Just got back from the trip. Grand Teton exceeded expectations. Absolutely breath taking.
Yellowstone was very cool as well. Spent 3 days at each park. We did have two days in Boulder but it was mostly wedding related but enjoyed walking around boulder and the Univ. of Colorado. Didn’t enjoy Denver itself that much but did take in a game at Coors field - Opening Day 2.0 by chance. Thanks for all the input. Glacier is being added to our future travels.
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Were the parks crowded?
Not at all. Now the park hotels/resorts/campground were all saying they were full but we didn’t feel pressed for space at all. But we did most of the big things before 10 and after 6 because we had read they were most packed between 10 - 6. People who choose to enter the parks in the morning had lines to get in but once you were in the park, the only traffic we encountered was bison related.
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They’re notoriously slow drivers.
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and mean af
Wow, that’s great. Zion was like being in a small city at the beginning of June, absolutely packed.
Wife and I were at Yellowstone and Grand Tetons in May. We stayed at the park lodge in Grand Tetons and had a great view of the peaks from our back porch. We weren’t in our room the afternoon when Grizzly 399 walked on the path behind our cabin with her cubs. Wish I had seen that.
We went through Arches and Canyonlands NP on the way up. The most spectacular thing I saw though
was Dead Horse Point shortly after sunrise.
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I have not been to Zion. Did you enjoy it?
Definitely, except for the zillions of other people. On the popular trails in the main canyon it was like walking down a sidewalk in the city. If you can put yourself in a bubble, ignore them, and just look at your surroundings, it’s still breathtaking.
On our second day we headed up to the Kolob Canyon part of the park, on the west side away from the main canyon. It’s probably just as beautiful, and there were a lot fewer people. Fewer trails, though. If you’re in great shape, I think you can hike from there to the main canyon, but it’s probably 30 miles with a lot of elevation changes. It would almost certainly be an overnight affair, which would probably require a permit.
There was a significant flash flood this last Tuesday, so the town is still mucking out, and there was a fair amount of damage to businesses and trails. Somehow nobody got hurt, which surprised me given the stupidity and recklessness I witnessed from some of the visitors.
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There is a great book, Death in Yellowstone, which is a book to give a 15 year-old-boy and then steal to read yourself. It’s about all the stupid ways people die in Yellowstone. It’s proof that people are magnificently stupid.
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Over the Edge is the title if you read the same one I did.
Different park, Jim.
Not to be confused with Neil’s book…
Or this one…
Oops, yep you are correct, sir. I have read them all, though, and Over The Edge was my first one.
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