Geared Up For The Grand Tetons

The Grand Teton National Park is located just south of Yellowstone, and north of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It's peaks thrust up 7,000 feet from their base. It is a mecca for alpinists and rock climbers. Brady knew he wanted to climb while we were here, but he caught the fever to summit the largest peak the second he saw it! 

The Grand Teton is the largest peak in the Teton range, as well as all of Wyoming at 13,770 feet. It is not quite a "14'er" but rivals many of them in skill and difficulty. The base of the mountains start at about 6,000 feet in elevation, giving the vertical gain extra thrust to the the top. Brady looked and waited for a partner (I wasn't going to make it up...) for several days before deciding to solo the "Owen-Spalding Route" without the use of any ropes or gear. It took him 10 hours total (most people take 3 days!!) but he thinks he could have done it in 8, since on the way down he made several route-finding errors... He met a climber another day who took him to a wall called "Guide's Wall" where they roped up for a 5.9 multi-pitch trad route (which basically means very tall, and placed his own gear in the wall for protection).

Brady took this photo of the alpenglow on the rocks ahead of him the morning of his hike.

Brady at the Summit of the Grand! He met a guy on the way up who offered Brady his jacket, the temperature dropped significantly on the ascent. Made for a bright and colorful photo on such a smoky day! He heard that you could see all of Wyoming from the top, but unfortunately a forest fire sent smoke across the mountains for miles and you could barely see anything from up there.

The geological survey point that marks the summits of all the major peaks in the United States.

The signatures of the climbers who made the "first ascent" to the top of the peak.

Our sweet camp set up in Montana for one night! The metal bin behind Jazz is for food storage protection from bears, yikes!

The Tetons from Jenny Lake

One of the local beers that we liked, tasted better on tap though than in the can...

The routine for van life usually starts out with Brady cooking breakfast and making me coffee...What a great guy!

While Brady went climbing one day, I decided to go on a hike through Cascade Canyon. This is the view from Jenny Lake from a boat I took to get to the mouth of the canyon.

A moose!! Can you see him lying down back there? Pretty big rack on that guy!

Another moose! He was also "well racked" ha!

This guy is a Yellow Bellied Marmot. He was sunbathing on this rock when I came up on him.

He waved for the picture!!

Valhalla Glacier

I made it! 9 miles round trip in 4 1/2 hours. Woohoo!

We went to some hot springs east of Jackson one day to soak and ended up finding this waterfall to swim under! Free fun is always better than paid for fun! Well that's all for our trip through the Tetons! Next stop, City of Rocks in Idaho!

Yonder to Yellowstone

Yonder to Yellowstone...

We left Worland, Wyoming and headed west towards Yellowstone National Park via highway 16. We decided to go straight through, though we did stop briefly in Cody, Wyoming, where Buffalo Bill got his fame. We also met a couple about our age backpacking with their bikes and little dog "Capitan" across the country and gave them a ride into the National Park. The pictures below are from our brief, yet beautiful stop in America's first National Park.

This is Smith Mansion, which I actually read about in a 20th Century Architecture class I took in college. I had no idea we were going to see it, so it was a fun surprise to catch this hand-built house on the hill I had seen in pictures years ago! Mr. Smith had a family and then developed some mental issues, unbeknownst to him, and probably his children while they were young. He decided to just start building one day, and this was the result after over 30 years of him and his children living and making new additions in their home. The rooms are all non-typical. The house was built as an on-going playhouse project. Mr. Smith actually died building it one day as he fell off one of the balconies.

This is known as the Yellowstone Traffic Jam... We waited for what seemed like hours in long lines of cars blocking the roads, because tourists apparently love to get out of their cars and photograph the buffalo up close... At the park entrance, they gave us a warning flyer that read, "WARNING, many visitors have been GORED by buffalo!" And people still were getting up close and personal...

That's Jazz's nose on the right... She wanted to get up close and personal too!

This is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Breathtaking view!

We saw lots of waterfalls, but this one had a rainbow where the water crashed to the river. There are postcards everywhere of this scene, and I'm so glad we caught it at the right time!

We got to this waterfall, Tower Falls, and could only see it from above. The park service had closed the trail to get to the bottom. If you know anything about Brady, you know that he doesn't like signs that tell him no... So we hiked down anyway... This ended up being the best sight we saw in the whole park! Standing under a huge waterfall where it crashes right behind you is awe inspiring, to say the least, and to be away from the masses of tourists for a photograph was priceless!

It is called Tower Falls because of the rock towers at the top!

We saw these cute little guys along the side of the road one day. We were, once again, stuck in traffic on this narrow road, and didn't know what the commotion was. Then we saw the momma bear come down from the forest, with two cubs in tow! I was stuck behind 20 other cars so Brady got out to get a better picture. He saw the momma walk within 15 feet in front of him to cross the road. No pictures of this up close and personal encounter though, since he was scared and ready to jump in to the nearest car if the bear came any closer!

Hot sulphur springs everywhere in the park have made all kinds of different and vibrant formations. This area was called "Mammoth Hot Springs".

We kept laughing at the cartoon warnings everywhere in the park...

"For the benefit and enjoyment of the people"

Emerald Pool Hot Springs

Those poor babies... This is how the dogs got to see Yellowstone, from the car. Dogs are not permitted on any National Park land, but they can remain in the lap of luxury, fan on and all, of our van... You would think from their faces that they were so mistreated though...

Mud Pots Hot Springs

Another waterfall...

Another Geyser...

Old Faithful!!

We timed it perfectly, and got there right before it went off. I took a video of the 1 minute long eruption. It used to go off like clockwork 50 years ago- every hour. Now it's approximately every hour and a half. The volcanic activity is slowing.

That's all for now, folks! Next stop, The Grand Tetons!!