Grand Teton National Park

The drive from the Rockies through Colorado and Wyoming to Grand Teton National Park was a big one, about 500 miles (1 mile = 1.6 km, you do the maths). It was very interesting seeing the different landscapes, green rolling hills and plains, red rocks 'desert' like, mountains with snow on them and the constant lightning storms off in the distance.


We are staying in the park at Colter Bay in a 'tent cabin', which has two log cabin walls and the rest is canvas. Inside it has a wood fire stove then outside a fire pit, a picnic table and a bear locker to keep the bears out of our beer. Here's hoping. Damien has taken to wearing his long-johns at night because it gets COLD! The weather is still only mid 60's during the day and gets close to freezing at night.

Grand Teton is a series of mountains (yes, snow capped), surrounded by lakes. It's all very beautiful. There is also good wildlife viewing and it's less crowded than Yosemite, so will continue on our bear hunt.

After a cold night we spent our first day is hiking around the Colter Bay area which had nice views of the lakes. In the afternoon we did a walk around Christan Lake hoping to see either bears or Moose, we saw ducks. That evening we went to shower, and they told us it's $3.75 each... ouch. We had dinner at Leeks Bay Pizzeria because it was too late to BBQ.
We made an earlier start on day 2, hoping to see the early bears. We took our cornflakes with us and ate by Jenny Lake, south of Colter Bay which is on Jackson Lake.

After breakfast (we have to eat one at a time due to only having one bowl which is actually a recycled cashew container) we headed off around the lake. After about a mile, we spotted a moose in the distance on the Moose Ponds trail (figures). This called for a fruit break (yes mum, we are eating lots of fruit) and lots of photos. We continued on our path to the Hidden Falls which was quite spectacular and the view point, up a big hill, Inspiration Point, with views back over the lake and grassy fields.

After lunch here, we were inspired, to find a Moose... or bear, so instead of completing the loop around the lake we returned the way we came and took the Moose Pond track (where Rangers were advising people not to go due to 'bear activity'). Our plan backfired, we didn't see the Moose we had seen earlier or a bear, just a VERY loud helicopter overhead doing search and rescue training (very annoying). We got a bit lost due to losing the track under half a logged Forest and snow. We had to climb over fallen trees and just hope we were going in the right direction.

After finding our way, and doing some grocery shopping in Jackson, including meat for a BBQ we were to make one more stop, at a river in hope of seeing a Beaver.

After a short walk we found a dam and what looked like a lodge. We braved the rain and the muddy path to get a closer look whilst other people who had arrived at the same time gave up and left. Luckily we stayed a bit longer because they came out! Only one at first, and then a family of three or four. They were a lot bigger than we thought and ended up swimming within meters of us. All up we think we saw about 6-8 but hard to count as they disappear and then reappear.

After watching the beaver antics for about an hour, we headed for the car intending to go back to the tent cabin to cook our BBQ. We were cold and it was still raining but Christine spotted some Bison in a field 200m off the road, exciting! We stopped, put our wet jackets back on and headed into the field to get a better look. It was a small herd of 8 bison and we got as close as we dared. Bison are known to gore people.

Back in the car, wet jackets off, we kept going. Only a few miles down the road, we spotted 2 more Bison, behind a sturdy looking barrier, 20 meters from the road. Jackets on, few more photos from about 5-10 meters from the huge beasts. That's it, no more stops! Gotta get back to camp.

Then a few more miles down the road, a few cars were pulled over. We got out of the car to see what the commotion was (that's what you do in American National Parks) and found a BEAR on the side of the road. He was trying to cross the road but all the people and cars were making it difficult. He wasn't as big as I imagined and was a lot calmer and less threatening. Good thing too, as we have a photo with Christine in the background, only about 5 metres from the Grizzly bear.

He disappeared into the forest and we were on our way again, finally made it home and cooked a BBQ on our tiny wood stove. Great feed but it was nearly midnight by the time we got to eat.

We saw a Bear!! Great Success!