The Teton Extravagance and the Yellowstone Disappointment

After arriving in the Grand Teton National Park we took a night to plan what we were going to do for the time here. We arrived too late for a campsite so we stayed with Jacob's friend Scott. He suggested a good hike for us to do. After obtaining a permit the next morning we were on our way! We had decided to take two nights out in the Teton backcountry. Our plan was to traverse the paintbrush divide (this may be a part of the continental divide). The first day was very difficult as we hiked about 7 miles and ascended about 4000 vertical feet. We were awestruck the entire time with incredible views and some wildlife. After arriving at the upper paintbrush campsite for the first night we set up the tent and took a nap, both of us were breathing heavy after the slightest exertion. This camping area was picture perfect (just check it out below) and it was at about 9700 ft altitude. There was a glacier pool nearby for us to fill our water bottles. Beautiful, cold water! There was a marmot at the site that Jacob and I named "Stew". This was because we were cooking stew for dinner and he clearly wanted some. He also liked the smells around camp including the "pee spot". A while later we found out there were a lot of them and not just one so all of the marmots were now named Stew.

The second day of hiking was difficult in the morning as we were climbing over the paintbrush divide. We hiked through many patches of snow on the steep slopes and the ranger had recommended that we find walking sticks to help us out which we did and they came in very handy. The view at the top was amazing and Stew was with us all the way. Traveling down the slopes wasn't as demanding but it was hell on the knees and ankles! We travelled down to Solitude lake where we saw a red-tailed hawk that had just caught a fish and he was close enough to us that we could clearly make out the fish in its talons. We went further on to the second camping area called North Cascade. Once again we spotted stew at the campsite. We stayed next to a glacier runoff stream that was perfect for falling asleep next to. We went inside the tent at about 6:30pm after dinner to escape the mosquitos and played cards for a while then went to sleep before the sun was even down. We woke up pretty early and hiked out the third day. The total trip was about 18 miles. We did not see any moose or bears but Stew was there all the time.

Yellowstone -
We took a self-guided tour of Yellowstone the afternoon we returned from the backpacking trip. Jacob and I both determined right away that it was a big disappointment comparted to Teton. We saw some bubbling pools of water and steaming geysers. We saw some bison (no where near as many as at Badlands) and some deer. No bears and no moose. After arriving at the world famous Old Faithful we were thinking that this looks just like Disney World. The parking lot is huge and filled with cars and there are bench seats all around the geyser for the people to watch. There were probably close to 1000 people to watch. And Old Faithful was right on time, we got some pictures and left before the crowd could get to there cars. There was also a lot of construction on the roads in Yellowstone that wasted a lot of time.

By the way the license plate count is up to 48. We found Alaska but we are still missing Rhode Island and Mississippi.