Tetons and Yellowstone

It's been a while since our last post.  We have been pretty incommunicado, which is a good thing, since we've been away from towns, reception and power sources.  We spent a day or two in the town of Jackson, checking out the local scene on our bikes.  We talked to the people at one of the bike shops in town for good mountain bike ride recommendations to rest our hiking/backpacking feet.  So, we headed up the Teton Pass for two days for some epic rides and camping.  Unfortunately, due to some technical issues with our camera, we didn't get a chance to take any pictures.  But the rides and views were amazing.  K-Bo had her best ride so far.

We then headed just a few miles outside of town and outside of Grand Teton National Park to Shadow Mountain in Teton National Forest for some of the best free camping.  Great view of the Teton range, natural hot spring right down the road, and mountain biking right from camp.  The views were incredible of the Tetons.

Now we decided it was time to head into the park.  Some canoeing on Jackson Lake, pick up a backcountry permit for the following day and join the other tourists.

We strapped the packs back on and headed up Cascade Canyon, behind the Grand Teton, for 3 days/2 nights.  Now this was the camping we are used to.  We hiked about 8 miles in, up to about 8500 ft, which was right at snow line.  It felt like high in the Colorado Rockies. 

Had our first up close viewing of a moose!  We saw him up river, moved out of his way and up high on a rock, and this guy came within 6 ft below us!  He saw us from far away, but was way more interested in the shrub than us.

As soon as we were out, we decided to snag another backcountry permit to camp on Elk Island in the middle of Jackson Lake for our first canoe camp trip.  Great time but again the mosquitoes but a damper on things.

Off to Yellowstone.  We breezed through relatively quickly in just two days.  It was just what we expected...a lot of people and totally amazing.  But, we gladly joined the crowds and visited all the big sites - Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, a short day hike to Mystic Falls, Upper and Lower Falls, Norris Geyser Basin and Mammoth Hot Springs and so much more.  Which ended up being about 8 miles per day of walking/hiking.

After heading out of Yellowstone, we camped one night off a Forest Road just inside the Montana border. 

And now, we're catching up with the outside world and spending a day or two in Bozeman, Montana on our trip further north.  No bear sightings yet, but we're always prepared with bear spray and common sense.

Total Stats so far:

Backpacking:  28 miles.
Hiking:  27 miles.
Canoeing:  4 miles.
Mountain Biking:  26 miles.