Vacation Day 7

This morning I left Yellowstone around 9:30am after grabbing breakfast ($15 for a breakfast burrito!?). Thankfully I had an easy drive from the north entrance to the south entrance. Toward the south entrance, there were a few spots I hadn’t seen before so I stopped one last time and took a few pictures.

I stopped at one of the turn-offs as the view coming over the mountain was too good to pass up. This is the beginning of Grand Teton National Park coming from the north.

I had quite the frightening experience after I got back on the road. I was the only one on this stretch of road and all of a sudden, there’s a brown grizzly bear running at/with my truck full speed from the left side. The speed limit here was 45mph, and he was running the same speed. I slammed on the brakes as everything in the seats flew into the floor, he came within 2-3 feet of hitting my front tire, looked over and finally saw me, then took off back the way he came. He didn’t slow down a bit. My heart was sure racing!

Next I went to Lakeshore Trail at Colter Bay on Jackson Lake. It was an easy 2.39 mile hike that went around the shoreline and had some great views.

Next up was Oxbow Bend Overlook right on the highway.

After this, there was a stop I hadn’t planned on at Elk Ranch Flats Turnout, but there were a lot of cars there, so I figured I should stop. The wood fencing made for a great foreground subject against the mountains.

Right across the road on the opposite side were probably 70+ buffalo grazing in the field.

My next stop was Schwabacher Landing Trailhead. It was an easy 2.6 mile hike.

The trail kept going past this view and I decided to see where it went. It split off in to two paths: one went through a meadow toward the mountains and the other kept going along the tree line. First I took the meadow path.

As I walked the trail, I could just picture a bear leaping out from the trees and tackling me to the ground. I kept making lots of noise and turned on a podcast again since I was the only brave soul going out this way.

I had to cross this stream twice, and thankfully I stayed dry both times due to my cat-like balancing.

The end of the trail brought me here, where the river flows by and gives a different look at the mountains.

I tried following the other trail, and it seemed more suited for a bear attack than the meadow trail. Eventually I lost the trail as it turned into river rocks and it wasn’t clear which way I should go, so I turned around and headed back.

Walking back, I was stopped by an American family that asked where the trail went. I told them they should follow the meadow trail and forget about the other one. Then, about half a mile later, a Japanese family stopped me and asked if there was another viewpoint the trail lead to. I told them the same thing and they thanked me and kept walking. I’m not sure why I was the designated tour guide for this trail, but I guess that’s ok. I saved them a lot of walking.

I honestly can’t remember where this last picture was taken. It might’ve been the Snake River Overlook, or one of the many other overlooks that were on this road.

I do like how even if you stop at all the overlooks, you’re going to get a different view of the mountains.

Tomorrow I’m planning a few 4 miles hikes near Jenny Lake, so we’ll see how that goes!