Craters of the Moon & Grand Teton National Park
We like to plan one of our trips in the fall because it gives us the chance to see the leaves change, and also because it stocks our mind full of memories for us to retreat to when the winter gets gloomy. In the past, our fall adventures have occurred the last few days of September running into October, but for this trip we had plans of visiting Yellowstone which brought drastic climate changes and closures to prepare for. (#meadadventures tip: Before we set a date to travel, we always look up the National Park(s) we're visiting to find out the dates that campgrounds and other areas start closing/opening for the season. The National Parks website is really good about giving you an idea of what you should be prepared for weather-wise depending on what time of year you plan to travel.) With the majority of Yellowstone closing in late September, we moved our trip up to August to fit everything in (and so we wouldn't freeze to death at night). After the planning was all said and done the blueprint for this #meadadentures looked a little something like this: TEN days, THREE states (two more were added unintentionally along the way), FIVE Parks, and ONE shower.
Packing was a breeze at this point (I was actually packed a full day before we left...so far from where I started, right?). Everything we needed for ten days on the road fit nicely in two carry-on pieces of luggage with our "home" (and the rest of our camping gear) in our largest suitcase that we checked at the airport. The day for departure finally arrived, and off we went to Boise, Idaho! Landing in Boise looked as if the plane was landing in the middle of the desert with no life in sight until we were almost on the ground. I had never been to Idaho, but I was under the impression that it was a little more "green" than what it really was. In addition to the lack of greenery, the wildfires had gotten bad in northern Idaho (and further out west) causing the sky to be extremely hazy with smoke and the whole state smelled like a simmering bonfire. We had landed with plenty of time to start our exploring right away, so we secured our rental car and headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument. Once there, we started with the immediate mission of finding a campsite. (#meadadventures tip: We have learned from past disasters that if a campground has the option to reserve a campsite in advance, do it! Again, the National Parks website is helpful in finding this information and a Google search will help with the State Parks. It does pigeon-hold you to a more strict itinerary, but if you plan correctly it shouldn't matter and is worth the peace of mind. Unfortunately, some campgrounds are first-come-first-serve and in that case we try to reroute our plans so that we aren't arriving there on a Thursday-Sunday because those are usually the busiest days.) Luckily for us, it seemed as if a lot of travelers were arriving around the same time we were and we had no trouble finding a perfect spot. With a place to sleep secured, we headed into the nearest town for dinner, Arco, ID. It was no metropolitan city. In fact, we only had about three options to eat at and I think the cows outnumbered the people. However, (thanks to TripAdvisor) we found a little gem called "Pickle's Place", and after a seriously delicious dinner we headed back to Craters NM to explore. This place was no joke. With combination of the hazy smog-filled sky from the fires, the sun setting, and the fact that the entire landscape is nothing but lava rocks, we seriously felt like we had landed on Mars. As we were driving on the scenic loop we passed by what seemed to be a normal overlook, and with not much sunlight left, we both agreed to just keep driving for more interesting things ahead. That is, until Tommy noticed that people were climbing what appeared to be a giant dune. (I haven't gotten to share all of our past adventures yet, but I'll spoil this fact by telling you that Tommy turns into a ten year old when it comes to running up a dune.) Immediately upon seeing this Tommy morphed into a child begging to do something even though he thought his mom would say no...it still makes me smile when I think about how excited he got. We turned around, parked the car, and realized that we were going to be climbing an old erupted volcano. It was a pretty steep climb, but the view from the top was breathtaking. After descending, we continued driving the scenic loop until we came to the portion where you could walk to some lava tubes and a few caves. We walked until we came to the very end of the trail, and then walked down some metal stairs into Indian Cave. I'm not one for the idea of being underground surrounded by bats in the dark, but Tommy was loving life and our whole philosophy behind #meadadventures is to step out of comfort zones to experience life. I may or may not have driven the struggle bus a few times trying to make my way over large rocks and climb ledges, but once we emerged on the other side, I was so glad that I did it. We were on the verge of losing sunlight, and we still had to set up our tent, so we headed back to camp and ended the day with an already full memory bank.
A new day brought with it a new state and park. We were on our way to Grand Teton National Park, and just like the day before we didn't have a campsite reserved so we packed up camp quickly and hit the road. It wasn't a long drive (around 2.5 hours), but the campground I really wanted us to stay in was a very popular one that was known to fill up very quickly. We arrived around noon and were greeted by more smoke that blocked out the grand views of the Tetons. We were a little disappointed by not being able to fully see the mountains, but we were so distracted by our mission to reach the campground that it didn't fully sink in. Upon reaching the Jenny Lake Campground we were immediately told by a ranger that the campground was full. I was heartbroken but the ranger suggested that since we were staying in the park for two nights, that we may have better luck tomorrow if we got there first thing in the morning. He gave some other campground options so we moved on to check them out. With my campground bubble busted, I started to concentrate on the fact that the Tetons were just smoky outlines and if you squinted hard enough you could maybe see that they were supposed to be mountains. We reached the next campground with the luck of finding an amazing site, grabbed a picnic lunch, and started to explore...the day was getting better, and after a full afternoon of exploring the park we came back to camp and hung our hammocks to take a nap until dinner. We had dinner at the Signal Mountain Lodge where we were given the last table on the patio that overlooked Jackson Lake...and mysterious Tetons.
As soon as the sun was up the next day, so were the Meads. I was way too excited with the hope to get a spot in that coveted campground that I couldn't sleep anymore. On our way to Jenny Lake we immediately noticed that the new day brought better air quality with it. Scared that the smoke may blow back in, we stopped a few times on our way to the new campsite to take some pictures of the mountains with the morning light. We finally made it to the campground and were so excited to hear that people were packing up and we had a few sites to choose from. We drove slowly around the loop and thought we found the best one until we reached THE one. We've had some good sites before, but this one was top three quality. Since the residents from the night before were still packing up, we secured the site and went on the search for coffee. We went towards Jenny Lake Lodge only to come up empty handed, but found North Jenny Lake Junction on our way back that was worth the extra drive. We returned to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center/General Store area to find that everything we needed was just a trail over from our campsite. In the General Store we found coffee and I also found a perfect t-shirt (since birth I have had a bizarre obsession with cotton). Riding the high from the mountain visibility, perfect campsite, and a newly purchased t-shirt...I almost fell down the stairs with coffee in hand coming out of the General Store, and I then placed our National Park stamp upside down in our book. Before I could seriously injure myself, we headed back to camp to set up our tent and to finally eat breakfast. It was only ten in the morning and I was sure the day couldn't get any more perfect. I was proven wrong when we got on a boat that took us across Jenny Lake for a hike up to Hidden Falls and a jaunt around the lake back to the Visitor Center. My senses were overloaded with the smell of the pines, the weather was perfect, and the full beauty of nature surrounding me that I seriously fought back tears I was so happy. We enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading towards Mormon Row, a few overlooks, and into Jackson Hole. We headed back to camp and then walked back to Jenny Lake where Tommy rinsed his hair and we relaxed on the shore before going to dinner. Our view for this night only added to our perfect day when we found ourselves eating on a roof patio with the Tetons as our dinner hosts. By the time the sun set, we were more than ready to lay down and rest our legs.
