Pictures from this part of the trip can be found in the Grand Teton gallery.
On our way out of Lander, we first got gas at the station right across from the RV park, and then found a local grocery store and stocked up on the fresh food that we would need for our time in Grand Teton.
From there, we had plans to do some touristing before making it to the national park. Most of that was a bust. We attempted to visit a cultural center in Washakie on the Wind River Indian reservation, but never found it. We could have stopped by Sakakawea's grave, but decided it wasn't that important. We did stop at a "trading post" which was sort of half museum and half tourist trap. From there, we headed to Dubois, where we had hoped to visit the National Bighorn Sheep Center, but it was not open. (Their website described their hours as "Open Tuesday-Saturday, closed on Sundays, Mondays & Tuesdays", so we had not been optimistic.) Although we were doing OK on gas, we filled up just in case.
And then we were officially on our way to Grand Teton, headed for the Moran Gate via the Togwotee Pass, which tops out at 9,655 feet. On the way over the pass, we stopped at the Tie Hack Memorial, an overlook and memorial for the people who made railroad ties nearby. Some other tourists excitedly pointed out wolves in the valley, but they very well might have been coyotes instead. We had planned to stop for lunch at Brooks Lake Creek Falls, but there was more snow than we expected and clearly most of the roads off the main highway were still closed. So, we decide to eat lunch before finishing the pass and ate lunch at a pulloff instead.
Once in Grand Teton, we stopped at Elk Ranch Flats and a few of the other pull-offs on our way to the main visitor center, where we grabbed some maps and learned that power was out to the whole park for the rest of the afternoon. Then we headed to Gros Ventre Campground. Upon checking in, the ranger told us that moose were common and showed us one laying down next to the building. We dropped off the trailer and then drove down Moose-Wilson Road to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, where we did a hike to Phelps Lake.
Fortunately, power was back on when we got back to the campground, so we were able to hook up and run the electric heat. Gros Ventre is in good shape, and the roads were newly-paved. The campsite worked out fine, but was unusual — two side-by-side spaces for the truck and trailer. After dinner, we walked around the campground and realized how big this place is, with almost 300 sites.
After looking at the weather, it was clear that Wednesday was our best chance for good hiking conditions. We headed immediately for Jenny Lake, with a goal to beat the crowds that might be on the trail once the shuttle boat started running at 10:00am. We parked at the Jenny Lake visitor center and were on the trail by around 8:30am. We spent basically the rest of the day hiking, about 7.5 hours in total. Weather in the morning was cold (high-30s), but turned sunny and gorgeous (mid-60s) by the afternoon. We were surprised how many people we ran into who had no idea that colder temperatures and snow were forecast starting on Thursday.
Our goal was to walk around the south side of the lake from the visitor center and then hike up Cascade Canyon. The hike around the lake was mostly dry and fairly easy, although not flat. The climb to Inspiration Point was steep, but still dry. Not far above Inspiration Point, we started seeing more snow, and above 7300 feet we were basically always on snow. We were glad to have brough the baskets for the bottoms of the hiking poles and gaiters for our boots. Most people on the trail didn't have them, and one group jokingly asked us how much to buy the poles. We also met one group with snowshoes who were planning to go to Lake Solitude, much further up the trail. The trail wasn't well marked because of the snow, but we just followed the footprints. We had hoped to hike all of the way to the end of the canyon, but our progress in the snow was slow and we gave up about 3/4 of the way there at a point where a fallen tree blocked the path, in the valley below Mount Owen. Ken struggled a bit in the snow, which seemed to be harder for him than Julie. Ken said that Julie was doing her best Legolas impression. Julie quickly learned that the easiest way to travel over the snow was to place her feet in other people's footprints.
We saw a lot of wildlife on the trail, including moose, pika (which chirped loudly at us), several types of chipmunks, a couple of yellow-bellied marmots, and some butterflies (probably a yellow swallowtail butterfly).
On our way back down, we took the short detour to Hidden Falls. We had skipped this on the way up because we weren't sure about walking through the snow, but by the return trip, it was no big deal. The falls were pretty although crowded with people who were unsteady over the snow. We had timed things so the shuttle boat to the visitor center was still an option, but the trails were really crowded below Inspiration Point, and we decided to hike the 2 miles back instead. Ken was feeling better than he had been at higher elevations, so this seemed like a good idea at the time. We made it ok, but that might have been a mistake, because it made an already long day a really long day. On the way back, we met several people who asked us, "How much further to get to the top?" We quickly realized that they meant Hidden Falls, which was the closest stop. We went back to Gros Ventre and took a nap before making dinner, and Ken's main memory of that evening is being really sore.
The forecast for Thursday was for cold and windy with rain and snow. So, instead of planning a hike, we did some touristing in the truck. We went back to the main visitor center to look around in detail (we didn't do that the last time because the power was out). We stopped by Menor's Ferry and admired their ingenious ferry mechanism. Then we headed back past Jenny Lake (where we drove through the Jenny Lake Campground) and toward the Signal Mountain area.
We got a decent but fairly uninspiring lunch at Signal Mountain Lodge (over an hour for sandwiches?) and then drove from there toward Jackson Lake and Colter Bay. Jackson Lake was a disappointment. Most of the lake that we know today was created by a dam that was built by the state of Idaho and is managed by the Bureau of Reclamation. During the drought in 2021, Idaho requested water for irrigation and drew down the lake substanially, to the point where the Colter Bay Marina was high and dry. Jackson Lake Lodge was under construction, so you couldn't visit it either.
By the time we got to Colter Bay, it was 31 degrees and snowing sideways, so we didn't walk around much. We drove through the huge RV park and decided we liked Gros Ventre better, and then checked out the laundry and showers. Unfortunately, the hours didn't work out for us. There wasn't much north of this area, and we would be back here with the trailer when we headed to Yellowsone. So, we headed back toward Gros Ventre and did some more sightseeing.
Then, we drove out of the park on the gravel Antelope Flats Road into National Forest land to visit the Gros Ventre Slide. In 1925, the entire side of a mountain (50,000,000 cubic yards) slid off and blocked the Gros Ventre river, creating a natural dam and a lake. The whole mountainside slid as a unit, and in some cases trees just kept growing in their new location! A few years later, the dam partially burst, sending a wall of water downstream and destroying the town of Kelly. The hike was really windy, so we were bundled up in our rain gear. Julie also enjoyed seeing the antelope in the sagebrush area.
Back at Gros Ventre, we started to get a bit concerned about the forecast overnight temperatures, so we did some strategizing about how to keep things from freezing. We covered the freshwater drain valve with a towel and planned to keep cabinets open overnight, put some antifreeze down the drains, etc.
On our walk around the campground in the evening, we realized that there were 4 other Casitas of various ages camping nearby us, and we chatted with a few of the owners. We also realized that the tent campers looked really cold. We were glad for electric heat. Only about 10% of the campground had electric sites, and we had booked the site as early as we could (6 months ahead).
Friday was nicer (mid-40s and mostly sunny), so we headed into Jackson. Our goals were a hot shower, fresh clothes, and groceries. We also had a tentative plan to eat out somewhere in Jackson.
We had read that the community center in Jackson offered a daily pass for $7 each, so we headed there right away in the morning to swim and take a shower afterwards. Unfortunately, it turned out that we couldn't use the pool because there was a big group of schoolkids there, and we weren't even allowed to use things like the hot tub. So, we just gave up and both took a really long, really hot and luxurious shower. At least it felt like we got our money's worth, even if we did both have to deal with a large group of obnoxious little kids while getting dressed. Julie hustled to get first dibs on the hairdryer when she realized the schoolkids were coming.
From there, we went the Jackson city center. We parked near the town square and its 4 gates made of elk horns. We wandered over to the Jackson Hole Historical Society Museum and spent an hour or so there — not bad, not great. Then we got lunch at Hand Fire Pizza, which serves California-style pizzas in an old converted movie theater. It was really quite good, but given that this was Jackson, we paid $60 for two individual pizzas and two sodas.
After lunch, we headed through Jackson and over to the Jackson Hole ski resort to look around a little. The mountain tram was closed, but given how much snow we had seen at only 7300 feet, it probably wouldn't have been worth it anyway. There's a lot of hiking (especially backpacking) that's accessible from the top of the tram. Jackson Hole is an expert skier's resort, so it's unlikely we would come here. On the way back into Jackson, we stopped at an Albertsons and bought enough fresh groceries to get us through Yellowstone (we brought a cooler bag and some ice packs). Then, we headed over to the National Museum of Wildlife Art, which was excellent art museum in its own right and not at all the touristy thing we might have expected. Julie enjoyed the exhibit about Grizzly 399, the most famous bear in the park. This mama bear has raised multiple litters of cubs in proximity to the roads to reduce the likelihood that the male bears kill them.
Back in Grand Teton, we dropped off the groceries, and then got back in the truck and drove off to look at a few more things. We really enjoyed our time at Schwabacher Landing on the Snake River, where we got some great pictures and also watched a big snowstorm beginning to roll in.