Jackson Hole, WY to Jackson Hole, WY
This morning we woke up at 7am to voices outside the camper. We were a little confused because while site #7 was close, this was CLOSE. We look outside the window to see a van pulled into our campsite with people outside getting ready to go fly fishing. Uhhh what? This is our site for the next 5 days and we weren’t super happy to see someone so casually in our space when we know we will be leaving our camper and gazelle here while we explore.
Jason went and had a conversation with the guide and he basically said they had every right to be there since these were free sites and he just brought the people with him up the stream a bit further outside of our direct site. Sigh. Jason decided we would call the wonderful lady we talked to the day prior who found us this site and see what the deal was.
This put a damper on the start of the day for sure. We put away our griddle because we didn’t want to leave something out that would be easy to grab and headed out for the day. We couldn’t call the ranger just yet because we didn’t have any service. The people who were on site #7 talked to us and told us they agreed, it was a little weird where this guide decided to park.
Our bad mood quickly washed away when we were driving out of the Pacific Creek Campground Rd. What was obscured the day before was on full display this morning, clear as day. The Grand Tetons. The jagged edges and glaciers were unreal. When you think of a dramatic mountain, this is it. It is multifaceted and changes from one moment to the next. Majestic and totally larger than life. We stopped and watched them for awhile and felt our stresses melt away. Nothing mattered right now. It felt like it was just us and the mountains.
We stopped at every single outlook because we wanted to soak it all in. We took the advice from the locals the night before and knew that the wildfire smoke could come back at any moment and we’d miss out. We headed into the Cunningham Cabin site first and snapped away. Man, I love thistles.
We headed back into the part of the park where we need to show our America the Beautiful pass to get in. I feel like this park has made me a National Park fiend now. My lifetime bucket list will include seeing the 62 National Parks now for all of their beauty. We headed to Jenny Lake Overlook and took turns walking down to the water. BRRRRRRRR. This glacial lake isn’t fooling anyone. Too cold for me for sure! Jason saw some people swimming in it but wasn’t chancing it with the rest of the day ahead of us. This is one of my favorite views of the Tetons.
Next we (I) decided it was time to eat. We had rushed out of the campsite earlier and didn’t make breakfast just so we could get ourselves moving. The locals had told us about Jedaiah Smith Trail which overlooked Taylor Mountain, which was just 15 minutes from a place called the Stagecoach. This bar has the longest running house band that has played for a crazy amount of years, every Sunday, but also boasted good drinks and food.
Jason wanted to do the hike first and then come back here but I was too hungry to try to do a 5 mile hike without proper food. We had the snack bag in the car today but none of that was giving me the energy I needed for this hot day. They had some vegan items on the menu online but the items were totally different once we got there. No big deal, at this point I’d eat anything.
I ordered a vegan burrito with a side of truffle fries. Well the fries came out loaded with cheese on top (sigh) so I brought them outside to the picnic tables and found a lady with a cute dog and asked her if she’d like the fries since I couldn’t eat them but didn’t want to throw them away. She was overjoyed and actually jumped up and down like crazy. I remember those cheese-loving days.
Unfortunately my burrito was super bland. I don’t know how they put so many yummy ingredients into one meal but it came out flavorless. The burrito came with regular fries so I loaded up on those. I needed hiking energy! The vibe here was cool but unfortunately the mistake with putting the cheese on the truffle fries and the bland food left us feeling eh. Time to hike, though!
We drove over to the trailhead and the parking lot was reasonably full actually. I felt a slight comfort in knowing others were on the trail. It was hotter than most days had been recently so we made sure we had a lot of water with us this time. Trail maps showed us the pups would have some streams to play in and drink from throughout but we wanted to be sure they had enough too.
The hike was mostly under covered trees to start so that was nice. We saw some people on the way that told us a mama moose and her baby were up at the meadow a few miles in so we had some pep in our step to try to make it there to see them. The trail was beautiful. It really reminds us of the White Mountains in NH but on steroids.
The pups found any bit of water they could and jumped in. Some of the switchbacks were still steep at times so I wasn’t a fan of that part. So. Much. Sweating. And I thought hats would help with the heat, but they just made me sweat more. We took some breaks and took our time getting up there. We had no plans after this other than to drive 2 miles into Idaho so we could add another state to the list so we were in no rush at all.
Made it to the meadow based on the All Trails map but no moose in sight. No bears either though so I’ll take that! We saw a sage grouse that was showing off to us at one point but otherwise no animals.
We turned around because the dogs began to show us signs of fatigue and we still needed to head back down. They were faster than me in this endeavor. It was probably the belly full of french fries but knows! We didn’t pass anyone on the way back and when we got to the parking lot there were only 2 cars left. Eeek.
I really wanted to head into Idaho just because. It is a beautiful state but we knew we wouldn’t be able to explore it. If we had thought a little more ahead, we should’ve driven back to the campsite through Idaho to catch the sunset on the west facing side of the Tetons, but we couldn’t figure out which roads would take us home.
Right when we crossed the border we saw signs for a music festival. We looked for parking and who the band might be and they were actually a band out of.. Portland, Maine! Looking around there was a lot going on and even though it was dog friendly, we didn’t think the dogs would want a night like this. I searched for some dog friendly breweries but everything was packed. This was a busy Thursday night. We decided to be logical and head back to the site for the night. We hadn’t made any plans for the rest of the week and truly did want to stop and look online for awhile to scope things out, but the hike too enough out of us to send us back to the camper instead.
When we arrived back, we anxiously waited to see if anything happened to the camper while we were away or if anyone else was within our site. Our call to the ranger confirmed that since these were free sites anyone could be there. The numbers on the sites are only to be able to figure out where you are in case of an emergency (not that we could call them without cell service if there was an emergency). We took our fate into our own hands that night and prepared for the next day…. by parking the 4Runner in front of the road into the campsite. No one else will be able to join us now.
Maybe we could’ve felt some guilt for this, but we didn’t. Site 7 was open now anyways so if anyone else wanted to park they could take that site. We just wanted some peace and quiet for a few days. Didn’t seem like much to ask for. I had planned to take pictures of the stars because I was too tired the night before to do it, but the clouds had rolled in and the skies opened up. The rain fall was INTENSE all night and into the early morning. Bear looked outside wondering what was making all the noise. Patch found a spot on top of the pillows where Jason tried to sleep to find some comfort. If only they could tell us what they were thinking.
Vegan On the Rhode 