Flagg Canyon

While we were visiting Grand Teton National Park, we had our choice of hikes, ranging from 1mile to 24 miles, easy and flat, moderate with a a few hundred feet of climbing, or strenuous with a couple thousand feet climbing.  One we chose didn't enter Grand Teton, but ran between US 89 and the Snake River between Yellowstone and Grand Teton.  The easy path ran from the rv park across US 89  east for 1/2 mile through an area of lodgepole pines that burned in 2015.  When the path reached the river it connected with the 4 mile Flagg Canyon trail.  The trail is listed as easy with 150' total climbing.  

We turned north, walking along enjoying the nice weather and seeing glimpses of the river.

Soon the path ran along the canyon top with nice views of the river running south through the canyon.

Fortunately some of the trees were spared from the fire.  We ambled along enjoying the trees, then descended and turned back to the road.  From there it was only a few feet to the south gate of Yellowstone National Park.  We turned around and retraced our steps

walking south and following the flow of the river.  We stopped the juncture of the two paths for a break and a snack. We noticed a small cascade across the canyon

and a view of the river running out of the canyon.

We continued south.  The river meandered further east while the path led through pine forest dotted with several small meadows.

The path ended at the US 89 bridge.  We walked under the bridge

then walked the road for 1/4 mile back to the rv park.

The walk was a very nice stroll through changing scenery.  We enjoyed the woods, canyon, river, and meadows, all decorated with many kinds of wild flowers.

We chose this hike for two reason:  the length of the hike and the weather.  We had time to walk in the morning and do laundry in the afternoon when thunderstorms were predicted.  While our clothes were drying a violent thunderstorm was soaking everything outside and covering the parking lot with pebble sized hail.

Next time we hike in Grand Teton.

Louise and Duane

Catch Up

Scattered showers here in Montana made this a good chore day and an excellent day to revisit the park we visited several days last week when we were out of wifi range.  

June 29 we left our rv park in the south west corner of Wyoming at Evanston, and drove north across the state to the northwest corner to explore Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

Grand Teton was formed by tectonic plate movement that raised the sedimentary rock deposited by an ancient sea and dropped the valley floor, forming a large basin now called Jackson Hole.  Erosion formed the peaks into the jagged forms they are today.  

Our first view of the Grand Tetons.

Small bison herd

Beautiful alpine forests

part of Lake Jackson

At the north end of the park we encountered dead lodgepole pines from the fire of 2015--very sad.

Fortunately we drove back into healthy forest on our way out of the park to our campground at Flagg Ranch, 5 miles north of Grand Teton and 2 miles south of Yellowstone.  It was here that we lost wifi and most of our cell service.

Next day Eagle took us for a leisurely ride from north to south through Grand Teton.  We took US 89 to Grand Teton Road, retracing our ride from the day before.

The mountains reflected in Lake Jackson 

and Glacier Peak reflected in Lake Jenny.

sagebrush meadow

At the south end of the park we left the Grand Teton Park Road and took US89 back through the eastern part of the park.  We stopped to explore the Cunningham Cabin Historic Site. 

J. Pierce and Margaret Cunningham and 97 other settlers cattle ranched here in the Snake Valley until John D. Rockefeller Jr convinced them to sell out to his Snake River Land Company.  Along with their ranches, Rockefeller later donated an additional 33000 acres to the federal government for Grand Teton National Park.

 Pierce Cunningham lived in this two room dogtrot style log house until he completed his ranch house where his wife joined him to live on the ranch..

view from the cabin of the mountains with the Snake River running at their feet

After learning our history and poking around the property admiring the hand-dug

irrigation system,

we headed home, getting another look at the bison herd as we flew north.

Next, further travels in Grand Teton.

Louise and Duane

We're Back!

After spending a week with no wifi and intermittent cell signal in the Flagg Ranch campground between the northern border of Grand Teton National Park and the southern border of Yellowstone National Park, we are once again fully electronically connected.  We left the campground this morning for our move to Gardiner, MT for a week.   Our route led north through the entire length of the western half of Yellowstone.  

The park was packed with tourists.  It took us 20 minutes to crawl along the 2 miles between the campground and the southern Yellowstone entrance.

Once through we drove through backed up traffic and vehicles lining both sides of the road at each major attraction:  Old Faithful (not visible from the road), the upper, middle, and lower geyser basins.

travertine terraces, Mammoth Hot Springs (also not visible from the road).

Travertine is a chalk-like substance made from the interactions of water and limestone.

All of the most popular pull-off attractions like Biscuit Basin and trailheads like Fairy Falls also had their share of traffic.

Between these attractions we drove through beautiful alpine meadows forests, accompanied by the Snake, Firehole, Gibbon and Gardiner Rivers, all beautiful clear mountain waterways, alternating between rugged canyon rapids,

and placid meadow streams.

Traffic grew less the further north we went

until we reached the north park entrance at the Mammoth Hot Springs Albright Visitor Center area.  

All was well, though, we amused ourselves by watching an elk herd browsing in the area, ignoring all the people and traffic.

Once through the town, we drove down 5 miles of 6% grade

to the North Entrance and the Roosevelt Arch which stands on the border between Wyoming and Montana.

From there was a short hop to Gardiner and the rv park where we parked next to our friends Brock and Leola for the next week,

but that's another story.

Louise and Duane