Day 30 – Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks

This was a long but eventful day for us. We started in Jackson, WY and drove north into Grand Teton National Park. The sky was bright blue and the temperature eventually reached 73. From what we hear, it snowed heavily on October 1 last year so we were lucky. The Teton mountain range and the valley are magnificent, especially this time of year. The aspen were a vibrant yellow in contrast to the green lodge pole pines and the gray glacier topped mountains. We had planned a short hike at Jenny Lake but we found the boats still running so we took one across the lake. Their last day of operation was supposed to be yesterday, but since the weather was good and they had a charter, they stayed open one more day. From the other side of the lake, we hiked to Hidden Falls and then Inspiration Point. Once again, it was a steep climb at high altitude, which is exhausting. You reach 7100 feet by the time you get to Inspiration Point.

From Grand Teton, you go directly into Yellowstone at the south entrance. The foliage is slightly different in Yellowstone as it is almost exclusively lodge pole pines, at least in the southern part. It is probably just a difference in elevation. We stopped at West Thumb, which is part of Yellowstone Lake, to see our first hydrothermal features. They have all four types – hot springs, geysers, fumaroles, and mud pots. They even have one spot where you can catch a fish in the lake and then turn around and cook it in a hot spring while it is still on the line. At least you could in the old days and the park service doesn’t allow it now.

We are spending the night in the historic Old Faithful Inn, which is pretty cool. It is about 100 years old and built with huge timbers. It is also very close to Old Faithful, which we saw. Very cool show for about 3 minutes. We had a nice dinner later – I had Idaho trout and Jeanne had buffalo ravioli.