Grand Teton NP: Gros Ventre, Wyoming - June 8th to 11th, 2021
Grand Teton National Park is a large park, so we planned on staying six nights inside the park to give us plenty of time to explore. We spent the first three nights in Gros Ventre Campground. Luckily we had noticed when the Grand Teton campgrounds switched from first come/first serve to reservations. We reserved our camp site several months earlier.
On the way to Grand Tetons National Park from Craters of the Moon National Park on Tuesday, we stopped in Idaho Falls for groceries and a picnic lunch. Our next stop was Jackson, Wyoming. We wandered around the downtown area. In the parking lot behind the visitor center, we spotted another VanDOit van driving through. We waved at them. It was nice to see fellow VanDOit owners on the road!
Of course, just like every other tourist, we took a picture of the two of us under one of the four antler arches on the Town Square. For dinner, we wanted to eat at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar because it looked like it had a lot of character, but their grill was closed that day. We settled for the Liberty Burger instead. Right Buddy (RB) had a tasty chicken sandwich called the Traitor, while Left Buddy (LB) had the patty melt. LB was not as impressed by the food as RB was.
For dessert we walked around to Moo's Gourmet Ice Cream, but they were closed that day. What a bummer! Jackson Drug also had hand-dipped ice cream, so we went there. LB had his typical vanilla shake and RB took a break from huckleberry and had her usual of mint chip and chocolate. It wasn't the best ice cream we've ever had, but it still hit the spot.
The Gros Ventre Campground is not far from Jackson. After we were settled into our camp site, we took a walk around the campground, well, at least part of it. The campground is huge. It took us about an hour to walk through just half of it. Then we turned in for the night.
We spent most of Wednesday driving the main loop through the park and seeing all the interesting sights. Since it was so close to Gros Ventre Campground, we started with Mormon Row. This is where the barn is that everyone takes a picture of with the Teton Peaks in the background. RB tried to take a different angle, but she's sure lots of people have pretty much the same picture. There are several other historic buildings there as well which you can view from the outside.
From Mormon Row, we went clockwise around the main loop. We stopped briefly at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center. We were hoping to see a park film or at least some displays, but you could not go inside because of COVID. They just had a table outside where you could ask a ranger questions. We moved on.
The next stop was Menors Ferry Historic District. It was interesting to see how they ferried across the strong, swift current of the Snake river in a wooden ferry and pulley system. The Chapel of Transfiguration there was also worth visiting. It has a window at the alter that frames the mountain peaks nicely. An organist was playing music which gave the chapel a nice atmosphere.
After stopping at a couple of turnouts to take in the view, we turned onto the scenic drive that goes by String Lake and Jenny Lake. We stopped to check out String Lake, the smaller of the two lakes. There were several bus loads of teenagers, perhaps on a field trip, who were being teenagers, screaming and shouting, having water gun fights, and playing in the water. On a different day, we could see String Lake being much more relaxing. Swimming is allowed in the lake and there were several people on the lake in kayaks and on SUP boards. The view is really nice.
The Jenny Lake Overlook further down the scenic drive was much more peaceful and the views were even better. We could see the shuttle boat sailing from the Jenny Lake Visitor Center to Inspiration Point on the other side of the lake. We did not stop at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center because it looked extremely busy when we drove by South Jenny Lake Junction, with people struggling to find a place to park.
As it was time for lunch, we headed to the picnic area next to the Chapel of the Sacred Heart. The picnic table that we snagged had a nice view of Jackson Lake. After we had our fill, we walked into the chapel. Inside is a beautiful stained glass window above the alter.
We backed track a little on Teton Park Road to take the road up to the summit of Signal Mountain. It is a windy, narrow road, but the views at the top are worth it. We went all the way to the top where there are wonderful views, mainly out to the east and south of the wide valley and Snake River, but you couldn't see Jackson Lake from there. However, there was another viewpoint just a little ways from the top, so we stopped there on the way back down. This is the viewpoint with views out to the south and west with gorgeous views of the lake and Teton Mountain Range. Both viewpoints are worth stopping for.
Now it was time for ice cream, so we pulled into Signal Mountain Lodge. Sure enough, they had Moo's ice cream. RB had huckleberry and moose tracks. LB had huckleberry and vanilla. It was rather expensive, especially for the size of the scoops, but we had no better options available. Huckleberry seems to be the popular flavor around here. Huckleberries cannot be cultivated and need to be picked in the wild. They are also very particular about what climate they grow in. They are found in northwestern United States and western Canada.
After crossing over Jackson Lake Dam, we turned onto US 191 heading back south. Along the way, we stopped at a couple of viewpoints, Oxbow Bend Turnout, Elk Ranch Flats Turnout, and Snake River Overlook. Near the Elk Ranch Flats Turnout, there was a herd of buffalo and a few antelope. One of the buffalo put on a show, jumping around and rolling in the dirt. We're not sure if it was displaying aggressive behavior towards another buffalo, but he eventually backed down. We also stopped at the Cunningham Cabin Historic Site and walked the short path to the cabin.
It was a full day of touring and we were tired. When we got back to our camp site, it was time to make dinner. Afterwards, we felt revitalized enough to hop on our bikes to tour the whole campground. There are eight loops in the campground, but one of them is for employee camping and another is for group camping. Including all eight loops, there are 377 numbered sites. Even on our bikes, it took about 40 minutes to ride the whole campground, excluding the employee loop.
The weather forecast for Thursday called for rain in the afternoon. We got up early to go on a hike in the morning. The Taggart Lake Trailhead parking lot was full when we drove by the day before, with many people parking along the side of the road. On Thursday morning, we arrived at the trailhead around 8 am and had plenty of parking spots to choose from. With our bear spray canisters attached to our backpack hip belts, we hit the trail. This is the first time we've carried bear spray. It is recommended to carry it in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks while hiking. We reviewed the bear spray instructions that morning. Hopefully we'll remember how to use it if the need arises. The directions seem easy enough.
Our route was the Taggart Lake and Bradley Lake Loop. If the rain arrived early, our back up plan was to take skip Bradley Lake and take the cutoff for the Taggart Lake Loop route instead. In the morning, the sun was shining and the trail was gorgeous. We went clockwise around the loop. It starts off following a small stream in the woods. The peaceful sound of the stream added to the atmosphere. Wildflowers lined the path. The peaks of the Teton Range would come into view every now and then. It was hard to take your eyes off of those stunning jagged peaks.
After crossing a bridge, the trail follows along the eastern shore of Taggart Lake. We were surprised to see how fast the water was flowing out of the lake and under the bridge. The snow melt must be supplying a lot of water into the lake. The views from the shore of the lake are spectacular, with the mountain peaks as a back drop to the lake.
The trail then goes over a rise to get to Bradley Lake. We found a large rock along the shore of Bradley Lake to sit on while we ate our trail snack of granola bars and an apple. Again, the Tetons rose up on the other side of the lake giving us a wonderful setting. As we sat there, the wind started picking up and some dark clouds started rolling in. Time to move on and start heading back to the trailhead to beat the rain.
Instead of following a small, peaceful stream, the trail back down followed along a large, raging stream. The trail was a little more exposed than the trail going up, but that just meant there were more views of the peaks to stare at. Not far from the trailhead, there was some trail maintenance. A man was working hard chiseling some rocks to line the path. We thanked him for his service. In response to our comment about putting in a full day of hard physical labor, he said he sleeps well at night.
To end the hike with a climax, the trail crosses a gushing stream, violently cascading over the rocks. As RB was standing on the bridge, she looked over to the bank as a family approached. The teenager in the family stood on the bank with her eyes wide open and her jaw literally dropped. The look on her face said it all. The stream was an awesome sight to behold.
The hike was #16 of our 52 Hike Challenge and #16 of our National Park Series: 6.3 miles with a 791 foot elevation gain in three hours and 34 minutes.
After our hike, we ate our lunch at the Windy Point Turnout. There are not any toilets, picnic tables or trash cans there, but it was hard to beat the view. The clouds were still rolling in, but the rains had not yet started. They started to partially hide the mountain peaks, but not densely yet.
From there we headed into Jackson to get ice cream and good cell service. Moo's was open this time. RB had a waffle cone with her usual mint chip and chocolate. LB had a thick vanilla shake. The ice cream tasted even better than what we had the day before and the serving sizes were much larger along with the prices. The rest of the day was spent working from our van in town.
Now that we explored the southern part of the park, it was time to move up to the Colter Bay Campground in the north end of the park for the next three nights. We'll cover the rest of our Grand Teton adventure in our next blog post.
Check out our related video: Grand Teton NP: Gros Ventre, Wyoming
(RB)