Day 7 Grand Teton National Park

Dear Diary,

It’s a party sunny day, the optimist’s view.  Cool and light breeze.  Time to do some sweeping out and cleaning the bathroom area, kitchen sink and stove top.  Takes about 5 minutes.  Chuck has been doing all the driving, Pat serving as co-pilot and navigator.  Pat drove up to the camp office and drives the RV up onto blocks for leveling, no desire to do more.  We leave camp about 9AM and head south toward Grand Teton National Park and Jackson.  Pass through our camping village Fishing Bridge.  There is a store and visitors center and gas station.  We pass by the local auto repair shop and the roof has caved in over the winter.  Ironically, people parked their trucks in there over the winter to protect them from the snow and now the roof has fallen on them.  We pass by a marina for small boats going onto Yellowstone Lake where we are staying.  We are retracing our path coming into the park on the first day.  The east entrance is still closed due to avalanche which is why we came into the south gate.  The park ingress and egress are tightly controlled, only so many ways in and out.  We criss-cross over the Continental Divide every time we leave out of our campground.  The road condition south is in fair shape, narrow, some rough broken road.  The snow berms are still high so not worried about that.  It is obvious spring has arrived.  Just in the time we’ve been here the berms are melting and the lakes have ice pools and the streams have less snow on their banks. We come upon melt flooding on the road.  We make it through by driving slowly, a park ranger has arrived and diverting traffic and a road crew is there.  We pass by a smaller lake called Lewis Lake, it has it’s own river named after it.  Eventually we pass through the Yellowstone Park south gates.  Yellowstone lies in the north and Grand Teton lies directly south.  There is a strip of land between that is private, it is in these areas that some Dude Ranches and Outdoor Explorer Ranches are found.  We pass into Grand Teton north gate.  We cross over the famous recreational Snake River and we begin to gain elevation.  We pass by Jackson Lake which is very large, but not as large as Yellowstone Lake.  Jackson receives the glacier and snow run-off of the Teton Mountains which border its shores.  Jackson has much more melt in just two days since we arrived, you can tell the water is very blue, partly from the glacier run-off.  There are Aspen trees mixed in with pine, distinctive of this area.   Besides having mountain peaks at over 11,000 ft, there is no geyser activity here.  Stopped at Coulter Bay, has a marina, all amenities and a restaurant on the lake shore.  Not much is open here yet.  We get our first picture of Mt. Moran and the surrounding peaks.  They are making their own weather and the peaks are soon to be in cloud.  These are very jagged, ‘young mountains’ and are very recognizable.  So we are lucky to get them bare for the moment.  We pass through Willow Flats at Jackson Junction, where I saw a moose on our first day.  We strained our eyes to find another, but no luck.  This is prime moose habitat but the ranger said the population was declining.  One wonders how the huge herds of elk and bison compete with the moose who is not a herd animal.  Their diets are somewhat different, but the land is fragile.  We do see more Sandhill cranes and they are awesome with their size.  Mt Moran is very prevalent along the way and holds 5 of the 12 glaciers in the park.  After reading about its formation we think we solved the mystery of why rock layers on top are older than rock layers nearer sea level.  It’s because the old established rock is heaved up and new rock follows to form the base.  Will have to look it up at home.  We decide to take a short diversion around Jenny Lake,

Jenny Lake Drive

.  Jenny Lake was formed from a glacier falling into the river and damming it.  Along the route, Jenny Lake Lodge is not open yet.  The area opens into a wide valley of the Snake River, there is snow on the ground but eventually we see that a bike trail has been running along side the road the whole time and runs into Jackson.  We stop at the beautiful Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center for Grand Teton Park.  Lots of wood used, hopefully it’s LEED building.  There are glass panels in the floor that are actually a movie screen.  It shows the progression of the seasons in the park.  This is the Park border.  We watch a 737 Continental flight (think Cleveland to Chicago) land as we drive by in the Jackson Airport.  To have an airport in this area says a lot about the tourism and winter recreation and hunting dollars that come in here.  There is a National Elk Range on the east side of the road.  We are in a wide valley but becomes narrower as we enter Jackson, Wyoming and can see a ski resort on the hillside about the town.  There are no skiers now, the snow is melting.  These are high hills, not mountains here and it is surprising.  Chuck says the higher mountain skiing is down the road another 20 miles at Jackson Hole Resort.  But Jackson is where the skiers come for fun.  Poplulation 8500, a shopping and eating mecca.  We are told you can’t get a bad meal here.  Economy geared to tourism, some newer construction some old time establishments still in place.  The building style is old west meets ski resort.  The town square is very cute with large gateways made out of antlers.  The Episcopal Church owns a very impressive large corner property on the main street.  The buildings are all log cabin and they have a western log fence built around.  A large permanent labyrinth has been installed in from of the church.  The public is invited to walk it.  Very pretty grounds and we walk across.  Had some problem finding parking, it’s busy here even in off season.  The church also has a thrift shop on their grounds so we go in and browse.  We go for lunch at the Cowboy Cadillac Bar, very famous for a Billy’s hamburger.  We decide on Buffalo burger.  Not very flavorful and very lean.  Healthy, but maybe the Billy hamburger would have been better tasting.  Back to the RV and get gas before we leave town.  We head north back to Teton Park but take an alternative, but parallel route 191/86 along the Snake River this time.  It’s 55 miles to the Yellowstone Park south gate, a lot of time driving these parks.  Some wind but not bad compared with past days.  Now we understand the need for additional land for Elk Refuge.  We begin to see huge herds of hundreds of Elk.  They are nomadic and eat, eat, eat and need the refuge land besides what the parks offer and for their protection.  Don’t see any bison, don’t know how the land sustains them all.  There are no calves to be seen, the ranger said they are late and the bears coming out of hibernation are late, so goes this past winter.  The Snake River is quite a large river and important for the area and for recreation.  There has been a grizzly sighting around here but we can’t find it.  We move into Yellowstone south gate.  It isn’t a very spectacular areas.  More burned trees from recent fires.  Getting nearer to our camping area we stop off at Grant Village, has all amenities, but not much is open yet.  Then we stop at West Thumb along Yellowstone Lake where there is a lot of geyser activity.  Not very spectacular like other areas, but being on the lake shore is unique.  A lone coyote is lying quietly near the parking lot.  It poses for a few moments for our pictures then starts moving.  It seems there is no fear and has maybe received hand outs from visitors.  Big no no.  We try to walk the geyser pathway but a cold wind is blowing from the north and it looks like snow.  Also a bear has been sighted here so we’re not staying too long.  We stop off at Lake Village, just down the road from our campground.  There is a beautiful historic lodge there.  We can’t get in for a visit but it opens tomorrow so will try again.  Yellow is a prominent color used on national park buildings around the country.  There must be some significance.  Will have to look it up.  Made dinner, played Scrabble and Pat won big time.  It’s snowing outside.  We are adding more blankets tonight.  Nighty night.

PS traveled about 209  miles today and was in national park lands most of the time.