Almost adjacent to Yellowstone lay the Grand Tetons to the south. Our first destination.
Before entering the park (while the kids were still asleep on Hawaii time), I 1) cockaroached food from the included breakfast at our stay at the inn and 2) made a run to the local deli for additional food and supplies to carry us throughout the day-4 sandwiches, a jug-o-water, fishing lures, and beer.
What do you do in a national park, look at trees?
Being that this was our first time focusing our entire trip on visiting a national park, I had no idea what to expect. I know there’s wilderness, but it can’t possibly be that grueling if millions of people a year visit, right? Where do I poop at should the need arise? Do I need to bring a poop shovel? Do I sit in a hammock all day long with a beer in my hand? All these thoughts whifted through my mind. It turns out you can do as much or as little as you would like, and going in casually without ultralightweight gear is perfectly ok. You dont need a 4×4 or a camper van, (but a camper van might be nice). It turns out that at Yellowstone there’s so much to see at all levels and there’s also much history and science to be learned. I also heard it would be crowded (Covid crowded) and although we felt the pressure of people at the entry and main stops, the rest of the place was so wide open that we could easily find a nice pullout to walk down to a river and eat lunch with no one else around. Some of my favorite places were quiet riversides, which there are a lot of!
Bathrooms-there are well-stocked bathrooms at all the main sites. Sturdy and ample in comfort, they do feel like you’re doing your business in a toilet suspended over an in-ground container, All of the rest stops had toilet paper and most had hand sanitizer, however none had running water (or lights for that matter) though.
Bear bins-all the trash cans, big or small were built to be at least somewhat bearproof-even in town. That meant they were beefy and had some kind of latch or mechanism you had to actuate in order for it to open. seeing them outside the motel made me wonder how often bears ventured into town.
Sorry for the detour, back to the actual park (The Grand Tetons)…
Along the drive in, we stopped at a log-built Episcopalian church, the Chapel of the Transfiguration. It sounded like something out of the computer game Diablo. I wonder if they used to sing the same hymns in 1925 that I learned in high school.
Anywhere outdoors, you’re surrounded by these mountains but somehow seeing it framed in a window like that really brings out the beauty of it. (Photo credit: June)
Family pic!
Jennay! (in voice of Forrest Gump)
Jenny Lake is a well-visited attraction located at the base of the Teton mountain range. Aside from the lake itself, there are a few additional hikes at the other end of the lake. You can either boat across or hike around the lake to get there. June and Hudson decided to boat to cross the lake to get to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls. Pax and I decided without much thought to hike the 2.5 miles around the lake, which at least ended up being mostly gradual inclines.
At the start of the hike
Me thinks we hiked to the spot around the bend in the center of the pic. If I had known how long we’d be hiking for, I might have paid for the boat ride. Partway through, I wished we had brought an extra water instead of a celebratory can of beer. I know, I just didn’t think it was going to be much of a hike. It also just so happened that Paxton’s sling bag opened up along the way and our one and only HydroFlask of water took a plop on the ground, losing the cap and spilling most of it. (Who knew those straw lids could just pop off like that?)
As we got thirstier and thirstier, a feeling of irony lingered in my throat while we saw so much fresh water around us. There was lake water on one side of us plus the occasional creek we crossed, which had me wondering if I could just stop and take a quick drink. It was probably better we didn’t. We eventually came across a pair of hikers who were refilling water using a water purifier. (I wish I had a pic of them.) They told us there is a certain wild animal bacteria in the water, kind of like the leptospirosis that we have in Hawaii streams caused by our feral pigs. Note for next time: bring a water purifier.
We did find these though.
While many berries are edible and delicious, the park is also home to a number of poisonous species. Those unfamiliar with all the varieties can easily become confused. Visitors should be certain of the species and its edibility before consuming. Reputable guidebooks can help with species identification.
The collection of berries is an exception to the general rule of protection for natural and cultural resources in national parks. Generally, visitors should leave items in their natural setting for others to enjoy. Picking or removing items such as wildflowers, mushrooms, archaeological artifacts, rocks, antlers, skulls, or other animal parts is prohibited.
The superintendent has determined that the collection of edible fruits, berries, and nuts is appropriate and will not have adverse effects on park resources. Fruits, berries, and nuts may be gathered by hand for personal use and consumption. The allowable limit is one quart/per species/per person/per day. The use of bush rakes or other harvesting devices is prohibited, as well as any type of commercial harvest.
https://www.nps.gov/grte/learn/news/berry-season-underway.htm
Pax and I were cautious when we saw small purple/red/kind of translucent berries on bushes right along the trail. I figured they couldn’t possibly be edible based on the high amount of foot traffic and the fact that there were a pretty decent amount of them still easily accessible (within arms reach) to consume. At one point a girl going in the other direction from us was gathering the berries and throwing them in a sandwich-sized Ziploc. She said they were indeed edible, and so I asked several other randomly chosen people the same question to get a general consensus. After a decent amount of polling we figured I’d give one a try and wait for a bit to see if I pass out or throw up or start seeing imaginary things. Turns out they were were wild huckleberries and after going about town for a bit we learned that huckleberry is the main flavor of the town. Kind of like pineapple in Hawaii. It is heavily marketed in grocery stores, restaurants, and bars. Huckleberry everything. After eating a bunch of the huckleberries, I determined the best tasting ones were plum colored and slightly translucent. We also found something that looked and tasted like a short, partially formed raspberry. Were they thimbleberries or wild raspberries? The best tasting raspberryish berry for me was a bright red color. They were sweet, soft, tangy and sure as heck tasted like a raspberry. Imagine grabbing these guys along a well travelled path and just throwing them down. The trail and I have become one (unless I die of poisoning).
As we sped along the trail to meet June and Hudson at the other side, a group of hikers came onto the main trail from a side path. Thanks to my casual trail banter I learned that they just saw a moose in the water at a place aptly named Moose Pond. Although Pax and I were in an impossible challenge to beat the boat to our group destination, we just had to detour to take a quick look. Down the mountainside cruising in the waters of what we assumed was Moose Pond was this (gal?).
First genuine bit of wildlife! Huzzah! June’s gonna be so jealous. (And we ate berries and didnt get sick.)
After we finally met up with the rest of the fam on the other side of Jenny Lake, we found out that they had already hiked to Inspiration Point so we all went to Hidden Falls instead.
More wildlife!
Is it bad to be more excited about seeing a chipmunk than I was to get to Inspiration Point or Hidden Falls? Anyway on the way back, we decided it was worth it to pay the ferry fee. I’m glad we hiked at least one way though because we got to side adventure a little and catch a glimpse of a moose and also get to experience the wild berries.
On this trip I did manage to bring along a small travel fishing rod loaded with #4 test line. Its fairly minimal but enough to test the calm waters while abroad. After Jenny Lake, we decided to stop off and wet the line at a place called Oxbow Bend. It looked like every fly fishing scene in a movie or ad I’d ever seen. We chatted with another group of visiting fishermen/birdwatchers and they pointed out an osprey bird of prey sitting on a dead tree. I asked them for more info on the bird and it turned out they were just telling me what the person before had told them. We also saw in the river arguably the most destructive animal in Yellowstone (although this is the Tetons), a beaver.
Yellowstone has strict rules on its fishing. No barbs, no live bait, and no lead weights which might poison the waters. Invasive fish must be killed when caught. That is, if you can catch anything. More rules can be found here:
https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/fish.htm
Animal spotting 101: If you can’t spot animals, spot the people who are spotting animals
After squinting off into the distance while driving and randomly stopping a few times unsuccessfully to get a glimpse of wild animals, we started to look for tangential signs of wildlife. I found myself quickly scanning and judging the details of each human herd before committing to making a stop. I found myself being drawn to certain attributes. How many cars and people were there spotting? Was anyone actively looking? The bigger their cameras and spotting scopes were, the more likely we would stop and ask what they were looking at. Foldout chairs are a plus, They showed commitment.
On the way home at around 8 p.m., we stopped to look at herds of elk and bison at 2 different locations.
I promise you’ll see our animal photography improve throughout the trip, but this was stage one and we were delighted.
We were hoping to make it back to town in time before all the restaurants closed. Otherwise, we’d have to eat at Wendy’s again. We rolled into Snake River Brewing at last call right around 9:30 p.m. and pretended we didn’t know what time they were serving until, even though we called 10 minutes before to find out. We crossed our fingers and hoped to get a seat. Success. No Wendy’s tonight. I ended up choosing the “slash and burn” trout for my dinner selection. The fish was locally sourced. The tail was crispy, it was seasoned inside and out, and somehow during the prep the restaurant managed to yank out almost all the main bones except the ones near the fins and around the gills. I’ve never had a whole fish deboned and served like this. It was a great presentation and serving size as I shared this with Pax. We dug in. Deep.
I ordered the Snake River Brewery “Jenny Lake” lager and June got the “Hike It Out” Hefeweizen.
Cheers!
If I remember correctly, this is also the place where Hudson started his mac-n-cheese taste tour where he ate mac-and-cheese from each place that it was available-which was almost every place we visited that had a kid’s menu. All in all he probably had it from 4-5 different places. He can tell you about it in his blog.
The WOO family page 