May 5th – May 6th, 2023
It was cold and windy when we left our camp near Green River and decided to drive up to Rock Springs and go to the library until lunch time.
We then took the road towards Jackson but we soon hit low clouds and rain which turned into snow. The landscape was desert type in hues of grey and brown. No sign of spring here yet !
Jackson is home to 3 ski-area and is the gateway to Grand Teton National Park. The town is a tourist destination and is bustling with high end shops, galleries and the National Museum of Wildlife Art where works by Andy Warhol and Georgia O’Keeffe are on show.
The weather was not with us, with snow flurries and a cold wind. We stopped in town at the visitor centre then headed for the Park.
We started by a drive along the National Elk Refuge then onto Gros Ventre road and to Mormon Row. This is a historic district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the late 1800’s, a community of Mormons arrived in Wyoming from the neighboring state of Idaho to settle in the southeast region of what is now Grand Teton National Park .They built farms, houses, irrigation systems, and everything else required to make this rural area habitable. The settlement encompass as many as 27 properties with perfectly preserved barns with the Teton Mountain range as a backdrop !
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We then drove to Moose and onto Jenny Lake, stopping at a few view points along the way.
The weather was clearing but it was still almost impossible to see the top of the mountains. The National Park is named after the highest peak in the Teton range, the Grand Teton: elevation 13,775 feet (4,198 m). There are eight peaks over 12,000 ft (3,658 m) in elevation in the range. The mountain valley where the park is situated is 55 miles long (89 km), 13 miles wide (21 km) with an average elevation of 6,800 feet (2,073 m).
Part of Jenny Lake was still frozen. There is a hike you can do around the lake but at this time of year you need snowshoes!
[Click on picture to open gallery]
The original plan was to drive through the Grand Teton NP and exit at the north entrance on road 191 which leads directly to Yellowstone NP but that road was closed due to snow.
The only alternative was to make a big detour, going south to Wilson and into Idaho before going north again !
