The Changing Climate of Grand Teton National Park

Our whole weekend was wonderful. We arrived in sun and experienced thunder, lightening, rain, wind and snow all in one weekend. The temperature dropped 40 degrees overnight.We felt honoured to be able to view wildlife in their natural habitat and were overjoyed when we spotted a bald eagle.At every bend in the road and every rise of a hill there is a different wonderful view—the place is so scenic, a photographers paradise.

Quick Tips:

My guidebook advises touring Teton National Park (when starting from the south) counter clockwise to return at the foot of the mountain range. I would advise making Jenny Lake and the boat trip your first stop before it gets busy.Take advantage of restrooms at visitors centres as there are not many in the park. Take snacks and drinks with you. We found it difficult to get sandwiches and coffee. There was a powercut at Jackson Lodge, so no coffee, and at one of the visitors centres the coffee had all gone late in the day.Don't forget cameras and binoculars and keep alert for wildlife. If anyone is parked ask what they have seen—it could be wildlife. Please do not slam car doors when stopping as this scares any animals you may have spotted.Be prepared for changing weather conditions, the temperature can drop very suddenly.Book accommodation in Jackson in advance, especially on weekends. Also make restaurant reservations if you have a particular preference.

Best Way To Get Around:

A car is necessary to tour the area and access Grand Teton National Park, but there are 200 miles of hiking trails in the park.

Situated on Pearl Street, in downtown Jackson a short walk away from Broadway, the main street, 49er Inn & Suites is a motel with outside as well as inside corridors.

On checking in we were upgraded to a fireplace room free of charge, which consisted of two queen size beds, very large fireplace at one end, TV, small fridge, tea/coffee making facilities and bathroom. In place of a wardrobe was a hanging rail with coat hangers, and the room was very large and clean. A pile of logs were outside the door, so we assumed a fire could be lit if necessary.
Our friends were in a similar room across the inside corridor. Both rooms had doors at either end giving access to both inside and outside corridors. Unfortunately, it thundered and lightened in the night and the wind whistled down the chimney noisily.

Hotel facilities include two very large hot tubs—one indoor and one outdoor—fitness room and sauna. Rates are $78-$240, we paid $100 per room.

Complimentary buffet breakfast, consisting of juice, coffee, muffins, boiled eggs, fruit and bread rolls, was served in the Chilli Peppers Mexican restaurant next door. It was somewhat crowded as there was a coach party in at the same time.

Our first night in Jackson we "splashed out" by dining at the Silver Dollar, part of the Wort Hotel. We were lucky to get a table as it was very busy, but this did not affect the service which we could not fault.

There are three parts to the restaurant. One is in the bar with live country music and where there are over 300, 1921 silver dollars inlaid and displayed. This bar is very popular with Jackson, and outlying area residents as well as the tourists, and is especially busy at weekends when there is live entertainment. The second is the Goldpiece Room, a more upmarket restaurant where reservations are required and the third is the Grill where we dined.

For a total of $96 for the four of us, we had four starters, two sirloin steaks at $25 each and one buffalo meatloaf at $18. All three meals came with steamed vegetables. I wasn’t too keen on my buffalo meatloaf–I don’t know if it was guilt at actually eating buffalo, or that it was a little too rich.

The Village Inn is a typical American fast food diner, but unfortunately—it being a very busy Saturday night—was the only restaurant that had vacancies.

The waiter rushed about taking orders, but accomplished very little. First of all there were three of our choices missing from the menu. The soup we ordered to start arrived barely warm, but we ate it. These starter plates were not cleared from the table and we struggled to find room for our main course plates.

I ordered pot roast which was cold on arrival. It was taken away and reheated in the microwave (although I had been promised a fresh meal). The party of eight at the next table were waiting so long for their order, I would have left had I been them. When their meal arrived, the waiter shook the ketchup bottle for them and due to the lid being loose one diner ended up covered in it.

At this point we left, having been given a survey sheet to fill in—no need to say we were not complimentary about this establishment.

The shuttle to Inspiration Point runs every 15 minutes (weather permitting) and costs $7.50 per adult for the round trip. The telephone number is (307) 734-9227.

Our second trip on the boat, one of the first of the morning, was more successful and we landed at Cascade Canyon trailhead, at the other side of the lake safely.

We made our way to the Hidden Waterfall on a broad track that wends its way gently at first up the hillside past fir trees covered in snow (looking like a Christmas card) and small waterfalls as the river makes its way down to Jenny Lake. There are signposts on the way and trails leading off the track. The 200 foot Hidden Waterfall is signposted and set back from the main trail in the woodland (hence its name) and can be heard before it is seen. When it is reached there are seats for you to sit and watch the water—and have a rest!!

Rejoining the main path, the going gets harder and as you glance upwards you notice people seem to be walking on the side of the cliff. At points it becomes quite difficult, with loose stones and the narrowness of the path, which at places is worn smooth and slippery, but when you get to the top the view over Jenny Lake is well worth it. The boat making its way to a fro looks very small from this height.

The descent seems to be worse than the ascent as people are making their way up and have to pass each other on the narrow path. Just before we got to the wider part we heard rustling and as we looked at the rocks there was a golden brown ratlike creature foraging among the crevices. We took photos and on our return at the dock asked what it was and were told it was a Pika. They live in high elevations and in summer collect, dry, and store plants for the winter. They have to beware of weasels and raptors which prey on them.

Before returning to our car, we went to the visitors centre where souvenirs are on sale as well as books, snacks and coffee. There are also restrooms here. There is also a scenic roundtrip on Jenny Lake at a cost of $12 per adult.

Established in 1929, expanded in 1950 and situated in north west Wyoming, The Grand Teton National Park is a 50 mile long valley known as Jackson Hole surrounded by the Teton range, a 40 mile long mountain range. Grand Teton is 13,770 feet high and the range has 12 pinnacles over 12000 feet. The Snake River runs through the park giving advantage for water activities such as Fly Fishing, Kayaking and White Water Rafting.

We entered at Moose Junction, paid our $20 entrance fee (valid for both Grand Teton and Yellowstone for 7 consecutive days) and made our way to Jenny Lake where our first and only full day in the park commenced with the boat trip on the lake. We bought our tickets, boarded the boat, grabbed a blanket each and sat down to wait for the boat to depart.

Immediately it left the dock, we realised how rough the strong wind was making the lake. Spray, it was more like buckets of water, was wetting us through as the boat was tossing about on the water. We were shielding our faces from the water with the blanket and had no idea where we were going as we couldn’t see a thing when after about 5 minutes the boat stopped. When we looked up we realised we had gone back, the journey having been abandoned as being too rough. We all got a refund and vowed to try again the next day.

After this we had to rely on the car and made our way to Signal Mountain which is reached via Signal Mountain Road an offshoot road from Teton Park Road, which climbs for 5 miles to 800 feet. The road is very narrow and winding, but at the top there is a small car park and a short walk to an overlook giving views of Jackson Hole Valley and Jackson Lake and the Teton Range. Due to the wintry day there was a lot of fog about, but we got some beautiful views through the breaks.

Descending back to Teton Park Road we saw a group of people with telescopes, spotting scopes and binoculars at the side of the road and, having read what to do in this case, stopped and asked what they could see. We had binoculars thrust at us and told there was a golden eagle in a tree about a half mile away. We were thrilled when we actually saw it and took photos (although it is hard to spot on camera).

This got us in wildlife mode and with eyes darting everywhere, our next stop was Oxbow Bend where we joined a group of people all waiting hopefully for moose, as they are known to graze in the shallows of the Snake River, but they didn’t appear.
The park is teeming with wildlife and during our first day we saw the golden eagle, a bald eagle, pronghorn and a mule deer.

We didn’t have much luck with food and drinks in the park. Our first try for a coffee was at Jackson Lake Lodge, but there was a power cut so they had no electricity. Later in the day, we managed to find a sandwich at one of the visitor centres, but the coffee had run out.

We made our way back to Jackson, through Teton Village, dominated by the ski slope and aerial tramway (this tramway climbs 4,000 feet in 12 minutes), stopping at turnouts on the way for the scenic views available at every turn in this beautiful park.

Jackson, with a population of 8647, is a tourist town popular with both winter and summer visitors alike. It is renowned for world class skiing and is in a very scenic location on the southern edge of the Grand Teton National Park, which adjoins Yellowstone National Park at the northern end.

A very busy town, with wooden façade buildings and pavements giving the impression of a wild west town, the main feature is the square which has an arch of elk antlers at each of the four corners and in the summer months a mock gunfight is staged. As we were there after Labor Day we missed this event.

There are shops to suit every taste, from souvenir to boutique and designer clothes to outdoor accessories, with a few selling animal related goods, such as mounted bear and elk heads and skins which made us feel we were in a hunting area. There are also galleries which have free wine and nibbles in the evenings for their clients.

There are quite a few restaurants (including Chinese and Indian), many expensive, all were very busy and we walked quite a while before we found one to dine in that evening.

Internet cafes are also available in Jackson for anyone needing to check their email, the charge being $5 for 30 minutes.

The National Elk Refuge is just outside Jackson, but as we visited in summer the elk were high in the mountains. In winter they come down for food and sled trips are available to get closer to them. Overlooking the refuge is Greater Yellowstone Visitor Centre which has a viewing deck with spotting scopes. www.jacksonholechamber.com

On our arrival in Jackson the weather was warm and we were all wearing shorts and T-shirts. It was also warm in the evening, but late that night the wind became quite strong, there was a thunderstorm with torrential rain and in the morning there was snow and the temperature had dropped by 40 degrees. It snowed or rained a lot of the day and we felt lucky that we had seen Jackson and the Tetons in sun, rain and snow.

www.jacksonhole.com