While much of the Grand Teton National Park is paved, there is a rare off-roading opportunity on the River Road. Join buffalo and elk along the Snake River. This 12-mile gravel and boulder route winds through tall grasses and sage brush with clear views to spot wildlife and the Grand Teton Mountain Range constantly visible in the background.
Tell anyone that you are going to the Grand Tetons, and they are likely to tell you to go to Jenny Lake. It's the Old Faithful of the Grand Tetons: Everyone goes there and it is, as a result, a logistics disaster. Parking is a fiasco. Points of trails are so narrow and hazardous that one has to wait for a stream of hikers to pass before traveling in the opposite direction. The wear and tear of these visitors has lead to one of the major allures of the lake trail, Hidden Falls, to be closed for reclamation.
I burned my hand this morning. It was an amateur mistake. It didn't need hospitalization, but it looks like I'll have a dime sized scar on my palm.
I couldn't sleep last night. I was too hot. I was too cold. My shoulder hurt. My other shoulder hurt. By 4:30 AM I had pretty much given up. That, and my driver woke up. We looked at each other. "You want to get some pictures?" I nodded.
Today, I walked around a corner and came face to face with a buffalo. That is arguably hyperbole but 15 feet might as well be face to face when Buffaloes are concerned.
Everyone comes to Yellowstone National Park to see Old Faithful. Maybe it is the 106 to 185 foot tall plumes of boiling water shot into the air. It could be the 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of scalding liquid dispelled in each eruption. Perhaps it is the grand predictability of the eruptions—averaging every 90 minutes. Or maybe everyone has just said "this is where you go" and so thousands of people from around the world crowd a boardwalk around a hole in the ground every 90 minutes and then file away for the next frothing earthly phenomena.
Waking up in Grand Teton National Park feels like an accomplishment. After desperately charging through Yellowstone so that we could get a campsite before they were all taken (there were only 6 out of 320 remaining) we were ready to take it easy. Friends would be joining us in the afternoon and, with limited cell service, we didn't want to get too wrapped up in the wild nooks and crannies of the park and miss a call. So we scoped out the park.