Established in 1929 - Highest Elevation, the summit of Grand Teton at $13,770 feet.
Turns out that the Grand Teton National Park is directly south of Yellowstone so we decided to take a day and explore as much of it as we could while we were in the area.
There were 2 ways to get to it from where we were. Start in Yellowstone and enter the Tetons via the north entrance or drive to Jackson, Wyoming and enter at the south entrance. Either way, a long drive but we choose to drive to Jackson and start there.
The drive through Idaho to get there give you a great view of the Teton Mountain range beyond fields of bright green hay and wheat crops. Really pretty. You also end up having to cross the mountain range via the scenic drive on Highway 22. Near the top, it requires you to drive up for 6 miles, at a 10% grade thru some tight switch backs. At the peak, you end up at Teton Pass where there’s a huge pullout for people to look at the view, eat lunch or hike. We had no idea there would be such good trails there! Too bad we got a late start because we just didn’t have time to spare to explore. It was 12:30 already and we hadn’t even made it to the park yet. Maybe next time...
Anyways finally got to the park early afternoon, checked out the hiking available here and it looks there were lots more day hiking here than in Yellowstone. Biking would also be excellent here. Over 100 miles of paved trails from the town of Jackson, right into and throughout the park. And, where there wasn’t a trail, big shoulders on the roads to keep you out of reach of those big extended RV mirrors etc. Also seemed to be a few more options within the park for camping in a big RVs like ours.
Once you get out of the north end of Grand Teton National Park, you’re almost immediately in the south end of Yellowstone. Easiest way for us to get back to the trailer was to drive through it and once again, got buffaloed just past Old Faithful area.
Although we only spent an afternoon in Grand Teton it was a good scouting mission for the future. Both Dave and I agree that this is a park to come back to and spend some time.
Check out the Grand Teton Album.
FYI, we also did some local hikes around Island Park, ID while we were in the area but didn’t see anything spectacular compared to the national parks so nothing to share there, plus this most recent update was a killer. Taking a break for a while....talk to y’all later!