Trailering Toward Teton!

About an hour after setting up in Rawlins, supporting the local economy via Walmart, and hogging the laundry facilities (I would do it again in a heartbeat), Ben was checking on the next few steps of the trip, and had an “oh s**t” moment. He realized that he never made a reservation for the RV park at Grand Teton. During the winter months, this area is pretty well closed down, and Ben had emailed and called while they were in hibernation mode, so the reservation was never set.

In a light panic, Ben quickly called the campground. Thankfully, the campground just opened last Friday and they were still slow, so they were able to accommodate us for our original dates.

With a reservation secured, and an FAQ on the website that said in no uncertain terms do not show up before 2 pm, we had a relaxing morning before setting out on the four hour trek.

It was another gorgeous drive from Rawlins to Moran, WY, just outside of Grand Teton National Park. We crossed the continental divide three times somehow? Cell service dropped from 5G to LTE to 3G and then just a bunch of little dots. Good thing there aren’t many turns out here.

We were chased by the weather again today, but it was a halfhearted chase at best. Dark skies, a light sprinkle here and there, and we were through to sunny weather.

At the overlook heading down towards Teton, we stopped off to stretch our legs a bit and get edumacated on some history. Ok, well Ann actually read all the signs someone had carefully created for the rest stop, explaining the history of the area and who explored there. She knows me well and only gave me the ADHD summary and basically told me that people “like” Grizzly Adams settled the area. Turns out, the guy in the picture might have looked like Grizzly Adams, but this is NOT where Grizzly Adams stomped around (I so had Ben convinced of this LOL. If he’d actually taken the time to read the info at the rest area, he would have known who actually stomped around this area but now I’m not gonna tell him). It was not until I was writing this and questioned Ann, that she started giggling uncontrollably, so I did a little googling and found out that Grizzly Adams was a California dude.

This was also the first time in about 8 years that Ann had the opportunity to stand in the snow (I kinda hope it’s my last time and I only did because it was 70°!).

As we got to our campsite, the laws of supply and demand were quite apparent. At the only gas station and convenience store for about 30 miles in either direction, as well as the owner/operator for our little campground, the prices for fuel (diesel at $4.99) and ice ($4 per bag) were shocking but given our lack of options, understandable. But we sure are glad we stocked up back at the old Walmart!

After we got set up, we decided to grab a park map and head in to Glacier for a teaser before the first full day there. We worked our way down to Antelope Flats and Mormon Row, hoping to arrive before sunset. We were late by about a half hour! Next we’ll try to time it for sunrise, but since sunrise is at 5:45 am here, it’s a bit of a long shot (Ugh, Ben is going to kill me with this sunrise crap!).

On our first evening, we saw a huge herd of bison grazing on the far edge of the valley and a great blue heron, effortlessly cruising above a winding river bed, but we did not see the moose and bear that Ann is really seeking (without getting to close, of course)!

On the way back out, we turned the truck around to go back to a bridge crossing a wide, shallow creek. I was able to catch the sunset boiling behind the mountain range and I also grabbed the black and white of the Mormon Row barn (both pics are at the beginning of this post).

Headed back to the airstream for a low key evening and a fresh start at 4:45 am to go catch some sunrise photos (this is Ann laughing).