Sunday, October 9th. Everything in Yellowstone shuts down. Our campground is closing for the season. There are some dispersed camping options, but nothing for us with our trailer. We were very fortunate to find a campground in between the North Entrance to the Tetons and Yellowstone's South Entrance that was closed but allows boondocking. They turn off electricity and water, but do not lock the gates to the campground. One of the challenges on this trip has been finding promising gas stations or camping areas online that don't quite measure up in real life.
This was one of those times.
We knew the road leading to the campground was dirt. However, what Google Maps didn't show is the TERRIBLE potholes and narrowness. Once we committed to this road, there was no turning back. As we drove, bouncing around, listening to tree branches scrape the trailer, we kept our fingers crossed that no one would be trying to drive out from the campsite. This road had room for one car only!
Then came the river.
We stopped fully to consider our options. Before us was a shallow river with long concrete rectangles laid out on the riverbed for cars to drive over. The concrete slabs had about an inch of space between them and were very uneven. There was no space to turn around. Our only feasible option was to move forward, very carefully and slowly. So we did.
We made it through safely and set up camp. Despite the road, we did like the campground. We found a nice spot! After set up we ate a quick lunch and headed out to Colter Bay for a hike. We did a 10 mile hike to Hermitage Point which had a nice view at the point (we saw wild otters swimming in Jackson Lake!) but we wouldn't recommend it. Of those 10 miles, 95% was through trees and had no view. It didn't feel 'worth' the effort of all the miles, especially comparing it to our Jenny Lake hike the next day.
We both had Monday off as a company holiday, so we used the day to do another hike in Grand Teton National Park. For this one, we did the loop around Jenny Lake, at the foot of the mountains. It is a beautiful hike with great views of the mountains. The whole loop around the lake is a pretty flat 7.1 miles, with some very strongly recommended side trails up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point that add another 2 miles (and more significant elevation change). You can make it somewhat shorter by forgoing the east side of the lake and not doing a full loop. Finally, there's also an option to continue longer hikes (including overnights) into the mountains by continuing up Cascade Canyon, but we didn't have the time to do those. We highly recommend hiking this area over Hermitage Point. The views were so rewarding and were spaced throughout the hike, which kept us engaged.
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| The Tetons reflecting over Jenny Lake |
Tuesday we both took the day off. We had to drive through Yellowstone to get to our next campsite so we planned on taking the day to sight see. We left the boondock site in the morning with our camper in tow, and got to the Old Faithful area just before lunchtime. We ended up spending a couple of hours walking around the boardwalks. We managed to see eruptions of both Riverside Geyser and Old Faithful, in part thanks to the website https://geysertimes.org/ , which we recommend using if you're visiting. While Old Faithful is more iconic, we found the eruption of Riverside to be more impressive, and lasts for 22 minutes. The downside is that it's a lot less frequent, only erupting every 6-7 hours instead of every 1-2.
From there we hopped over to the Grand Prismatic Spring area and did the short walk around that boardwalk. It's a lot less to see, but still worth the stop. The crater for the Excelsior Geyser is ridiculously big, but its eruptions are incredibly rare. The Grand Prismatic Spring itself has some awesome coloring, though we hear that the view from the nearby Fairy Falls trail is better than the boardwalk view (we just didn't have time for that short hike). When we finished with the hot springs, we headed out of Yellowstone for good, driving a few hours to our next campsite in Townsend, Montana (between Helena and Bozeman).
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| Turquoise Pool |
On Wednesday we got up early and drove to Helena to weight lift at Planet Fitness before starting work (with the National Parks, it had been almost 2 weeks since our last lift). Afterwards we stuck around Helena, working the morning at the Scenic Brew coffee shop and switching to a brewery after lunch. Scenic Brew was a really solid space with good coffee and tea options as well as a variety of breakfast food. Our first brewery stop was Ten Mile Creek, which we enjoyed and had good wifi. We switched to Mt. Ascension for the last few hours of the work day. This spot was newer and has less quirky features than Ten Mile.
The next couple of days we spent just working in the camper. When the weekend came, we went to Bozeman for a Saturday out. We got lunch on the roof deck of Bozeman Taproom and Spirits. The food was good, but the views were great. It's got to be an awesome spot during the summer when the weather is warmer.
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| Great views from the roof of Bozeman Taproom and Spirits |
After lunch we headed over to the Museum of the Rockies. The museum had 3 main exhibit sections. The first was dedicated to local Native American history and culture. The second focused on Montanan frontier history. The third was dinosaur focused, as the Montana area has a large number of fossils. We spent a couple hours working our way through the museum, and would recommend it if in you're in Bozeman.
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| Museum of the Rockies |
After the museum we checked out a pair of breweries close to each other: Mountains Walking and Bozeman Brewing Company, both recommended by the bartender at Ten Mile Creek Brewery. Mountains Walking has a fun selection of beer and non-beer options and their food smelled very tasty. It has a heavy Japonesque influence. Bozeman Brewing was just around the corner and was much more rustic, with that classic, wooden interior and craft brew feel. Again, a good selection of beer.
Everyone we met in Montana so far has been welcoming! We've enjoyed the beautiful scenery and can't wait to see what Missoula has to offer.
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