October 2023
The two big highlights from October were a long weekend trip to Yellowstone and Grant Teton National Parks followed later in the month by a visit from my mom and Sam.
I don’t have many pictures from Mom and Sam’s visit, but we had a great time showing them some of the prettiest views, eating some of the best food, and generally enjoying each other’s company. It’s always odd on the few occasions where people have come to visit just how normal it feels to be together while also being a bit of an out of body feeling that our loved ones are actually here in Pootah. Either way, it was great for them to come out and see some of the reasons why we like it here so much.
Yellowstone and the Tetons are only a 4-5 hours drive from Salt Lake, yet we had never made the trip north to go visit them despite going almost as far in the opposite direction to Southern Utah several times. Yellowstone, while unique with its geysers and hot springs and general existence on top of a volcano, was too touristy and smelled like hot rotten eggs. While geologically fascinating, Yellowstone falls into the category of what we call a “one and done” park, which means it was cool but we don’t feel the need to go out of our way to go back again.
For all of the tourists and all of the smells, it was still pretty neat to see all the toxic thermal hot springs, vocal volcanic mud, and through some accidental almost perfect timing, an Old Faithful erruption.
There’s a huge hot spring back there with a boardwalk you can walk around it.
In addition to the hot, stinky volcano mud, Yellowstone also has its own Grand Canyon aptly named The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Just wait until we go to the real Grand Canyon next month.
Please enjoy these videos of hot toxic thermal spring gurgles.
After our day in Yellowstone, we headed to Jackson, Wyoming to spend a couple of days in Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons are legitimately one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my entire life. The mountains are majestic. The elk are majestic. The moose are majestic. The lakes are majestic. The whole experience was so beautiful, so magical, and so serene. We will absolutely be back.
We had big plans to do a 20 mile loop hike that took you around the Tetons from one side to the other. However, recent snowstorms and some guidance from perhaps the most kind and helpful park ranger ever, led us to a different 20 mile out-and-back hike up to a high alpine lake that included a section of the hike we were planning on doing originally anyway.
Let’s also take a moment to talk about the elk rut. In October, the elk are ornery and ready to mate. The males fight over each others’ harems, and they make this crazy noise that sounds like a mix of a cow’s moo and a sheep’s bleat. It’s amazing. We went into the park at sunrise and watched them every morning, herds of 20, 30 elk doing their thing in the quiet of the morning. It’s cold enough you can see their breath. I wish I could spend every morning like that. I could do a whole separate elk appreciation post, but please enjoy these photos and videos as much as I enjoy elk.
That blob would be a bison.
Despite being on high alert for bears, we didn’t see any this trip. This was nice because no bears, but also a little disappointing because we wanted to rip off the bandaid of seeing a bear so it would be less scary in the future.
Lake Solitude
The name was fitting too. We had the whole lake to ourselves up until we were about to pack up and leave anyway. The pure silence was amazing.
Our last night in the Tetons we parked at one of the scenic overlooks and had picnic dinner and watched the sunset.
There was one morning that fog was so bad you could hardly see to drive.
How many different times of day can you photograph the Tetons? The limit does not exist.
On the drive back to Salt Lake we got stuck in sheep traffic where legitimate cowboys on horses and sheep dogs were moving this herd of sheep down the road from one farm to another somewhere in Wyoming or Idaho. It was quite unexpected and a great surprise end to the trip.
