Episode 44 | Grand Teton National Park to Old Faithful, WY
Day three. Or morning three. I was starting to lose track, which is honestly a good sign.
Becca was in. The crew was complete. We’d kicked off her arrival the night before with that ridiculous sunset over the Tetons, the sky going full orange and violet while we stood in the airport parking lot with our mouths open. As an opening night for a Wyoming trip goes, you’re not going to do much better than that.
This morning we were up early, coffee in hand, wandering back toward some of the spots Denise and I had scouted the day before. One of the things I love about revisiting a place is how different it looks in different light. The Tetons don’t look the same twice. The clouds had shifted overnight, the morning was cool and clear, and everything had that particular freshness that comes right after a system moves through.
We stopped at a pulloff along the way where the sage was thick and the smell of it in the morning air was something I wanted to bottle. Becca had her film camera out and was shooting her own version of the trip, which I respected. We wandered the paths down from the parking lot, taking in the view from a few different angles, and I let myself just look for a while without trying to compose anything. Sometimes that’s the move.
The Horse Ride
I had come fully prepared to document the horseback ride. Action cam mounted on the harness, angles scouted, ready to go. Then I saw the sign. No video during the ride.
I stood there for a moment, weighing my options, and decided the sign was probably there for a reason. So I took the camera off and left it behind.
It ended up being the best decision of the day.
When you’re not looking through a lens, you’re actually somewhere. We rode through meadows, into the forest, across streams, the three of us in a small private group with the Tetons eventually opening up ahead of us in a way that made the whole ride feel like it was building to something. Which it was. My horse was named Rooster. We had a moment. I’d describe it as mutual respect at low altitude.
The view from the top was one of the best of the whole trip. You’re on horseback, you’re slightly above the tree line, and the Grand Tetons are just there, filling the frame in a way no camera angle I could have set up would have captured anyway. Some things you just have to experience with your eyes.
I was sore for the rest of the day. And most of the next day. Nobody mentioned sunscreen until it was too late.
Lunch at Jackson Lake, Then North
After the ride we found a spot for lunch with Jackson Lake in front of us and the Tetons behind. There are worse places to eat a sandwich and try to walk normally again.
From there we headed north toward Yellowstone, bound for the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. The drive up through the park is one of those routes that makes you feel genuinely lucky to be on it. We crossed the Continental Divide not once but three times, which is a quirk of Yellowstone’s topography that I found both impressive and slightly disorienting.
Along the way, the evidence of the 1988 Yellowstone fires was still visible in the standing charred timber scattered across the hillsides. That fire burned roughly 36% of the park’s acreage. What’s interesting is what came after it. The new growth coming up through the burned areas is thick and green and full of life. Ecosystems know what they’re doing, even when it doesn’t look like it.
Old Faithful, Briefly
We arrived at the Snow Lodge exhausted and slightly sunburned, to find it partially under construction. The details of that particular experience will keep until the next episode. What I will say is that it involved more noise than expected.
Despite all of that, we made our way out to watch Old Faithful do its thing in the last light of the evening. The geyser lit up by golden hour, steam catching the last warm light before the sky went dark. It was a good way to end a long day.
Then we went to bed. My head hurt. Other parts of me hurt more. Good night, Wyoming.
