Grand Teton + Yellowstone

This is long overdue, but I'm just now getting around to doing a post. A friend and I drove all the way out to Moran, Wyoming, for 5ish days of awesome time. We stayed with a friend who manages a retreat out there, and it was about the most perfect place you could put a lodge + cabins. I know other people have posted this trip before, so I'll let them take care of you for lodging (there are plenty of places in town + dude ranches and stuff to choose from), food (good restaurants in town but we just mostly packed lunches and hiked) and everything else.

The drive from Nashville was pretty brutal. It's a legit 24+ hours not counting stops or anything. There's just nothing for almost the entire drive. Flat. Spotty service. Open roads. No cops. North Platte, Nebraska, was our stop for the night.



Day 2 of driving is pretty brutal as well. I feel like most people fly into Jackson and don't realize how flat/boring the rest of Wyoming was. We dealt with views like this for another 8-9 hours.



But it was all worth it when we got to our home for the week. This view didn't get old any morning.



Our first day out there, we drove down to Jenny Lake to hike. The road down there is quite pleasant.



We started our hike, and we quickly ran into some wildlife. I heard the brush being ripped up as I rounded a corner and saw a few people stopped. I assumed it was an elk. Then this lovely lady stepped out, and I realized she was far too large to be an elk.



She was so close to the trail, so we kind of just waited for a minute. Then, all of a sudden, I saw more movement and realized the moose was very much a mama.







They were so unbelievably close to all of us on the trail. Both ways, there was a pretty sharp turn, so you didn't really know they were there until you walked up on them. I was downright terrified and amazed at the same time. Eventually, we tried to skirt by them, and mama didn't like that. She stepped out on the trail and walked toward us. So we just backed up and waited another 15 minutes or so for them to take off up the hill.

Right after the moose, we had someone stop us and tell us to be careful because there was a bear that had just crossed the path. Sure enough, we heard brush breaking about 500 yards ahead and saw a little black bear. I didn't have my telephoto lens of course, so I don't have great photos. You can tell what he is though.



Hidden Falls was closed due to a danger of falling rocks. We decided a wooden barricade wasn't going to stop us since we had driven 24 hours to be out there.



We ended up having to catch the ferry back across because the weather had turned bad pretty quickly, but it was by far the best hike I've ever been on. My friend had never been out west, so I had to break the bad news to him that he would probably never see that much wildlife in a few miles maybe ever again.

Day 2 we took a trip into Jackson to knock around, so I didn't really take many pictures. We just browsed the galleries, shops, got groceries, etc.

Day 3 we did a little more hiking around the lodge. Drove RZRs around. Rode bikes.

Day 4, we decided to do our long loop around Yellowstone. We hit pretty much every major site (Lower Falls, various geyser basins, Old Faithful, Mammoth, etc). We saw another bear, this time with a cub. They decided to take a nap on some downed trees about 30 yards from the road. Cars were stopped and parking everywhere. The Rangers were not pleased.





















That night, we got the best sunset I've ever seen.





Our last full day, we hiked again. We went to String Lake this time. After we were done, we decided to hang out for a while. It's a great place to swim, paddleboard, etc.







On the way out of town the next day, we said goodbye to the wildlife



Then we drove through Jackson to get food, and I saw this interesting sign that I will leave you with. The public restrooms in town are very nice, so I really don't want to know why this was necessary.



Hope you enjoyed the photos. If this convinces one person to take the leap and go out there, I consider it worth it. It's seriously one of the most amazing places on Earth. I'm also happy to answer food/lodging questions because I worked out there for a summer at one point as well.