A Quick Foray into Western Wyoming

After leaving Harriman, we had two days before we were scheduled to be back at Massacre Rocks so we decided to make a swing through western Wyoming for a quick visit with Bob’s nephew, Pat Renz, his wife Lori, and their sons Patrick and Andrew. We first passed through the southwestern corner of Yellowstone National Park. We had spent several days in Yellowstone in 2007, so we didn’t take time for much sightseeing there on this trip. We came out of the south exit of Yellowstone and dropped down into Jackson Hole, the beautiful valley almost completely surrounded by rugged mountains. Our destination was the resort town of Jackson, located at the southern end of “the Hole”.

We soon entered the Grand Teton National Park and followed US 26 along the edge of Jackson Lake. We stopped for lunch at a little lakeside park with a nice view of the majestic Teton peaks to the west. From there we tracked the Snake River down to the southern end of the Grand Teton N/P and found a spot in Gros Ventre, a National Parks Service campground, just a few miles from Jackson. Along the way, we were treated to several herds of Bison and Pronghorn Antelope grazing on the roadside, oblivious to the passing traffic.

We set up camp, and went in to Jackson, a town we had not seen since a ski trip in the 1980’s. Jackson is a neat little resort town, which has grown a lot without seeming to lose its frontier character. It is home to the world’s largest elk herd, which grows to about 7,500 when they all come down from the mountains in the winter. The town square is famous for its elk antler arches at each of the park’s four corners. The arches are made of thousands of antlers, which are shed annually by the elk.

We had a nice visit with Pat and family, and were then given a jeep tour of the town and surrounding area. The highlight was a trip up to Teton Pass (elev . 8,431 ft.) It is a very steep climb, with grades as steep as 10%, but at the top we were greeted by a magnificent view of the town below. A great trip, but not one I would like to make pulling a big RV.

The next day we headed south through a very scenic valley and then turned west into Idaho along the shore of the Palisades Reservoir and again following the Snake River (seems like that river is everywhere) back to our home base at Massacre Rocks.

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