Bozeman, Jackson, Yellowstone and Grand Teton

So Bozeman was starting to grow on me when I left. Both of the CSers I was trying to meet for a beer weren't able to make it out so I was left to chat it up with random locals. I wound up staying at the Bozeman Backpacker's Hostel, which was a pretty neat place. The two kids "managing" the place weren't very friendly and it wasn't much of a social experience since it's the off-season. There was a really strange 40 something guy staying there who clearly needed treatment for depression. There were apparently some girls from Alaska staying there also, but the only signs of them I saw were all the empty wine bottles laying around downstairs when I left in the morning. I was the only one staying in my bunk room, so I didn't bother anyone leaving at 6AM.

Bozeman is a pretty cool town. Super bike friendly, perhaps the most bike friendly of the places I've been. There is a huge food coop, so there wouldn't be any food issues. The more I was there the more it felt like Boulder, and the prices seemed like I was in Boulder. Bozeman might have been an option five years ago, but since I would like to own a home again within a year it probably isn't going to do.

The drive from Bozeman to Jackson goes right through Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I hit Yellowstone just as the sun was coming up. I uploaded some pictures from Yellowstone which are worth looking at. This could be a twenty page summary of the day, but I will shorten it to the following highlights:
Elk wandering around in Mammoth Hot Springs
My second Discovery channel experience of the year: A grizzly defending his elk carcass against four wolves. This scene was 100-150 yards away so the pictures aren't great. The pictures of the wildlife paparazzi that had assembled for the scene are even better.
I wanted to do some solo hiking adn the first place I considered was to grizzly lake, which I reconsidered and didn't do. I was warned by two different rangers about hiking alone, so I didn't cover a lot of ground alone.
The Disney-like scene at Old Faithful which I was embarrassed to be a part of.
My shortened hike to Shoshone lake
A short hike to a waterfall near the end of the park.

I drove through Grand Teton without stopping since I knew I would be back the following day. There were clouds cover the Tetons, so I didn't even try to get a picture of them.

I got to Jackson and wandered around a while on my own. I then met my CS host at the gym he worked at, went to his place to shower then went back downtown. He met me later for a beer, but it was an early night. The next morning I ate an an incredible breakfast burrito place (when you're that good you can specialize in one thing). I then met up with another CSer for my hike in Grand Teton. The hike basically went around Genny Lake, partially up a Teton to a place with a terrible name (Inspiration Pt) then back down around the lake with a few detours away to some waterfalls. It snowed most of the time which made it that much better. Unfortunately I also never got a really good shot of the Tetons because of the weather, but there are some attempts. On the way out we saw a couple of moose. We then hit happy hour at the Cadillac in Jackson before I met back up with my host and turned in early again.

I didn't have a lot of hope for Jackson before getting there, but I think it's a possibility now. There are some problems with finding rental housing because of all the seasonal people coming through. It is pretty expensive, but there are some things that aren't that bad. It is also isolated, but that is part of the charm. There is nothing but the great outdoors around and it's all right there. The people are really friendly, laid back and open-minded. I can't think of too many towns I have been in and able to look around from the middle of town and be amazed at the beauty that is still in sight. If my criteria were strictly outdoor related Jackson would win hands down. I'm still giving it some thought.

I left Jackson pretty early for Ft. Collins which was about a 6 hour drive. There was some snow in Wyoming which had me concerned intermittently. The drive was beatiful though. There are parts of WY which seem like relatively flat plains, but they're 7000 feet above sea level and cold. I think WY might be colder than MT, but I'm not sure. It seemed like it today.

I've been thinking about all these pictures and whether there is any point in taking them. Luke (Missoula CS host's boyfriend) and I talked about picture taking. He pretty much doesn't do it because the pictures don't really convey the experience. This is definitely true. I go back and forth between whether or not I take them to help me remember the experience or if I think I'm remembering what I saw. These pictures clearly fail at the latter because they leave out so many details critical to what made the moment picture-worthy in the first place. I'm also a little concerned that I ruin the experience by interrupting it to take a picture, which might be a better reason to stop it.

Anyway, I've got two days in Ft. Collins then I'm staying in Denver for two days. I'll be checking out Lyons and Golden in that time also. I will probably sneak in a hike on Friday as well. I will try to update before I leave CO Sunday, but worst-case I'll catch up when I get back to SC.


For some reason I can't insert pictures so here you go:
Yellowstone pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/bryon.leggett/Yellowstone#
Grand Teton pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/bryon.leggett/GrandTetonNP#