A Very Sparse Drive Through Wyoming

After a quick pop-in visit to the Grand Tetons, we had to get crackin’; our next stop was the Denver area, and at the rate we were going, we wouldn’t arrive until 11pm. Just south of the mountains, we found ourselves in the way cool-looking resort town of Jackson, famed for amazing snow sports, restaurants, and celebrity residences. Again, we couldn’t linger long, we had to get into Colorado, but what we saw, we liked. This town is definitely on our list of places to get back to, especially in the wintertime for some snowboarding.

Then we drove for, like, 10 hours through one of the most boring parts of the country, west to east across southern Wyoming. There were thousands of snowdrift “fences” all over the landscape. There are probably more of those wooden structures then people in this state (it is, after all, the state with the smallest population). The only real saving grace of this super boring drive: there are pronghorn all over the place, right near the road in spots.

Pronghorns

The one other notable stop we made was in Pinedale, where we yelped to seek out a coffee shop. However, we were led astray and we walked into a health food store, which ended up being pretty cool: it had a great selection of foods plus an adorable and playful dog that was determined to play fetch with us as soon as we walked through the door. Of course we obliged. At one point while Kristen was talking to the store owner, the dog sneakily stuck the tennis ball into the space between her knees, slowly backing away and waiting for the throw. Apparently the dog was a red heeler, and was raised right there in the store as a tiny puppy. After stocking up on a few roadtripping snacks, we drove down the street to the real coffee shop (and restaurant), Rock Rabbit Coffee & Bistro. Seemed like a pretty cool place for a sleepy town like Pinedale.

Eight hours later, our mission was to find a campsite in the mountains west of Boulder, but (again) we’d neglected to realize that it was Saturday night, so we'd be competing with outdoorsy Boulderites to find a spot. Around 11pm, after driving past three campgrounds with their signs reading “FULL,” we lucked out with a spot just south of Nederland. Fourth time’s a charm, right? So we set up our tent and sleeping bags, burned a tiny fire to basically finish our firewood, and finally got to bed sometime around midnight. Phew, what a long day!

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

The Grand Tetons, french for the big tits (no joke), are so picturesque, so memorable... at least, that’s what we’ve heard. We didn’t have much time to spend wandering and hiking around these stunning mountains, so we had to defer to the guide books on this one. It’s true, the mountain range is indeed spectacular from almost any vantage point, as they abruptly rise out of the fairly flat Wyoming prairie, allowing onlookers to gaze at the mountains in their full glory. But we’re sure it would have been even better close up, on a long hike or a nice boat ride on Jenny Lake. This park is going on the list of places to revisit for longer than a couple of hours.

Binoculartown, USA

From Bozeman, our next official stop was Colorado, and fortuitously our route took us through possibly the most awesome national park, Yellowstone. We’d both spent time here in this amazing place, but few things are as exciting as entering through the Roosevelt Arch and preparing for some inevitable wildlife encounters. Our plan was to enter through the north entrance, wind down the eastern route, and exit out the south gate, stopping along the way to gaze at animals and natural wonders. First stop was at Mammoth Springs visitor center to get the obligatory national park stamp in our dorky passport. As an added plus, the area around the visitors center was surrounded with elk grazing in the grass. The taxidermy wildlife exhibit there is fascinating, and another room held beautiful old black-and-white photos of early Yellowstone explorers. After the short visit, we moved on.

We anxiously peered out the car windows as we drove through the wilderness to our next big stop, Yellowstone Falls, seeing a few lone bison, but not much else. We parked and walked out to Artist Point, one of the best vistas to peep the tremendous waterfall, but it was getting late in the day, and the sun was lowering on the horizon just beyond the falls, obscuring the view in shadow. That was fine by us, because it made for a stunning photo anyway! Looking the opposite direction (with, rather than into, the sunlight) we marveled at the canyon walls’ dozens of layers of colorful sediments.

Yellowstone Falls

Back on the road, we saw a swarm of people with telescopic cameras and high-powered binoculars all looking in one direction. Our first thought: grizzly! We swung the car around and double-parked, eager to catch a glimpse. Loren asked a guy nearby, “What’s everybody looking at?” to which we learned, “Apparently there’s a wolf over there.” We took aim by lining up our telephoto lens and binoculars with somebody else’s equipment, and eventually identified a tiny black blob, laying in the grass just outside the forest, about 3/4 mile away. The usual wildlife-obsessed nerds were at full force, and we overheard one of them say, “Shh! I think it’s howling!”

“There’s a wolf out there?”

Just a few minutes further down the road, we noticed one or two cars pulling over to the shoulder, so we acted fast and followed suit. We jumped out and stood watching a beautiful, calm coyote walking slowly through the tall grass, no more than 50 yards away. Wildlife... can’t beat it.

Coyote

This Yellowstone drive didn’t include any bear sightings, but we managed to see several herds of buffalo, some very close up, before it was all over.

Bison / Buffalo

At this point, it was getting late, and we didn’t think we could get much further towards Colorado, so we decided to camp in Yellowstone for the night. We easily found a site at the southernmost campground, Lewis Lake, enjoyed an enchanting campfire, and turned in for what would be the coldest tent-camping night of the whole trip (bottoming out around 30 degrees Fahrenheit!).

Campfire at Yellowstone

The next morning, we made our way out of the park, winding through the southern stretches which were coated in thick fog. Like nowhere else.