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Teton/Yellowstone '05 Trip Report

Trip Summary

After a week full of exams and projects, my roommates and I decided to escape for the weekend to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks near Jackson, WY. The sights were spectacular and the weather was nearly perfect (65 degrees and sunny both days).

October 22, 2005

We left Salt Lake City early on Saturday and made it to Jackson (via Teton Pass) in a relatively short amount of time (due to the high speed limits in rural UT and ID). After passing through Jackson, we headed toward Grand Teton National Park where we did the driving tour through the park. Especially impressive were the views of the Tetons from Jenny Lake and Jackson Lake. We also saw a moose, which was surprisingly huge, relaxing by the side of the road near the Jackson Lake Junction. After the moose encounter, we headed for Yellowstone National Park.

Given that the sunlight was rapidly disappearing, we decided that our only business this day would be to watch Old Faithful erupt. We learned that the geyser wouldn't erupt until about 6:01 p.m., about an hour from our arrival. So, we ate for the first time all day in one of the nearby lodges, then rushed back outside and watched the eruption, which was quite impressive.

On our way back to Jackson from Yellowstone, we stopped somewhere along the way to get out of the car and let our city eyes adjust to the absolute darkness of the wilderness so that we could view what the night sky should look like. An incredible number of stars and the Milky Way were visible. To my surprise, we were surrounded by animal sounds of different varieties coming from many different directions. Then, suddenly, an animal sound came from very nearby (I would guess less than 75 yards away), and that sent all of us scrambling back into the car and off toward Jackson to conclude an awesome day.

We spent the night at the Snow King Resort in Jackson, which was a very nice place for the relatively low price.

October 23, 2005

After sleeping until about 9:00 a.m., we collected our things and headed for Yellowstone National Park via Grand Teton National Park, again. The earlier morning light provided perfect lighting on the Tetons, which allowed us to take better photos than the day before when we drove through the park in the afternoon sun. Our photos on this perfectly clear day from the Jackson Lake dam were of postcard quality.

Once inside Yellowstone, our main destination was the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone," but we made sure to stop at most of the attractions along the way. Most of the attractions along the way were fields of bubbling thermal hot springs and ultra-sulphuric thermal mudpots. Of all the unique and impressive sights along the way, the Dragon's Mouth most impressed me. Essentially a cave housing a thermal mudpot (or, perhaps, a hot spring), it loudly spews steam convection out of the cave while the thermal action riles a pool of water at the base of the cave. It was so bizarre, but also very interesting to watch.

We last stopped on our Yellowstone driving tour at Artist Point, which provides an awesome vantage point to view Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It also becomes obvious from Artist Point why the park is named, "Yellowstone."

The drive back to Salt Lake City was quite enjoyable. The view of the Tetons from Idaho at sunset was spectacular. The still-impressive stature of the mountains from a distance greater than 40 miles gave me even more respect for the mountain range.