We drove from Rocky Mountain National Park to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We were going to spend four days in Grand Teton National Park, but decided it would be good to spend our first night in a hotel in civilization before heading to the parks. It was a rainy day when we arrived in Jackson Hole, but we needed to stretch our legs and eat dinner. We stopped at the Town Square to take a picture under the elk antler arch.
The arch is fascinating. The antlers come from the elk who winter in the Elk Refuge just outside the city. Each winter the elk shed their antlers (new fact we learned: antlers (on deer, elk, moose) are shed each year, horns (on bison, pronghorn, bighorn sheep) stay on for life), and the local boy scouts pick up the antlers and they are auctioned off in that town square.
The next morning, we met C’s friend and his wife, who were also visiting Grand Teton with their family, at Teton Village where they were staying. We took an aerial tram to the top of Rendezvous Peak at 10,450 feet (part of the ski resort in the winter), where they have a restaurant known for their waffles.
view at the beginning of the tram ride
now we are getting high – lots of snow!
We all had waffles (delicious!) and hot chocolate.
waffles at 10,000 feet
However, we were not quite dressed appropriately, as N had busted the knees out of his pants (third-child problems) so only had shorts to wear in the snow.
So we took a few minutes to look at the view, then we headed back down on the tram.
After the trip to Teton Village, we headed into the park and spent four nights in a tent cabin at Colter Bay Village in the park. The tent cabin had two wooden walls and two canvas walls and a canvas ceiling. The inside had a cement floor and four bunk beds (N slept on a blow-up bed on the floor), along with a wood-burning stove for heat. We had a fire ring outside to cook, and a shared campground bathroom (sans shower).
C had fun figuring out the wood burning stove and it kept us toasty warm when we went to bed (like everybody sweating in their sleeping bags), but since it needed to be reloaded with firewood hourly to stay burning, by morning the heat was gone and it would be a bit chilly. It was a touch warmer than a tent would have been, so the cold was definitely tolerable.
The park was beautiful – everywhere you look, there are spectacular views of the Tetons.
skipping rocks in Colter Bay
More details of our hikes and activities in the park to come in future posts.
