It was Heaven and It Was Hell- Grand Teton National Park
Written: Apr 05 '05 (Updated Jun 05 '08)
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Pros: Beautiful scenery, great hiking, lots to do.
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Grand Teton is a must do. Though I recommend it for anybody, to really enjoy it mobility is really helpful unlike Yellowstone.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Grand Teton National Park |
On July 15, 2004 we arrived in Grand Teton National Park. We have a National Park Pass which costs $50. I highly recommend buying one. It will get you into all the Parks for free. Grand Teton is located in northwestern Wyoming. The Grand Teton Range which is spectacular includes 8 peaks.
We camped at the Grand Teton RV Park. It is just outside the east entrance of the Park and 36 miles from the town of Jackson.
Facilities for visitors with disabilities include restrooms, picnic tables, and a limited number of campsites. There are approximately 100 miles of park roads and 200 miles of trails throughout the park. Most park trails are rough rock or dirt and are not accessible to visitors with disabilities. There are many asphalt trails in the Jenny Lake area, some of which are accessible. Some trails may begin as asphalt and change to dirt or gravel shortly thereafter. (from http://www.grand.teton.national-park.com/visit.htm#acc)
Although we did not biking in this Park you may want to.
You will find about 100 miles of paved road. More information about biking in Grand Teton can also be found at the website above.
I suggest you stop into the Colter Visitor Center and Indian Arts Museum. You will find very helpful Ranger talks. We learned what to do and see in Grand Teton from Ranger Emily. We learned about the tram, hikes, biking and after her ½ hour talk she spent time with us answering additional questions.
This is a good time to get acquainted with the Park. We stopped at some overlooks and went to the Jackson Lodge. A short path will take you to a patio with gorgeous views. Drive to Signal Mountain, which is about a 5 mile loop. Park here and walk to another overlook. Every angle at which you look at the peaks makes them look different.
You might want to go to the Moose Visitor Center. We went for a 2 hour raft trip from this Center. The cost will sound high at $45 per person but it was worth it. Other trips in the Park can be found at http://www.grand-teton-scenic-floats.com/.
The total time was 3 hours from start to finish. It was fantastic- I highly recommend this trip. If Jordy, one of the guides, is available see if you can get on his raft. He was wonderful. The boat was nice; it was carpeted and we did not get at all wet. There were 12 of us all together. We saw elk including babies; 2 adult and 2 baby bald eagles, a couple of beaver and a variety of ducks. Jody went off the main route to a channel so we could get a great view of all the elk. He filled us in on who lives in the area: Harrison Ford, Cheney and Sandra Bullock to name three.
You may want to eat at Dorans at the Moose Visitor Center. It was good. It was not excellent but the view is worth it. You can eat outside if the weather is warm enough.
You will want to take some time to go into the city of Jackson Hole. Walk around this very cute, upscale town. You will want to take a picture of an arch which acts as an entrance to a park. This arch is made up of antlers. These antlers are taken from the ground as moose and elk naturally shed them.
On the way back you will see a lot of buffalo at Antelope flats. We were told by others that there was a moose down the road. There sure was and though she and her baby could be seen from the road, many of us braved the mucky weeds to get a close look. I got 3 great pictures. What a sight. A picture of one is in my album. The road is named "Moose to Wilson Road". This is the most likely place to see moose.
We went to Flagg Ranch where Jordy told us there was a Hot spring we could go in. I very much wanted to try a natural spring. I do not recommend you bother. As it turned out the thermal waters in Grand Teton are not healthy and contain bacteria that can cause meningitis. Flagg Ranch is very pretty though. The lodge is nice and cozy but the gift shop there is markedly more expensive. We talked to the Ranger here who said there used to be a camp at the spring area but there is 100 times the amount of radiation at the thermal spring as there should be plus an amoeba in the water that can cause meningitis.
Grand Teton is spectacular. We did have one very bad day. If you have read some of my reviews you may have caught my mention of a “our hike from hell.“ This was it! If you would rather not read about it feel free to leave me a comment or question about this Park or any other destination listed below.
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July 19 started out as an ordinary day. However for the first time we could not see the beautiful range because the clouds were so low and thick. We decided to go to the Grand Teton Lodge area for the ariel tram ride in spite of the clouds. As it turned out by the time we got there the clouds had disappeared. My husband was considering tandem hand gliding until he found out it would cost $175.
The Grand Teton Lodge/Sky Mountain is beautiful. It is primarily a famous ski resort with fantastic skiing. A beautiful 4 Seasons Hotel that fits right into the landscape is new. There are a few upscale boutiques, a nice restaurant, a couple of cafes, and a guest services area.
We had thought there were only 2 long hikes at the top which is over 10,000 feet. Listed on a board in the window it said that a “nice 4.2 mile loop awaits you.“ We decided to take the $16.00 each tram ride up the mountain. If you want you can walk up. This is a 15 mile round trip walk! The ride was fun and there was a tape that told us a bit about the tram and the mountain. They get a base of 10 feet of snow. It is cold up there so take jackets. At that elevation it was about 50 degrees. The view was amazing. We were in the clouds and surrounded by snow covered peaks.
If you have read some of my reviews you may have caught my mention of a “our hike from hell.“ This was it! If you would rather not read about it feel free to leave me a comment or question about this Park or any other destination listed below.
We had received a mountain map. The 4.2 mile loop looked nice. The beginning descent was really steep so we decided rather than doing the loop we would follow the map which seemed to bring us back to the top of the tram. We crossed some snow that had footprints and heard people up higher than we were. Perhaps because we were really interested in the marmots (little critters in the rodent family- like squirrels) rather than going vertically across the snow we went horizontally and saw a path through some trees. As soon as we crossed the trees the path changed but it was obviously a path so we continued. It was quite steep and we kept saying “how could they have this path for visitors“ but it was a path.
We always turn around if our gut says something feels wrong. However we convinced ourselves that though this was not the usual trail it was a trail and we were fine. At some point we knew it had to be wrong but it had been so difficult getting to that point that getting up seemed horrible. In retrospect I would have crawled back up rather than endure what we did. Though I say this I am not sure we could have crawled up due to the steepness of the slope. This was a ski slope though we didn’t know it at the time.
The rock that abutted us on the left is used by rock climbers. The path we were on was for rock climbers who have gear to get them up and down this slope. Though we always go prepared (water; food; first aid kit, etc.) we did not happen to have any rock climbing gear!
My husband who is quite athletic couldn’t even handle the decline of this slope so we ended up scooting down on our butts figuring eventually we would get to the plateau we saw below us. Half way down or what looked like ½ way I said we had to let someone know where we were. Thank G-d our cell phones worked. The woman who answered the phone took down our information and told us to call someone named John. She understood, if not where we were, that getting back up was tough and going north to south even tougher. The scoot down was treacherous and much longer than it looked. Before we hit what we thought was the bottom but was just a field of high weeds and beautiful flowers as well as rocks and limbs, we called John.
He seemed to know where we were and told us that we just had to get down to the bottom little by little and to call him in an hour. It is hard to explain a near death experience that lasted perhaps 6 hours but we are lucky to be alive. There was a really good chance we would have come into contact with a bear. Getting through the brush was harrowing. It wasn’t at all flat. It would have been so easy to lose our footing going tumbling down. At one point a rock gave way and I was hanging onto a limb! My husband spent hours singing to keep away the bears. We were both terrified. There were moments we both said that we didn’t think we could go on but we pushed each other on. We called John a few times. He knew the stream that was running next to us and thought he knew where we were. There could so easily have been a sign that said “straight ahead for the 4.2 mile loop“ but there were no signs at all other than at the beginning of the trail. I am not blaming anyone but ourselves. This experience was meant to be.
At one point I called John again and told him that there was a thick forest in front of us and boulders next to us and asked him what we should do. He at first said to avoid the rocks and to keep the stream close to us. When I called him later, fairly frantic that we were not going to get out he reassured us that he would be meeting us at the bottom; that we just had to slowly meander down whatever way we could. He said if the boulders seemed easier, then go for it. If the forest seemed easier go for that. I must say John was wonderful. He kept us calm never letting on that we were really in trouble! The forest looked horrible. Not only because of bears but because it was so hard to negotiate through the brush so we decided to go over to the boulders. Some were so huge I had to stand on my husband’s shoulders in order to get to the next one. In one case he slid down one to get to another and I did the same and he caught me. At one point I couldn’t reach the bottom so I stood on his hand. I really don’t know how we did all this except we had to. It is amazing what the human spirit can do if pushed.
Eventually John called us wondering how we were doing. He expected us down an hour previously but the going was so slowly and we really weren’t even sure we were going in the right direction but we knew we just had to get down. My pants were ripped to shreds. My toe nails later turned black and blue and both nails fell off. We were bruised and hurt but still alive. We told John, who was working with Josh, that we had supplies. They were glad to hear that. We told them to listen for our whistle. At some point we heard them calling us and the sound couldn’t have been better! Then like angels they were coming toward us. We still had about a 2 mile walk to their truck. (They walked until they found us!) We even had a 10 minute drive to our car; that’s how far off we were! John said we were miles from where we started.
I am not sure how you thank two guys who found us. They said they were watching the clock and in another 2 hours they would have called search and rescue. We got to their truck at 7:00 having left the tram at about 10:00.
So we survived what could have been a landslide going down the gravel; we survived a forest taking one step at a time since we had no idea what was under us; we survived crossing over boulders that John didn’t even want us on because they are so dangerous only rock climbers use them and we survived crossing the stream. We survived without having to call Search and Rescue. It is important for us to remember that day because it puts all the stupid things in life in perspective.
In spite of this experience and because of it, we will never forget Grand Teton National Park.
A five star destination.
Postscript: We always take survival gear with us even for a short hike. However we never in the past let anyone know where we were going. The only time we did was when we found ourselves at the top of an isolated mountain in Acadia National Park. Our cell phones worked. We called one of the kids and told her that if she didn't hear from us by midnight to let someone know. After our experience at Grand Teton we have learned to always let someone know we are hiking and where we will be heading. I suggest you do the same.
Pictures from this summer can be seen at: http://jobythebay.tripod.com/fromseatoshiningsea2004. (The link is on my profile page under Travelogues/Pictures.)
The following are my other reviews of the summer of 2004.
Applebee's in Ohio
Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky • Bella Notte This is a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky
Buckstaff Bathhouse in Hot Springs, Arkansas • Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas
Bicentennial Mall State Park in Nashville, TN • Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN • Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN • Rippy‘s Smokin‘ Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN • National Civil Right Museum in Memphis, TN • Graceland in Memphis, TN • Rum Boogie Cafe in Memphis, TN • Mud Island River Memphis, TN
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma • Oklahoma City National Memorial in Oklahoma
Santa Fe, NM•
ABout About Tour in Santa Fe, NM • Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery in Santa Fe, NM • Longevity Cafe in Santa Fe • Souper Salad in Santa Fe, New Mexico • Petroglyph National Monumentin Albuquerque, New Mexico
Petrified Forest National Forestin Arizona • Slide Rock State Park in Sedona, Arizona • Sedona, Arizona
Taste of Thai a San Diego restaurant • Handlery Hotel in San Diego, CA • Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles, CA • Kan Zam restaurant in San Francisco, CA • Polker Gourmet Burgers in San Francisco • Holiday Inn Express in San Francisco, CA • Las Margaritas in San Francisco, CA • Hanzell Vineyards in Sonoma, CA • Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley, CA • The Coffee Gardenin Sonoma, CA • Yosemite National Park
Antelope Island State Park in Salt Lake City, Utah • Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah
Yellowstone National Park
Mount Rushmore in South Dakota • Badlands in South Dakota
Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada Applebee's in Ohio
Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky • Bella Notte This is a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky
Buckstaff Bathhouse in Hot Springs, Arkansas • Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas
Bicentennial Mall State Park in Nashville, TN • Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN • Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN • Rippy‘s Smokin‘ Bar & Grill in Nashville, TN • National Civil Right Museum in Memphis, TN • Graceland in Memphis, TN • Rum Boogie Cafe in Memphis, TN • Mud Island River Memphis, TN
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma • Oklahoma City National Memorial in Oklahoma
Santa Fe, NM•
ABout About Tour in Santa Fe, NM • Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery in Santa Fe, NM • Longevity Cafe in Santa Fe • Souper Salad in Santa Fe, New Mexico • Petroglyph National Monumentin Albuquerque, New Mexico
Petrified Forest National Forestin Arizona • Slide Rock State Park in Sedona, Arizona • Sedona, Arizona
Taste of Thai a San Diego restaurant • Handlery Hotel in San Diego, CA • Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles, CA • Kan Zam restaurant in San Francisco, CA • Polker Gourmet Burgers in San Francisco • Holiday Inn Express in San Francisco, CA • Las Margaritas in San Francisco, CA • Hanzell Vineyards in Sonoma, CA • Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley, CA • The Coffee Gardenin Sonoma, CA • Yosemite National Park
Antelope Island State Park in Salt Lake City, Utah • Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah
Yellowstone National Park
Mount Rushmore in South Dakota • Badlands in South Dakota
Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada • Ottawa
Montreal Holocaust Museum in Canada
Canadian Museum of Civilization in Quebec
Recommended:
Yes
Best time to go: June-August
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Overview
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