LONG DISTANCE DRIVING AS WE EXPLORE GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

If you’ve ever thought of driving a big rig over Teton Pass – from Victor, ID on the west side to Jackson, WY on the east – forget it!  What a bear! 

According to the Wyoming Department of Transportation, the grade is 10%: 3 miles from top to bottom on the west side, 5 miles on the east.  Five miles of winding, 10% grade is plenty exciting in a car, no doubt heart pounding in a motorhome.

We set out at 10 am on Tuesday for a long day trip into Grand Teton National Park, on the other side of the Teton Range from our current “home”, Teton Mountain View Lodge and RV Park (click here to read our review and see photos).  We are planning to move to the national park on Thursday, and had a list of potential campsites we wanted to checkout.  First, though, we negotiated Teton Pass, SO GLAD to be in the Jeep.  We’ll be taking the “long way”, a more southern route, when we move our home to the other side.

We entered the park at the southern end and made our first stop at the Visitor Center at Moose Junction.  As in Yellowstone, visitors are still here in abundance!  Then we were off to Moran Junction, on the east side of the park, where we exited the park to check on a boon docking spot just outside the park boundary.  Nice (and free) – and currently occupied.

Back in the park, we drove through heavily forested Colter Bay Campground, with big rigs lined up one after another in pullouts just off the edges of the campground roads.  Hmmmm, not really what we had in mind.

We continued all the way north, past the northern park boundary, to check on a few free camping spots off Grassy Lake Road.  These were gorgeous (also currently occupied), but no cell service there.  Yes, we are spoiled – we like our cell phones and aircard to work.  :)

Turning back, we drove the entire length of the park once again, into Gros Ventre Campground, the most southern and most lightly used campground in the park.  We’ve stayed there once before, and found that it best met our needs/desires once again: rather open, mostly back-in sites in amongst cottonwoods.  We drove past a herd of bison (mamas and calves) to get there, and saw two huge bull moose relaxing in a small grove of trees on the edge of the campground.  Phones work!  It’s the place for us.  We made notes on our favorite sites for our return on Thursday.

Our round trip driving day was over 200 miles – SO unusual for us.  What made it palatable?  The gorgeous, incredible scenery.  Yellowstone is a fascinating place, but I don’t think you can beat the sheer beauty of the Teton Range, the rivers and lake of Grand Teton National Park.  Can’t wait to get back over there!