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Jackson Hole & Yellowstone

2007

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Jackson Hole is located near the Northwest Corner of Wyoming. It is truly the “home where the buffalo roam” although they are really bison, not buffalo (look it up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison ). Jackson Hole is a combination of the old west and the new rich who pay millions to own great views of pristine wilderness. For us, it was a glorious winter holiday which included skiing down one of the steepest vertical inclines in the country!  While the skiing was great, the highlight of the trip for us was a day trip through the area where the steamy interior of the earth rises to the surface in Yellowstone.

The skiing was a challenge since we hadn’t skied in two years, but there was lots of natural snow and we did fine.  A note of caution, however,   Jackson Hole is a bit limiting for intermediate skiers like us since the number of blue slopes are few and sometimes tricky. You can easily find yourself on the advanced double-blues working harder than casual cruisers like us may want. And the multitude of blacks and double blacks….. well, forget about it unless you are an advanced skier!

We stayed at the Parkway Inn (http://www.parkwayinn.com/) which is actually a hotel with a bed and breakfast feel. The owner, Jackie, and her staff made us feel at home. The breakfast room served as a great gathering place for our group (we went with the Ski Club of Washington, DC) both for breakfast and a number of happy hours.

The town of Jackson itself is where western cowboy meets eastern chi-chi. It is the location of a famous cowboy bar, The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, and a good destination for fine dining and spa treatments. For dining we recommend the Blue Lion (http://www.bluelionrestaurant.com/ ) and the Wild Sage Restaurant at the Rusty Parrot Lodge (http://www.rustyparrot.com/ ). Although the Rusty Parrot sounds more like a place in Key West, it has both a fine dining restaurant and a great spa. After a couple of days of skiing, we had good massages there followed by sitting near an open fire on an overstuffed leather sofa. Although we did not have a chance to visit it, many locals recommended the Stone Table, a pan-Asian, moderately priced restaurant.  They don’t have a web site, but ask anyone and they will direct you.

For the cowboy treatment, we went to the self-described famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar (http://www.milliondollarcowboybar.com/). The bar is huge and equipped with all the accoutrements an eastern dude would expect, down to western saddles as bar seats. It was a great place for celebrating New Years Eve with a live rockabilly band. However, a warning: Stay away from its steak house. We had the worst piece of meat ever, and at a premium price.  Better to drink, dance and eat burgers upstairs!

Our first outing outside of skiing was to the elk preserve just outside the city limits of Jackson. There, we were taken by horse-drawn sled into the midst of elk lying about in herds. The herd we entered was a group of bulls. (Unlike their cousin, the deer, a male elk is called a bull, not a buck). This was not mating season and the bulls and the cows don’t hang out together. We saw the cows and their calves further off in the distance. The sled driver told us they were a bit more skittish about having people around them. However, the bulls seemed to care less and went about their business, which consisted of a lot of grazing.

During the mating season, these bulls lower their heads and lock horns to sort out the dominant male for the rights of mating. This was not mating season, but we saw a few bulls lock horns just to keep in practice. The guide pointed out one of the older bulls who had dominance of the herd. He had firmly established his position in the herd and would have a harem of thirty or more cows. Looks like wealth and poverty has its roots in the lower levels of the animal kingdom.

On the last day of the trip, we took a day that turned out to be the most different and memorable of the week. We spent a day covering over eighty miles of the vast Yellowstone Park wilderness on snowmobile.

Many things exceeded our expectation in our trip through Yellowstone. The first was the temperature. We started the day at fifteen below zero. It warmed up to five below by the time we arrived at Old Faithful around noon. Fortunately we were dressed for the cold. Also, the snowmobiles have heated handles, seats and air-flow around the legs. We were not cold. (Alright, we were not Caribbean warm either, but we were comfortable.) Another was the amount of snow. Up to now, we had traveled roads on which an SUV would have no problem. That was not the case here. The only vehicles on these roads were special enclosed vehicles with caterpillar tracks or snowmobiles. Trust us; snowmobiles are the way to go. Once you get used to the rocking and rolling of the vehicle and go with the rhythm, you will have a blast driving one.

Yellowstone itself is among the unique locations of the world. There are beautiful waterfalls surrounded by a frozen framing of trees and hills contrasted by hot pools and geysers. The contrast between the frozen wonder along the continental divide at eight-thousand feet above sea level and the two-hundred degree pools of water issuing from deep inside the earth is like no other to be found anywhere. Witness that in winter when groups like ours of five snowmobiles with six people aboard feel like they are the only people within miles. That is because, they are. The only time you see others are at scenic stops.  Apparently the summer crowds are huge.

The only time we really had to stop was to allow a bison bull in the middle of the road to make his way to the woods. This enormous animal took his time as he strolled past our group huddling behind our snowmobiles as we were instructed to do. We tried not to look scared, but we had been warned that when these guys get angry, they can do significant damage.  Let me tell you, making eye contact with a bison is quite a moment.

At Old Faithful, we ran into some of the other folks in the park, and it was not a bad crowd with perhaps a couple of hundred people around the entire, large area. It was here that we had one of those moments that leave you asking “What are the odds of that happening?” We went to the cafeteria at Old Faithful; ordered hot chili dogs; and sat down to eat. Beside us was a family of four. After a while the mother looked over to Jack and asked “Is your name Jack?” She said she was Dawn, from work. (OK, a note here: Jack works for a company that has members of its team spread across the country. Although they speak frequently on the phone and through email, they seldom meet face-to-face.) Dawn lives in Utah. Jack in Maryland. What are the odds of two people in a work group of about thirty, traveling thousands of miles, coincidentally sit down to lunch together in a wilderness park?

However, one thing you can count on with great precision is the time that Old Faithful will erupt. No, it does not go off at equal intervals during the day. It is just predictable. The time is roughly set for each eruption at the beginning of the day, but it is adjusted based on the height and duration of the last eruption. The next one was set for 2:15 PM. We had plenty of time to walk around the area before that time allowing us to view a Swiss-cheese patchwork of thermal pools and geysers around the area.  We were told that these geysers reach temperatures of 220 degrees.  Over the years, dogs, kids, moose, umbrellas, etc. have fallen in and within less than a minute they are boiled alive.  Not a pretty picture, but a good reminder to be respectful of the potential dangers in the woods.

Around the scheduled time of the eruption, you can position yourself on one of a series of benches around the geyser. At the appointed time, Old Faithful begins to steam, the ground rumbles slightly, and the hot steamy water rises into the air.

After the geyser performance, we returned by snowmobile to the park entrance where we started, stopping at another waterfall vista along the way. No doubt about it, this was the highlight of the trip.

So, visit Jackson Hole by all means. Bundle up and do it in the winter and see Yellowstone and all of the other wonders of this valley along the Tetons.

Our Photo Album

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