Travel Diary: Tour Thru WY, ID, NV, UT & CO, Part 2
We left Boar’s Tusk in southern Wyoming and drove north toward Grand Teton National Park. We had a spectacular time during our previous visit there, so we were pretty excited for our return. We drove through to towns of Lander and Dubois on our way north. This more scenic route took us an hour longer than the quickest, but driving into the park from the eastern side is more beautiful in our opinion.
Once we got into the park, we decided to drive into the touristy town of Jackson, Wyoming. There we did a little shopping and had a cold beer and a fat burger at Jackson Drug.
With our bellies full and the sun beginning to set, we set out to find a place to sleep. We had a couple prime spots picked out in the nearby Bridger-Teton National Forest, but those spots had already been taken. The COVID-19 pandemic has really increased the number of campers near the national parks. It can be a struggle to find open campsites anymore. We did a little internet research and drove toward the Toppings Lake area. We trekked down the rocky road passing numerous taken campsites. Were we gonna have to sleep in a parking lot? We came to the end of the road and arrived at campsite #26, the final site. It was empty! We had no view of The Tetons, but it was a nice, clean spot tucked into some trees. It would serve its purpose. The area had a fire ring and a bear box for food storage. National Forest campsites in the West are well-equipped compared to others. We put together a little video of our site.
We had been tasked by Becky’s mother to snap a photo of The Tetons at sunrise for her collection, so we were up early the next morning. We packed up, and headed toward the park. Becky took a number of photos that morning. Unfortunately, smoke from the wildfires tearing through California had made its way into Wyoming and was putting a nasty filter on anything she snapped off.
With a little photoshop magic, this shot came out pretty well, don’t cha think?
We stopped near the Colter Bay Visitor Center and made a little pancake breakfast in the parking lot. While eating, we researched a hike for the day. We ended up on a hike we found in a Lonely Planet travel guide of all places. The hike took us into Avalanche Canyon, which is an unmarked trail that wasn’t even on our hiking map. That should’ve been a red flag. At the end of the trail was supposed to be an alpine lake with amazing views of the valley.
We hiked along Taggart Lake for a bit, which is quite picturesque.The trail branched off the map and headed up in elevation along a stream that feeds the lake.
Taggart Lake
We continued on and encountered a boulder field. Luckily for us, cairns had been set up by previous hikers guiding our way. After the boulder field we hit an area that was filled with major overgrowth and downed trees from a 2014 avalanche. We cut our way through overgrowth for almost an hour before we gave up. It was getting late in the afternoon, and we couldn’t locate any sign of a trail. The direction we were headed was almost impassible without a lot of time-consuming work.
Becky navigating through some boulders prior to the incident
We ate some lunch and turned around to head back to the Vanagon. Coming back through the boulder field, I heard a scream. Becky had gotten her leg caught between boulders and hit the deck. I quickly turned around and watched her fall like a rag doll. I watched her land on a large rock, and saw her head snap back hitting another rock! I was freaked. Thankfully, the thick brim of her Filson hat cushioned her head of the impact. Immediately, she was telling me she was OK. Whew!
After a bit of recovery time, we slowly hiked back to the trailhead. Becky ended up with some soreness, major swelling/bruising on her leg, and likely a slight concussion. It was a full day of adventure to say the least. Sadly, we didn't get the alpine lake payoff we had hoped for. However, we came away with a good story.
Following our hike, we drove into Teton Village and had an extremely filling dinner at The Mangy Moose. After spending a couple days in Grand Teton National Park, we decided over dinner it was time to drove north into Yellowstone National Park. We spent over and hour driving up and down forest roads south of Yellowstone looking for a free camp, but came up empty. Everything was already taken. We bit the bullet and paid waaaaay too much ($50+) for a primitive site at Flagg Ranch Resort. They have a massive parking lot that was virtually empty, but they wouldn’t allow us to park overnight. It makes me nauseous thinking about paying that much for a site with all the free camping that it out there. Plus, we literally only spent around 5-6 hours there.
Our camp at Flagg Ranch Resort
The next morning, we left early to beat the Yellowstone crowd. I’ll get into Yellowstone in the next blog.
Thank You For Reading — Andrew
If you like what you see, check out our map on NanoWhat. You can download a Google map of our roadtrip to The West straight to your phone!
