The bicycle tour ends on Saturday, though you can camp overnight.
Since I’ll be there, I’m thinking of driving through Grand Teton / Yellowstone on Sunday and stopping for a short hike (I’ve even considered camping in one park Sunday night)
I know both parks will be super busy, and I could easily spend a week there and not see everything. But does anyone have any ideas of what to see if I only spend a day? keep in mind it is a 17 hour drive for me to Jackson (plan on doing this in two segments) and I have finite vacation time.
I think the Sheepeater Cliffs are sort of neat; a nice spot for lunch and a stroll along the river. The couple of times I’ve stopped there it wasn’t crowded at all. (YMMV of course)
That’s a beautiful area of the country, you’ll have an amazing trip. With a single day in the area I would make my choice depending on how much time you want to spend in a car.
If you are willing to drive you can go up to Yellowstone and do the standard loop, seeing the geysers, wildlife, waterfalls, and scenery. It’s an amazing loop but you will be spending a good chunk of time in the car, possibly in traffic. You should really assume it’s a full day, and you can take small hikes during the trip but nothing big if you want to get back at a reasonable time.
If you want to spend more time on foot I’d recommend taking the boat across Jenny Lake and hike up Cascade Canyon as far as you’d like. Another option is to take the tram to the top of Rendezvous and hike down Granite Canyon but you’re committed once you get out of the tram.
GTNP is our favorite park. A nice hike, but with lots’o’folks, is the hike to Inspiration Point. You can take a boat across Genny Lake or just walk around it. The camping at Genny lake is great as well. It is only open to tenters, so no generators or Mohos.
You can also rent a kayak and go up String Lake and camp in a primitive site, which is pretty cool too. Be bear aware and hoist your food and use the bear lockers if available and absolutely don’t leave anything on your picnic table!
Have you been to either park before? If not, I’d have to recommend a day in Yellowstone. You’ll get plenty of views of the Tetons from the bicycle, but not of Yellowstone. Like Telemark says, don’t try the whole park unless you want to spend the day in the car. Spend a half day watching geysers at Old Faithful and Midway Basin, and visit the canyon or lake to finish the south half of the loop.
On the other hand, if you’ve seen Yellowstone before, spare yourself the crowds and just hike the Tetons.
I have not been to either park. Closest I’ve been is Rock Springs (or Zion, but obviously a different park)
Getting up early Sunday and grabbing a spot at Jenny Lake is being considered
I suppose I could spend Sunday at GT and Monday at Yellowstone (but then I spend Tuesday and Wednesday driving home…)
Since I will already be at Teton Village the tram is attractive. I suppose I could do that after the ride ends on Saturday, but I will have already biked 55 miles (and 2600 ft of climbing) so may not be interested in a long hike (suppose I could just ride the tram, walk around a bit and then take it back)
That’s an option as well, you can do a nice hike and come back to the tram for the trip down. But if the weather is nasty below it’ll be pretty bad up there.
Jenny Lake is a great spot to camp. I’ve camped at Gros Ventre Campground a couple of times and had the special treat of sub-adult male moose making the rounds at dawn and dusk. It was extremely cool (but also kind of scary) to have them wandering around the campsites like they owned the place.
FYI I plan on camping in Grand Teton Sunday night and Yellowstone Monday night (have reservations for Canyon campground)
I will be very nearby (Teton Village) so can get to Jenny Lake early. if it looks iffy I’ll probably go to Lizard Creek (less crowded, and a possibility of getting a site right on the water)
While in Yellowstone do not stop to play with the bears. But do see Old Facefull as our 3 year old at the time called it.
When we went through Yellowstone we actually saw a man trying to put his little child on a bears back so he could get a picture. We just kept driving…so I have no idea how that turned out. If the child lived the family should be thankful because it was no thanks to the idiot father.
There is a easy walking trail from the Canyon area where you can hike down into the canyon to the river (downriver from the falls). Most visitors never take it but the concession employees use it on their days off.
You can also camp on Jackson Lake at the Signal Mountain campground. That is now our favorite spot since we got a camper. We like Signal better than Lizard, but it all depends on your point of view.
We have always seen Moose walking thru Signal and found a bear exploring our chairs overlooking the lake. Deer are everywhere. Once observed a bear and moose mom with a calf confront each other right outside the campground. The bear flinched.
Let us know how it goes, where you stayed and the bestest thing you saw
Should probably mention I’ll be in a tent, which is partially why Jenny Lake appeals to me. I could theoretically put everything on my bike but I think I will enjoy camping with a car nearby. (for example I will bring a chair that I won’t be able to have on the bicycle portion of my trip)
There was a bear cub wandering around the grounds at Signal Mountain Lodge when we checked in last summer. Mother was nowhere to be seen. It was quite funny watching all the tourists freaking out while trying to get photos.
I see 7 mile hole trail mentioned in the Canyon area day hikes - are you talking about something different?
(can’t seem to find the link where I got the pdf - filename is 239DHCanyon2013.pdf )
