The quickest way to get to the Tetons from Craters of the Moon is to continue cruising the back highways east. We left the Craters going east on Hwy 26, taking a small detour on Hwy 20 to cut time and then returned to the 26. From there we hit Hwy 89 north.
We gassed up as soon as we hit town and drove around determined to find some sort of parking. Jackson is located in Wyoming’s Jackson Hole valley and is home to three major ski areas: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Snow King Mountain Resort and Grand Targhee Resort. This makes Jackson a pretty “touristy” place. And as a result, a very busy and expensive place. As much as I love the feel of Jackson, I knew staying here would deplete our funds pretty quickly.
We found a place to park on a side street and headed to the Town Square. The square features a small park with shade trees and soft grass to sit/lay down to cool off. The corners arches are constructed from shed elk antlers from the nearby National Elk Refuge. Next to the refuge is also the National Musuem of Wildlife Art, an extensive collection of paintings and detailed bronze sculptures of wildlife and “Western” themed scenes. Both can be found exactly a mile from the square.
Stone stood up tall next to the antlers so we could compare from the last time we had visited with my mom in 2017. We walked around to different stores: marvelling at the art, gawking at the ridiculous real estate prices, and picking up fancy stones and fossils. Several galleries in the square are dedicated to showcasing different fossils and gemstones that have been found in the area. I am a sucker for certain rocks, and I think I have started rubbing off on Stone. He has started collecting rocks too, and we have an antique industrial drawer in our home hanging as a shelf to display our collection.
I stopped at a jewelry store, drawn in by a white buffalo turquoise squash blossom necklace. It cost more than this entire road trip. Double, maybe triple. I ran my hands along the shelves of cuff bracelets – jasper, turquoise, obsidian, labradorite. One day. I looked at their ring collection, hoping to find something a little more economical. I got myself an Indian head nickel silver ring, something simple and fitting, for $26.
Before we got into Jackson, I had promised Stone some ice cream. Specifically, huckleberry ice cream since it was the season. We found a local candy store and shoppe, hungrily eyeing the giant tubs of ice cream. I believe I paid $7 for two scoops for us to share. We sat down outside the shoppe and giggled while taking turns digging in. Sooooooo delicious. And now we have a custom of getting local ice cream on our trips.
We left Jackson, continuing north on Hwy 191, for a quick drive to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. If you don’t have the time to fully delve into this park, this drive is enough to give you inspiration to come back. The mountain range looms over the lake and over the Snake River, creating a perfect image of wilderness. I may be a bit biased as this is my favorite mountain range so far. I still have several left to visit, even in my own home state of Washington.
Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929; Jackson Hole National Monument was created in 1943. The two units were combined to become the present Grand Teton National Park in 1950. Now the park includes roughly 310,000 acres. The Teton Range is an active fault-block mountain range, 40 miles long, 7-9 miles wide with eight peaks over 12,000 ft in elevation. The tallest peak being Grand Teton at 13,775 ft.
We parked at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center and did our usual restroom break. Here, I planned out how to get the most of our day in the park. Much of the Tetons seems to be still wild even though it is in the top ten most visited parks. When we were home pre trip, I had researched boat tours on Jenny Lake. Jenny Lake Boating offers scenic cruises for adults ($25) and children ($15) offering plenty of chances for epic photography. Stone and I missed the cut off for a cruise and instead opted for a shuttle across the lake to the base of Mount Teewinot. At the boat dock you will find the Cascade Canyon trailhead. There are trails to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point, and into Cascade Canyon that leads North to Solitude Lake or South to the South Fork of Cascade Canyon, and beyond to Hurricane Pass and Schoolroom Glacier.
Stone led the way as we hiked to Hidden Falls. We didn’t even make it to the actual falls. We came to a small bridge and decided to relax by a rushing waterfall and creek. We probably could have continued on to Inspiration Point, but given that we had limited water, no bear spray, and a time schedule, we kept it short.
It was at this point I seriously wondered what I was doing taking my toddler into the wild. As a solo hiker, I have gone so many places with just my pack and a prayer so to speak. Now I was responsible for an active, small human that enjoyed running around without paying attention to his surroundings. How would I react if we came across a bear? Or a moose? How would he react? Would I be able to stay calm and properly instruct him on what to do? And would I be able to fight off an animal if it came down to it? I silently vowed to come back to the Tetons alone to hike these same trails.
We returned to the dock to catch our shuttle back to the visitor center. We still had to find our campsite before dark. Even though the drive was just over 100 miles, it would take over 2 hours to get to our site. Once you hit Yellowstone the speed limit drops substantially. We drove north on Hwy 191, merging onto the west side of Yellowstone’s Grand Loop.
We got to Madison Campground, checked in with the camp host, and found out spot. Stone explored our little area as I unloaded all of our hygiene and food items and cooking equipment. The campground had provided bear lockers at each campsite. As I opened the locker, I found items previous campers had left behind with a note about “paying it forward”. Inside was a propane tank, seasonings, olive oil, and all the ingredients for s’mores. Most importantly, there was firewood.
I feel like I would not be a responsible steward of the earth without talking about the importance of bear lockers and proper firewood.
For firewood, you can’t go out and collect firewood in national parks. Well… You CAN but you shouldn’t. The number one statement about going out is to “take only pictures and leave only footprints”. I should add that those footprints should be on trails, never off trail. We often don’t think of the intricacies of ecosystems and how our simple existence in that space can alter that ecosystem. Firewood should be purchased or collected from a reputable source and consist of native wood. Invasive species is a whole other blog post. It’s so serious in certain places. For example: Montana will pay you to properly dispose of noxious weeds; Washington makes you check your boats for foreign mussels when you enter, and Yellowstone encourages you to catch and keep as many non native lake trout as possible as they threaten the native cutthroat trout.
As for bears…. A clean camp is a safe camp. Bears’ acute sense of smell is 2100 times that of a human. This sense of smell has evolved to allow bears to find food, find a mate, track their young, and avoid conflict. The National Park Service as well as any backcountry service recommends that any hygiene and food items be stored away in bear lockers, approved bear containers, or a hard sided vehicle (preferably in the trunk).
Since the Westy has a canvas pop top held closed by only fiberglass and a few tabs, I decided not to take any chances. Anything with a smell went into the bear locker – all our food, cooking utensils, fuel, toothpaste, soap, sun screen, bug spray, lotion, water. There’s nothing quite as jolting as waking up to an unexpected bear sniffing your car.
We ate a quick simple dinner. Stone was very mindful of avoiding spills and cleaning up any crumbs. We bagged up all our trash from the day and walked to the campgrounds main dumpsters. Once again, taking no chances here. Stone fell asleep easily leaving me to relax outside, breathing easy that we had gotten to our home for the next few days. My worries eased as the sky grew dim. I was even so relaxed that I walked the 20 yards to the bathroom in the middle of the night, securely locking Stone in the van. Then I drifted off to sleep, ready to take on our first full day in Yellowstone.
