Grand Teton/Yellowstone Next Summer

[MattS]

Hi Everyone,
I do not want to distract from the joys of winter, but I am
thinking about spending a week's vacation time in the Grand Teton
and Yellowstone National Parks next summer (although probably more
focused on Grand Teton). Grand Teton and Yellowstone are almost
right next to each other in the Northwestern part of Wyoming. I have never been there, but it has been on my list for a long time.

Since I did my last vacation alone , it may be nice to go with a
small group of people (maybe 4-5 people). I think I only met a couple of you from VFTT, but since I read these threads a lot, you all seem like nice people so if you are interested, let me know. We should probably meet first (maybe on a hike) to see if we are all compatible with each other before we go on the week's trip. I am a four season hiker, but I have almost no experience rock climbing so my focus will be more on hiking or scrambles although I have not really planned anything yet and am flexible.

Here is more info on Grand Tetons:
http://www.nps.gov/grte/
http://www.grand.teton.national-park.com/

And this link shows some pictures from the Grand Tetons (the reason
why the place interests me)
http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np.grand-teton.html


Also, if you have already been there and have ideas for hikes/places
to visit, let me know too.

Thanks a lot.
Matt

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

I loved the Tetons. This page has pictures and notes from our trip if you are interested:

http://www.pbase.com/pudgy_groundhog/tetons

We did the Teton Crest trail with a scramble up Mt. Woodring, day trip to Yellowstone (saw major highlights like Old Faithful, etc), day hike up Hanging Canyon, and day hiking around Jenny Lake. We saw a lot of wildlife. We did the wildlife caravan with a ranger which was interesting. For sunrise I highly recommend Schwabacher Landing -- awesome!

 

[MattS]

Hey Steve,
Thanks for the pics. They were awesome. Can you suggest any trail or guide book for the tetons or yellowstone? Do you need good compass skills or are the trails easy to follow?
And I glanced through your other photos and noticed you climbed Mt. Temple. I climbed up it last summer too (I think on August 4th). It was an amazing hike with outstanding views. In case you are curious, here are pics from my Canadian Rockies Trip.
http://home.comcast.net/~matthew.smith2/canadianrockies/canadianrockies.html

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

Looks like you had a great trip in the Rockies. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

The books we used for the Tetons:

"Hiking Grand Teton National Park" by Bill Schneider (Falcon Guide)

"A Climber's Guide to the Teton Range" by Leigh N. Ortenburger, Reynold G. Jackson

Our original plans for the trip didn't include Yellowstone, so we didn't have a guide book. We ended up finishing the Teton Crest Trail a day early so we just went to Yellowstone and used the info they give at the park entrance to drive around and see the sights.

In the Tetons, we were mostly on maintained trails. The trail up Hanging Canyon is not maintained, but it was easy to follow. The description of Woodring in the book (Climber's Guide) was sufficient. So everything we did was easy to follow.

I was also going to mention that we went to Lake Solitude on the Teton Crest Trail as part of our backpacking trip, but you can also reach Lake Solitude by day hiking. It was a beautiful spot and I would recommend visiting there if you can (not sure if you are looking at backpacking and/or day hiking).

The bulk of the wlidlife we saw was in the valley and not when we were up in the mountains, so I would allow for some time for wildlife spotting in the valley (the ranger led caravan was good).

Hope that helps!