Jackson Hole, Grand Teton & Yellowstone

by ccue on September 26, 2022

A friend offered a week of Four Seasons resort in Jackson Hole, a place inside the Grand Teton National Park. Together with the Yellowstone National form, it forms the greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It has been over two decades since we last went to the Yellowstone and Grand Teton areas.

National parks are places to be as Covid is still active. As we spent our week in the parks, it was apparent that there has not been much international travel going on. We hardly noticed any tour bus along the way, we hardly noticed any tourists from Asia.

In Wyoming, we were often among the very few who put on the masks. The caution has not helped, and a few days upon our return, Covid-19 finally has fallen on us.

Day 1 – Arriving in Jackson Hole

Jackson hole is a short flight from San Francisco. As the plane landed at the small airport, we were treated with the 5000 ft view of the lakes and the mountain ranges. We walked from the tarmac to the small airport building which offered a relaxed ambience but not much else. We picked up our bear spray rental as well as the car rental.

The Four Seasons Resort is a luxurious ski resort in winter, and an expensive place for weddings, events or simply mountain biking in summer months. It is a beautiful place to be in, with restaurants and small shops within walking distance.

We tried the Bison steak at the nearby Osteria restaurant. Bison tasted like beef with a subtle sweet flavor.

Day 2 – Yellowstone NP

Yellowstone is about 2 to 3 hours of drive from the resort. There are various vista points along the way including turnouts and lake views.

Glacier View turnout and Teton point turnout offer the grand view of Grand Teton and the Teton mountain ranges. Grand teton looks grand and distinct.

Grand Teton NP is picturesque and cozy. On the other hand, Yellowstone NP has history and over a millions of acreage. It has a lot of things to offer, from geysers to wildlife, to outdoor activities.

We arrived at Yellowstone NP around lunch. NP is not a place for gourmet, we had simple hot dogs and soups. We did a small hike up the Old Faithful observation points and admired the geysers in the areas.

Grand Prismatic Spring is beautiful, but so crowded with people at the observation points. Our pictures turn out to be not even close to the pro shot typically found in postcards.

Day 3 – Amangani

Our energy level was good. We jogged at the Valley Trail, along the right outside of the resort, to the Grand Teton NP. It is quiet, lush and beautiful, with a nice view of the Valley down below. The trail is along the ski lift, which remains open during the summer months, for the mountain bikers.

Our main attraction of the day was the lunch at the Jackson Lake Lodge and dinner at Amangani. The Pioneer Grill inside the Jackson Lake Lodge is an old-time American casual diner with happy waiters/waitresses, serving customers at a number of long tables. We enjoyed the ambience and felt that we were back in the 60s.

After sampling Cotton Bay,Leeks Marina, and Signal Mountain Lodge, Jenny Lake, we swung by Jackson downtown, and had a serving of the delicious huckleberry ice cream at the Moo’s.

Amangani is an expensive hotel with fine dining, at the top of the hill, and offers a magnificent view overlooking the valley and mountain ranges miles away. There are not that many hotels with that breathtaking view. We watched both the sunset, a “special bear” appearance among the bushes, and enjoyed the dinner.

It was dark as we got out of the restaurant. We were alert at night after so much caution about animals crossing the road in the area,

Day 4 – Safari Tour

We woke up before sunrise to join the Four Season Safari Tour from 6:30am to 11am. The Tour is not cheap but often the tour guide can share stories that we normally do not hear about.

We spotted a variety of wildlife including mule deer, moose and her calf, elk, antelope (pronghorn?), bear and herd of bison; and learned about the interesting story of the bear 399 and her daughter bear 610 in the area. We did not see bear 399, but did spot a black bear along the road.

After lunch at the Mangy Moose in Teton village, we hiked a short 3.9 Taggart Lake Loop and finished the day with dinner at the Kitchen at Jackson.

It was a long day and we were tired.

Day 5 – Yellowstone NP

We woke up before sunrise again, to drop our friend at the airport. With such an early start, we decided to visit Yellowstone NP again.

We stopped at the Signal Mountain Lodge inside Grand Teton NP, and were greeted with a waiter with the most unwelcome look. We suspected that he may be the son of the owner, and the lodge was running a losing business, with very low water level at the Jackson lake right outside the lodge. The breakfast is fine.

We stopped by the Sulfur Calderon. It was hot around the hot springs and we spotted a number of bison. They are huge animals with size probably larger than a full grown lion. If you want to spot more bison, Hayden Valley is the place to go. We drove by Hayden Valley and there were hundreds of them, and on our way back, we spotted them running and crossing the river. It was quite a scene.

The main attraction of the day was the Yellowstone Canyon area. The Yellowstone Canyon is not as grand as the Grand Canyon, but it offers a much more picturesque look with the upper & lower waterfalls, especially from the Artist Point. It is a must-go place when you visit the Yellowstone NP.

There were too many places in Yellowstone, so we could not afford the time to do a long hike.

We visited the Lake Yellowstone Hotel at dusk. It is a very classic hotel, with live piano performance, and a view of Yellowstone Lake. The luxurious ambience feels like the Titanic (before it sank).

Yellowstone is famous for wildlife. It did not disappoint, we spotted two mooses, herds of Bison at the Hayden Valley, two male elks, a lone coyote and a family of Grizzly bears.

Day 6 – Four seasons

Rest and relaxation at the resort was the way to be after two long days.

Day 7 – Grand Teton Jenny Lake

We took a boat ride across Jenny Lake, did a short hike of 2.5 miles, and finished with a dip in the ambient water in Jenny Lake. There were tons of berries along the way (the thimbleberry, and probably some huckleberries), and we spotted a bear cub swimming in the lake, some white tail deers, and a moose calf.