It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Road Trip
NP Roadtrip – Grand Teton & Laramie – Days 146 - 150
Have you ever heard the quote, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”? Keep this in mind when exploring our most popular parks in the summer months. And also, keep a sense of humor. It helps, trust me. As is the case with most popular National Parks, the early bird gets the worm. We have learned (the hard way) that it’s extremely important to show up early in order to get a decent campsite before they fill up for the day. We woke up at 4:00 a.m. to get a spot at Signal Mountain. It actually didn’t fill up until about 10 a.m., but an extra few hours of sleep is not worth the stress of worrying about finding a campsite. And for those of you who are like, “I get up everyday at 4 am because I love mornings and waking up and getting my day started and eating grapefruit and drinking coffee and doing yoga,” and whatever else morning people do…I am not one of those people. A 4 am wake up time is not so easy for me so stop scowling. Right. Now.
Besides securing a spot at a campground, we also needed to take care of an important task on the quick 1 hour drive to Signal Mountain.
A little history: Rewind 6 weeks to when we were on a walking tour of Philip Johnson’s Glass House in Connecticut. About 6 other folks were on our tour, two of them being a young gentleman and his wife with whom we chatted about our trip. Long story short, in the week following the tour, said young gentleman was chatting about @thehoppycamper and I with his friend who happened to be writing an article about the resurgence of the RV industry and its popularity amongst young adults. This friend is a reporter for CNN Auto. This is when I would normally be retyping CNN in ALL CAPS to let you know how BIG a deal this was to us, but CNN is already in ALL CAPS…so let us move on. We were interviewed for the article and now the reporter has requested a photo of us. And THAT is the important task we needed to take care of on the way to Signal Mountain.
If you’ve been with us since the beginning, you’ll know that we have never posted a picture of us on the blog (except a really cute photo of me camping with my family when I was a little girl). After some discussion, we decided to go ahead with the photo, but I won’t post it on the blog. If you look hard on the web, you’ll be able to find it, but not without some “fan-girl” digging. And it is a fabulous picture taken during sunrise, with the glorious Tetons reflecting on the windows of our Safari Condo Alto.
The early morning wake up call paid off, not only on our nice sunrise pic, but also our great site at Signal Mountain. We secured #35, which was an electric hook-up site, close walk to the excellent bathroom (and laundry) facilities, and also close to the convenience store and the lake. The electric hookups weren’t as important during the cooler temperatures, but they are becoming increasingly important as it gets warmer, especially for the dogs. In order for us to be able to explore the parks when it’s getting hotter outside, the dogs need to be able to have AC. They actually enjoy hanging out in the trailer, napping and lounging, but they wouldn’t be able to do that without the cool air. Our private site was surrounded by tall trees and really only saw the sun during the midday hours. It was perfect for all of us!
By the time we got all set up it was still only about 8 in the morning. In lieu of a quick nap we headed straight for the beautiful Visitor Center in Moose. We had a nice time exploring the new digs, or new to us. The last time we visited the Tetons was in 2008 and this building wasn’t constructed until 2011 so it’s about 6 years old. There are some really wonderful displays here, the rangers have some great info on hikes and bear safety, and make sure to check out the art installation outside made up of recycled plastic.
Not the best of pictures, but you get the idea!
After exploring for a while in Moose, we drove straight into Jackson Hole for an early lunch. Everything in Jackson Hole has grown so much, it’s almost unbelievable. There are so many new restaurant options, but we stuck with what we know. For the past 9 years we have talked about how good the food was at Snake River Brewery, so naturally that’s where we ended up for lunch. We checked out the town square and walked around a bit, but decided it was time to head back to camp and relax for the afternoon. Lunch filled our bellies enough to not worry about dinner and we just enjoyed the campfire and explored the grounds of the lake resort while taking in the stunning sunset on the shores of Jackson Lake.
One of the activities we had done on our previous trip was whitewater rafting on the Snake River. It was such a fun experience so we definitely wanted to make time for a rafting trip during this visit. We chose to book with Mad River Boat Trips. They have a great reputation, had the space for us, and the a.m. trip schedule allowed us to still do something fun in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we didn’t have cell service at our campsite and only received a voicemail from them while we were about 5 minutes from the office and 50 minutes to our campsite. They had delayed our departure from 8:45 to 10:45 due to rapid water conditions they deemed unsafe to ride. I would have REALLY loved the extra hour sleep, but no biggie.
While we waited the few hours until our trip, we hit up breakfast at Café Genevieve’s in town. Please check out their history here http://genevievejh.com/history/ as it outlines how Genevieve (who married the builder and lived in the home), along with 4 other women, became elected to town council becoming the first all-woman government in the United States. Fascinating story!
After breakfast we happened to walk by a small little grocery store. I know I’ve said this before, but I am obsessed with small town grocery stores. I LOVE them. We go in every single one I come across and Pearl Street Market did not disappoint. It was a fancy little market with cute hipster lotions and serums, flannel napkins, espresso, and artisanal sausages. It was perfect. We picked up a few things and headed out to Mad River where are next adventure awaited.
As soon as you arrive, your outfitter gets you set up with wetsuits and then you take an old school bus up river about 25 minutes. Our driver pointed out a Bald Eagle nest on the drive so in my best Mom voice, “Keep your lids peeled” if you take this trip. Once there you get life jackets and helmets and more safety instruction. Like, A LOT of safety instruction. It’s definitely a reminder that this is a wild river and you want to be as safe as possible.
Every group is split up into about 10 people. 2 guides and 8 normal tourist folk. As soon as we get in our raft with our guide KC, we quickly figure out that an off-duty river guide and his wife are with us along with a former longtime Mad River guide who is now making wines and cracking lots of jokes in his adopted home of Australia. Tough life, right? Honestly, I just felt like we were in really good hands and also that I had to try my absolute hardest to sync my paddle with the others and listen to KC as he called out instructions. With that many guides in the raft you don’t want to be the weak link.
The ride is glorious. The trees envelop you and the river is raging and you are just in awe of the nature that surrounds you. We even got to see another Bald Eagle amongst the trees from the raft. Our funny guide passengers said that when they are the first raft (traveling in a line of rafts) they love to point up into the trees and then watch all the other boats behind them turn and try to see what they are looking at, but really they’re looking at nothing and laughter ensues. That’s funny stuff! And mean, just plain mean!
The coup de gras of the ride is supposed to be Lunch Counter. It’s the wildest rapid and just plain stupid fun! Immediately after getting through Lunch Counter and screaming and laughing in excitement, we start to notice KC sense something is wrong up ahead. No sooner had this psychological/emotional change happen that he is on the radio talking with someone we can see on the shoreline. In a nutshell, another rafting company overturned in Lunch Counter and are in pretty serious trouble. They have floated down river while holding onto their raft for dear life, relying on their inexperienced guide to lead them to safety. They have found temporary safety stranded on a giant log island in the middle of the river. One of the overturned passengers wasn’t able to hold on to the kayak but thankfully made it to the far shoreline where they were escorted by one of Mad River’s shoreline safety guides. KC (and all the Mad River guides) are trained in swift water rescue and if you are going to get stranded on the Snake River, you want KC to be the very next raft behind you. Not to mention the 3 other river guides who happen to be on our raft. We basically paddled up stream as hard as we could to get to the shivering and stranded family. There was a little boy who was bleeding on his leg, no wetsuit, and an ill-fitting adult size life jacket on. Two adults were with him and one guide. All with no wetsuits and improper gear. When I urge you to choose your outfitter carefully, this is no light suggestion. It can and will save your life. We stayed until they righted their raft and made sure they made it to shore where a swift water rescue speed boat was just about to be put into the water. The rest of the little boy’s family was waiting ashore, and it was heartbreaking to see how nervous and relieved everyone was. It could have gone much different, but I’m so glad it ended up with just some minor scrapes and bruises.
Click here to check out the Mad River Boat Trips website
By the time we made it back to the Mad River office it was such a gorgeous sunny day so we rounded out our exciting day with a celebratory margarita and chips and salsa on the outdoor patio at Hatch Taqueria and Tequilas. This is much different weather than we experienced the last time we were in Jackson Hole when it snowed in June! Eating outside was a welcome and glorious decision! We headed back to camp, did some much-needed laundry and played with the dogs.
The following morning we set out early to hike up Cascade Canyon. This hike was recommended by the rangers at the Visitor Center. We stopped first at the camp store where we armed ourselves with bear spray and got a lesson in how to deploy it if necessary. The hike starts out with a boat ride across Jenny Lake where they let you off at a dock and can choose any number of paths and hike lengths. Cascade Canyon follows a zig-zag trail straight up until you get to the valley in between Mt. Owen and Mt. St. John. It’s challenging, but not overwhelming. You can turn around at any time and head back down, but the beauty of the trail will make you want to go to your absolute limit. We hiked almost 9 miles up and back, and saw waterfalls, creeks, ponds, a marmot, and countless beautiful meadows, rocks, etc. It was one of my most favorite and treasured hikes of the trip.
After the hike we were pretty exhausted, so both of us wanted some chill out time with the dogs in the sunshine. Signal Mountain has a marina, store, restaurant, lodge, etc. We grabbed a few beers and hung out with the dogs just outside the camp store where there was good internet. I wrote in my journal while G planned some later parts of our trip. We may have been skunked by large wildlife on our hike, but we got to see a larger than life human being in the flesh which almost made up for no bears or moose. Blake Griffin, the 6’10” power forward for LA Clippers (now Detroit Pistons) was in a small refrigerated room in the camp store picking out beer with none other than my husband. Not awkward at all! He was going on a boat with his friends the day before he signed a contract with the Clippers. G comes out to the outdoor area and tells me about his sighting so I immediately run in and have my own celeb sighting. Now we can both say we’ve seen Blake Griffin in the most random of places, Signal Mountain, Wyoming buying Coors Light beer.
That night I cooked (hipster) Chicken Cordon Bleu, purchased from the uber chic Pearl Street Market the day before and paired it with Girl Scout Pistachio Brussels Sprouts. We had a campfire and watched the sunset and cherished our last night in one of our favorite places we’ve ever visited.
Before leaving for Laramie the next morning, we decided to have one last meal in Jackson and stopped at the super popular (and new to us) Persephone Bakery. Breakfast was so good that we decided to order to go lunch sandwiches to eat on the ride South. Persephone makes their own Nutella. It has 6 ingredients and you can pronounce every single one of them. And it is amazing. That’s all I need to say about that place.
We arrived in Laramie just as the sun was about to go down. And what is today? Today is Pride Day. We decide to ride our bikes into town to go to the Matthew Shepard Memorial Bench located on the University of Wyoming’s campus and get there just as the last light of day leaves the sky. The bench is strewn with flowers and letters and heartfelt messages. I’m not sure if flowers are always placed here, but today, on Pride Day, people have honored his memorial. And I am glad we decided to stop by and pay our respects.
