My original plan was to just go through Yellowstone and skip the Grand Teton Mountains. US Route 191 from the Grand Tetons to Yellowstone was still closed for the season, meaning if I wanted to see both, I’d need to go into the Grand Teton Mountains, turn around at the road closure, and backtrack over 100 miles to enter Yellowstone.
But the Grand Teton Mountains were just too close to pass up. I made the decision to just deal with the road closure and go see them.
Lo and behold, the day before I drove the Grand Teton Mountains, US Route 191 opened up!
How serindipidous!
The weather wasn’t great as it was a bit rainy and cloudy, but for this area, that’s more the norm. I was also pleasantly surprised that the cloud cover really didn’t obscure my views too much.
Here are some pictures I took along the route north through the Grand Teton National Park. Obligatory “these pictures don’t do it justice.”
Another issue I was having was finding a place to park for the night. The vast majority of camping areas in the park were still closed for the season, and the only open campgrounds were booked for weeks.
I really had no idea what I was going to do or where I was going to go, as the nearest campgrounds outside the park were quite a drive.
I pulled into Colter Bay, one of the more popular campgrounds, and it turns out they had some cancellations and could get me in!
The charge? Just a measly $90 for the night.
Ouch!
But since it was pretty much my only option, I decided to stay anyway, and I’m glad I did.
The camping spots were pretty close together which was expected, but I got a “corner lot” so I had a little extra space.
I was also in much need to empty my waste tanks, refill with fresh water, and also get my propane topped off as they filled propane tanks there. It says 3/4 full but the sensor has been wrong since I got it.
This has become one of my favorite sights to see!
I didn’t realize this ahead of time, but the campground is absolutely enormous! They only had a portion of it in use while the rest of it was still empty. This gave Cooper and I seemingly miles of quiet peaceful places to walk around.
We were warned, however, that the bear activity in the campground was extremely high lately, and to be extra cautious. So while I’d like to say it was a relaxing walk, I was a bit paranoid, but here are some pictures of the empty campground as we walked around.
I hadn’t done laundry since I started my trip and was just about out of clean socks and underwear, so I took advantage of their on-site and very nice laundromat. This is the view from the parking lot.
Obviously seeing that view made me want a closer look, so I went over to the marina attached to the campground, and I was really in for a treat.
I just can’t express how absolutely beautiful that view was. Probably #1 on my entire trip so far.
Here are some daily moments.
The route we took.
Highlights from the drive.
A full timelapse of my drive.