A Wandering Weekend: Part Three, Driving to Gross Ventre Road Campsite

July 29, 2018



After getting coffee in Afton, I started north to Grand Tetons.  I stopped in Jackson for brunch and to edit my pictures before going on to Gross Venture Road.  There are several official campgrounds on this road, including Gross Venture, which is part of the Grand Teton National Park.  And in between them are the dispersed campsites.  It was early afternoon by the time I got this far and once again, I had to stop frequently for pictures.

I started taking pictures of the Tetons several miles before this one - but it was the prettiest

I stopped to look at the Gross Ventre landslide - the largest ever - Click here for the story

Finally, I found a nice dispersed campground at just where a field met the riparian forest along Gross Venture River. The sky was darkening from both smoke and an approaching storm, so I set up my tent. I also set up my hammock for a few hours and read, since the light was too bad for pictures.

 I planned to leave very early the next morning so I could get a hike in before several hours of driving and grocery shopping before I would get back home. But around 8:00 P.M. a huge RV pulled in and I had to share the campground. So I ended up not getting much sleep and stayed in bed an extra hour.

My camp - it even had a bear box

But I still got an early start and met about three people while touring Mormon Row.


My last adventure was a beautiful hike in the Grand Tetons.  Stay tuned.


The two weeks since I've been back have been hectic. I'm still doing bluebird box surveys, although I'll be finished next week. I have 10 boxes with babies that will have fledged before my next visit. I've also been helping to find and spray for invasive plants. We have been starting at 6:00 A. M. and stopping at 2:00 P.M. Then I take a lunch/ rest break and do one of my project jobs, like birds, bathrooms, or now maintain the gates at Lower Lake.  We are trying to find the spot that will hold the water at seven feet.  I also gave a bee talk and then led a bee walk for the students at Utah University.  I'm making sure this is finished and scheduled to come out Sunday, while I am off camping and hiking - this time near Big Sky, Montana. I have to remember to get back in time to get a shower and clean clothes before giving another bee talk next Monday night.

Life is ever fun and never boring. 

Thanks in advance for your comments. Please share your experiences if you have been to any of the places I'm visiting.

A Wandering Weekend: Part Two, Periodic Spring

July 28, 2018

Note: This has a lot of pictures. Get your coffee first. 

I had set my GPS for Afton, Wyoming from which I would navigate to Periodic Spring, aka Intermittent Spring. The mostly one business street town of Afton is famous for having the world's largest elk horn arch. It was easy to find,  right on Highway 89. I stopped and took a picture of it from the neutral ground in the middle of the street before turning back to turn on the road labeled Periodic Spring.

The road itself offered fantastic views and required a lot of stopping.

In a few minutes, I was in Bridger-Teton National Forrest.  The road continued into an ever narrowing canyon.  The well lit scenes were almost all to my right, as was Swift Creek and the falls.

This was an electricity generating plant- most of the water to run it was in a large tube

I enjoyed the rocky outcrops

The road was on the floor of the valley - I expect it floods in early spring when the snowmelt makes the creek overflow

A closer look at a rocky outcropping

One of my favorite views

I didn't take a picture of the sign naming this falls

Janee Falls - the largest falls I found

The  road ended in the parking lot for the trailhead to the spring.

End of the road and beginning of the trail

I was impressed on the education offered on noxious weeds. We are fighting the first two species at the refuge. 

The creek was was very visible from the trailhead

View upstream from the last picture

The road just narrowed into the trail - most of it was nice and wide

And the creek provided a little water music

And showed what it was capable of doing in the spring thaw

Views didn't stop

Found lots of these butterflies muddying

The creek bed narrowed as the trees got closer

I didn't find out that the flow was constant for most of the summer until I read the sign - The spring is supposed to operate by a syphon effect. 

The trail took a sharp left, and got steeper and much narrower.  It was also in deep shade

Almost there - and the trail is that narrow piece to the left side

I found a group of either good friends, or an extended family, enjoying it

The actual spring.  It has been covered to keep rocks from falling into it and stopping it up.

I traded taking pictures with the group

This western tanager and a robin were foraging on the rocks by the spring

The view downstream from near the spring

Back to the parking lot

There was no dispersed camping on this road, so I went back to town and continued to a road that had three campgrounds listed on it. I found a lovely dispersed campground between the road and the creek.  It was warm enough that I risked hanging my hammock. I added my Big Agnes pad, partially blown up, my summer sleeping bag, and hung my water bottle on a hook conveniently left by a previous camper. Set up took about fifteen minutes.

The next morning, I continued to Cottonwood Campground and found it was near a lake. The day use area was on the lake itself. The cost to add a table and vault toilet was $10. ($5 with a Golden Age Pass)  I used the vault toilet and enjoyed the view. I think someone had camped illegally in the day use area and had built a fire, then left it.  I took it apart and hauled water from the lake to completely put it out.

Lake view from the line of picnic tables

The lake empties through this waterfall

This rabbit posed for me when I stopped to take the next picture

Had to stop for this outcrop on the way out

My next stop was to get a cup of coffee. I had food with me but never bothered to get out my stove. By 8:30 A.M I was off to Grand Tetons National Park.

To be continued...