Our drive to Moran, Wyoming from Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho brought us to Flagg Ranch Campground from the south. That meant the last ninety minutes of our drive was North US 191 – a slow moving road right through the heart of Grand Teton National Park that offered endless wildlife viewing to the right and a stunning view of the Teton range to our left.
Flagg Ranch is the only National Park campground we stayed out during our trip. National Park campgrounds offer the luxury of staying on National Park lands, often inside the park. Flagg Ranch held nightly lectures with park guides and naturalists. My 10 yo and I attended a “Grand Teton National Park: Conservation and Controversy” (ooooh….) talk our second evening there. We learned about the long and difficult road traveled to Grand Teton being granted National Park status in 1929, and the role John D. Rockefeller played in that saga, resulting in the land and road Flagg Ranch sets on being named after him. And we learned why Flagg Ranch is spelled with two g’s – I’ll sum it up quickly by jumping up on my soap box and screaming: “explicit and structured phonics matters, people!”
Reserving that luxury of National Park proximity that National Park owned and run lodging offers, however, is not an exercise for the faint of travel heart. Accommodations typically open for reservations 6 months in advance, and if you log on to reserve lodging five months and twenty-nine days out from your stay, you’ll likely be shut out.
Mike set a reminder in his phone, and our countdown to Flagg Ranch campground reservation day was treated like a holiday in our house. We reserved our site for five nights, and the location was well worth the worry and planning. Flagg Ranch campground sits directly between the northern entrance of Grand Teton National Park and the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. One campground, two epic National Parks, and four full days to explore.
Day One in Grand Teton National Park
We actually split up our four days, spending days one and three in Grand Teton and days two and four in Yellowstone. The two parks may be neighbors, but they are wildly different which made our four days of exploring all the more interesting and, at times, surreal.
On our first day exploring Grand Tetons National Park, we left our site early and headed to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center. We had read and heard that the Jenny Lake parking area typically fills by 9 am every day. Though we departed early, we had an unplanned stop to view an enormous elk, and the lot was already full when we pulled in just before 9 am. We were lucky enough to get roadside parking on the entrance road, making our walk to the Visitor Center really no farther than many of the parking spaces.
We donned all of our hiking gear and headed straight to the Jenny Lake boat dock where we bought four round trip boat tickets that would allow us to hike Hidden Falls to Inspiration Point Trails and as much of the Canyon Trail as we’d like without the first two and a half miles that would be added if we chose to hike around the lake.
While waiting for our boat to arrive, a cinnamon black bear walked right by the boat launch! The people waiting in line for tickets, closest to the bear, pressed themselves against the railing while all of us feeling a little more safe on the boat dock clamored for a better view. The bear was undeterred. He moseyed through some bushes, waded across the shallow end of the lake and made his way up into the wilderness on the other side. I can imagine him telling his friends later in his most dramatic and annoyed voice, “ugh, I am beat! I hiked around the lake today because the line for the boat was ridiculous. When will tourist season be over?” He wasn’t a grizzly (thank goodness!), but the boys were both still thrilled with our bear sighting.
Our hike on the Hidden Falls trail was beautiful, but so busy. After weeks at this point of having so many beautiful places nearly completely to ourselves, the packed trails felt a little deflating. When we reached the top of the trail, the view was beautiful, but it was also of Jenny Lake below and the side of the park opposite the Tetons, so – no mountain views. Whether it was my mood, the crowds, weeks of travel taking its toll, or some combination of reasons, Grand Teton NP was ranking at the bottom of my list that morning.
I kept my marginally negative thoughts to myself, and I’m glad I did, because Mike and our 10 yo were in awe. They decided to hike out the Canyon trail for a bit, while our 7 yo and I headed back to the boat for our return trip. Our Canyon Trail hikers saw a moose on their hike, elevating their rating of Grand Teton even higher, and our 7 yo spent his time waiting for their return playing in the clear, cold water of Jenny Lake. Three out of four of us ranked Grand Teton near, if not at, the top of our favorites list.
Back at the Visitor Center we changed into dry clothes and shoes, picnicked, and attended a naturalist talk on bears where we learned a lot about the differences between black bears and grizzlies.
For the afternoon we headed south to Jackson Hole to….drumroll…….get our oil changed! Adulting truly never ends, and when putting over 8,000 miles on a vehicle over a 40-day road trip, the oil needs to be changed.
We made the most of it by window shopping around historic, quaint Jackson Hole afterward. We considered getting our old time family photo taken there, but decided against it based on price and limited backgrounds. We also considered sticking around to attend the dinner theater showing of the musical “Oklahoma” at the Jackson Hole Playhouse, but decided against that based on time. We had a ninety minute drive back to Flagg Ranch and an early start to Yellowstone planned for the next day.
We DID enjoy the daily town shoot-out show and get an ice cream cone. Paired with our window shopping AND crossing the oil change off of our to-do list, our time in Jackson Hole may not have been the most exciting hours ever spent there by a family, but it was a win for us.
Grand Tetons Day Two
We spent the majority of our second Flagg Ranch stay day dedicated to exploring Grand Tetons National Park outside of the park and fishing! All of our fishing efforts on the entire trip thus far had been a complete bust, and we were all itching to catch just one West coast fish – preferably a cut throat trout!
We came up completely empty handed again, went back to our campsite to relax for a bit, and headed for a late afternoon and sunset visit to the Grand Tetons.
It’s becoming more than a coincidence to me that many of our most memorable National Park experiences happen in the very early morning, our the sunset/twilight hours. Our evening second trip into Grand Teton National Park was no exception. After making the drive down Pilgrim Creek Road in a hopeful (but failed) attempt to catch a glimpse of famous Grizzly 399 and her brood, we headed to Jackson Lake for a sunset hike of the lake loop trail.
And….wow. Breathtaking is an understatement. The views were so magnificent that I couldn’t stop taking pictures, even though I knew that none of my snapshots could do the natural beauty and ounce of justice. After hiking, we headed to a public access of Jackson lake where we relaxed on the beach and took in more of the stunning views while our oldest played catch with a group of new friends, and our youngest swam in the chilly water until the sun set behind the Teton range.
By the time we left the shore of Jackson Lake, well into the dark of night, all four of us were ranking Grand Teton National Park pretty high on our list of favorites.
