently day hikers.

	After trying to reach Mica Lake and deciding we would likely meet an uhappy fate, we decided with the rain moving in to come back down and just pitch the tent just out of view of the lake. The view towards the Grand Teton from our campsite was not too bad. That night there was a major thunderstorm on top of us, lots of lightning and rain for a solid hour, an interesting experience.

Day 3
The second leg is about 4.5 miles, but up to the continental divide (1700 more feet up) and then back down a fairly difficult eroded slope with snow crossings. The high elevation climbing around 800 feet per mile was slow going for us.

	After dawn view of Mt Owen and peek at Grand Teton.
	We had to hop cross the lake outlet to get from our campsite to the lakeside area.
	The tranquility of Lake Solitude in early morning. Water like glass.
	We got up and packed immediately to make it down to the lake for breakfast of instant oatmeal.

	Alpine hikers with Grand Teton and its hanging cloud





	Remember I said we didn't make it to Mica Lake. This is a photo of that lake. No, not the one to the right, the big white frozen over patch up and to the left. 500 feet up and 1/2 mile across a field of huge granite boulders and snow. Yeah right.







	The valley below, can you get some perpective? Maybe.
	Can you see it? Maybe in the next shot, a little closer.
	It's a Yellow-bellied Marmot
	Short snow patch on the trail before reaching the divide
	Wide-angle back towards Grand Teton
	Stunted forest near the top of the divide
	The first view of the valley on the north side of the ridge
	Looking back to Lake Solitude


	Pika (cheep!)

	Cresting the ridge



	An outcropping overlooks Painbrush canyon where we are headed
	Holly snacks with Mt Moran in the background
	Wide view of upper Paintbrush Canyon, you can see the trail below
	To get down, we cross a large talus field. Snow makes it difficult in places. Typically the trail is treacherous until late July and things are late this year we are told.
	The Canyon turns to meadows and streams and gnarled downed trees
	View of Holly Lake, where we plan to camp
	The trail to the campsites leads along the rocky shore of Holly Lake. Mosquitos are a plague here, guess we should have not forgotten the bug spray.

Day 4
Day starts with breakfast lakeside, mosquitos swarming. Guess the cold doesn't slow them down much here. I zip my jacket up all the way and chinch the hood while fanning Holly with my hat while she tries to eat oatmeal. Then it's my turn and I eat while running around the rocky shore. If we had to stay much longer I'd have been smearing mud on my face.

	Holly Lake in the early AM
	Another Yellow-bellied Marmot

	Nice view of Leigh Lake (closer), Jackson Lake's Spalding Bay (farther), Elk Island and Hermitage Point.

	Lots of nice wildflowers in Paintbrush Canyon
	Sometimes I can't decide what focal length is better, so you get both.






	What are the odds this tree (which is larger than it looks) would fall just so?
	Walking along the littered shore of String Lake
	Fly fishing at String Lake outlet
	An eagle's nest, I assume
	Looking at Teewinot Mtn, Mt Owen, and Grand Teton through burned forest on Jenny Lake shore.
	We arrive back at the return boat dock to cut out another two miles of hiking around the lake.
	Now to tie it all together: video of the scenery from our hike. 9m 34s
	and video of some of the wildlife we saw on our hike. Yes, I know it isn't an antelope, it's a mule deer, thanks. It's hard to see in the camera viewfinder at that distance. 3m 45s

Day 5
After leaving the trail, we checked back into to the Rustic Inn and in the morning we head for Jackson Lake lodge and spend a day sightseeing and looking for wildlife. We checked out the popular areas for this, Antelope Flats Rd for bison, Mormon's Row for 19th century barns, Oxbow Bend for wildlife opporuntites. We also drove out the Gros Ventre Slide Geological Area.

	Bison and antelope near Antelope Flats Rd.
	The Gros Ventre Slide left some interesting features, but hard to fathom really even while there and certainly from photos.
	The Tetons dominate the landscape no matter where you are.
	One of the barns on Mormon's Row.
	A sign says this used to be prime beaver habitat and this area would have been flooded by their dams but no longer.
	The view from Signal Mountain, with glacial features explained

	Oxbow Bend after sunset, attempting to spot wildlife with no luck. We did see one possible bear about 500 yards across the water. Just a speck really, even the binoculars couldn't tell what it was.

Day 6
By today, we felt we had seen the highlights at Grand Teton so we decided to make a day trip out of Yellowstone. Very glad we did as we got oriented to some of the major sights, but it is such a big place there's no way to do more than that in a day.



	We didn't get far into the Yellowstone before running into our first elk jam.
	First stop, Old Faithful! OK. The Inn is pretty cool with it's huge timbered construction.
	Pretty much have to video Old Faithful. The uncut version. Yes I both videoed and took stills, pretty talented, huh? 4m 58s
	Second stop, Grand Prismatic Spring!
	What in the world are these birds doing? They just stood there the whole time we were at Grand Prismatic.
	Third stop, Fountain Paint Pots trail (has some neat geysers too).
	Overlook from the top of Gibbon Falls (I think)
	Overlook on Upper Yellowstone Falls
	Hayden Valley. This bison calf stood in front of our car for a good 5 minutes until the park ranger chased it away with his patrol car.
	The shore of Yellowstone Lake
	Final stop at West Thumb Geyser Basin on Yellowstone Lake
	Video from our drive through Yellowstone. 3m 33s
	And finally, a long video of our wildlife watching from both Teton and Yellowstone. 18m 40s