Our first full day in Grand Teton National Park was great. Faris went through Wilson and rode over Teton Pass. The other side of the pass is in Idaho and we had talked about meeting there so I went on with the kids and set up their lunch in a field while we waited on Faris. What he meant to say was “I am turning around and coming back to Wilson.” So, me and the kids had lunch in a random field in Idaho, filled up the car, and headed back into Wyoming. Since the kids were sleeping, I drove the Jenny Lake scenic route and it was spectacular. When they woke up I took them to the summit of Signal Mountain and we “hiked” a little at the top of the mountain.
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| Signal Mountain summit |
Eli was really excited to be up there and wanted to take off down the mountain. I finally convinced him that if we did we wouldn’t have our car and he agreed to go back down in the car.
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| Mary Logue calling a chipmunk |
We met up with Faris at String Lake and let the kids play on the banks of the lake for awhile.
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| String Lake |
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| String Lake |
As we were walking across a small bridge I saw a really big bird. All the birds out here seem awfully big but this one seemed bigger and different. Turns out it was a bald eagle! Absolutely beautiful bird. As it flew it glided through the air with what looked like no effort. Quite a privilege to see such a beautiful animal.
It was dinnertime so we headed back towards our campsite down Moose Wilson Road. We were able to pull over again and see another mooa seven point elk and his harem (which really means a 14 point elk and his 10 doe), and a beaver. We fed the kids at The Mangy Moose in Teton Village and headed home for the night.
We decided to spend a couple of days in the town of Jackson so we headed into town to check it out. After stopping for coffee and a danish (we have yet to have a good cup of coffee on this trip which is astonishing as there is a coffee house on every corner), we checked out several mid range hotels and decided on The Lexington because it was right in town and the kids could swim. We came back, packed up the camper, and headed out on a hike down the Death Canyon trail. Of course Faris picked that hike, do you think I would pick anything called Death Canyon?
We hiked up, each with a child on our backs, to the Phelps Lake overlook. There we had lunch and enjoyed the incredible views of the lake and the canyon.
Eli was saying he was ready to go back to the car which is our signal for naptime so we headed down bouncing and jumping and rocking the kids in the backpack the whole way trying keep them awake. We made it to the car, but they never went to sleep. Not good.
At The Lexington there was an indoor pool so we swam with the kids then started getting ready for dinner. Eli was already melting down in the room but we were determined to go to dinner at Local to have an early anniversary celebration. During the off season the nice restaurants do two for one entrée specials so we wanted to take advantage of it. It definitely turned into a three ring circus. Both kids were melting down. Faris left with the kids, I ordered wine, he came back with Mary Logue asleep in the stroller, Eli with the iPad and headphones, ordered a stiff drink, and we made it through a wonderful ribeye dinner. Took the kids for ice cream afterwards and they slept until 8:00 the next morning.
Mary Logue and I did a little shopping the next morning while the boys rode the scooter. We met them in the park for a camper sandwich (that’s when you walk all the way back to the hotel to make sandwiches in the camper then walk back to the park with lunch even though there’s a sandwich shop across from the park – we’re serious about using up our groceries!) then headed out towards Granite Falls and hot springs. After a wrong turn detour, we got on course and found the road to Granite Falls. It was very windy, steep, and bumpy. Needless to say, we were the only ones on it. Seems that we are pretty much the only ones backcountry camping in Wyoming right now period. Whatever, everyone else is really missing out because we’re having a great time and loving! At the hot springs we are, of course, the only ones there.
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| Granite Hot Springs |
The guy that lives there seven months of the year and runs it told us to be careful if we were hiking because there was a bear cub and a moose behind his cabin yesterday. Well, I’ve been cool about bears as long as someone else was around, but since we were the only ones camping in the closed campground that night in the backcountry, I was freaked out. I’m pretty cool about letting Faris go do whatever but that night I told him he couldn’t walk down to the river to get water because that’s where all the animals were and if he got eaten by a bear I wouldn’t know who to call that night. He just looked at me with that look of “you have made this much bigger in your head than it will ever be in real life”, went on a walk, then came in for the night. I had had a double espresso earlier in the day so between that and being afraid that a bear was going to come shake our camper that night, I probably slept three or four hours.
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| Faris teaching Eli how to warm his hands over the fire |
The next morning we cooked breakfast with the deer standing there watching us and headed out. This campsite was truly the earth God meant to speak before we finished His sentence, to borrow another quote from the book I'm reading. Gorgeous and pristine. I’m glad we did it despite my fears of being a bear snack.
We decided to attempt the natural hot spring the next morning so Eli and I walked down the road to the waterfall to check it out. Faris and Mary Logue joined us shortly and we found a place to cross the river. We each grabbed a kid and started across. Coldest water I’ve ever felt in my life up to our mid shins with the current rushing by. It took us about 30 seconds to cross the river and when I got to the other side I could not feel my feet at all. We stood there for a second then crossed the second crossing before coming to the natural hot spring.
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| quick diaper change! |
Well worth it! It was a little pool under a hot waterfall that cascaded into a pool. Such a cool experience. We hung out for awhile then headed back across the river to wrap up our Granite Springs experience.
We drove back through Grand Teton National Park and dropped Faris off at Moran Junction, which is where you can go towards Yellowstone or Grand Teton. I drove over the next two passes down the Togwatee Trail into Dubois, WY. Cooked a spaghetti dinner and felt my heart stop when a raccoon jumped out of the dumpster at me as I was taking out the trash. I used to get scared as a kid when possums were in our trash can but they don’t have a fight in them like this raccoon did. I slammed the lid down and he opened it himself and jumped out, causing such a ruckus as he got out that I was sure he was headed straight for me. Since it was dark I couldn’t tell where he was going but then I saw him scurry off towards the woods, which was away from me, which was the most important thing at that time. Never have I been so scared of a small furry animal. Every time I look at Mary Logue’s little stuffed raccoon I shudder a little now.
Did the scenic drive of Dubois, home of the 2010 state chariot racing finals…what? Yes, they get in chariots with horses and race for a state title. Need to see that one to really wrap my head around it.
Stopped at a leather shop to get Eli a western belt but only ended up having a very uncomfortable discussion with a man who wanted to get my name and number in case I was able to find some spare animal parts for him once I got back down south. Enter Faris into the shop, thankfully, because I then drug him into the discussion and let him squirm for a little while. This ole boy uses every part of an animal you can think of to make dresses, crochet needle, anything imaginable.
We headed towards Saratoga, WY and stayed at the Wolf Hotel because there was no place to camp, hit the free hot springs the next morning, and headed towards Encampment and the Medicine Bow National Forest.
Encampment is where Faris guided for Young Life in the summer of 2000. He took inner city kids out into the wilderness for a week and they had to be self sufficient, meaning they carried all of their food and gear for a week. It is also the summer that I ran into one of Faris’ friends while I was living in Colorado and that said friend reminded Faris about me when he came to visit him in Encampment and the rest is history. I’ll just say this….for those of you that don’t know the details of the story of how we ended up together, just ask one of us one day. It’s a crazy beautiful story that could only be orchestrated by God. Our marriage is a true blessing and journey that only He could have pieced together.
In Encampment you have one shot at camping. We pull up into the RV park and basically got run out by the lady that runs it. Not sure what her problem was but she made both of us just mad enough to figure out a way to stay in Encampment regardless of her. It was too cold to dry camp in the forest so when the lady in the gas station told Faris about the free hookups beside the senior center “in town” on Fourth Avenue(which was a dirt road) we were all about it. So here’s our lovely campsight with 12 mph winds:
Here’s an island that Faris and his other guide friends dared each other to swim to in June 1999 and ended up with hypothermia. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
We cooked pizza, broccoli, and sweet potatoes in our toaster oven, watched a movie, and called it a night. Woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise, ready to head to Colorado!
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