2021 Road Trip: Grand Tetons

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 16:34:09 -0500

The final part of our trip was driving to Jackson, WY and having morning rafting experience down the Snake River, followed by a hike into the Cascade Canyon Trail. The drive down was beautiful, the Grand Tetons are absolutely grand, and they dominate the landscape. Every picture I took of them seemed like something out of a painting.

2021 Roadtrip: Cody, WY

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 11:55:53 -0500

We didn’t spend any significant amount of time in Cody, we drove from Island Park, Idaho to Cody through Yellowstone, stayed the night and then drove to Jackson, Wyoming the next morning. Our entire purpose of visiting was to go to the Cody Firearms Museum. And it, like everything else we did on our vacation, was absolutely worth it. The library of guns is absolutely life goals.

2021 Roadtrip: Yellowstone

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 09:57:06 -0500

We stayed a couple nights in Island Park, Idaho during the time we explored Yellowstone proper. We arrived in Island Park with enough daylight left to do the Box Canyon Campground to Rosie’s Waterfall hike, which was very pleasant and refreshing after a long day of driving.

We started the next morning at Running Bear Pancake House in West Yellowstone, and then proceeded to have one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had with the outdoors. Yellowstone National Park is one of the most incredible places on earth. The weather was perfect in the high 60s, low 70s, and crystal clear skies. We did the big Upper Geyser Basin and Old Faithful trail first, followed by the Mystic Falls, Fairy Creek, and Little Firehole loop, and finally Fountain Paint Pot Trail. I think people can spend their entire career trying to capture the feeling of this place, and consider it a success to be able to pass along just a sliver of the emotion and wonder this place generates. It’s one of the top five most popular national parks in the world, and every reason was on full, glorious display. We saw six geysers go off: Old Faithful, Grand, Lion, Sawmill, Solitary, and Grotto. Of these, the Grand Geyser was, well, the most grand. We waited an hour and a half into its expected eruption time window, and it was absolutely worth every second. I did get a fantastic picture of Solitary though, that is in the images below. During the walk along this trail (I hesitate to call it a hike because it’s mostly paved or wood paths) we unexpectedly got very close to a wild bison. Bison were everywhere in the park, we also saw a few elk, a bear, and a wolf. It was surprising just how much wildlife we saw considering how busy the park is.

Yellowstone on Rinsland's Corner

2021 Road Trip: Grand Tetons

2021 Roadtrip: Cody, WY

2021 Roadtrip: Yellowstone