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Glacier/Grand Tetons/Yellowstone Help

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:32 am
by Take-a-Hike
I had a nice week planned for end of July to do Whitney via the Army Pass area, when wife decided that for our 10th anniversary she wanted to go on a road trip (actually fly into Spokane and then a road trip) around the NW. She wants to bpack/day hike the national parks there. We sent off for some books but it sure would be nice to get some 1st hand info on the areas. It seems that Glacier has some nice bpacking trips there and into the Canadian version. I'm wondering if we'll enjoy as much as our couple of trips into the Sierras. :dontknow . Books all say to plan way early and make reservations...do those places really get that crowded, and if so, is it worth it? Her original intent was to do Alaska, but it was guite easy to talk her out of that one...((weather, bears (she's gulible), and multitude of equipment we'd need all did the trick)). The books I've seen on Yellowstone don't impress me much, but Tetons I know from seeing when I was 12 are quite impressive..not sure how they are for a backpack trip though.
Any advice would really be appreciated to help our planning...or decision to just stick with the local stuff. I keep telling her that there's more than enough right here in California then we'll ever have time to see...(even though it's our 10th, were both on round two)
TIA,
Perry...planning to take a hike

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:05 pm
by mountaineer
Do not go anywhere near Grand Teton NP in July! That place is a downright zoo. The park campground rangers are a royal PITA! Started up the trail toward Garnet Cyn and got overrun by no fewer than 85 high school kids hootin' and hollerin' and generally making a loud rucus. Traffic jams galore in Jackson. The rangers in the Gros Ventre campground should be fired. You leave a bottle of water on the table unattended and walk 100 yards to the bathroom and when you come back, they have confiscated the water and issued you a cite(something about bears). They are so full of crap. One young couple was there with a small child, the child took off into the bushes and they went after him(there were large moose in the area). They came back a few seconds later to a ranger chewing them out for leaving a campfire unattended. And that is just for starters! Several other stories available from the same trip, just don't want to make the post too long. Yellowstone is a bit better. If you need to go to Wyoming, head to the Wind River range out of Pinedale. No people at the Green River Lakes and the most gorgeous scenery east of the Sierra Nevada. (Skeeters are kind of thick though).

Here is the view from the end of the road north of Pinedale...
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Now, if you MUST see the Tetons, go in from the west out of Driggs, ID. Darby Canyon is incredible. Several caves in the limestone that go back several hundred yards and are full of ice. Here is the view looking east towards the Tetons from inside the main ice cave...
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Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:56 pm
by mountaineer
Of course, if you are just driving through, you could see sights like this...:)

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Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:58 pm
by Snow Nymph
Nice shots! Mountaineer!

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:04 pm
by copeg
Great shots mountaineer!