Grizzly Bears up and close
Written: Oct 15 '08 (Updated Oct 15 '08)
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| texas-swede's Full Review: Grand Teton National Park |
I have been to Grand Teton National Park a few times with my family (2005) and on two parent tag along 4th grade class trips with my two boys (2004 and 2007). Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park are right next to each other. What we did was combining our visit to Yellowstone National Park with a few days in Grand Teton National Park. This is highly recommended. Do not go to Yellowstone for a week without visiting Grand Teton National Park. Both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National park offers beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife. However, while Yellowstone has the most hydrothermal features in the world, Grand Teton has one of the most beautiful sceneries in the world.
About the park
Grand Teton National Park is located immediately to the south of Yellowstone National Park. The parks are located in the North East corner of Wyoming. Grand Teton National Park covers 484 square miles of land and is thus smaller than Yellowstone National Park (3,468 square miles). However, the park contains a few of the most beautiful mountains in the world. The Grand Teton, Mount Moran, and the Teton Range are some of the most widely photographed mountains in the world. Watching Mount Moran and it's reflection in Leigh Lake or Jackson Lake at sunset or sunrise a quiet and wind free morning is overwhelming and a memory for life, and could become one of the best photos you have ever taken. It's a scene that can turn an agnostic into a believer.
If you fly to Grand Teton National Park or Yellowstone National Park you would typically fly to Jackson Hole to the south of Grand Teton National Park. We rented SUV's at the airport and stayed either in cabins or at the various Lodges inside the parks. If you want to stay in a Lodge or in a comfortable cabin with a bathroom inside the cabin you may need to reserve a few months ahead. The entry fee is $20 for seven days per non-commercial vehicle and covers both parks.
Things to do in Grand Teton National Park
You can do boating, fishing, sailing, on Jackson Lake and slow rafting in the Snake River. These are activities that you can purchase at the Signal Mountain Lodge, but also at other places. You can do horse back riding at Colter Bay. During all of these activities you have incredible scenery in the background. The fishing is great if it is sunny. The fish you will catch the most is Lake Trout. My oldest caught six trout within two hours on one occasion. If you give the fish to the Signal Mountain Lodge restaurant they will cook it for you and serve it to you for a fee. This is something the kids love. Eating the fish that they caught themselves is the best way to get them to eat something other than pizza, pasta and hamburgers.
However, the greatest attraction in Grand Teton National Park is the hiking. There are a lot of great hiking trails in the park. We tried some easy ones like the Hidden Falls trail and the Taggart Lake trail, and also a more challenging one, the Garnet Canyon hike. The Garnet Canyon hike will take you up to a glacier in the Teton Range and the view from up there is astounding. You can also do scenic driving and watch the beautiful mountains, the lakes, and the wild life. Wildlife watching is definitely one of the great things to do in Grand Teton National Park.
Wildlife Watching
We have seen moose, elk, black bear, grizzly bear, bald eagle, osprey, deer, coyote, marmot, whistle pigs, golden mantled squirrels, bison (buffalo), cranes, and swans in the park. If you are lucky (or unlucky) you can also see cougars but we did not see any cougars.
I know of two good ways to watch wild life in Grand Teton.
(1) Go on a slow raft tour on Snake River. You are guaranteed to see bald eagle and other animals. You buy this trip at the Signal Mountain Lodge.
(2) Drive around in your car on the back roads at dawn or dusk. This is a very good way to spot moose but also other animals.
However, a lot of times you just happen to see animals without even looking for them, even in the middle of the day. I should say that bears, wolf, and bison are much easier to spot in Yellowstone National Park but you can still see them in Grand Teton National Park. You may see bears while hiking and this can be uncomfortable. This happened to our group on our last trip; however, I did not come on this hike. A previous group had a black bear coming up to the group and biting the backpack of one of the kids. The best thing is to keep calm and slowly walk away.
Chevy Chase Moments
Wildlife can be dangerous and accidents do happen. This is something that seems to be very difficult for most visitors to fully comprehend (including me/us). Last time I was in Grand Teton in June 2007, was on a parent tag along 4th grade class trip. One day we had an uncomfortably close encounter with grizzly bears while driving around. A grizzly bear with three older cubs came down to the road not far from the Moran entrance station. We and many others stopped to watch, and so did the bears. They looked in through some of the car windows and were prowling around between the cars.
We had rented SUV's with sunroofs. We placed the kids on top of the car roofs so they could see better and quickly get back into the cars if necessary. Most adults went outside to take a closer look at the bears. One guy was only a couple of yards away from the mother grizzly. Then a couple of people did something unexpected and not so smart, which startled the bear, and the bear started running toward us. Panic broke out and some people were screaming on top of their lungs as if death was coming.
The kids jumped into the cars through the sun roofs and the adults tried to make it back to their respective cars. Some folks jumped into any car that they saw. A few parents came back to their car only to find that an oversized lady whom they did not know was stuck in the car door on the safe side, just like Winnie the Pooh. After some intense pushing, with the bear just yards away, they got her into the car and could thus get in the car themselves. Unfortunately a few people got trampled in the commotion but other than that no one was hurt. It turned out that this particular grizzly bear had bit and severely injured a hiker just three weeks earlier. We were told by a ranger that the hiker had tried to prevent the bear from eating an elk carcass. In case you worry about the bear; she was fine and was allowed to continue roaming the same area. So keep a safe distance even if others don't. Let the bear bite someone else.
Lodging in Grand Teton National Park
A few great places to stay when visiting the Grand Teton National Park is Signal Mountain Lodge, Jackson Lake Lodge and Jenny Lake Lodge. Jenny Lake Lodge is more expensive but the other two are reasonable. I rented a two room log cabin for about $150 and a one room log cabin for about $120. Colter Bay village also offers less luxurious log cabins starting at $49. We also stayed in tent cabins at Colter Bay Village which were $43 for six people. Some people stay in Jackson when visiting the parks. However, if you do that you will have a long drive to Yellowstone National Park.
Summary
When you visit this area you should see both Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. I recommend two or three days in the Grand Teton National Park and four days in Yellowstone National Park. The scenery in the Grand Teton National Park is astounding and the fishing and the rafting is fun for the kids. The wild life watching is great just as it is in Yellowstone National Park. Visiting these two parks is one of the best vacations I have ever had. Beautiful nature is soothing to the soul and hiking is good exercise.
Recommended:
Yes
Best time to go: June-August
Recommended for: Familes
Review Topic: Wildlife
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Epinions.com ID:
texas-swede
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 in Hotels & Travel |
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Member: Thomas Wikman
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Reviews written: 370
Trusted by: 108 members
About Me:
The photo is of my daughter and a Beluga Whale, Sea World, San Antonio
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