June 6th - Grand Tetons

Antler arches in Jackson.

Today we drove from Victor to the Grand Tetons. The drive from our RV park to Jackson, which is just south of the National Park, was a bit hairy! It was really steep in a short distance going up, then the same going down. Quite windy, with lots of switchbacks, and we were back in the snow again. Very pretty. Then we were at the bottom of a beautiful canyon and driving through Wilson (‘Wilson, noo, I’m sorry’ – bad Castaway impersonation) then Jackson. Jackson is a very pretty town (must be touristy) with lots of shopfronts which look like something from the Wild West. We went for a walk through the town square, again enjoying the little bit of summer weather we have had since we have been in the USA. Each of the four entrances to the square had a huge arch made solely out of elk antlers. There were hundreds of them! The elk drop them whenever they do that and boy scouts collect them. These particular ones have been here since 1960 and it will cost you $750 if you steal one. It looked awesome. We went to a few tourist shops and saw some pictures of them at night time with lots of fairy lights draped around them. We saw more moose pjs and t-shirts – so cute! My new favourite: chocolate moose. With a moose covered in what initially looks like mud, but is actually chocolate. Fun! We looked for the tourist information place but we couldn’t find it, so after fueling up, we headed out on the road to the Tetons. And then found the visitor centre. As we turned into the driveway of the centre we were nearly wiped out by a 16-year old. Well she looked that young and she was on the left hand side of a two-way road (her left) so I assumed. Will was too polite to honk, but I yelled obscenities (with the windows closed!). 

The stunning Grand Tetons.

The lady ranger in the visitor centre was very nice and helpful, but soo slow. ‘And then…if you…go there…you will….see lots of…bison.’ Ohhhh yeahhh. That slow. She did laugh at us when we asked about wildlife and promised we would see lots in Yellowstone. So I imagined bumper to bumper moose, elk and bison. The usual warnings about bears, because Yellowstone has grizzlies and black bears. Fun, not.

We drove the recommended way by the ranger, our eyes peeled for any kind of wildlife. Nothing by cars and possibly a horse. Then we saw bison!! Just grazing a couple of hundred metres from the road. They looked so cool with their big shaggy necks! We drove a bit further but didn’t see any more, until we turned down a road which connected us to the main one. And we saw a huge herd of tens of the animals. They were too far away to take good photos with our camera (zoom lens, yes, please!). However, the Tetons were beautiful. Big pointy granite mountains covered in snow. They looked absolutely stunning. And this to people who have seen many snow-covered mountains in the past six weeks or so! 

Cold lake water!

We stopped at the Moose Visitor Centre for postcards and lunch. The lady ranger there told us we were lucky to be seeing the Tetons today as they were expecting lots of rain and snow in the next few days. So we took some more photos! Then we took the Jenny Lake scenic driving route. We went along Jenny Lake and we went down to the shore and I was able to dip my toes in the water. It was freezing!! But very clear water – it is 200 feet deep (I read that, I couldn’t actually see that far haha). There was no RV camping at Jenny Lake so we continued on to Signal Mountain campground, further along at Jackson Lake. Like all the other campgrounds in Teton NP, it was $20 but at least there were flushing toilets. I am so sick of droppers. Ick. We walked down to the water and again, my toes nearly froze off as it was so cold!

First bison/buffalo sightings!! From a distance anyway...

Although it was only pretty early, I was hungry and wanted dinner! The clouds were starting to gather as we had flame-grilled burgers for dinner, followed by a banana and melted chocolate and a new ingredient: marshmallows! So so good! And of course a couple of extra marshmallows on the side (slightly burned, definitely my favourite J). We finished dinner just in time and had packed up when the rain started. A bit sugared up, I helped Will plan our movements for the next day and we peeked out in the rain hoping to see hundreds of moose or at least a soggy squirrel, but we didn’t see anything. Thankfully, no bears as they had been spotted in our area! There was a pile of poop just down from us, but I figured they looked more like elk or moose. Maybe should’ve bought the guide that identified scat. An early night once the sugar from the marshmallows wore off!