Day 5 of 2019 Western US Tour, July 16, Grand Teton to Yellowstone

Another day full of activities as we were heading from Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone.

Grand Teton Part

Sunrise at Schwabachers Landing

It’s arguably the most enchanting view of Grand Teton National park, when the day’s first ray of light broke through distant horizon and illuminated the snow-crested summits of Grand Teton from velvet pink to metallic gold, with the reflection of winding snake river flowing in tranquil serenity. Not to mention dawn was the time of day that saw lots of animal activities (sadly we ran into none). So despite having to get up at 5 am and brave the bitter cold, I decided to go sunrise watching in Grand Teton National Park.

The three most famous spots for watching sunrise around the park were Schwabachers Landing, Mormon Row and Oxford Bend. Since Oxford Bend was much farther from Jackson (almost an hour of driving), we decided on Schwabachers Landing, which too offered reflection of Snake River.

Parking lot at Schwabacher Landing had space for about a dozen cars, that’s roughly the amount of photograph enthusiasts who were willing to get up early for the perfect shot.

After waiting for about 10 minutes, clouds that surrounded Grand Teton Peak started to glow, ushering in a spectacular day.

Soon after that the peaks of Grand Teton put on a golden glow from the rising sun.

Mormon Row

Since it’s still early in the day with mild lighting and beautiful clouds, I decided to stop by Mormon Row on my way back to hotel.

At this hour at Mormon Row, sunrise spectators had all left, leaving the entire cluster of farmhouses to myself, and the huge span of farmland and surrounding mountains. A typical scene in America’s West where civilization was dwarfed by nature.

After that, I drove back to Jackson and headed straight back to bed, trying to recover myself from such early rising. It wasn’t until 11am that we checked out of hotel, took a stroll around this beautiful town of Jackson while stocking up on some final supplies, before heading out for Yellowstone.

Even without its proximity to Grand Teton National Park, this could be a charming midwestern town.

Since we already visited Western loop of Teton National Park (Teton Park Road) the day before, this morning we would be visiting the Eastern loop (US191) and the few famous turnouts along it, with rising sun towards the East providing the perfect lighting conditions to the mountain ranges on the West.

Teton Point Turnout

Snake River Overlook

This is an overlook along Snake River, made famous by Ansel Adams’ 1942 photograph below, of winding Snake River before soaring Grand Teton peak.

Unfortunately since then trees along Snake River had grown, obscuring most of the Snake River from that previous photo. It looked like this nowadays.

Leaving us only to admire the magnificence of distant mountains.

J.P. Cunningham Cabin

Built in 1888 in the Appalachian style by John and Margaret Cunningham, it’s one of the valley’s few remaining structures from the homesteading era. J Pierce Cunningham initially opposed the expansion of Grand Teton National Park but later became an advocate. He teamed up with neighbor Josiah “Si” Ferrin to write a petition signed by 97 valley rancher who agreed to sell their land to form a “national recreation area”. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.’s Snake River Land Company bought Cunningham’s land and other ranches. Rockefeller later donated over 33000 acres to expand the national park.

After that, we headed for Oxford Bend, passing a few lush ranches, and most amazingly, a cowboy on horseback.

Oxford Bend

Another more photographed place of Grand Teton National Park along the winding Snake River. While last night we only made a brief stop here amid pouring rain, we took a more leisurely stroll here today.

After that, we headed out beyond yesterday’s realm towards Yellowstone.

Jackson Lake Overlook

Despite this overlook being a parallel pullover area on the opposite side of road, it’s still hard to miss. And views of the largest lake in Grand Teton National Park were fabulous as we bid it farewell.

As we made our way towards Yellowstone, the views along changed from endless lush plains decorated with small hills and ranches, to dense forest that had weathered wildfires and still thriving.

Yellowstone Part

Lewis Falls

Our first stop in Yellowstone National Park was Lewis Falls. It might not be the most spectacular waterfall in Yellowstone, it’s definitely the most accessible being just 50 meters off US191. A short hike later one could actually reach the brink of it, though most visitors were pretty content with a selfie from a nearby bridge.

A downside of Lewis Falls was that parking was pretty limited, with most cars just parked on shoulders during our visit.

After that, we took a brief detour to Lewis Lake Boat Ramp and admired the expanse of Lewis Lake, before heading farther North.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

At about 3pm we reached West Thumb Geyser Basin, one of the two places with the most concentration of geysers in Yellowstone (the other one being Upper Geyser Basin near Old Faithful).
It’s also a place popular with visitors and tour buses. Probably due to the Basin’s limited size, its parking lot was almost, but crucially, not full. We would soon learn the next day that finding parking in popular parts of Yellowstone was actually a test of patience.

There were too many geysers in West Thumb Basin. I tried to recover names for most of them, but at the end of day I sort of believed many of them were nameless.

Despite it’s the middle of July, it’s still rather cold in Yellowstone (sometimes with freezing temperature in the night). That’s especially true here in West Thumb Basin with winds from Yellowstone Lake. So I ended up in a unique interpolation pattern, positioning myself close to these geysers and heating myself up with their steam, and staying away from them refreshing myself in the invigorating but cold breeze from Yellowstone Lake, so that I didn’t inhale too much poisonous gas from the geysers. As I recall, that’s interestingly weird.

Having spent a little more than an hour at West Thumb Basin, we headed off for Old Faithful, where our overnight lodge would be. The mountain road from West Thumb Basin to Old Faithful passed through some beautiful forests, and notably, the continental divide.

Old Faithful Inn

Initially constructed over the winter of 1903-1904, Old Faithful Inn was largest log hotel in the world (possibly the largest log structure). A National Historic Landmark and a symbol of the Yellowstone park.

In a tiny corner down its ground floor hung some vintage photos of visitors arriving at Old Faithful Inn with horse-drawn wagons. Now the wagons were replaced with automobiles, but the hotel itself looked as prestige as in the photos.

During the day (also into night), the lobby of Old Faithful Inn was always bustling with crowds in admiration, with higher floor balconies seated with souls in chat or at rest. A violinist occupied a corner on the second floor, a perfect place for those seeking peaceful meditation amid clamorous air. A last stronghold of civilization among miles of wilderness.

After having decided to visit Yellowstone over the summer, I had been refreshing Yellowstone’s lodging page ever now and then hoping to find some newly released hotel rooms (it’s free cancellation beyond 30 days so many booked speculatively and then cancelled). Incredibly only a few weeks later I found a vacancy at Old Faithful Inn West Wing, and without hesitation I snatched that.

It turned out that West Wing was added to Old Faithful Inn in 1927 (East in 1913), so it’s not the original log structure (and I doubt it’s wooden at all). On the good side, this is “premium” room with more amenities from this century.

After checking into this historic Old Faithful Inn and still with time left till Old Faithful Geyser’s next eruption, we headed for a nearby convenience store for dinner.

And after that, we watched an eruption of Old Faithful Geyser, which was unfortunately a few minutes late, leading to some quite anxious waiting.

First Eruption of Old Faithful Geyser

Arrays of benches surrounded the southern rim of Old Faithful Geyser, which during peak summer season weren’t nearly enough. On the good side, there was still plenty of boardwalk (and gravel ground behind that) left.

It’s beyond words watching the power of nature at play here.

Hill Overlooking Old Faithful

After that, I figured there was still time left till sunset, so I went to explore a few geysers on Upper Geyser Basin, together with an observation point on a small hill overlooking Old Faithful.

The trail to Observation Point was only 700 meters long (80 meters elevation gain), passing through some forestry landscape. Technically that’s bear country so caution should be exercised.

And at the summit, stunning views of Upper Geyser Basin with skies in vivid colors preceding sunset.

After that, I headed along another trail in forest towards Solitary Geyser.

Solitary Geyser probably got its name from its remote location that invited few visitors. Otherwise judging by its size and its eruption frequency, it should be more popular, even at this time of day near dusk.

In 1915 a pipe was used to tap water from this hot spring and lowered its water level by 3 feet. The calm spring became a geyser erupting every few minutes afterwards. Although the pipe was removed and the former water level restored, geyser activity continues.
Solitary Geyser erupts about 4 feet every 5 to 7 minutes.
Source: Information board nearby.

As I walked back towards Old Faithful Inn I passed one branch of Upper Geyser Basin.

And the steaming clouds from the cluster of geysers were adding traces of magic into the air. Given that few people still hang out at this hour, it felt like one was walking in misty heaven.

Second Eruption of Old Faithful Geyser

Just as I was about to cross Firehole river again, it happened to be eruption time of Old Faithful Geyser and that I found a bench by Sulphide Spring. This time it was closer to dusk and low-lying clouds had dispersed, so photo-wise there’s better contrast between steam from geyser and background skyline. A downside was that this time I was farther away from Old Faithful (250 meters compared with 100 meters from surrounding benches to Old Faithful Geyser), so it was a small struggle for my 120mm camera as I had to crop the photos.

Then it was almost time for sunset, and about time to end a rather long day.
END

Day 5 of 2019 Western US Tour, July 16, Grand Teton to Yellowstone by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.