Day 13-15 -- North to Grand Teton and Yellowstone (snafu--via Cody)

We enjoyed a final campfire and got a fairly decent time start out of Bear Creek in Denver heading north up to Fort Collins, then northwest on 287 to Wyoming.

Last Campfire at Bear Creek (Denver)

Talk about miles and miles of what appeared to be high desert and oil fracking sites!!  This part of Wyoming, while very interesting at first, turned out to be pretty boring after a while.  It started getting kind of late in the evening and a RV campground we had sort of counted on turned out to be non-existent, so we motored on north and Jeri found us this positively awesome campsite right on the banks of the Big Sandy Reservoir.  This was in the Big Sandy Recreation Area and best of all--it was FREE!!!  Of course there were no hookups, but no big deal as we are self-contained when we need to be.  

We had a pretty long pull today, up around 400 miles (I forgot to set my trip meter again.  duhhh)  It was awesome to find such a beautiful spot to camp for the night.  Sugar ran free and loved it, although she never got very far from one or the other of us.

The campsite on Big Sandy Reservoir Recreation Area (FREE)

Jeri with the Big Sandy Reservoir (Wyoming)

Big Sandy Reservoir (loved to have had that campsite out on the point)

Sunset over the Big Sandy

Jeri enjoying our campfire

What a beautiful scene!

 We enjoyed a great dinner, a beautiful sunset and a wonderful starry night beside the campfire before waking up to the view below from our bedroom window in the trailer.

The view out our trailer bedroom window

Getting ready to leave our gorgeous (free) campsite

 We got another decent start today for a fairly interesting and short pull into the Grand Teton National Park where we once again purchased the lifetime Senior pass for $10.  (What a deal this is!!)

Jim Bridger camped here in 1836 (this was a pull-out in Wyoming)

On the way we stopped at a pull-out for a break and learned Jim Bridger's trapping party had camped here after leaving the Green Mountain Rendezvous in 1836.  If you click on the picture and blow it up I believe you can read the inscription.

Yea!!!!  Coming into Grand Teton

 Yep, we made it to Grand Teton and marveled at the view.  What a beautiful place and did I say it was jam-packed with people!!!  OMG, we were not expecting this after Labor Day.  People, RVs, etc., everywhere in abundance!

There is the Grand Teton (French for Big Tit--true!)

A little reminder of bear danger in Grand Teton

A pristine little lake in Grand Teton

After setting up our trailer in site C56 (okay, but not all that great) in Coulter Bay campground (about everything else was FULL) we went out for a bit of exploring and hiked down to this small, pristine, beautiful lake at around 7,600 feet in altitude if I remember correctly.

Jeri on the trail back to the Jeep from the little lake

On the way back into our campsite we observed this Mule Deer doe browsing.

Right in our campground at Grand Teton (Coulter Bay Campground)

 We spent a quiet evening around our campfire.  Note the bear-proof food container in the picture below.  We asked if we needed to use it and were told that our RV would be fine to keep food, etc., in.  We didn't have any problem.

On the way out of our campsite this morning we watched a fox catch and eat a mouse right in front of us, then saunter down the campground road in front of us as we followed.  He didn't seem to have a care in the world.  Jeri got tons of pictures of it and I'll get them on when I get more time.

Another campfire at our campsite C56 at Coulter Bay Campground

We made it to Yellowstone!!!

 Okay, we made it to Yellowstone this morning, but to our chagrin there were absolutely no campsites available in any of the many campgrounds!!!  We were stunned, to say the least!!  We did manage to book two (and that's all we can get at the moment) nights at Grants Village Campground for the 15th and 16th, but what to do for the next two nights.

They did offer us a posh, upper-tier room in the Grant Village Lodge for $201 a night, but only for one night.  We declined.  We then discussed heading back to Grand Teton and finding a campsite as far north as possible, but Jeri was very much against going back south (due to what to her were some scary spots along the road), so we ended up heading up and around the the north and east side of Yellowstone Lake, then out the east exit and on to Cody.

We observed what appears to be several nice recreation area campgrounds just east of Yellowstone, but we were needing to do a dump and restore our fresh water, so decided to go on to Cody for a full hookup campsite.

Jeri found us a campsite for two nights at the Ponderosa Campground in Cody.  We are actually camping right next to a couple from Venice, FL!!  Our plan is to knock out Cody tomorrow, then head back to Grants Village in Yellowstone Tuesday and Wednesday, then head on a different route up through the northeast part of Yellowstone to the Custer Battlefield in Montana.  I've already revised the routes in my Garmin Zumo, so we'll be good to go.

Had something interesting happen while sitting in the middle turn lane to turn into the Ponderosa Campground--this car pulled up in front of us, blocking us because they wanted to turn left (to our right) and the man sat there glaring at us as if he got there first.  You have absolutely no idea how much restraint it took on my part not to flip the a$$hole from Minnesota the bird, but I didn't, I just laughed at him.  Unbelievable how rude and obnoxious some of these people can be.  Oh well...

More tomorrow, I hope after I've been to the Cody, Buffalo Bill Center of the West museum, which was my target for Cody.