Grand Teton National Park

Just south of the Yellowstone National Park border, the Grand Teton National Park resides. We didn’t have a long drive but we were a little worried about possible mountain grades. It didn’t turn out to be too bad.

We made it to our designated camp area. It was a national forest. Free camping is allowed here which was nice for us. Gas is turning out to be more costly than we thought so it was nice to save some money.

We were BOONDOCKING!

I’m not a big fan of no hook-ups but the views were beautiful.

We were lucky enough to get an end spot. We were here for 2 nights so I knew our battery would not last. Our refrigerator would also be put to the test because of the problems it had at Mount Rainier.

We have our handy generator which gave us a lot more freedom like keeping the lights on, making coffee in the morning, and bringing in the slide whenever we want.

Our set up was going to be a little harder because the trailer was on a slope.

As you can see below, we had to climb some blocks to get even.

But still, the views were great.

We made dinner outside that day since the weather was so nice.

We wanted to check out some of the park too so we headed out to the Snake River Overlook so the sunset.

It was a little smokey so the mountains weren’t too clear. It was still breathtaking.

We enjoyed our time out with each other and hoped to spot some animals.

After the sun went down, we went back to Aljo and started planning for the next day. We couldn’t really shower since we didn’t have any hook-ups and our grey water tank wouldn’t be able to hold too much water. But we got as clean as we could and hit the hay.

Our first stop in the park the next day was Schwabacher Landing Road for some picture taking. The iconic picture of the Grand Tetons reflecting off the water is not what greeted us. The smoke was a little thicker because of the fires from the West.

We got some trees but no mountains.

We continued on to Mormon Row. This area was settled by Mormons in the late 19th Century. It was interesting to see where people lived and what used to be a norm. 

We checked out the John Moultan Barn for another iconic image but were reminded the mountains didn’t want to come out today. 

We had fun learning that Mormon settlers lived closer to each other than other settlers of their time. Instead of being isolationists, they had a community.

We headed off to the Discovery Center/Visitor Center to see the exhibits and informational video. These exhibits were really interactive because they let you touch different types of furs,  had videos with first hand accounts of park history, and so much more.

We quickly scarfed down our lunch in the car since it was past noon and then headed to Jenny Lake for our hike. The Hidden Falls Trail wasn’t marked as strenuous but there was some elevation changes. It was a nice hike since you’re going around Jenny Lake. We stopped and had a look at some outlooks. 

When we were almost to the falls, we met a gentleman who informed us of a bear not too far away. He talked to us for a bit and even showed us pictures. We were really excited to hear that it was just a couple minutes from us so we raced over and even semi ran up a steep incline just to get a glimpse of the bear.

It seemed like the bear was hiding a bit before he appeared on top of a rock.

I just want to mention that I did not see a lot of people with bear spray. Jared had his so we weren’t too worried but some other tourists were getting way too close. He wasn’t a big fellow but he is still a wild animal. 

The bear was just minding his own business so that might have given people a little more courage but it shouldn’t have.

We made sure we weren’t too close, we had our bear spray, and plenty of stupid people between us and the bear.

We also did a no-no by trying to find the bear so I guess we were a part of the problem.

We watched it for a bit before it wandered back into the woods. It was sooooo cute! It was our first wild bear during our trip so it was very exciting. 

We continued our hike back to the Hidden Falls and had a break from all the excitement.

It was definitely hidden since we didn’t see it until we were right in front of it. We took a little break and then headed right back around the lake.

Our hike back down was a lot easier after a couple steep climbs up. We saw a buck on our way back and he was right on the trail. Some people were taking pictures right next to him but we didn’t dare get any closer because of his antlers. We waited him out until he got a little further up the hill, away from the trail.

We headed back to camp for a nice relaxing night in.

Did I say relaxing? 

Above is a picture of the top layer of our awning flying in the wind.

Below are pictures of Jared making it work.

Who needs an awning with two layers? It actually works a lot better this way.

We had decided we could sleep in the next day since we were driving to Salt Lake City for a Walmart. We were headed to Bryce Canyon and didn’t want to stop anywhere we didn’t need to.

Aljo had some other plans for us because at 5:30AM, the refrigerator started clicking and woke me up. We were tired so we just turned the fridge off and went back to sleep. We would deal with it later.

And when I mean deal with it, we started the generator up and ran the refrigerator on that. So we’re thinking there’s a battery component to the fridge that needs a little battery power to keep it running.

We left a little later than we were hoping but that should be expected with us.

We headed out to a Salt Lake City Walmart but when we got there, the parking lot was just a huge slope. So we went to a different Walmart and it was a lot better. We ended up getting groceries and an oil change at the Walmart so it all worked out.

On to Bryce Canyon National Park and real showers!