Big Tit

Grand Teton National Park was on our list of places to see since our hosts from luteran campground near Cedar Breaks told us a bit about it. Once they were on their way to Yellowstone but passing through Grand Teton they loved it so much that they didn’t go any further. They went to Yellowstone some other time. Before that we were planning to see Grand Teton Japanese style - pass it by taking pictures on the way. 

Maybe if someone told us what its name means it would be easier to catch our interest. Grand Teton National Park means Big Tit National Park. How it’s enough to name something in French and right away it seems so sophisticated… Although not to shock those more sensitive readers we’ll stick with the original name.

From Evanston on Utah and Wyoming border we had some 200 miles. There are two ways to go north: the shorter one is "189", the other goes slightly east but it’s designated as scenic byway. In Welcome Center though they told is that it’s not so much more scenic than "189" but for sure it’s more difficult for a car towing a trailer. So we decided to take the shorter one, which was nice but not really memorable.

Wyoming surprised is with its Welcome Center. Except maybe for the fact that they don’t allow overnight camping there. But there was a pretty cool playground, free internet, some interactive exhibits and a horse that Maciek could climb and feel like a cowboy. Pretty civilized is this Wild West.

Using internet at Welcome Center (we don’t even hope for T-Mobile coverage anymore) we found a place to stay for next couple nights. There are a few free campgrounds in Grand Teton to be found on freecampsites.net and those are one of the best places near national parks.

We stayed at the base of Shadow Mountain. It's quite easy to find it, although first time we missed it. Going from the south you have to take right onto Antelope Flats Rd not far behind Moose Junction and go a few miles on an asphalt road until you get to a stop sign, than take left and follow a road paralel to national park - it’ll soon become a dirt road. After 5-10 minutes you’ll get to a place with an information board and metal storage for food (if you have a tent you have to keep your food there not to tempt the bears). It's informal Forest Service Camp. Be prepared that the road will be rough, after rains impassable. Camp can be crowded but quite as everyone is just enjoying the view.

There are really three campgrounds in the area. The one we chose was by the information board. It’s quite popular and the easiest to get to but the spaces are very uneven. A bit further north, on the right there is another spot for camping, but it’s more difficult to get there. Even as it was quite dry and we were driving there without our trailer we thought that our jeep may get stuck. And there is another pretty place up the mountain, right (east) from the place we stayed at. Going up though is tricky and it can be difficult to turn around with a trailer. We wouldn't recommend it for anything larger than a small B-Class.

The view from Shadow Mountain is amazing, but it was pretty great from where we stayed at too. Tetons are really impressive: from our trailer windows (we skipped bonfire this time as mosquitos were terrible) we were looking up at the peaks over 13,000 feet high. Plus the campsite is east from there. In the rays of the setting sun they seem as if they’re on fire which makes them look even more dramatic than at any other time of the day.

We spent in Grand Teton NP whole next day. After Utah heat (last few days temperatures at night were around 80F, and around 100F during the day and it’s not easy to find a shade there) it was a pleasant 80F and slight breeze. We drove the "scenic drive", we took some pics from view points, we took a few walks by lakes. Pretty views, fresh air, green and blue before our eyes, birds singing (what a change after Utah!), plus antelopes, bisons and bear warnings everywhere - in the gift shop they even had a single-use spray against bears for only 65 USD. We were also impressed by…visitors center by Moose Junction. Brand new, fancy, well designed building, multimedia presentation, everything well thought through to the last detail.

And what is there to see besides visitors center and viewpoints? Well, let's say at first what we didn't see. We didn’t take a ride to the top of Tetons. We decided 26 USD per adult and 13 USD for Maciek is a bit too expensive. There are free cable train rides from mid-June but we were there too early. We went round a part of Jenny lake. We decided to skip the ferry (12 USD - adult, Maciek - 6 USD) and hidden waterfalls on the other side of the lake (without taking a ferry it’s over 5 miles round trip). 

We took a walk in Colter Bay but we don’t really recommend it as the path leads through the woods along the lake, with no mountains view. There are nicer paths there you can walk with an amazing view as a bonus. Grand Teton has a lot of walking trails to offer but only couple of them are stroller accessible and a walk with Kalina longer than couple of miles is a real challenge. We saved our strength for Yellowstone.

Grand Teton NP was being created over many years. As far as Yellowstone is proud of being the oldest national park in the world, with Grand Teton, which is a part of Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, there were lots of problems from the very beginning. The area is a result of series of uplifts and erosional sequences that created the Rockies. This process didn't stop and Tetons are still going up while the Jackson Hole, called Pierre Hole by first French fur trappers, is sinking. It's not going down thanks to new sediments being brought by glaciers in the past and now mostly because of our most favorite American river - Snake River.

Jackson Hole is not a really good place to live. Valley surrounded by mountains was periodically inhabited by Indians until the beginning of 19th century, when white faces started exploring the area. Later it was used by trappers hunting beavers for their furs. At the end of 19th century when Yellowstone was already under (not the best) federal protection, farmers came by. But the season there is short, winters long and severe, so just after two decades few ranches in the area realized where the money is coming from and they switched to "dudes". Dude Ranch is a ranch that instead of cattle takes care of tourists and that’s what became popular in the beginning of 20th century in Jackson Hole.

Next years it was for some a history of federal invasion supported by Rockefellers’ millions, and for some a battle of nature lovers to found a park. In 1929 Grand Teton National Park was founded, but it was limited only to mountain peaks of Teton Range. The valley was private owned and the owners refused to include their land to the park. They had an ally as the state of Wyoming was against the park enlargment.  

The federal goverment also had a powerful ally. Mr. John D. Rockefeller Jr. came once to the valley and fell in love. Soon afterwards a mysterious company started to buy land in the area. After it had more than 35,000 acres, Rockefeller came out and admitted that he is behind the purchase. Then he offered the land to federal goverment to add it to Grand Teton NP. It wasn't easy as he had not only Wyoming and private owners against him but the Congress as well.

In 1943 Rockefeller gave an ultimatum, either national park would be created or he would sell all the land on free market. In response the goverment forced a compromise and created a national monument on the lands donated by Rockefeller. Wyoming even took federal goverment to court bu finally seven years later after more talks between interested parties national monument was abolished and the valley was incorporated to Grand Teton National Park.

Entrance fee for 7 days is 25 USD. Not cheap but it covers entrance to Yellowstone too. Besides, with our annual pass we get in for free. Not a nice surprise was the price of all the "additional attractions". After all the parks with free shuttle buses we took it for granted that cable car to the top and a ferry that in 10 minutes takes you to the other side of the lake will be either free or at least inexpensive.

On the other hand it was the first park that gave information about free campsites in the area, and our campground was visited by a park ranger who came to wish us a good stay. Of course we reacted in Polish way "damn, guy in the uniform is coming, what did we do wrong" but he just came to say hi and assure us that if we have any questions or problems they were there to help.

Next day we went to Jackson for couple of hours to use internet, as we knew we wouldn’t have it over next few days. "Comercialized" Moab is nothing compared to Jackson. It is full of restaurants, cowboy and travelers shops, cars get stuck in traffic even the park and pavements (mostly wooden, in arcades of buildings, after all it’s almost Wild West) are crowded. But in Moab we had coverage and 4G and here we had to look for a place with WiFi which was not that easy at all.

We didn't like Moab and we didn't fell in love with Jackson. Next day early in the afternoon we headed to the last big national park on our route …