After spending some of the best days of our lives in any national park, we left Yellowstone National Park's West Thumb Geyser Basin and headed 25 miles south to the entrance of Grand Teton National Park via the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway which connected the two parks. We were so thankful we were heading that direction as there must have been close to 100 cars waiting to enter Yellowstone National Park from Grand Teton!
These lovely wildflowers greeted us on both sides of the parkway.
Spectacular views of Jackson Lake ringed by mountains:
Thanks to a roadside sign we were able to pick out 13,770-foot-high Grand Teton peak and ...
12,605-foot-high Mount Moran.
Though the Teton Range was comprised of some of the oldest rocks on earth, the mountain range was one of the youngest on the continent. That was because the geologic forces that squeezed the earth's crust and thrust up the Rockies took place over 70 million but the tilting that formed the Tetons began "only" 9 million years ago!
The Chapel of the Sacred Heart was built in 1937.
More views of the flat-peaked Mount Moran and ...
the jagged-peaked Grand Teton taken from the Jenny Lake Loop Road:
This mountain grouping was called Cathedral Group.
Jenny Lake was named after the Shoshone wife of Richard Leigh, a trapper who served as a guide for the Hayden Expedition in 1872. Hayden, director of the U.S. Geological & Geographical Survey of the Territories, explored the Yellowstone area with a party of 34 men and 7 wagons to explore the region in June of 1871. The party included a young landscape painter, Thomas Moran, and an Omaha photographer, William Henry Jackson, both of whom became famous for their artistic interpretations of national parks.
Moran's and Jackson's artwork, together with a 500-page report, created a document that presented undeniable evidence to the public and Congress that Yellowstone's thermal features and other natural wonders not only existed but deserved to be protected as a national park. His efforts paid off when Yellowstone became the first national park in the United States on March 1, 1872.
We had a little bit of excitement and adventure soon after starting to hike along the Jenny Lake trail!
People way up ahead yelled to us saying they'd just seen a mama bear and her cub on the trail. We had some nerve-wracking minutes, not knowing what was best to do as we had no bear spray, bear bell, etc with us. If you're thinking that we were foolhardy to head out without proper protection, yes, you're right! We waited for what seemed like ages unsure how and when it might be safe to proceed. Steven, my hero that day, found a big stick and we began shouting as we walked very slowly up the trail and back to the car!
Steven and his big stick!
Once back to safety, it was easy to smile again.
Of course, a few minutes later, once back in the car, we saw a sign warning us of bears in the area!
When planning the trip about six weeks earlier, we'd made a reservation to stay in the northern section of the park for a couple of nights so we could explore more of Grand Teton. But, when Steven said he really wanted to visit Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming's far northeast corner, we cut short our time at Grand Teton to head there. The decision was an easy one for us as Devil's Tower would be a new national park for us and we'd already spent time in Grand Teton.
In the distance were lots of buffaloes.
As we drove toward Dubois, fifty miles from Grand Teton, we encountered some unusual ridged or terraced mountains in Shoshone National Forest on the Continental Divide where the elevation was 9,658 feet.
Dubois, Wyoming was a small town with just three restaurants, one of which was always closed on a rotating basis, we discovered!
Next post: The National Bighorn Sheep Center outside of Dubois and Thermopolis Hot Springs State Park.
Posted on December 9th, 2020, from Littleton in Denver's suburbs. Steven and I hope that you and your loved ones are safe and connected. Please take care of yourself and, if you can, of someone else, too, as the virus rages all around us.
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