Grand Tetons National Park

As with every other day since we have been in the West, we awoke early and did a few German lessons before showering and having breakfast. We got hot water from the West Yellowstone Super 8 breakfast nook to make the instant oatmeal that we bought at the grocery store last night. We picked up a grab and go breakfast bag from the front desk to have as snacks or part of lunch.

Before 7 am we were checked out of the motel and in the cars driving into the park. We drove separately for the first part of the trip since we would not be returning to the West Yellowstone area.

Fountain Paint Pots

Upon entering Yellowstone National Park, we drove south from Madison Junction to Firehole Canyon Drive, stopping at Firehole Falls which are triple waterfalls carved out of a lava flow. We drove just a few miles to Fountain Paintpot Trail which has boardwalks around geysers, hot springs and mud pots. The Red Spouter Geyser is probably the most recognizable from the dissolved iron in the mineral water. We drove the short distance to Firehole Lake Drive where we waited for a cone geyser to erupt only to see that the eruption was very unimpressive. There are some attractive and colorful springs on the trail so we enjoyed the walk.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Midway Geyser Basin was only a short distance from Firehole Lake Drive. The signature attraction here is Grand Prismatic Spring, a deep pool of hot water with brilliant blue water fringed by mineral deposits of yellow and red. It is really beautiful, and we wished that there was less smoke in the air so we could take better photographs. Parking was a problem at Midway Geyser Basin and was the most crowded area that we had seen in the park so far

A few miles further South we came to Black Sand Basin, named for the eroded obsidian making up the surface. The trail took us through a small area with a short boardwalk and several hydrothermal features including colorful hot pools, mud pots and geysers.

Old Faithful erupting

Because Old Faithful didn’t appear to be far from our parking at Black Sand Basin, we were tempted to leave the cars parked and walk over. However, we learned that it was a very long walk through a congested area that is undergoing extensive road construction. On arriving at the Old Faithful area, we were pleased to see a very large parking area with many empty spaces. The Old Faithful area is very large with a visitor center, gift shop and other amenities. Lots of visitors were there, but it really didn’t seem crowded as we suspect that it would have earlier in the season.  Cindy got the predicted times for the next eruptions of Old Faithful and several other geysers in the area at the visitor center. Benches are available for visitors to sit in a giant semi circle around the geyser which erupts about every 90 minutes. We arrived prior to the 11:42 am eruption, so we found an empty bench and waited about 40 minutes for the very impressive eruption.

Geyser Hill is an interpretative trail near Old Faithful with many hydrothermal features like vents, mud pits and geysers. We spent a lot of time watching for Anemone Geyser to erupt because we read that it erupts every 6 to 10 minutes. After watching for some time, we gave up and started to walk away. Then we saw that it erupted once we had given up.

We drove to Grant Visitor Center where we dropped our car and got in with Mark to drive to Grand Tetons National Park. Only 8 miles separates the two parks but they are very different. Even the visitors different. We guessed that the average age of tourists at Yellowstone was 70 but Tetons had a much younger group with most appearing to be in the 30s.

Grand Tetons

We started at the Colter Bay Visitor Center driving on the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Highway which is the 8 mile stretch of road connecting Yellowstone and Tetons. Rockefeller made large contributions to many national parks including Grand Teton. While at the visitor center Mary got her National Park Passport stamp for Grand Tetons.

We drove the 8 miles on Wyoming State Rt. 191 to the Oxbow Bend area of the Snake River to photograph the river and look for potential places where we might see a moose. We took a lot of photographs of the Tetons over the Snake River but the dense smoke from western fires largely obscured the peaks. We scanned the area around the river hoping to see moose without success.

Cabin at Cunningham Ranch

We continued on Rt. 191 another 10 miles to the cabin at Cunningham Ranch built in the 1880s by an early settler in the area. This cabin is one of the few remaining structures from the area’s homesteaders. This cabin is the double pen or dog trot style cabin named for the open area between the two halves of the cabin. After several years during the dust bowl era, Cunningham spearheaded a movement among 97 ranchers in the area to sell land to the Snake River Land Company, who donated the land to expand Grand Tetons National Park.

Further south on Rt. 191 stopped at the Snake River Overlook. This is the spot where where Ansell Adams took his famous photograph of the Tetons. As with other photo points in the Tetons, smoke prevented a clear view of the peaks.

We made quick stops on Rt. 191 at Schwabacher Landing and the Mormon Row Historic District. Many of the homes constructed by 27 families of Mormon settlers in the late 1800s survive. Today the area is best known for the Moulton barns with the two story gambrel roof and attached sheds.

At Moose Junction, we took the Teton Park Road to take some snapshots and attempt an Earthcache. We stopped by the Jenny Lake Lodge Dining Room, but it was not open so we continued on the loop to Jackson Lake Junction. We had a takeout dinner since there was a 40 minute wait in the dining room. We ate our meals on a picnic table behind the lodge on the shore of the lake and enjoyed them. Cindy and I had half portion fish and chips, Mary had a burger and Mark had a Philly steak sandwich. Our meals were fine, and we were tired and hungry so we had no trouble finishing them.

After dinner we drove back to the Lake Yellowstone Hotel where we checked in for the night. As expected, the rooms were a little pricy, but the hotel was very elegant. Our room was in a separate building from Mark and Cindy and was small. Since we were there late and would be leaving early, that wasn’t a problem. I suppose that we should have expected that the room would have no internet or television since it is in a remote area. A huge advantage to the room is that driving times to attractions far shorter than driving in from West Yellowstone.