We left West Yellowstone Monday morning at sunrise, heading south to Jackson. It was a beautiful sunrise, but it was so cold outside!
We took the short scenic drive to Mesa Falls and found the place deserted. The 28 degrees and misting fall water kept us from enjoying the place too long. Brr!
Upper Mesa Falls:
Me, very cold in the misting waterfall and very thankful for some Columbia Omniheat:
Jackson’s downtown is quaint and high-scale touristy, and after grabbing a quick sandwich and coffee we headed north into Grand Teton National Park. The park is closed, but some of the roads on the east side that border national forest were open and the wildlife was out.
Antler arch in Jackson:
Almost immediately we found a small herd of antelope (also know as speed goats, but I can’t remember where I learned that term…). Heading out Gros Ventre road, we saw a herd of bison in the distance, along with other scattered antelope.
Speed goat!
Buffalo Herd below the Tetons
We headed out Gros Ventre canyon for a while, then back into the park and north along Antelope Flat. Heading east again, we climbed over Shadow mountain on some muddy 4WD road which took us to some nice overlooks of the Grand Teton.
Shadow Mountain view of the Grand Teton:
On our way south out of the park David spotted a herd of elk in the distance from the Snake River Overlook. We watched a bull elk chase a female around for a while, but she wasn’t interested despite his enormous rack. Ahem.
Snake River Overlook:
Back in town, we checked into our cute little hotel/cabin and wandered the downtown shops for an hour or so (I liked Teton Mountaineering!) followed by a delicious dinner and beers at Snake River brewing.
Left a couple of calipidder stickers at Snake River brewing. Can you find ’em? Special shout out to my friends in Bishop. Mule Days FTW!
We walked back to the hotel to grab some growlers to fill. David told me “Now I’ve got a purse too! It just holds beer.” His purse is bette than mine.
