Grand Teton National Park

After spending two days in Yellowstone, we went to Grand Teton for a couple of days. Grand Teton is just an hour or so south of Yellowstone.

Although Yellowstone is so much larger, Grand Teton can certainly hold it's own with it. We stayed in a "tent cabin " in Colter Bay Village on Jackson Lake inside the park. Those of you who don't tent camp would be appalled by the accomodations, but for those of you who do, these tent cabins are a terrific deal. About $60 a night, basically they are a concrete floor, with two walls of wood and two walls of canvas, with a canvas roof and canvas covered deck. There are two fold down bunk beds (bring your own sleeping bags), a couple of shelves, an indoor wood stove, outdoor fire ring and bear box. There are shared flush toilets, with pay showers a little bit away. It's basically a little step up from tent camping. There are also conventional cabins for those who like it a little more comfortable.

There is also a marina on Jackson Lake where you can rent various types of boats, an activity center to sign up (for a fee) for fishing, rafting, horseback riding and lake cruises. The resort also has a regular campground and RV campground, a restaurant, cafeteria, grocery store and gift shop. These are all run by a concessionaire.

At Colter Bay, there is also a great visitor center, run by the National Park Service, with all kinds of hikes and activities as well as a pretty nice Indian Museum.

But enough about the amenities: the star of the show is the park itself. The view of the mountains can't be beat, it's what draws many first time visitors to the park. The park didn't feel crowded to us the way some others did (Grand Canyon, Redwoods, even Glacier). To us, it felt a little more wild than Yellowstone, but a bit more accessible than Glacier.

Weather was sunny and cool during the day, in the 60s, maybe low seventies, and it was cold at night, in the low 30s, maybe a little colder (and this is mid-August mind you).

The park has several historical sites to capture the lives of the European settlers from a century ago, and, as we said, has a really nice Indian museum to give visitors an understanding of the native people who were there first.

Mike fished on the Snake River and caught some cutthroat trout (he let them go again). While fishing, he also saw some otter pups - (once the otters arrived, though,that was the end of the fish). We saw bald eagles, elk and, some moose during our stay.

The girls just loved the tent cabins and were especially excited to see the moose.

Above are pictures of the mountains, our tent cabins and a photo of a moose with her calf.