June 16th - From Yellowstone to Grand Teton

We felt we had really seen Yellowstone Park pretty well, but we were still a bit sorry to leave. However, the Tetons were calling us and we wanted to get down there and find a campsite, so we packed up and left by about 9:15. We stopped off at the Thumb Area Geyser Basin on our way down, and that gave us one last chance to photograph and take movies of the thermal features. The cool, deep blue of the lake contrasted beautifully with the colors of the thermal pools and springs. In the old days, we were told, the “Dudes” would catch fish in the lake and the cook it in the nearby hot springs, but of course that was before the modern ideas of conservation had taken root.

The subsequent drive down to the Tetons took longer than we expected, partly due to road construction delays. We also, of course had to stop and admire a waterfall on the way before we crossed the Continental Divide. The old saw is that one should “stop and smell the roses”, but with these magnificent surroundings we felt we should definitely “stop and picture the scenery!”

We easily found a campsite at Colter’s Bay campground and made a quick stop at the Visitor Center there for more information on the Tetons. We got the usual maps but also took in a 12-minute video on the origins of the park and a 24-minute video on the history of the bison. Both of these videos and one we saw the next day on the grizzly bear were quite good and we would recommend them. The visitor center is next to Jackson Lake and we got our first views of the magnificent mountains across the lake.

When we went to use the restrooms at the Colter’s Bay Campground, we found out that there is no standardization among the national parks. At this campground they provided soap but no dryer or towels of any kind, and the door had no self-closing spring so it stayed open all the time. Inherently that might not be much of a problem except for a certain lack of perceived privacy on the Men’s side, but this campground had a very lively population of mosquitoes and they really seemed to like the Men’s bathroom. So for hand washing in this park I had soap, thank goodness, but I still had to contend with one-handed washing with ice-cold water, had no dryer of any kind, and had to continually do the anti-mosquito “dance” during the whole operation. The anti-mosquito dance has various kinds of body movements to put them off, punctuated by slaps when they actually land and start to dig in. Think of the Chicken Dance with intermittent slaps and you would probably be close. Still, trying to do that is awfully distracting when all you’re really trying to do is wash your hands. As a result, we used the “nice” restrooms provided by the concessionaires in the park whenever we possibly could. Hot water, soap, a functional dryer, and no bugs can combine to be a real luxury under some circumstances!