RoadNotes: Grandeur of the Tetons vs the Crowds of Jackson

Gros Ventre NP CG, Kelly, WY - July 24 to 27, 2016

We said our farewells to our new friends Debi and Randy and old time friends Steve and Nancy. Highway 191 to Jackson was now open so we decided to visit the Grand Tetons one more time since we were this close. (Notice how we are straying from our original plan of going no further than Colorado?) What can I say, we wander. Its what we do.

Smoke from the Cliff Creek Fire is still an issue as we head up 191 to Jackson from Daniel.

The hot shots, forest fire fighters, are camped along the road. Talk about tough. These guys are not getting a break this season. It seems as though fires are breaking out every where. These encampments have mess tents, showers and toilet facilities so they get cleaned up, eat, sleep and go out and do it all over again. We hear they are working 12 hour shifts.

Driving through the area after the fire has ravaged the forest.

We make it to Jackson, Wyoming.

We only had a light snack for breakfast so we looked for restaurants on the drive up here. The only one we found didn’t have room to park Big Guy and Sunny so we waited until we got to Jackson. By this time Frank was starved and didn’t care what we ate so long as it was food. In a pinch a McDonalds big breakfast with pancakes, sausage and square eggs will do.

But, as is the drawback to any popular tourist town, the hoards of non-english speaking foreigners have taken over. We feel like strangers in our own country. Our timing was bad as two tourist buses had just disgorged their loads overwhelming McDonalds.

Ok, we got some food, now its time to head on to the Gros Ventre NP campground (pronounced “grow vaunt”). But first, the road takes us through downtown. And yes, it’s packed. Well, we’ve seen Jackson before and we don’t imagine the shops selling the tourist doodads have changed all that much since the last time we were here. Unfortunately we need to resupply so that means we will have to revisit town.

Upon arrival at Gros Ventre NP CG, we are assigned a site. This is primarily a no hookup campground except for one loop which has electricity at a premium cost. Since we don’t feel the need to pay an extra $20 or so per day to run the AC for couple of hours we go for the dry camp sites. If it gets warm, we can run the generator for about $1 an hour and we’ll only need to do that for 2-3 hours a day at most. But it means we’ll have to get picky about our site so our solar panels have good sun exposure to charge our house batteries.

That was a long winded way of saying the site they assigned us did not meet our criteria. So we scouted around and came up with several that would do and went back to checkin asking to be relocated. There was no problem as that is more or less standard procedure. They assign you a site based on the size of your RV then you tell them the site you really want. It’s first come first served so get there early. As we get set up this raven clucks at us the whole time. Maybe this was his space?

As you know, we are suckers for lattes, mochas, and macchiatos. Well, last time we were here there was a small coffee shop/cafe about 2 miles from the campground in the community of Kelly. For lunch the next day, we decide to see if it is still there. It’s called Kelly’s at Gros Ventre and yes, it was still in business, although much more popular than it was the last time we were here. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to talk to the owner this time, much too busy, but the sandwiches were amazing.

Afterwards we made the dreaded run back into Jackson to do what EJ referred to as “Combat Grocery Shopping”. Frank doesn’t go in the grocery store because he figures the store is crowded enough with him clogging up the works too. Plus he has a very low tolerance for people who block the aisles and are oblivious to the presence of others. So let’s just say it’s better for everybody if he doesn’t go into the store.

To avoid having to drive back to the RV through the circus called Jackson one more time, EJ finds us a way around that mess. But even here obliviousness is rampant. Trailers are prohibited on this road, but you can see the van on the right is, yep you guessed it, pulling a trailer. The young lady manning the booth was very upset that they slipped by before she saw the trailer.

We are craving a hike away from the crowds and EJ is hoping to see some wildlife. The popular trails are out of the question as we don’t enjoy “Combat Hiking” where you are elbow to elbow on the trail with others. If we want to hike in a crowd, we’ll just go to downtown Jackson. But Frank does some research and thinks there may be a trail along Clear Creek way out past Kelly. Since there is no mention of the trail in the park literature, hopefully it won’t be crowded. Along the way EJ spots a Pronghorn.

Then we drive by the Gros Ventre Slide. In 1925, following the melt from a heavy snow pack, weeks of rain and earthquake tremors the land slide occurred. It blocked the Gros Ventre River and formed Lower Slide Lake

We found a little shade and set up for a picnic. In the shade it’s very comfortable and even a little breezy. The view is awesome.

Then we continued on to our hike destination admiring the hills and colors along the way.

There ended up being a fairly well worn trail right next to the creek. It wandered through a couple of campgrounds while hugging the creek most of the way. The only folks we encountered were 2 fly fishermen and a couple of sunbathers. Nice and quiet, just the way we like it.

After our walk it felt good to peel off our boots and socks and go for a wade in the creek.

On the way back to Big Guy we passed a herd of horses enjoying to sprinklers. We guess you could say they were enjoying horse showers.

We saw very few animals this time, and no Bison. Which struck us as odd because when we were last here it was the same time of the year almost to the day. We wonder if it is because of the onslaught of tourists that the critters are staying away. Mormon Row goes right through a prime Bison range. Last time we saw herds of them here. This time, nothing. Every where in the park and town we went there were many more people this time than last time.

The next day, wanting to see what a local town looked like that wsn’t over run by tourists, we took a trip to Victor, Idaho. Wow! What a difference! No frantic pace. Folks are genuinely friendly. No crowds to deal with. We found a tiny home community and drove through it looking for that perfect spot. We wandered the downtown area, had a wonderful burger and fresh cut fries with fry sauce. They claim the fry sauce is uniquely Idahoan, but it is a mixture of mayonnaise, ketchup, and secret spices. And it is quite tasty.

Well that worked up a thirst and it was time to find the local brewery. It turns out Victor has 2 breweries. Grand Teton and Wildlife. The second was closed when we drove by so we stopped by Grand Teton. It was the perfect setting, sitting on the porch, mountains in the background, sipping a couple of micro-brews.