2018.09.24 - Jackson, WY to West Yellowstone, MT

09.24.2018 - Happy Birthday, Rene' !!

Left Gros Ventres Campground after a thorough cleaning of the windshield to make sure we had a clear view of the scenery that Grand Teton National Park is famous for.

It didn't take long to get into the full swing of things after crossing the Snake River into the National Park entrance at Moose, WY. The weather, like yesterday, was partly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain, so it would make for interesting skies.

  South Gate - Grand Teton National Park

We were really surprised at the amount of tourists still on the road this time of year - many of which appeared to be large Aisan tour groups. As we made our way north past the turn-offs to Jenny Lake, we decided that we'd stick to the main highway in that it was pretty crowded on the side streets. Views of the Tetons, however, were awesome as the changing clouds constantly affected how the mountains appeared, at times, dropping down where the peaks were hidden in the clouds. It was hard to stop "stopping" along the way as every turn seemed to be a better vantage point than the one before for another photo.  

Grand Teton Range

Hard to resist stopping at every new turn

A nice backdrop for "The Birthday Girl"

Teton Peaks in the clouds 

As we got closer to Jackson Lake, it seemed like traffic was getting even heavier. Turning off the main highway to check out the area around Colter Bay was out of the question, so we continued north along the lake sneaking stops where we could. At one left turn into a Jackson Lake overlook, we waited and waited for an opening until a man in an on-coming car stopped specifically to let us turn. I later ran into him in the parking lot and thanked him for being so kind. He said, "No problem at all, you're quite welcome - we're just lolly-gagging along today and have plenty of time. It's a shame that people can't be more civil." He was headed to Jackson and had just come from West Yellowstone, so he gave us recommendations for a restaurants to try while we were there. 

View of Jackson Lake from the "nice guy" left turn overlook

Towards the north end of the lake, we hit an opportune turn-out along the lake and decided to stop for lunch. When we first stopped, there were only one or two other cars stopped, and the view over the lake was uncrowded, peaceful and quiet. Before we were done eating, however, a bus-full of Asian tourists stopped and, just like that, peace and serenity was toast.  

Lunch view along Jackson Lake

Tour-Bus madness hits Jackson Lake

As we entered the south entrance to Yellowstone park, we decided that we needed to head straight to West Yellowstone and not to attempt to "play tourists" with the motorhome in that part of the park. Although we were passing thru some prime Yellowstone tourist hot spots (like Old Faithful), we pushed on thru the final 90-minutes to West Yellowstone without stopping to see any sights.  We arrived in West Yellowstone about 3pm and sought out the Grizzly RV Park where we had reservations for the next three nights. With over 300 RV sites, they are the biggest RV park around by far. As soon as you started the check-in process, it was apparent that they were used to dealing with high volume and large crowds. They were super organized and the layout of the park was very efficient. Being the largest RV park in town, rental car agencies were happy to partner with them and, as it turned out, our rental car was delivered directly to the park within 15-minutes of calling them. 

Grizzly RV Park - Rental car delivery included

By 4pm, we were all settled in, had our rental car in hand, cleaned up a bit and hit West Yellowstone to celebrate Rene's birthday with dinner at the Three Bears Restaurant, one of two that "the nice left turn guy" recommended to us to try.     

Birthday Dinner at Three Bears Restaurant, West Yellowstone, MT

Tomorrow - Day one of two at Jellystone Park.