Leaving Salt Lake – Arriving Jackson/Grand Teton

I woke around 6:30 am this morning, dressed and went down the hall to get breakfast. After breakfast, I checked the road conditions in Idaho and Wyoming. It was raining and low 40s in Salt Lake. I went over to Kinko’s to print out the maps I had compiled for the alternate route to Jackson. I left a little after 9 am, went and gassed up the car and headed out.

The rain was steady coming down as I drove through Salt Lake, north on I-15. Once I got around Ogden the rain slacked off and remained overcast. The rain finally was over by the time I reached Logan and temps were rising to the 50s.

I stopped in Idaho Falls, about 200+ miles down the road, gassed up the car and looked for a place for lunch since it was around 12:30 pm. The GPS showed a BBQ place called Hawg Smoke Café, so I had to check it out and it was along my route. To my disappointment it turned out to be out of business, and was a run down looking building. I was only about 45 minutes from Swan Valley, ID so I decided to press on and have lunch there. I ate at the Angus Restaurant in Swan Valley having a grilled cheese sandwich, fries and root beer. The Angus looked as though it had been there a while. I ate at the counter which had orange Formica which had worn off at the seating locations exposing the yellow base color. Swan Valley is “famous” for swans that winter there and is also famous as a world class fly fishing location.

Driving Through Idaho

After lunch I continued toward Jackson about an hour away. As I drove over Teton Pass the mountains and valleys came into view and it was breath taking and not even the main Teton Range. I arrived at the Super 8 around 2:30pm, where the weather was in the 40s, overcast but not raining or snowing, checked in and decided to drive over to Grand Teton National Park and go to the Visitor Center to see what things I might see the next two days.

Driving into Wyoming

Driving toward the park was an interesting experience. You come around a bend in the road and there is the Teton Range off to the left,  which is awe inspiring. At the Visitor Center I spoke with a Ranger and at his suggestion decided to drive the 40 mile scenic loop and see and photograph the different mountain peaks since I could see them today, and there was no guaranteed that I would be able to see them tomorrow or the next day if the rain/snow materializes as forecast. There is still a lot of snow on the ground and the lakes are still frozen over. The Ranger said they are at 150-200% of snowpack so far this year. The temps stayed in the mid 40s during my drive through the park.  I was intending to do some hiking, but the snowpack may make that impassable. I saw a couple of Moose (or is that Meese?) at one scenic turnout and other turnout feature Elk. I returned to Jackson around 6:45 and had dinner at Bubba’s BBQ dining on a half rack of baby back ribs, potato salad, Texas toast, onion rings and iced tea. I was a little disappointed in the baby backs which were a little dry and tough. After dinner I returned to the hotel around 7:30 pm and got into my PJs for the rest of the evening to relax and plan tomorrows’ activities, weather permitting.

Part Of the Grand Teton Range

Jenny Lake, Still Frozen

The Snake River

I will check at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center tomorrow on the hiking possibilities. If I can’t there are several other drives off the main road where you can see bison, elk and moose. I may also take a tour around Jackson on my last day if hiking, etc is not in the cards this time around. I also noticed a movie theatre across from the hotel showing “Thor”, so I might take it in if I have time.

Sunday I will drive over to West Yellowstone for my visit to Yellowstone National Park. I think I may drive from Grand Teton to the South entrance to Yellowstone and drive through the park on my way to West Yellowstone.

See you down the road.