Grand Teton National Park -- what's new in 2021!

hey guys we are shawn and christy this is long long honeymoon and this week we have a fantastic topic for you grand teton national park yes if yellowstone is the mother of all national parks grand teton is the sexy girl next door grand teton translated from the french means large teats or nipples not only are there huge tracks of land those mountains are real and they are spectacular but it's not really only the mountains we go for the wildlife we're talking about bison elk moose black bear grizzly bear pronghorn badgers badgers wombats wukolars pretty much everybody going to yellowstone national park also visits grand teton national park so we wanted to produce a video that discusses updates and changes that have happened in the area so that you can make the most of your trip one of the reason we love this particular park is the town of jackson hole we're not going to talk too much about jackson in this video however it is a fantastic wyoming town with many fine restaurants just great cultural activities and a lot of resources for the traveler so if you're rv camping in the grand tetons you can always pop over to jackson get whatever supplies you need have a nice dinner and buy some fancy cowboy boots if that is what you're into but this video is really going to focus on grand teton national park and how much time you should spend there we're going to sort of talk about the shortest amount of time we think you could get away with if you're really pressed for time and then kind of go from there so grand teton national park is 310 000 acres which is 485 square miles from the north end of the park to the south end of park it's about 45 miles of distance so it's not anything in comparison size wise to yellowstone so it shouldn't be as overwhelming as that park this park is much easier to drive i think because you have several road options to get around and the speed limit isn't always 35 on those roads so it's not quite as slow a process as it can be when you visit yellowstone something to know if you're planning a trip to grand teton national park there is a specific app that you can get on your phone now that is dedicated to grand teton yes so grand teton national park has its own app has lots of information on it it does have audio tours on it so you can learn about the areas that you're seeing along your scenic drive by listening to the app there's information on lodging dining all that kind of stuff but i would also suggest that you download the general national park service app that covers all the national parks within the entire system and then go to grand teton within that app because you'll get more detailed information in one versus the other so you might learn more by visiting both rather than just choosing one there are four scenic drives within the park the website kind of breaks them down and gives you the details but if you do the whole loop of all of those drives it's roughly 42 miles of driving of course that's 42 miles on slower roads and places where you're going to want to stop and look so you're going to want to give yourself i think a full day to do that scenic loop so if you're somebody that only has let's say two days to see grand teton national park and again i'm saying two full days and i would dedicate one solid day to doing those scenic drives making that full loop throughout the entire park and at least just getting your head wrapped around all the different areas of the park and then you can sort of go into exploring on your second day you're going to take a lot of photographs in grand teton national park you'll drive from scenic turnout to scenic turnout throughout the park so i mean typically you'll drive from one point to the next you'll get out you'll take some photos there are a lot of famous photo spots there in the park one that we highly recommend is schwabacker's landing this is the famous beaver pond location where there are these ponds of still water and you'll see the mountains reflect in the pond so if it's a clear day you'll get a nice mountain reflection there in the ponds obviously if it's a foggy or cloudy day then your view of the tetons might be obfuscated by the clouds if you're further north in the park another popular spot to stop off at is oxbow bend it's along the snake river and it's another place where the mountains kind of reflect in the water so obviously if you have a calmer day you're gonna have that reflection versus if it's a windy day you're not gonna see it two other places that i think are really important to see if you only have two days and to spend some time at one would be the famous more monroe well you'll recognize a lot of the structures built on mormon road that were built out of wood by the first settlers in the area the moulton family yeah the most famous is called the molten barn the ta molten barn you've seen this barn a thousand times as well it's a great place to go take some photographs of the barn which is clearly inspired by the tetons behind it and sometimes you might get lucky and there might be a bison herd in the area that you can take some pictures of too so you just never know one other place that i think is important to spend some time at if you've only got two days is the jenny lake area it's probably the easiest visitors area to access i think within the park as far as having a lot to do and see there's a visitor center there there is an area called the discovery trail and it's actually paved and it's right along the lakeshore it's .35 miles long so it's not super long it is fully paved it's wheelchair accessible so if you have anybody in your group that you know is mobility challenged or if you have any young kids that need to be in a stroller it's a great place to walk along the lakeshore and take in the scenery there's also the jenny lake boat tours basically it's a boat that will take you to the opposite side of the lake where you have the chance to get off the boat if you want and you can do a hike up to the hidden falls there which is about a half a mile up and then another half mile back down and then you can take a later boat to get back or you can just stay on the boat and go across and back probably the big show-stopping change for our travels in grand teton national park this year has to do with reservations previously we have always stayed at the grovant campground which is a very large campground it's certainly one of the largest in the national park system and in years past there were no reservations required and you could roll up pretty much any time of day and usually be guaranteed to get a sight but in the post pandemic era with so many people out rv traveling those sites were getting booked up very early in the morning i heard tales of lines of campers waiting to get into grove stretched out from the registration house all the way out to the highway yeah i think they were really overwhelmed with the number of people trying to get into the campground every morning so this year you have to have a reservation i would definitely go onto the website i believe it's through recreation.gov and make your reservation before you arrive to ensure that you have a site not just for grovant campground but for the other campgrounds within the grand teton national park as well i believe there are seven campgrounds total although one of those is tent only and all of them now require reservations so get on recreation.gov and do a little research to find out which campground is best for you and actually i would suggest going to the grand teton national park website because that really breaks down the details of each campground including the length limit for rvs and what amenities they have etc now we will point out that bridger teton national forest is adjacent to grand teton national park so if you're willing to go a little bit farther out and i'm talking about 10 or 15 miles out and they do have some campgrounds that are as far as an hour away from grand teton national park so if you got desperate right there are some other options out there there are also some free overnight parking type of options in that national forest land which would basically be boondocking the most famous is the upper teton view which is really not that far from grand teton national park and you have a great view of the tetons from that area however the road to get into that area is not the most rv friendly it's something you definitely want to scout out i think before you turn down that road unless you're in an over landing type of vehicle or like a raised four-wheel drive type of vehicle if you're somebody like us towing a travel trailer i think you would want to unhitch and sort of scout it out before you tow your travel trailer up there but there are a lot of people that do it and depending on the weather you may not have any trouble now if it's been raining a lot or if it happens to snow then you may not have the luck of fitting in up there one thing to know though that area has been filling because there are so many campers coming to the area so even the you know boondocking sites have been filling up on a regular basis to the point where it's kind of overwhelming them another point we really want to make has to do with trash i hate to bring this up but we noticed last year in grovant a lot of trash being left in fire pits and also in the bare food locker storage boxes those food lockers that are bear safe people were leaving trash inside those and we've heard it's also true in the boone docking areas up in the bridge or teton national forest and it's becoming quite a problem so i know that there are a lot of people who just recently acquired rvs who may not really be up to speed on some of the protocol so if you're somewhere where they have trash bins and they happen to be full this is an area of the country where you should not leave your trash bags next to a dumpster that is a huge no-no i think it's usually a huge no-no anywhere but especially in a you know national park or national forest setting because those dumpsters are usually bear safe bear proof for a reason because they want to keep bears from coming to the area and so if you leave your trash in a place where a bear can get to it it's bad news for everybody so please don't do that please don't leave them in fire pits our campgrounds are not landfills yes absolutely put your trash in trash receptacles okay so if you happen to be fortunate enough to have more than two days to spend in grand teton national park let's say you're gonna spend anywhere from four to six days there that's when you can sort of dig in a little deeper and get a little more off the beaten path i think rockefeller preserve which is off of moose wilson road is definitely worth a visit there are some great hikes that leave from there the phelps lake loop trail leaves from there it's a great hike and probably will see a bear if you do that hike the odds are pretty good so make sure you have your bear spray and that's true for any hike within grand teton national park you are in bear country they are very active there and you want to make sure that you have protection always use protection when you're visiting the grantees i just want to briefly talk about where to see wildlife in grand teton national park if you're looking for bear we have had very good luck seeing black bear along the moose wilson road which is a really very poor quality gravel road you wouldn't want to drive a big rig rv along it you wouldn't want to tow a trailer along it you can't be longer than 23 feet to drive moose wilson yeah i don't think they would let you yeah it's not allowed so and a good portion of that road is not paved but we've had good luck seeing black bear on that road and for grizzly you would want to go more to the north of the park ask a ranger if you want to see a particular animal if you want to see elk if you want to see moose if you want to see a bear talk to the rangers they'll tell you where the most recent sightings have been and they'll direct you in that area now if a certain area becomes overrun with people searching for animals that have been out and about like on moose wilson road sometimes they will have a bear in a certain spot for several days and it will attract a huge crowd of people they'll just close the road to people to give the bear room for bison we have seen them back in the grovant area back around where the mormon row is there's usually a herd of bison roaming around back there and you'll also see pronghorn in that area of course you see pronghorn really all throughout wyoming but it's kind of fun to see them tetons as a backdrop you will also find elk in the park yes i think if you take any of these scenic drives through the park especially late in the afternoon you're probably going to see elk out and about yeah and i think grand teton national park is probably your best bet for seeing a moose in the lower 48 states we usually always see multiple moose when we're visiting that area again ask rangers where to see them and they usually will point you in the area that they've been you know spotted recently if you're staying in the grove campground there is a strong possibility even probability there will be moose walking through the campground in the morning and afternoon really could happen any time of day through your campsite yeah they may even be sleeping there at night we've had that happen before too because the grovel campground is located adjacent to the grovant river and the moose love that river so they'll be coming back and forth every day really watch your speed when you're driving through grand teton national park especially the main highway that cuts through the park because moose do cross that road the speed limit i believe is 45 to 55 depending on what area you're in but moose will cross that road even at night and so you have to be really careful of your speed and keep your eyes really open because they are big dark creatures and if you get into a fight with a moose you're going to lose even if you're in a car and i've seen them before crossing the highway and they don't really look both ways they just kind of spring out and spring across the road and some of these large bull moves could weigh a thousand pounds yes or more so taller than our truck yeah and you have to give them the respect that they deserve yeah a few other places to go if you've got that four to six day leisurely visit jackson lake lodge i think is a really great place to visit it's sort of historically important yeah there were some cold war east negotiations that happened there back in the 80s it's actually a national historic landmark now we actually have seen grizzly bears there yes there are several hikes that leave from the jackson lake lodge area there's a beautiful view of the teton range out behind the lodge there's some nice restaurants there if you want to grab a bite to eat and you can also do lake cruises from that area i think they have like a lunch cruise that you can do another place to explore is the signal mountain area there's a drive to the top of the mountain which has a view there's also a hike that you can do but i think it's a pretty strenuous hike it's like a seven mile hike that goes up to the top of signal mountain but you can also just drive to the top and take in the view from there there's also a restaurant there called the trapper grill that is famous for the signal mountain of nachos it's apparently enough for like four people i think you can get a half order if you want yeah people come from all over the area to get those nachos apparently it's a big thing and i guess they have a nice view at sunset there we always encourage people to take a hike if you're in grand teton national park yes tiger lake hike is probably the one of the most scenic hikes we do just because you literally are walking up right underneath the grand teton so it's a great view we've got probably a lot of pictures that we've posted from there over the years but it's not too strenuous i mean there is some uphill portions but they're not too crazy it's probably i don't know a two-hour hike yeah it's pretty easy another area that you can explore is the coulter bay area they actually have a really large campground there and they also have an rv park there so if you need full hookups and you want to be within the park the coulter bay rv park is your option or your best option i should say again you have to make reservations for all these things now culture bay also has a marina you can rent boats there you can rent kayaks there you can rent canoes there so a lot of activity type oriented things happen from colter bay so if you are somebody that has the time to do those things that's a great spot to go and do them from another thing that you can do activity wise within grand teton is horseback riding i think that would be a lot of fun we've never done it but maybe we'll do it this year there are several outfitters that do horseback riding through the park and i just think that would be the ultimate like cowboy experience adventure to do in such an incredibly scenic location another fun activity which we have done is to take a float trip or rafting trip on the snake river we did kind of a scenic float trip one year and it's just a very pleasant day on the water in front of the tetons very pleasant i've also done the rafting on the snake river which is a lot of fun so there are many tourist companies in the town of jackson so like if you're looking to book sort of private tours or some of those activities you can just look in jackson and you'll find but also if you check the grand teton national park website they will give you a list of concessioners that are permitted to operate within the national park so you'll find those horseback riding you know companies the float truck companies you can also do fishing trips through the park on the snake river so if you're a fisherman that's an option for you you can also do kayaking stand up paddle boarding swimming which is kind of unusual in the national park string lake is probably the most popular spot where people go to swim i will say the water is going to be freezing so be prepared for that we have taken our boat out on string lake a few times and over to lee lake one thing to know if you were going to bring your own kayak or canoe or stand up paddle board you have to get it inspected for invasive aquatic species which sounds like something really crazy but i guess it's a thing you can get it inspected right there when you come into the park at the discovery center visitor center you also have to have a boat permit from the state of wyoming so just know that before you go you can't just show up and toss it in the water gotta get those permits if you carry a bike with you when you travel there's some great bike trails in that area including one relatively new construction bike trail that stretches from the town of jackson all the way out to the park yeah and then once you're in the park there are some bike paths there as well so a lot of great options if you are a cyclist or if you are just a casual biker grand teton has a specific map for areas that you can take your pet so i think that's pretty interesting they do have pet regulations you cannot take your pet on hiking trails or that sort of thing but there are certain areas in the park along main roads some picnic areas where you can take your pet you just need to check their website for the specifics and they also give suggestions within the national forest where you can take your pet out on the trails baby girl would tear up a grizzly bear i'm telling you the chihuahua is the piranha of mexico yeah sorry guys there was a look at grand teton national park every year we'd like to do a video where we circle back revisit the tetons and inform you with regard to what has changed we'll be shooting more in the tetons this summer look for us because if we're not residing in lolojo national forest you usually find this in the tetons one thing i will say about grand teton national park it's not nearly as large as yellowstone but i feel like even though we've been dozens of times there's still things that we haven't seen or done there's still hikes that we haven't done so there's really just so much to see and do there you could spend a month and not do it all but i do think if you have a minimum of two days you can see kind of the highlights and then if you have four to six days you can knock out a lot of the big must-see visit spots i think that's what makes that area so special you know there's so much to do and see that you can go every year and discover something different what about you guys have you been to grand teton national park will you go this year if so look for sean and christy we may have a lolojo nation meetup once again in that area yeah and if you have been what amount of time do you think people really need to visit it leave it down in the comments below and let us know thank you as always for tuning in if you're new to our channel please subscribe if you liked this video give it a thumbs up if you disliked it give it a thumbs down and leave a nice comment down below if you got something mean to say just you know move along we don't need that kind of negativity here i'm sure we'll get it anyhow like sean said if you enjoyed it if you haven't like and subscribe we appreciate it so much and until next time what do we say [Music] well you go for those teats [Music] so large nipple national park in wyoming [Music] check it out the hustler 571 banana slicer in action [Music] you

Channel: Long Long Honeymoon

Views: 144,297

Rating: 4.971034 out of 5

Keywords: airstream, rv, camping, travel, loloho

Id: BSSU1hOqHz0

Length: 22min 45sec (1365 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021