Tetons and Yellowstone - 2009

I just arrived back from a car camping trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone. On Saturday, August 30, I drove from Boise over to Jackson, Wy and then north to Gros Ventre campground in the Tetons National Park. I wanted to take the infamous shot of the Moulton Ranch cabins in front of the Teton range in the early a.m. and this campground was the closest I could stay. After I arrived and set up camp, I drove down Mormon Row to the cabins to get set for the early a.m. shoot. On the way, there were a lot of bison in the area and thus, I had to drive cautiously so as not to hit them or agitate them.




On Sunday, I was to meet George Ellis, Diane Olsen and Susan Hawkins from Anchorage at the hotel in Jackson Hole. While waiting I went to the new Wildlife museum. There, John Batdorff had a showing at the museum, so I thought I would go check it out. He had some great photos displayed in the main hallway to other museum rooms. They were very impressive. Finally, they got into town and we went out to the Wine bar for some appetizers and wine, then over to the Trio for some dinner.

On Monday, we got into the Tetons and set up in Jenny Lake campground. We arrived early as we really wanted to stay in this campground and it is first come, first serve. We then headed over to the other side of Jenny Lake via the shuttle boat and hiked up to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and down the canyon a bit.

On Tuesday, we hiked up to Taggart Lake and Bradley Lake. It was a beautiful hike and the weather couldn't be more perfect.

Wednesday had us going up to Yellowstone to the Canyon campground where we had reserved a couple of campsites, last year. It turned out to be a good central location where we could explore the park. Unfortunately, the road between Norris and Madison was closed, so we had to go around on some drives where that road would have been quicker.

After setting up our new camp we decided to explore the Canyon area first, since it was the closest. Driving by this area, you would never know that such beauty is just beyond the trees. A lot of up and down hiking to the views provided us with great views of both the lower and upper falls at different perspectives.

Thursday is thermal day. That means geysers, mudholes, fumeroles and anything steamy. We headed up first to see the area north of Old Faithful area in the Fountain Paint Pot area. We took a loop drive there to see the Grand Fountain Geyser which erupts about every 10-12 hours. The first time through, it was not quite ready to erupt. After viewing the paint pots area and then having lunch, we went back just in time for a spectular display.

Old Faithful

The next to last day saw us hiking up Mt. Washburn to see the 360 degree view from the top at 10,243'. It looked like it may storm so we hurried back to get to our campsite in time for a hard rain. My tent was in a pool, so George helped me move it over a bit. We decided not to cook in the wet soggy camp area, so went to the diner for dinner.

The last day had us packing and discussing what we would like to do for our trip next year.....