Last week we were in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.  It is where men are men and women are also quite butch as it is very cold!  We had a guide one day who said there are only two seasons in Grand Teton – winter and July.  Sadly, we were there in winter!

All started well – Monday we set off on a trail around the marina, up over the headland to see the amazing Jackson Lake.  We noticed that there were patches of snow and when the visitor centre gave us the trail map and said that the clearance crews had not been out – we anticipated the odd tree blown across the path.  Four hours later we felt we had been in a horse show jumping event as we had to climb over so many trees.  It was like a cross country course – every hazard known to man and horse – water jumps, snow patches, leaves and of course the issue of bears.

We brought bear spray last Sunday at the park entrance and noticed that everyone has it on them – all the rangers, people out jogging and even fat Americans in golf carts within the campsite!  We were warned that there are black and grizzly bears in Grand Teton along with elk, moose, bison, beavers and otters.  First few days no sightings of anything other than elk and pronghorn deer.

On Tuesday one of the things to do in Grand Teton is to walk around Jenny Lake – named after my mother of course.  Sadly, we were beginning to feel that we had not picked a lucky year to visit as this do not miss trail around the lake was closed for repair!  Never mind we set off to do the bit we could and were entertained by some yellow bellied marmots on the way and some lovely people from Boston that we got chatting to. 

The snow became worse and worse as we tried to climb up to Inspiration Point and at this stage I called my sister H to wish her happy birthday.  Slightly surreal as it was like being on a ski holiday – white all around and we had a picnic up the mountain like those nutters that you all see on the side of the piste.  We gave up shortly after lunch as the trail was completely obscured by snow.  To warm up we went to one of the mountain lodges in the park and had a couple of beers and some nachos (that well known alpine speciality).

On Wednesday, we had terrible rain to start with and then it all went quiet.  I put the blind up and discovered that it was snowing and that lovely muffled feeling was everywhere when it all begins to turn white.  During Wednesday we must have had about four inches.  We knew that the paths would be even more impassable so just did some very tame walks on the shore of the lake.  It was very pretty as you can see – but slightly odd in the middle of May.

We are warm in Reg but you know what snow is like.  After half a day everything is just cold and wet and you have had enough of it. 

Thursday was also snowy to start with – we are now getting through the propane gas cylinder with our central heating on… but we steel ourselves as it starts to clear to tackle a hike up to Grand View Point.  Only issue is that we have to cycle there and then walk.  We ride down to the start and see some Dutch people ahead of us – which is good as this is bear country. A man has taken it upon himself to warn us just as we are about to start the trail of a grizzly mum with two cubs.  Slightly unnerving.

 Walking is much more tiring when you have to keep lookout and also try and watch your feet.  The Dutch were good though as they chatted away all the up the hill which is also the best bear deterrent going. 

We got to the top and had a 360 degree of the park and it was stunning. The Teton mountain range is very like the Alps as it is glacially formed so very jagged and interesting.  The weather changes every five minutes – but when the sky is a blue background it is just like the Toberlone box!

We left the Dutch and took a path down the hill around the lake and that is when, dear reader, we finally saw our bear.  Matt was in front, but quite calmly I informed him that our new friend – a black bear – was only about 50 metres away up a hill.  The bear saw us, but we managed to take two pretty poor pictures and then Matt got the top off the spray just in case our new friend accelerated down the hill.  Luckily, he did not!

We turned around shortly afterwards as it was impossible to see where we were going in the snow and we did notice a lot of yellow patches and no human footprints – so we could have seen Yogi and Boo Boo at any moment. 

Cycled back and saw a wolf on the way to the site – just a typical day in the wild west!

Friday we took a float trip down the Snake River.  This is in a specially designed inflatable raft that drifts 10 miles downstream avoiding all the fallen trees and debris in the river.  The flow is so fast that what can take two hours at certain times of the year – we did in just over an hour.  Our guide was excellent and he remarked, much to our amazement, that of course the fastest time for the river is in July when all the snow has finally melted.  As it was so cold last week – half of it is still on the mountains.

It was a great experience being so close to the water and seeing the power of the currents – but sadly we did not see as much wildlife as we wanted to.  But by the end of the week we had seen all that we should have – elk, bison, moose, bear, beaver and on Saturday three river otters.  We also saw some eagles and the very rare and unusual Canada geese! (They are everywhere!).

Saturday night we headed into town – Jackson Hole to be precise to do chores and prepare ourselves for our Yellowstone week.  We had a great pizza and a walk around Jackson – which now that skiing has finished for the season was getting itself ready for summer visitors.

After so much outdoors fun – we rocked up into the Million Dollar Cowboy saloon and straddled the saddle seats at the bar.  Ignoring the opportunity to line dance we sat at the shiny bar and had the drinks lined up.  The evening was great fun as everyone else that came in wanted to have a go on the saddles and we ended up taking pictures for people and talking nonsense.  To get into the spirit of being a cowboy we even had a bourbon chaser with our beer.  A mistake come Sunday morning – let me tell you.

So, Grand Teton – a real experience.  Not for the faint hearted.  We have probably been colder and wetter than at any stage since we left Elephant and Castle – but in a rosy cheeked, exhilarating way we have thoroughly enjoyed our week.  Yee Ha!

A x

PS we have no wifi so will have to upload photos later…

From East Canyon we headed north to another lakeside campsite, this one called Rendezvous Beach (nope, no idea) next to Bear Lake, which straddles Utah and Idaho.  Bear Lake is much bigger than the other lakes we’ve camped by and is different in being a natural lake (well the US Corp of Engineers has meddled a little at the north) set in a bowl beneath mountains.

Bear Lake also has a ski area, although this was closed when we arrived so no opportunity to get any value from the 50% additional we paid for our travel insurance to cover us for skiing.

Ok, enough of the whinging about insurance, the lake is freshwater from the snow melt above and because of the concentration of minerals is incredibly blue (bluer than the blue stone of Galveston even) and around the edge you can look through to the bottom and it reminded us of the Aegean.

It’s early in the summer season for Bear Lake and the campsite had only three other RV’s when we arrived and during the time we were there the maximum number was about eight RV’s and three tents so we picked a site on the lakeside which had the best view, so far, from Reg that we have had.  Opening the door let onto the beach with the clear blue lake framed with snow-capped peaks in the background.

We cycled and walked around the lake, didn’t get the kayaks out as it was too cold and too big, watched a number of birds, some of which we could even identify and generally had a lovely laid back time.  We were told by Merlin, who owns a couple of drive-in restaurants called oddly Merlin’s, that the area goes from a population of 310 to over 50,000 during the peak season between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  You can see this is true by the number of hotels, time shares and condominiums around the lake, plus a fair number of obvious summer homes shuttered for the winter.

After three nights in Bear Lake we decided to move on up into Idaho, towards Craters of the Moon National Monument.  Because of the distance, we stopped over at Massacre Rocks State Park in Idaho.  A lovely setting on the Snake River where in the 1870’s a party of pioneers were ambushed by an Indian war party and ten of the pioneers were killed, hence Massacre Rocks.  The river was flowing incredibly strongly and we were advised not to use our kayaks, indeed the head of the park felt it unlikely they would open the river to kayaks until July at the earliest.

The next day we went on to Craters of the Moon, the wind was up and it was very grey.  This is important information as we set off to walk around one of the most desolate landscapes in the US.  Craters is a large area of volcanic rock that was deposited from the Snake Valley rift between 15,000 and 2,000 years ago, geologically it’s about five minutes ago.  The area has unique features, such as; cinder cones where the ground is covered in small particles that were blown out of fissures and settled into cones; spatter cones were the lava was spat out and gradually forms a chimney type structure; lava tubes where the surface cooled, the lava then drained and left a tube and sometimes a cave beneath; kipukas where a vegetation ‘island’ is surrounded by lava flows.  We walked around the terrain and it gives an insight into the violence the earth can throw up at any time, geologists believe the area will erupt again at almost any point and it is on the same rift that Yellowstone is on and at some point, a massive volcanic eruption will occur with devastating effect on the continent.

We briefly visited the Experimental Breeder Reactor One (EBR-1) which is close by and is the first nuclear reactor that provided more power output than that input and led the design for many of the worlds current reactors.  Odd that the major nuclear power research station would be next to one of the most active volcanic regions of the world but if Yellowstone blows up I don’t think anyone will notice about the numerous reactors and storage sites going up too.

After Craters we visited Idaho Falls, the two places of interest being the artificial waterfall on the Snake River created for hydro power and a large Mormon Temple, otherwise not much to look at and a very disappointing museum!

From Idaho we crossed into Wyoming and through Jackson Hole into the Grand Teton National Park.  The park was named by French fur trappers who felt three of the peaks resembled ‘Tetons’ and named them ‘Les Trois Tetons’, the closest translation would be ‘The Three Tits’, so we are now camping in a park called Big Tit National Park.  Despite my puerile sniggering the Teton range consists of nine baby mountains pushed up only 15 million years ago and eroded by glaciers to form a remarkable range that simply jumps from the alluvial plain below into the ski.  They are all snow peaked with several glaciers still upon them and below flows the Snake River currently full of snow melt. 

The park is waking up from winter and we have walked along trails still covered with some snow and while the moose have mainly migrated north, there are still a number of elk and bears in the park.  We haven’t seen bears but have caught sight of elk, pronghorn deer, yellow bellied marmot and beavers.  We have bought a bear spray which we have been instructed in how to use by the rangers and warned against letting off in enclosed spaces, when someone did so in the visitor centre they had to shut it for a whole day to let the smell escape!

Enough from me, next week Alex will update you all on further sightings and we’ll be moving on to Yellowstone itself.

M

Well maybe not completely, but we have probably travelled less this week than since the trip began…

Last Sunday we were in Salt Lake City as you may remember, celebrating Matt’s birthday with the Mormons.  What a party!!  Well actually not much of a party – but we did have a good time and loved the setting of SLC – surrounded by the snow-capped mountains. 

On Monday, we checked out of the hotel, after having sneaked in some of our dirty washing from Reg into the hotel laundry…(classy), had our final use of the spa & fitness room (phew) and had our last made to order omelette from the unsmiling chef (tasty).  It was a welcome break from life on the road, but Reg had managed to get a parking ticket so we thought we ought to move on before he was clamped!

Embarrassing in the extreme was discovering on Monday afternoon when we went to have his tyres checked that we have never had his air shock absorbers set up correctly.  A man got busy with an air compressor machine and Reg literally wafted up in the air!  To say we felt foolish was an understatement.  I think the man obviously thinks we don’t have air in England.   Well, that’s how we played it anyway!

Monday night after all these jobs and revelations we purred our way up about an hour from SLC to Willard Lake.  A dam which helps separate fresh water from the Great Salt Lake.  Very quiet spot and we stayed two nights as it turns out as we were killing time waiting for our kayaks to be delivered to Walmart in Salt Lake City. 

Willard Lake was charming, but on Tuesday when we went for a cycle ride around the lake, which turned out to be a 20-mile marathon, we discovered that all bugs in the United States live there during the first week of May.  It was like a biblical plague – they were in our mouths, eyes and ears and we had to cycle with one hand covering orifices and the other hand on the bike.  In the middle of this we saw a Utah prairie dog who stood on his back legs and let everyone know that Matt and I were coming.  It was hilarious and Matt does a very good impression of him, complete with his own whiskers of course!

The insects drove us out by Wednesday when we went back to SLC to collect the kayaks.  Whilst we were waiting for them to arrive we took a hike up Middle Creek Canyon which is part of a national forest.  Located very close to the City so skiing in winter, cycling in summer. The path was packed with bikers, walkers, dogs and runners.  Very pleasant indeed and good to see everyone exercising!

On Wednesday night after we had collected the kayaks we drove up to East Canyon State Park where we have been ever since.  Slight hiccup on the way as the proper road was still closed for the winter, so we had to drive up a very bumpy and dusty Jeremy Ranch Road.  It was a ride of rattles.  Of course, when we get here the ranger asked why we had not taken the other road in!  Oh dear – I think we just wanted to get the air out of the shock absorbers!

Lovely setting – we are beside a lake near the original Mormon pioneer trail. We have mountains all around, covered in snow – yet I have been a bikini this weekend as it has been very warm.  Weird feeling!

The kayaks are amazing.  Awfully yellow as you will see from the pictures, but they have given us a lot of fun this week.  Going in a straight line required a bit of effort and technique – but we are getting there.  I hope that bingo wings will be a thing of the past by the end of this trip – but then heard if you are using your arms too much you are doing it wrong..?!   Who knows.  But we have had a blast.

We are off tomorrow northwards.  Time to get on the road again to Yellowstone and Grand Teton.  Enough of this messing about in water – we need to hunt for bears…