Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures

Tales from my (mostly Disney) travels!
Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures
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  • Tag: National Park

    • Grand Teton National Park

      Posted at 11:24 am by taryngirl, on May 3, 2023

      6/26/22

      Today was our Grand Teton National Park day! We were checking out of our accommodations here today and checking into West Yellowstone after touring Grand Teton, so we had to pack everything and load up the car. We started off bright and early with breakfast at our hotel (Headwaters at Flagg Ranch). Since I missed them at dinner last night, here are some pics of the inside of Sheffields:

      They had a really nice breakfast buffet here! We finished eating and headed out towards Grand Teton.

      On the way, I noticed on Waze that there was red up ahead…meaning traffic. Well…that turned into our first bear sighting! Everyone was pulled off the side of the road, and we joined in not knowing what we were really looking for. We had to ask, and then some kind people pointed it out to us. It was kind of far, and my pics did not get very good, but there she was. They said her cubs were also there, but I could not see them.

      Here you can see everyone pulling over to have a look:

      Our goal was to do Grand Teton in one day. So using the Gypsy app, we started on our journey. We were entering from the north. You can see Flagg Ranch at the tippy top of this map.

      We did the usual stop at the sign. One note about the weather…it was cold! It did warm up a lot as the day went on but it was brisk first thing!

      The views along the drive were nothing short of amazing. We stopped briefly to see Jackson Lake. The scenery is like nothing I’ve seen before! Snow capped mountains at the top, and beautiful greenery at the bottom.

      We continued on to our first official stop, which was Signal Mountain. This mountain sits at 7700 feet above sea level. The views from here were just breathtaking! Looking over each side of the mountain, you could see so many different landscapes.

      THAT VIEW! There were so many wildflowers. I’m going to put together a little gallery of all of the ones we saw while in the Tetons. Kinsey did a really great job of capturing them.

      Some more views from the top of Signal Mountain:

      Our plan was to stop at Jenny Lake next. We were going to park, take the boat across the lake, take a small hike, and then continue on driving throughout the Tetons. Well…that didn’t quite work out, because there was NO PARKING ANYWHERE! All spots were taken in all parking lots, and all along the road, kind of far away. This was around 11:30 a.m. If you plan on going to Jenny Lake, get there early , or much later in the afternoon!

      We decided to continue driving south and stopped at the Teton Glacier turnout.

      At this stop, you could see the glacier. I’m so glad they included these informational signs at the stops so we could read about them.

      Here you can see it in my photo. Right in the center of the picture. The landscape is just AMAZING in the Tetons!

      We continued to drive south and stopped at the Menors Ferry Historic District.

      The first building we saw was the Chapel of the Transfiguration. This is a very popular photography spot. And to our surprise, it’s a functioning place of worship still to this day!

      The reason we know this is, we went to open the door to look inside, and it was FULL OF PEOPLE! In the middle of a worship service! We later saw their tour bus in the side parking lot. So we didn’t get to see the inside.

      This was actually very interesting! You could see both landings where they put the ferry and traveled across the Snake River. There were no bridges, so this is how they transported things across.

      This is a replica ferry:

      After leaving this area, we headed to Mormon Row Historic District. This is also a popular photography spot.

      Our next stop was one of my favorites! Schwabacher Landing! We actually almost did not stop here because it did not look like very much, but thanks to the Gypsy app, he really encouraged us!

      The backdrop here was just amazing! The Snake River, with the mountains in the distance…just beautiful!

      It was so good, that my teen daughters just had to have a small photoshoot for their Instagrams. 🙂

      This area is known for moose especially, and that was one animal we had not seen yet! So we were on high alert and really searching as we walked along the river.

      If it would have been a little less windy, this would have been the greatest reflection photo! Sadly, we did not see any moose here. The search was still on!

      We continued driving and looped back around to Jenny Lake to check out the parking situation now. It was about 3:00 p.m. by this point and we were able to find a spot in the main parking lot.

      These were the first two things we saw when entering:

      Sooooo, we continued on to find the boat dock. Our plan was to take the boat across the lake and then climb to see some waterfalls, and hike back around the lake.

      I loved this board! Besides letting us know temperatures (look at the range!), it showed local animal sightings so we could be aware.

      There are several different hikes you can take in this area that are on the easier side.

      View of the lake from the boat dock before boarding:

      The water was clear!

      There were a few waterfalls in this area that we wanted to see. This little one was Cascade Falls. The water was flowing very fast and was casting a chill in the air.

      Hiking up a little further, we made it to Hidden Falls.

      We sat at the bottom of this for a little while, while Erik hiked up to Inspiration Point, which was farther than the girls and I wanted to go. The air coming off of the falls was so chilly! The snowcapped mountains were still melting and a lot of this water was from the top of the mountain.

      We continued our hike around the lake.

      The hike was fairly easy and the views were just amazing. We were still on high alert for any kind of wildlife in this area. We did see a beaver dam!

      We came across this sign along the trail:

      Sadly, we did not see any of these either!

      We made it back to the parking lot at about 6:00 p.m., and to our surprise, look what was running around!

      Now, because we checked out of Flagg Ranch, and were checking into West Yellowstone, we had to drive alllllllllll the way south into Jackson, and west into Idaho, then north. We were not permitted to enter Yellowstone, which would have been way easier, because of our license plate. It ended up being fine and we got to see a different landscape on the way. We stopped in Driggs for dinner.

      We finally made it to our hotel at about 10:00 p.m. and met up with the rest of the group who were also checking into this same hotel. The girls were hungry and luckily there was a McDonald’s basically in our parking lot, so we walked over there. Strange circumstances and for some reason they wouldn’t let us in, but let us walk through the drive thru??!!

      It was a long, fun day. So we got to sleep so we could wake up and do it all again tomorrow in YELLOWSTONE!

      This was probably my favorite day of the trip. I loved the different landscapes, the weather, and the different landmarks.

      Up next…Yellowstone Day 2!

      Posted in Grand Teton, Out West, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Grand Teton, Jenny Lake, National Park, Out West
    • Yellowstone National Park – West Thumb, Lake Village, Fishing Bridge

      Posted at 2:06 pm by taryngirl, on November 1, 2022

      6/25/2022

      Two weeks prior to us leaving for this trip, Yellowstone National park experienced devastating flooding and was actually completely closed for a little bit. We were unsure what was going to happen for our time there, but figured there was enough all around that we could do just in case the park was totally closed. The trip was still on! The north entrance near Gardiner was heavily affected and that is where we were to spend some of our trip. We scrambled to secure different accommodations in other areas of the park, and rearrange our touring plans. Once the park did reopen, they instituted a license plate entrance system. Plates ending in odd numbers could enter on odd days and even on even. This split our group up but it ended up working out just fine.

      We arrived at our lodging late the night of the 24th after leaving Jackson Hole. The drive was about an hour to get to Headwaters Lodge Flagg Ranch, which is located near the southern entrance to Yellowstone. It was dark and we couldn’t see a thing…but we eventually found our cabin through some trial and error!

      Fun fact…the heat was not automatically turned on in our room, and we woke up in the morning with the temp around 46 degrees! The room was perfect for what we needed. There was no television or mini fridge. I loved the location and would definitely stay here again! Here are the girls on our cute little porch in the morning before we headed out to the park. It was COLD! High 30s I think in the morning??

      We left around 7:30 a.m. Our plan for this day was to enter at the south entrance and go counter clockwise around the lower loop as far as we could get before reaching our physical limit. The lower loop was 96 miles. We were using the GyPSy Guide app for this park as well.

      We couldn’t resist pulling over to catch some amazing views…and we weren’t even through the gates yet!

      When we got to the entrance, they did have staff out checking license plates. There was no traffic back up for us to get in.

      Our first real stop was West Thumb Geyser Basin. This area bordered Yellowstone Lake and the views were simply breathtaking! There were so many different geysers and springs.

      (As a note, just recently someone died here. They found a foot floating in a shoe and that was all that was left of the body. So please take these signs seriously!)

      It was COLD this morning! There were some slick spots on the boardwalk while walking around.

      There were so many little “pools!” I tried to take a photo of the name in front so I would remember.

      Yellowstone Lake:

      Super interesting!!!

      Freezing!

      After leaving West Thumb, we continued our drive around the lower loop towards Lake Village and Fishing Bridge.

      We finally spotted our first wildlife in the park!

      This is one of my favorite pics from the whole trip!

      We made a small pit stop, as suggested by our Gypsy app.

      We saw some really neat looking ducks! The currents were pretty strong and they were just bobbing along like nothing was happening!

      Up next…Yellowstone National Park Part 2!

      Posted in Out West, Uncategorized, Yellowstone | 0 Comments | Tagged National Park, Out West, Yellowstone
    • Arches National Park

      Posted at 10:59 am by taryngirl, on August 16, 2022

      6/22/2022

      For our Arches National Park day, we rented a house in Moab through Arches Vacation Rentals. With 3 families, it was a much cheaper option than getting three hotel rooms for two nights. Since it was a regular house rental, we had a full kitchen and plenty of room for the kids to run around. The name of this property was Desert View.

      A quick review of the house itself…

      The grand total cost for this house (5/6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms) for two nights was $1359.88. The view and location of this house could not be beat. It was about a 5-10 minute drive into the actual town of Moab, and about 15-20 minutes to the Arches National Park entrance. There was so much space in the house for all of us. The only thing that I was disappointed with was how the kitchen was stocked. There was definitely not enough of anything for the number of people the house holds…silverware, cups, etc. Also, to actually cook a meal…pots, pans, etc. We used the grill and that was fine. I did do a load of laundry here, and it was nice to be able to do that.

      To get into the park, you needed to have a Personal Vehicle Timed Entry. We ordered this in early May as soon as we were able to. The cost was only $2.00, and you needed this to get through the gate. We chose 7:00-8:00 a.m. entry so we could get in early and beat some of the crowds.

      If you read my previous post, you will know that we used the GyPSyGuide app.

      We also used it in this park and it was amazing. He told us so many facts throughout the park, and places we definitely should or should not stop.

      On this map, we entered at the very bottom near the Visitor Center.

      Our first stop was Park Avenue Trail lookout:

      Many of the stops had trails you could walk on. We did not walk on every trail. We did more of a “lookout” around the landscape.

      At the next lookout, we could see a few different landmarks.

      The Three Gossips, Sheep Rock, Tower of Babel, and The Organ :

      The GyPSyGuide app provided so many additional details throughout this park. About the landscape, rock formations, animals, etc. etc. 100% worth the cost!

      This park was amazing to me! The different formations all throughout were just beautiful.

      This was one of my favorite parts…the Windows.

      This was another favorite for me! It was a short walk to see the Double Arch up close.

      You can see how massive this is based upon the size of the people underneath it!

      Sand Dune was a favorite for the kids.

      This whole area was full of sand! It was kind of like being on a beach with no ocean, and with huge rock formations all around you. We spent a good bit of time here.

      It was about this time that some of us were getting very hot and tired, and some others wanted to take an actual hike. So we split into two groups. The girls and I headed to the grocery store to get some snacks, and then home to shower and take a nap while we waited for everyone else.

      The others did a hike on the Primitive Trail in Devils Garden and then after that a few continued on to do another hike to Delicate Arch.

      We only had one day in this park. It was plenty of time if you are just doing the lookout points and some of the smaller hikes. If you want to do more hiking, I would add a second day here.

      I LOVED THIS PARK! I loved all of the parks we visited on this trip. Each one offered something completely different!

      Posted in Arches National Park, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Arches National Park, National Park
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