Grand Teton National Park to Canyon Area, Yellowstone National Park

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I got up at 3 a.m. (5 a.m. EST, the usual start of our day at home) and used the Wi-Fi in the lodge’s lobby to finish up some work. Not the most vacation-y thing to do, but at least the setting was spectacular!

It was a bit difficult to get the boys up at 4:45 a.m., but we managed to make it to the Triangle X Ranch by our raft trip time. The dawn drive from the lodge to the ranch was stunning and worthwhile in and of itself: we saw elk, pronghorn, bison and mule deer all in those fifteen minutes. The raft trip was chilly but fabulous. There were only five of us aboard, including our guide Lucas and a fishing guide from the ranch who was scouting the Snake River. Lucas kept a sharp eye out for interesting sights while maneuvering us expertly through riffles and tight channels; we just took in the scenery. We didn’t see many mammals, just a few elk (though Lucas spotted a red fox and a beaver before they darted into the woods). It was a great morning for birds: we saw a pelican, five bald eagles and a number of sandhill cranes, mergansers, kingfishers, bank swallows and Canada geese. All in all, it was a beautiful, peaceful trip along the Tetons from Deadman’s Bar to Moose. We didn’t meet another raft until we pulled out.

On the way back to the lodge from the ranch, we pulled over when we saw a number of people scanning a field with their binoculars. There were several (Tristan says five) large dog-like animals moving through the field. Tristan thought they were wolves, but I wasn’t sure there were wolves in the Tetons, so I thought they must be coyotes. On our way back through the Tetons we asked a ranger, and she thought they were probably wolves since there are a couple of wolf packs in the park and coyote don’t usually move in a group that large. The animals were also large, visible above the grass, and with dark coats as is apparently typical of the Grand Teton wolves.

It was only 8:30 a.m. when we got back to the lodge so we decided to relax with a buffet breakfast in the Mural Room, Jackson Lake Lodge’s fancy dining room with a panoramic view of the Tetons. After some last-chance Internet and cell phone time and a short walk outside, we packed up and hit the road. With a short delay at construction on the Rockefeller Parkway between Grand Teton and Yellowstone, it took us about an hour to reach the South Entrance of Yellowstone. Just inside the park, we pulled over (well, missed the stop, doubled back, and pulled over) and walked down to Moose Falls. We missed the Lewis Falls turnout too, and settled for a quick view from the car as we continued on. Then we stopped at Lewis Lake picnic area for the first of many peanut butter and honey sandwich picnic lunches.

Next we explored the Grant Visitor Center’s modest exhibit on the role of forest fires in the park, and Eli stamped his National Parks Passport book. Then we headed to West Thumb Geyser Basin for our first view of the park’s hydrothermal features. The short walk around the basin introduced us to the vivid colors and smells of Yellowstone’s hot springs and fumaroles.

A little further up the road, we spotted a couple of bison grazing in the meadow across the street from Lake Lodge, where we were having dinner—our first close-up look at these impressive animals. Over our cafeteria meal we savored our view of the animals, the meadow, and Yellowstone Lake.

After dinner, pragmatism: we stopped at the Lake Village General Store to get breakfast and lunch supplies for the next day. The pickings were a little skimpy but we found fruit and cereal, and decided after a long discussion to bypass milk, since keeping it cold was an uncertain proposition, We set out for Canyon Lodge where we were spending the next two nights.

On the way to Canyon Village we passed through Hayden Valley for the first time, and got stuck in our first bison jam. Herds of female and baby bison often crossed the road at the southern end of the valley. Drivers stopped to gawk—what else can you do when there’s a bison in the road? We made several trips across the valley during our trip to Yellowstone, and slowed or stopped for bison almost every time. As we crested the hill and drove across the wide, brilliant green plain, we saw single male buffalo, often in dusty wallows.

Our first stop in Canyon was the new visitors center, Eli’s favorite (though the new center at Old Faithful, due to open in late summer 2010, looks terrific as well). The Canyon center is centered on a 3-D topographic map of the park with a son-et-LED description of the Yellowstone volcano and its effects. Other exhibits cover park wildlife and the different kinds of hydrothermal features. Eli stamped his passport book and signed up for the Junior Ranger Program, in which children purchase a newspaper-like activity book and work through questions and activities about Yellowstone. If they complete enough activities they can bring their completed paper back to any visitor’s center where a ranger will review it with them; the kid gets a Yellowstone Junior Ranger patch, as well as a public announcement of their accomplishment if he wishes.

We checked in at Canyon Lodge and drove to our room in the Cascade building. The lodgings were on a par with a modern economy motel chain room, clean and practical. It was hard to convince Eli to put aside his Junior Ranger worksheets, especially when it was still light outside, but we were pretty exhausted since we’d been going since early in the morning, so we turned in at about 8:30 p.m.

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