After our snow-enhanced visit to Yellowstone, we ventured 40 miles south to Grand Teton National Park, another favorite which we have now visited five times in nine years.
We camped at Colter Bay Village (our first stay here), which is in the northern part of the national park, right on Jackson Lake. From here we were able to do two different hikes (Lakeshore Trail and Swan Lake/Heron Pond Trail). We also were repeatedly attacked by a small ruby-crowned kinglet, who apparently thought our RV was too close to its nest.
Butterflies and wildflowers are always a highlight of our hikes and drives!
We also were able to have daily ice cream rations from the general store.
We drove out to some of our favorite viewpoints, including Oxbow Bend, where we saw a beaver enjoying dinner.
One evening we planned to drive to the Snake River Overlook to capture the scene that Ansel Adams photographed back in 1941. It’s grown over a bit, as you can see from the two photos.
On our way to the overlook, we spotted a bison herd and then another dark shape off by itself. Was it another bison? No…it looked like it might be a bear. So we pulled off safely and zoomed in with the camera. Sure enough, it was a skinny grizzly bear, and we sat there for 20 minutes watching the bear eat its dinner.
In the process, we created our first ever bear jam. Usuallly we spot cars pulled over and pull over to see what the fuss is. In this case, cars began to pull over after they saw our car, and by the time we left the scene, there were at least 40 vehicles watching this one bear, including a couple of park rangers. I’m sure someone else would have spotted the bear if we hadn’t come along, but it was kind of cool to be the first ones to spot one of these animals!
Pronghorn and deer on the way back completed our evening drive on the north side of the park.
Next day we moved the RV to the south end of Grand Teton National Park, passing the gorgeous Teton Range along the way.
Camping in the Gros Ventre Campground gave us access to the Gros Ventre River, the Antelope Flats area, and the famous Mormon Row.
The southern part of Grand Teton National Park has a wonderful bike path that parallels the main roads, and we’ve done a portion of this bike ride on our regular bikes. This time we were able to do a 27-mile round trip on our e-bikes, from the Gros Ventre Roundabout, through Moose Junction and on to Jenny Lake. It was a gorgeous day for a bike ride, in the mid-70s. Though we had a strong headwind on the way back, with e-bikes that was NO PROBLEM!
Here’s a link to a short video of our bike ride from Gros Ventre to Jenny Lake that Hank made along the way.
Later that day we drove the Moose-Wilson Road, famous for wildlife, though we never see anything there, and went on to Jackson for dinner and a tourist jaunt to the elk antler arches.
For our last full day in the national park, we hopped in the car and headed out early back to Jenny Lake (if you don’t get there before 9:00 a.m., you may end up parking way down the road). We caught the Jenny Lake boat shuttle across the water and joined dozens of people on the hike on the other side of the lake.
Inspiration Point was our first destination, one mile from the boat dock, though it’s a bit steep in places. We were feeling good, so we continued on the Cascade Canyon Trail for another 1.5 miles and got to watch a moose enjoying its lunchtime meal. (Yay!–we were hoping for another moose sighting!)
The hike gave us great views of the Teton Range and on the way back we detoured to Hidden Falls, very full of water at this time of year. What a great way to end our time in this national park.
On this six-week trip, we drove through nine states and two Canadian provinces, visited six national parks (three in Canada) and three Canadian provincial parks, and drove 4,100 miles in the RV, plus several hundred miles in our car. We survived a broken windshield, flooding that required rerouting, and various aches and pains with Hank’s back and my hips. But we got to see black bears, grizzly bears, wolves, moose, bison, elk, deer, pronghorn, marmots, and lots of birds, butterflies, and wildflowers. We e-biked over 100 miles and did a dozen hikes. We visited with friends and family members and enjoyed mostly temperate weather. What a wonderful experience! Thanks for joining us on the journey!
Looks and sounds like you had a great trip! Your pics are always amazing, thanks for sharing.
We had a great trip, partly due to you and Howard! Thanks for guiding us in our Canadian portion. We loved it!
what an amazing trip. love all the beautiful pictures and stories. great trip!
Dee, we had hoped to stop in St. George for bike rides and a visit with you and Steve, but it was just too hot on our way home last week! We got up early from Cedar City and drove across the desert before it got too scorching. Hopefully we can see you next time.
We are big fans of Grand Teton National Park!!!! Thanks for all the photos and bringing us along with you. I love all the Welcome signs at the end! 🙂
Yes, GTNP is a magical place. We keep going back because it never disappoints. It was great to see you and Larry at the beginning of our trip. Hopefully we can coordinate travel schedules in the future.
Just beautiful and full of adventure. I thoroughly enjoy this message and photos. You have found a great way to see the national parks and enjoy the wildlife.
Love,
Phyllis
(your cousin in Chestertown, Maryland)
Thanks for reading, Phyllis. Adventure, for sure. So many great wildlife sightings this year. We even lost a few pounds running around and biking!