Summary of our road trip to Idaho, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone

Its a little late now, but here is a rundown of our adventure to Idaho and mountainous parts to the East–for documentation purposes at least.

8/2 — It begins. We awoke to find the electricity out for some reason (no windstorms, heatwaves, or similar natural disasters). Most of our gear was packed and prepared, so we lounged for a bit–waiting for the power to come back online–then packed everything into our little red wagon and cartop carrier and left. We were out the driveway at a leisurely 9:30am. Once on the road, we headed East across the Cascades in down into the Ellensburg area, where we followed our planned route to I-82 East (see below for the complete route, courtesy of Google Maps). We stopped at the Washington rest stop with very nice views of Mt Adams and Mt Rainier, and then at an Oregon rest stop for few ham/swiss/sourdough sandwiches. The weather was nice and hot. We arrived at the Farewell Bend State Park campground on the Snake River bordering Idaho at about 5pm. It was a nice campground, albeit somewhat remote. The facilities were quite nice, with well-manicured grass spots for Amelia to explore. We thought there could be good swimming in the Snake, but it wasnt that great. We had salad nicoise for dinner (which had essentially been prepared at home and simply combined at camp). Amelia had some trouble going to bed, but eventually we all fell asleep. Here is a photo of Lindsay and Amelia at the campsite:

8/3–Driving day two. Morning came early, thanks to Amelia, but we were all ready to get up anyway. Amelia had yogurt and cereal for breakfast, we had only coffee thinking that Boise, ID, wasn’t too far ahead, and we needed to stop for fuel there anyway before continuing on to Driggs. In Boise, we found a coffee shop in a rather artsy downtown area, and had a little breakfast. The shop also had wireless internet, so we scoped out our route a little. After fueling up we continued East, following the Snake through Idaho farm country with a lot of potatoes, some corn, maybe a few fields of soybeans, and even some grapes. We stopped at another rest stop for lunch, and Amelia ran around. She was doing well in the car, but the containment was taking its toll. We reached Driggs, by 5pm or so, and stopped at a grocery to pick up a few items for dinner. We were staying the next two nights at the Grand Targhee ski resort, but were unsure about dining options up on the hill and didn’t want to put Amelia back in the car for the drive back to town. Once up at the lodge, we checked in to our room, which was pretty nice, took a swim in the pool, then had dinner at the pub in the ski lodge (burger, chicken wrap, and grilled cheese and fries for Amelia). There was a fancy steak house, but it was pretty expensive. Then we went to bed and slept soundly (Amelia was sequestered in a bunk bed which I fortified with pillows and a chair). Here is a picture looking up at the mountain from the base lodge area:

8/4–Wedding day. We were able to sleep in a little bit, which was appreciated because during the night Amelia managed to roll around in her makeshift bed enough to get wedged between the mattress and the barrier we made–twice–waking us up. She was not happy about it, but readily went back to sleep. We got up and had breakfast buffet-style in the lodge restaurant. It was ok, the strawberries were good. Then, with a good four hours to kill before the wedding ceremony, we then filled our water bottles and put Amelia in the backpack for a hike up to Lightening Point, about 4.5 miles roundtrip from the base area. We had coupons for the ski lift, from which we could have hiked other trails beginning at the top of the mountain, but we were already borderline winded at the base (which is at 8,000 ft of elevation), and weren’t sure we liked the idea of holding on to a wiggly Amelia that far above the ground. Lightening Point it was. We made it, and had a good view of the both the Tetons to the East and the valley to the West. Here is a photo of Lindsay and Amelia with the Tetons in the background:

We saw a deer, but otherwise no wildlife except a few bikers. We made it down, rested a bit then got cleaned up and went the wedding, which was being held just down the road at a scenic overlook on the road up to the ski area. It was a short ceremony, and the mingling around afterward was cut shorter because of a thunderstorm. We headed for the car and made our way down to a nearby campground where the reception was being held. We didn’t know anyone other than the bride and groom, but Amelia made friends easily. We ate some food and drank some beer, socialized with the wedding party and Amelia’s friends, then left for an early bedtime.

8/5– Grand Teton Park. After a restful night, we gave Amelia a little breakfast and packed things up to continue East. We stopped in the tiny town of Victor, ID for a bit of breakfast for ourselves (we looked for an organic bakery in Driggs that had caught Lindsay’s eye when we arrived, but couldn’t find it), then continued over Teton pass, which was very steep, and into the Jackson, WY area. We entered the Teton Park via the Moose entrance, which is a dirt road that winds through the woods. Probably wasn’t worth the extra time, but we did it anyway. The route did take us by Jackson Hole ski area, and Dave vowed to return to ski the hell out of it. Our predetermined destination was the Signal Mountain campground, which looked nice and was one of the first-come-first-served campgrounds that would likely have vacancies still in the mid morning. We got there and picked out a nice site on the shore of Jackson Lake. We set up camp, then set out for a 9-11 mile (we weren’t exactly sure of the distance–first mistake) loop hike a few miles farther North. The standard-issue National Park map we received upon entry to the park wasn’t very helpful in finding the trailhead, but we eventually came upon what we thought was a reasonable access point for the hike. Amelia hadn’t napped yet that day, and we were hopeful that the gentle jostling in the backpack would be just the trick to lull her to sleep. We put on our boots, and hit the trail. After some confusion at a few forks in the trail, we were fairly confident that we weren’t lost. Amelia was asleep, so we kept on trucking. Here is a photo of Lindsay looking out onto Emma Matilda Lake with Amelia sleeping in the pack.

We were unsure how far we should go before making the critical decision to either turn around or keep going. Amelia woke up when we had made it maybe a third of the way around Emma Matilda Lake, which the trail circumnavigated. She was in good spirits and we were moving along at a fast pace, so we continued onward. At the head of the lake we started looking for a place to stop and eat our lunch (more ham/swiss/sourdough), and after a few more minutes settled for one. At this time we were as far away from our car as possible, and the trail seemed to be leading up to the top of a ridge on the side of the lake opposite from where we had come. This wouldn’t have been worrisome, but our fast pace was making us tired and the weather was not looking favorable; some storm clouds appeared to be bearing down on us. Amelia was happy to be out of the pack, but we didn’t want to be caught in a storm so packed her up and moved out. The trail was ascending the ridge as we had suspected, and the weather was turning nasty, as we had feared. In addition, Amelia was no longer content to bounce around in the pack. We picked up the pace even more, and tried to distract Amelia by searching for birds, looking at trees, and singing every song we could think of. The hike reached its nadir when we ended up on an exposed knob on the ridge with lightening flashes and thunderclaps, Amelia wailing, and out of new songs to sing and the breath to sing them even if we thought of some. Not long after that, however, we descended rapidly down to the beginning of the trail close to where we started, and twenty minutes later we were at our car. It turned out that the weather didn’t get THAT bad, only a few light raindrops, really, and we made it back in one piece. The lesson from the story is that about five or six miles is about as far as a baby can go on a hike; or, more correctly, as far as sounded minded parents should try to take her. We headed home, took a brief swim in Jackson Lake, and made a tasty dinner of chili-mac with beer-cheese sauce in the rain, which really started coming down once we began the dinner preparation. It was then bedtime, but Amelia wasn’t too eager to go to sleep, and spent a good hour playing in the tent while we lay there half asleep. Here is a photo of Amelia being silly in the tent while we are trying to go to sleep.

8/6–Drive-through National Park (aka Yellowstone). Morning came, and with it a wet tent. Our groundcloth hadn’t been completely impenetrable, and so our pads and bags were a little dampish. We packed things up and made pancakes (Jiffy Buttermilk Complete, with added maple flavor) before heading out to Yellowstone, with the plan to ultimately end up at Mammoth Springs Campground at the North entrance to the park. Since all of the main attractions at Yellowstone are accessible by car, choosing the route that you take through it is important. We had previously taken a West to East sort of route, from the Old Faithful area then through the Yellowstone river canyon. With Amelia along this time we thought the Old Faithful area would be nice, since there is plenty of flat open space for her to explore and people to stare at, so decided on a purely Western route, taking us by many other geysers, Roaring Mountain, and other attractions. It was an uneventful trek, with a layover at Old Faithful for a walk and a soda. We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife along the road, except a few elk and a very raggedy-looking bison, both of which resulted in dozens of stopped cars and people tromping out to get their attention. There may have also been a bear, but we refused to stop and gawk. We made it to Mammoth Springs, picked out a campsite, and then hiked up the hill to the little outpost on the edge of the terraced springs themselves. We walked around the springs and took some photos, then headed back down for dinner. Here is a photo of Lindsay and Amelia in front of one of the big terraces.

Our route, via Google Maps