Yellowstone and Grand Tetons

AUGUST 19th

First off, let me say that if you even think you will have time to visit some National Parks, you must get the annual pass. It has paid for itself in three park visits alone! So basically the rest of our park visits are now free until June next year, which is pretty cool!

Now, we spent our last full day at Murray’s in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. A full day was not enough to see it all, and the abundance of tourists kept us focused on the less beaten paths, which we like better anyway!

We started in West Yellowstone again, but this time headed north around the upper part of the park after crossing back into Wyoming!

Some beautiful pull outs with short walks to the river. The kids loved looking out and seeing steam holes across the river.

We decided to take this side road, which no one else was on (when we first turned), and found this beautiful canyon which housed Virginia Cascades and a fish stream off Gibbon River.

We worked our way around the East side and finally found all the wild buffalo they kept talking about!

Since we saw their cousin the Bison in the wild in Canada, we got out of everyone else’s way and continued south until we got to the visitors center. The visitors center was pretty nice, with active displays of the forming of Yellowstone and discussion of the volcanos around the world. While there, the kids got their new stamps and we moved on.

We made our way along Yellowstone River stopping at LeHardys Rapids for a stroll.

We passed Yellowstone Lake, which is the largest lake inside the park. It was really impressive.

As the opportunities to stop lessened, the kids took advantage of the time to play a little National Park Trivia Pursuit. It was cool to not only get some of the answers right, but to learn some new historical facts.

We continued south onto the Rockefeller memorial highway, into Grand Teton National Park. And we passed the continental divide.

We also passed the Lewis River Canyon which was a beautiful canyon that had been devastated by wildfire in 1988. Sadly, there were many areas just like this throughout our journey.

The Grand Tetons, which we had been seeing from the West the entire past week, is even more Grand from the East! On this side you truly get a feel for just how high and rugged they are, even through the smokey haze.

The norther section of the Teton Range is seen towering over Jackson Lake.

And as we made our way into town you could see their immense size over the grasslands.

Our trip ended with some amazing hamburgers at Liberty Burger in Jackson and our final drive through Teton Pass back to Murray’s house!

An awesome day all around!