March 4, 2020 • 47 mins
When you think about the Grand Tetons, what comes to mind? Is it iconic, snowy mountains, pristine lakes, and grizzly bears? But how about White Russians, white water rafting, and hootenannies? All of those things take place here at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and clearly, there’s a lot to love about this epic park. We'll discuss the magnificent vistas, the food, the need for proper footwear, and the ubiquity of bear spray.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
When you think about the Green Tetons, what comes to
mind iconic snowy mountains, pristine lakes, and grizzly bears mostly yeah, yeah,
but also how about white Russians, white water rafting, and
hooting nannies. I mean, sure, all of those things take
place here a Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, And
clearly there's a lot to love about this epic park.
Oh yeah, I'll say, as an avid and wrestles hiker myself,
(00:24):
this place is my dream. But also as someone who
enjoys warm cocktails well sitting in hot tubs, it also
scratches that itch. This place really has it all, from
all kinds of beautiful hiking trails and wildlife, to history,
musical hooting nannies, and some of the best restaurants and
bars in Teton Village in nearby Jackson. We could easily
spend a whole month here or more. Yeah, except the
(00:46):
r V park prices are pretty boogie and we'd probably
be bankrupt by the end of it. But at least
we'd be pleasantly buzzed from all the great local beer
and cocktails, probably merrily tapping our toes at the hooting Nanny,
which is a real thing, and I cannot wait to
talk about it. All that and more coming up in
this week's episode on Grand Teton National Park. Hi, I'm
(01:07):
Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia, a podcast
by iHeart Radio. We sold our loft in Chicago, moved
into an r V, and now we're traveling in the
country full time with our dog Finn, exploring America's national parks.
This week's episode is on Grand Teton National Park, which
is in northwestern Wyoming, immediately south of a little place
called Yellowstone, which you may have heard of, as we
(01:29):
talked about it already this season. Um, alright, so for starters,
we were here at Grand Teton in July, right after
our time in Yellowstone. Actually, since the two parks literally
border each other and Grand Teton is just to the south,
they're really the quintessential one to punch of all national parks,
I think, and unless you're strapped for time, it would
(01:49):
be a huge oversight to go to one and not
the other. Yeah. Absolutely, Even though they're right next to
each other, they're both so different and they vary from
one to the other. Um, they really looked nothing alike,
which is absolutely shocking. Yeah, the scenery kind of hits
you abruptly too, if you're entering Grand Teton from Yellowstone
heading south, especially, like all of a sudden, the scenery
(02:10):
explodes and bursts open into these massive, serene lakes that
brush up against the base of these enormous soaring mountains
with jaggs snow cap peaks. These, I really feel like
are the quintessential mountains of the American West, and they're
all here, just looming in the distance. It's at once
all learning and captivating but also intimidating, and it really
makes you feel small. Sometimes it's good to feel small,
(02:31):
unless you run into a grizzly bear in the wild
and then you're HyperWare of how small you really are. Yeah,
that'll do it. And that's why this is another place
where bear spray is super important. Like there are signs
literally everywhere in every store strongly recommending buying and carrying
bear spray and also hiking in groups and making noise
and all these precautions be bear aware. At least that's
(02:52):
what the signs saying. It's catchy and I like it. Fortunately,
we didn't see any bears here when you and I
were in Grand Teton. I did see a few years
back when I was here with my family on that
Yellowstone trip. Turned out fine, though clearly I didn't die.
But I mean, apparently, according to me, either die or
you're totally fine. There's there's no middle ground when it
comes to greats the Bears. Of course, I'm not gonna
(03:13):
say you're dramatic or anything, but I'll apply it history.
So anyway, let's start by talking about the background and
the establishment of this park, because it was a saga,
much more complicated and drawn out than most national parks,
which seems crazy because clearly, these beautiful mountains deserve protection
and preservation, so it should have been obvious, but not
(03:35):
necessarily in this case for everyone. Yeah, complicated is definitely correct.
But long before this whole tangled little mess, the region
was first populated by Native Americans some eleven thousand years ago,
since these abundant lakes were rich with game for hunting.
In the seventeenth century, French fur trappers is flore the
area and gave the park its name by referring to
the three tallest mountains as the Teton, which translates to
(03:59):
the three Nample which okay, like were these fur trappers
sixth grade boys or something a little time to say
with the straight vase. So basically, this is the Grand
Nipple National Park, right, real mature? But also can we
just say how masterful my French pronunciation was? I that
was great. I didn't know how because I've never said
it out when I said my head and it sounds good.
(04:20):
But I know we're both really mature. Um. The most
famous trapper to ever explore the area, though, was David Jackson,
who apparently loved the Teton Valley so much that the
president town of Jackson Hole isn't actually named after him.
Homestaters follow Jackson in the late eighteen hundreds, and then
conservationist Horace Albright came into the picture of the ninety twenties.
(04:43):
He was the first person to appreciate the Tetons from
a preservation standpoint, and sought to have them established as
a national park, since the National Park Service had recently
been created in nineteen sixteen. At the time, Albright was
actually the superintendent of Yellowstone, and he wanted to spread
the national parks loved to the South, so he used
his platform to take visiting congressmen and other politicians through
(05:05):
the Teton Valley to wild them and helped him see
the value of this area. Yeah, show it off a
little bit. Here's the problem though, The area was already
populated with ranchers at this point, and they were very
anti national park because they wanted their private land and
they wanted to obviously profit off of it, and it's
agricultural value and you know, just really milk it. And yes,
(05:25):
I realized he's in the phrase milk it in an
episode where nipples are being discussed. Isn't exactly ideal, but
that's history. Basically just wrote wrote itself this way, I
can't it fits. I mean it fits absolutely. Uh So, anyway,
you have Albright on one side, these ranchers on the other,
and they were very much on opposite sides of their
argument here. Um. But when things changed in um that's
(05:48):
because Albright crossed pass with John D. Rockefeller Jr. Yes,
he did. And John D. Rockefeller Jr. Is a wealthy
naturalist with a heart of gold and pockets line with
gold too, so it's good. He toured the area with
all right and loved it, and he supported the idea
of preservation. So they devised a plan that was a
little devious in retrospect, but it's clever and I love it.
(06:12):
Rockfellow started buying up tracts of land throughout the area
under the Moniker Snake River Land Company, which was masquerading
as a cattle ranch business. Very sneaky, and he wasn't
the only person doing this time. You know Walt Disney
That's how I built Walt Disney World. Did he do
that same thing? Oh yeah, but he had hundreds of
different names, So it's just fascinating, right. But then in
n a small portion of the land and several lakes
(06:35):
were designated as the Grand Eton National Park. But Rockfeller
had all of his extra land that he wanted to
include in the park. He wanted to donate to the
Park Service, but the government wouldn't just take it, so
he kept buying more land in additional thirty thousand acres. Yeah,
what a weird, unrelatable problem to have, Like, oh, I
just have excessive amounts of land and money. What a pickle?
(06:58):
What do I do? Yeah? And honestly though, it's refreshing
to see a filthy, rich person on such a heartfelt
mission like this, like, oh, you don't want to take
my donation, Well, then I'll just buy the whole state
and force you to which is you know, and that's
eventually what wounded up happening after you know, years and years.
So yeah, it's a crazy how drawn out this was.
(07:19):
It was really dramatic too. But Rockefeller wrote a letter
to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in telling him he would
sell them the land if the park servants wouldn't just
take it. You know. That's just like a little extra
slap in the face. The president created Jackson Hole National
Monument to the east of the existing part, but still
did not include any of Rockefeller's land. It's like they're
(07:41):
just dancing around it. And if I was Rockefeller, I'd
be I'd be furious. It took years. Just take my land, jeez,
just take my freeland. Initially, a lot of locals were
furious about more protectively and of course because you know,
I've yone wanted their own private cup, until after World
War Two when they eventually saw the economic benefit of
the National monument in park and how it was an
(08:03):
actually huge boon to the local economy. So now, finally, finally,
after everyone saw once and for all, what a big
positive difference these parks can have, the government merged everything
together into one park, including Rockefeller's land finally, and that
was in the ninety full twenty one years after the
initial formation of the park. One years. It took a while. Fittingly,
(08:24):
the National Park Service actually dedicated the whole route connecting
Yellowstone with Grand Teton to Rockefeller. So now it's called
the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, and it's a National
Park site in and of itself. Yeah, that's true. I
did not know that too. We're there, but that's great.
I feel like very desivering and it's one of the
most scenic drives we've ever done, and I really think
(08:45):
Rockefeller would be very proud now. So now today Grand
Teton National Park consists of three nine thousand acres with
more than two hundred miles of hiking trails, and that's
just a fraction of the size of Yellowstone to the north.
But it's really great that the Teton Range and its
valleys are all finally included in one glorious park, filled
with epic views in the most beautiful lakes and incredible trails. Yes,
(09:07):
it's a very fitting finale to this year's long saga.
And we'll talk more about those trails and more. After
this quick break, you are listening to park Landia from
my Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This
(09:31):
is park Landia and today we're talking about Grand Teton
National Park in Wyoming trails. So Grand Teton definitely ranks
way up there as one of my favorite parks for
hiking because obviously it's a mountain mecca with literally hundreds
of miles of trails from easy lakeside, John's Too, grueling
halls across boulder fields. It's got something for everyone, whether
(09:52):
you're a leisurely walker or a full blown massacrest. It
comes to no surprise that you've actually experienced some of
these growling trails. Yes, true, it shouldn't be surprise because
you all know me pretty well at this point. So
on my first trip to Grand Teton, it was part
of my family vacation with my dad, my brother, and
my sister. This was in two thousand sixteen or seventeen um,
(10:14):
and so this is like the first segment of that trip,
that Yellowstone Grand Teton thing. And we were staying at
this gorgeous lodge in t Town Village, which is the
Dreaming as Little Man said, resort I've ever seen. It's
it's beautiful, it's stunning. Um. You and I tried to
go back there this past summer one night, but everything
was pretty much closed. Yeah, it's not really a late
(10:34):
night town, I guess. But we were there like nine
pm and I was desperate to take you back to
my favorite spots and show you around. But oh well,
we wound up finding like expensive sushi and it was
it was all fine. Yeah, But anyway, the first full
day we're in the park, we asked the hotel concierge
for some hiking choil recommendations. This is when I was
with my family, and he suggested something called the Delta
(10:56):
Lake Trail was actually an unmarked trail that veers off
Amphitheater Lake Trail, which is kind of the main thing
that you see in the map. And so Delta Lake
was not even listed any of the guide books we had.
We hadn't heard about it. We we're just basically going
off this guy's recommendation and what he was explaining to us.
I love the locals, but that's kind of scary. I'm
(11:16):
surprised you actually agreed to do that. Yeah, me too.
In retrospect, so this Trail and Amphthly Trail start at
Lupine Meadows trail head area, not far from Titon Village.
It's super pretty and peaceful, and it all starts through
this lush pine forest that really just smells like a
big Christmas tree farm. It's very peaceful, very aromatic, very relaxing.
(11:39):
But we were all the whole time on like high
alert for bears. This was our first trail that we're
doing in this trip, and we're obviously all nervous wrecks
about the potential to see bears, so very worried. My
dad had bear spray at the ready. But about two
thirds of the way up the trail to amphith Amphitheater
Lake went to this point has had numerous switch backs
(12:02):
with the mountain, with some sweeping valley views below. We
cut off into the woods towards Delta Lake and things
started to get very icy and very snowy pretty quick,
and we were not properly dressed for it at all.
We were dressed for like late summer snow free walking
and like leisurely hiking, not for this. None of us
had gloves and we're all just like in hiking shoes
(12:23):
or sneakers even I think I was wearing like sneakers,
So that's good. We really got to get you better
hiking shoes. Someone those hikes as much as you do,
you need to have the best shoes, right, Yeah. I
think one of the pairs of shoes I had literally
as a hole in the bottom, like it's it's ridiculous now,
and especially for a grilling chair like this, which had
deeper and deeper snow, which went over boulder fields and
(12:45):
steep slopes that we we literally had to crawl up
some of them and get like hands on and remember,
like we didn't have gloves, So this isn't great. But
when we finally made it up to Delta Lake, it
really was amazing and we had it all to ourselves.
It's this gorgeous, perfectly still glacial lake that looks like
a mirror in the midst of these vertical peaks, and
(13:06):
the main Teton, the Grand Teton, was perfectly situated on
the opposite side of the lake, rising above a cloud
of fog and reflecting the water. It was really such
an amazing and surreal place to eat the rest of
our breakfast burritos the same that does sound really amazing
and peaceful. Yeah. Yeah, Well the peacefulness came to a
screeching halt on the way back down when we were
(13:28):
literally sliding down these deep slopes and crashing into rocks
and trying to keep our icy hands from frostbite. At
a certain point, I think I was like crying and
laughing at the same time, and my brother and sister
are like, are you actually okay or do we need
to work? And I'm like, I don't know, Honestly, I
can't tell you. I was just like uncomfortable and laughing
(13:50):
at the outrageousness of it all. I think, yeah, that
is pretty crazy. Yeah, And we were wondering this whole
time if the concierge recommended this hike to us because
he wanted to kill us, Like, was was this a
malicious recommendation? Because because you live to tell the tale? Yeah,
And I mean, I'm sure this trail is beautiful and
less miserable in like the peak summer months when snow
(14:11):
is either non existent or at least minimal, but this
is not the time of year for it. It It was
like late September snow was starting to come back in
full force, at least at these elevation levels, but at
least we'd be able to see where we're stepping and
not constantly falling into deep snow over boulders. If we
were to do this in the summer, which I would
totally come back and do this in the summer. I
think it's a worthwhile trail. You just need to be
(14:33):
equipped and um mentally ready and on the way back
down once we're back on the main trail. We actually
did see an adolyst and grizzly bear eating berries or something.
It was just like foraging romantic. Yeah, it really wasn't
as scary as I thought, or like this terrifying image
we all had like burned into our our minds of
what it would be like. It was mostly mesmerizing at
(14:55):
least for most insistance, And like it was an adolescent
So it wasn't this a gigantic looming you getting ready
to pounce, right? Um? I mean hopefully not. But even
if it was, we made it out. But it's safe
to say at the end of all of this, the
end of like this treacherous snowy hike and then the
bear setting, we're all very eager to make a bee
(15:17):
line to the hotel's hot tub on the roof and
that wasn't the first time you've ever had a white Russian, wasn't. Yeah,
somehow I've gone through my entire life without ever having
one of these, and they're amazing. Like, I just don't
get it. I mean, that used to be my go
to drink, but then I haven't had one in a while. No, well,
they're they're rich, they're kind of have a so I can't.
(15:38):
It's not something I would want to have on a
regular basis, But for this setting, like after a painfully
called hike, when you're like just sitting and mending your
wounds in a hot tub, it's it's really perfect, And
especially like these ones where it was like splashed with
espresso and it was all exactly what I needed. This
is like the medicine I need it. Well. The main
(16:00):
Ampusator Lake Trail is a good option though, um and
for anyone who wants to get those glacial lake views
without having to go off trail. Yeah, totally. I did
that main trail this past summer, and honestly, it was
just as beautiful as Delta Lake. So again, I'm not
really sure why the concierge didn't just suggest that one
to begin with it would have been much easier to follow,
and it would not have required scrambling over any boulder fields.
(16:24):
A great story it did, and ultimately I'm glad for that,
so I guess thanks in retrospect to that concierge, that
devious confierration altogether. And the lake is about ten miles
round trip, and it's pretty strenuous, with a tone of
switchbacks and some snowy maneuvering at the very top, but
it is worth it, and it's not as difficult and
(16:47):
hands on lake. Not all the trails at Grand Teatown
are strenuous are steep, though the mountains are the main
attraction for sure, but the park is also filled with
these incredible lakes that are surrounded by much easier trails
like Jenny Lake. Yes, Jenny Lake is definitely a leading
lady here. It's the second largest lake in the park
and one of the most visited areas, so prepare for
(17:09):
crowds and crowded parking lots and arrive early to avoid
both as much as you can, especially in the summer months.
I remember the day that you were doing Jenny Lake.
I was driving to r V to our r V
park near Titoon Village, which was really beautiful but definitely
the most expensive place that we have ever stayed. It
was basically hotel prices. Yes, it was like we've stayed
(17:30):
at hotels for cheaper. It's this is a bouge area
for sir. It would probably be like staying at stay
on property at like disney World or something. For Wilderness
definitely right with the r V or even this might
have been even more expensive, but we still Yeah, we
still had the rental car that we had been using
for Yellowstone to make it easier to park on trail
HUDs and such, so we were able to park it
(17:51):
here there are v park of the campground and then
just make it easier to get around and also to
park because this was prime time. So I used the
rental to drive to Jenny Lake one morning early and
thankfully like I got there with enough time to get
a spot. Parking lot was not yet a capacity, but
by the time I left, there were cars like literally
(18:13):
lined up down the main road, like down the highway
or whatever the freeway. Yeah, it's crazy. And by the way,
this is a good time to point out that grand
Eton National Park gets more than three million annual visitors,
making one of the top ten most visited national parks
in the country, and the most of those visitors come
in July and August, right when we were there. Yeah,
it seems like all three million of them were there
(18:35):
that day on this trail. It was a lot, and
it explains why I had to speed hike past a
ton of groups on that Jenny Lake Loop trail. It was.
It was crazy and exhausting, and I must be a
really quiet hiker because anytime I passed people, they always
do a little gasp and act so shocked that I'm
suddenly next to them, Like there's like you know, that
(18:56):
happened like repeatedly on the trail because I passed like
I don't know fifty different groups of people and they're
all like panic. I'm like, I'm just glad they didn't
like spray you with bear spray. Uh. Yeah, actually I
didn't want to catch them out guard and get sprayed
in the face. Yeah, You're quiet and fast, so it's
a tricky combination. No wonder you're always sneaking up on people. Yeah,
(19:17):
and especially sometimes I actudally find myself awkwardly like in
the middle of some larger groups and I'm trying to pass.
Like at one point in this trail, there was this
huge like family of like twelve or more people. It
seemed like they seem like they're all related. It was
like the family from Home alone or something with like
a bunch of bickering and like kind of chaos. And
I could only pass a couple of people at a
(19:37):
time because it's a big group. I can't just like
speedwalk past all twelve of them. And then I was
like kind of tangled in the middle, like mixed in
with their family. And at one point, this man was
like scolding his child and getting super angry, and I'm like, oh,
I don't want to get the middle of this, and
I'm worried I might, like, you know, witness something witness
like a family confrontation. And I'm like, sir, please, like
(19:59):
there's a stranger in your midst be You did not
say that, no, but I was thinking, okay, it sounds
like you love the trail anyway. And your photos were
some of the best ones I've seen of Grand Teatime. Yeah,
Jenny Lake is just incredible. So it's the seven mile loop,
all pretty flat, and it was a perfectly sunny and
warm day that I did it. With this wide open,
(20:19):
shimmering lake and the mountains off to one side, there
are boaters and kayakers criss crossing the lake. It was
also idyllic. I loved it. Yeah. And by the way,
for those of you don't want to hike around the
entire lake, there's a shuttle boat you can take from
near the like Jenny Lake Vissor Center for a small fee,
and it drops you right off near the entrance of
the Cascade Canyon, which is totally worth exploring. Absolutely. I
(20:42):
saw a lot of people used in that boat like
throughout the day, and the canyon was definitely fall when
I was passing through. I didn't do a ton here.
I didn't spend a lot of time there, mainly because
it was super crowded. I stopped at Hidden Falls, though,
which is a napic waterfall just slightly in the canyon
away from the lake, and then I did a little
hike up to this point called Inspiration Point. While Were
(21:05):
you inspired? Yes, I was. I probably would have been
even more inspired if the whole place wasn't swarming with people.
But still, I think it's also a good time to
highlight some of the Park's wildlife because there's a lot
of it, probably not much as Yellowstone, but Grand Teton
is still known for its moose, bear, and elk in particular.
(21:26):
There's actually a huge National Elk Refuge right near Jackson,
which is fascinating. It's a thousand acre preserve that was
created in nineteen twelve to protect one of the largest
elk herds in the world. Each winner about elk live here,
migrating down from Yellowstone, primarily since there was like an
abundant like grassy area here. Yeah, that's a lot of elk,
(21:48):
even more than all the elk we saw when we're
in Yellowstone. And that's really saying something because we saw
a ton. Yeah, you can actually see a lot of
bison here. Two. Um, you know what's actually beautiful though.
I actually camped at the top of the nextional Elk
refuge on the Mountain Um and it was like going
up this huge, like huge mountain and it was crazy
(22:08):
how big it was um because there's a lot of
ruts that were like a foot drop. So, like I was, remember,
Tim Burton and Brinsmine would Farm followed me up there
one day and this was on a different trip, but
basically Um, he's in a box truck with all the
syrup in it, and I'm in an suv and where
I'm going through these ruts and then I'm looking in
(22:29):
my back river mirror looking and watching him, and like
he was like white knuckling the stem wail behind me.
It was like a crazy time. But the National Elk
Refuge is beautiful, especially next morning when I got to
like go down the mountain to get out of there. Um,
it's just a beautiful, beautiful site, and you have the
Grand Tea tons in the back, and it's definitely worth it.
(22:49):
But there's camping up there just in case. That's great. Yeah,
it sounds beautiful. Yeah, And like you mentioned, you can
also see bison here, and these are especially common in
the plains near the historic Mormon Row area. And if
you don't know what that is, just by hearing it,
you've almost certainly seen a photo of it, because it's
one of those most iconic barns like anywhere in the country.
(23:11):
It's this historic district in Grand Teton National Park where
these farms were built in the early nineteen hundreds and
they've got this picture perfect back chop of the Teton
Range with potential bison sidings as well, so it's like
this most quintessential National park scenery all in one view river.
So in addition to hiking, Grand Teton National Park is
(23:32):
also a haven for water activities. Like I mentioned, kayaking
on the lakes is popular, but white water rafting is
also huge in the summer and early fall. And the
best part is when you can white water raft down
the Snake River, which we love because it's an iconic
section of the Oregon Trail game. Yeah, yes it is.
I'm pretty sure I drowned in that river several times
playing that game. It's treacherous, and now after rafting it,
(23:55):
I can attest to that, so yeah, I'm not surprised,
not at all. So I want to talk a little
bit more about this rafting trip because the Snake River
was really an adventurous day and it was epic. And
this was when I was with my sister and brother
and my dad and we carved out a day to
do this. It was pretty cold, so I was worried
(24:15):
that I might get hypothermic, but they dress you in
wet suits and layers so that you're well insulated. And
the trip has kind of deviated into two different parks.
You go down part of the Snake River that's really
docile and calm, and it's mostly just drinking in the
scenery at a comfortable pace. I remember seeing several bald
(24:36):
eagles perched in trees along the river, and we would
see these like lavish mountain mansions along the side of
the river and up lake along the slopes. And then
after that portion you kind of make you get off
on some like shore of the river and then get
get back into the van, and then they drove you
(24:58):
a little bit down the road to a portion of
the river that gets more rapid. You all get back
into the raft and then this is the part that's
really white water. And for this one, my sister and
I both put on like head where as well like
wet suits for the cover of your hair, and so
we were like almost all of us, almost all of
(25:18):
our body was covered because I was just worried about
being really freezing. I was late September in Wyoming, so
it was chilies to the least. And so yeah, we
go down this white white water section and it was
such a blast, and you have so much a drunaline
that you don't even notice that you're cold, you just
like hit all these big, aggressive, crashing waves and you
(25:41):
get soaked. So much fun. I've loved it. And I
remember our guy at one point telling us that, like
one of the main like waves that you hit, he
said on one trip he had recently done the whole
raft I actually like shot straight in the air and
then like went upside down, so everyone like fell out,
and I'm like, oh, my gosh, that's horrifying, but also
like kind of exciting. I don't know if I wouldn't
(26:03):
want to experience that, probably not no. But the my
like the most fun part of it was there's this photographer.
He's perched on like one of the rocks along the
river and he's taking like, you know, professional photos of
your group as you're passing by, and then once you're
done with the trip, you can look at those photos.
(26:23):
It's sort of like when you want to ride at
like a theme park. I didn't get to see the
photos that we're taking on the ride, and we saw them,
and it was so funny because my sister and I
look like identical twins. We have like these huge smiles
in our faces, the samm exact smile, huge, wet cold, yeah,
smiling through the like pain. And it was so great
(26:44):
because we just were having the best time and the
photo really captured that. And we also like it confirmed
that like her and I just look like the same person,
especially when our hair is all covered up. We just
looked like twins. You know what the best thing to
do after like a trip like that would be after
a white water raft? Yes, I sip with get hooting Nanny. Yes, exact.
(27:05):
And that's why I really want to talk about the
hooting nanny right by Grand Teton National Park food. Oh
my gosh. Yeah. Prior to experiencing this activity year, I
think I thought hooting nannies were like these storybuck activities
that only took place in TV cartoons or like on
Splash Mountain, not Magic Kingdom like I thought. I didn't
know that they were real, but real things. You kept yeah,
(27:26):
you kept talking about this hooting nanny that takes place,
and I was like, real, My friend Chris Bingman he
Um invited us out to go to the hooting Nanny
and you know, have some drinks and tap our shoes
while we're listening to this great music. And I mean
these guys were hilarious, super talented. There's a lot of
locals that come out every single week and they really
enjoy giving this beautiful music and creating this community. And
(27:50):
it was packed because it was colder. There's it's in
a smaller like area, but um, I mean at least
(28:11):
a hundred people were there and people from out of
town in town. And the cool thing is they said
they even invite like traveling musicians out to it. So
you just have to be there at the right time,
right place, I guess. But and I do it every
single week, and it's a really beautiful place because I
just I felt so much soul there. Yeah, me too.
(28:34):
I loved it so much more than I thought I would,
I guess. Yeah. And it takes place in the summer
months at this resort called Dornan's. Yeah. I remember, like
when I was first thinking about this and you told
me about this like resort. I thought Dornan's was a
restaurant in Jackson or something. I I literally had no
idea it was in Grand Teuton or like what it was.
(28:55):
I definitely did not expect what it turned out to be.
But it was awesome. And this resort looks like a
rustic lodge or something. It looks like more like glamping
than a hotel, I guess, and I love it so
so cool. Yeah, and this whole event takes place there
with these musical performers under a tent and food and
drinks served all night long. I mean it was just
(29:15):
an absolute blast. Yeah it was. And speaking of food
and drinks, I think we need to carve out some
time to talk more about the town of Jackson and
also Titown Village and how incredible the food scene is
in both of these places. It's wonderful. I love it. Yeah.
Like the million Dollar Cowboy Bar, that place is great.
You and I have both been a couple of times now,
(29:37):
and this is like an iconic stop in Jackson. It's
like right on the central square of the town and
one of the older venues in Jackson. And it has
a really big, like light up sign, kind of like
a Las Vegas with a big, huge cowboy. It's stunning. Revolves, right,
he like spins around. Yeah, I think he does well. Yeah,
(30:00):
And inside is this big, sprawling saloon like bar. And
the best part is the literal bar itself is lined
with not just bar stools, but their stools with what
are they what are they called they're like so they're
like saddle which are a little hard to climb up onto,
(30:22):
but it's really saddle like on a horse. I mean,
I have very little experience with horseback riding, which you
might explain my desperate confusion right now. But I love
it though. You know, it was really beautiful just to
get on those saddles and just like sit there and
have a drink. And they have some great cocktails in
their food. You know, it's like a pickup window um option.
(30:44):
There's that one where you go order it from the window,
go up to the bar, put your number down and
they'll bring it to you. But then there's also that
steakhouse down below, which you haven't I have myself to
a really beautiful dinner there one night, and I just
loved it. Expensive for one person, I mean, I'm not
(31:04):
getting it was probably like ninety bucks by the time
I was done. I'm not surprised. I had. I had
steak potatoes, I had cocktails, and it was it was perfect.
But I feel like you did it right. That's like
the most classic Wyoming meal. Yeah oh yeah, yeah, go
to Wyoming in it, Like, hey, can I get a
cauliflower steak? I'll have the to like I'd probably get
(31:27):
like literally thrown out of the front of the saloon doors, right,
and you would deserve that. Yeah, absolutely, so this place
is essential. I think my favorite place for food is
this cafe called Persephone Bakery. And there are actually two locations, yes,
they do the area. Yeah, so there's one like right
around the corner from this bar in the heart of Jackson,
(31:48):
and then there's a newer one near to town village
and which is like right by where we were staying. Right.
This place is so good. It's like sunny and sleek
and modern, and the food is just really wholesome and
delicious and seasonal. And they're known especially for like their
bait goods like cakes and cookies and quick breads and
(32:10):
stuff like that. I wouldn't be surprised for them just
like serve a like a cauliflower steak if they they
start dinner, but they don't. But because it was more
like modern like like grain balls and party wholesome stuff
like that. And when we were last there, when you
and I went together, I had like a carrot coconut
bread or something, so not like a cake. It was
(32:31):
more like banana bread but with coconut and carrot and
so just wonderful. They do everything perfectly in terms. Yeah,
where was that place that you had the white Russians?
So that was the lodge we were staying in Tetown Village.
This place called the Spur and just it's just like
beautiful looking homie cozy um like restaurant slash saloon in
(32:56):
on the bottom level of the hotel. And it seems
like the right play store or a white Russian like.
It's that vibe you just want to like do all
the cozy things and drink the like boozy espresso stuff.
And it was great. And then you told me about
this bar where you like roll the dice to determine
your shot and beer and your chaser or whatever. You know. Yeah,
we need to talk about that. So that place is
(33:18):
called the Handlebar. It's also within Titon Village. It's just
it was a short walk away from we're staying. And
that was my favorite thing ever. And that was the
one I really wanted to take you two, but they
were closed, in addition to most everything else in Teton Village.
But so the deal is, like, I mean, the restaurant
itself is just great. It's this beautiful kind of mountain
lodge restaurant with like polished wood and soaring ceilings and
(33:40):
just you know, whis great whiskey list and beer and
fried chicken sandwiches and stuff like that. Looks like we're
gonna have to go back. Yeah, I think this place
alone is like worth a reef visit. But the best
thing about it is there's this option on the drink
many where you roll dice to determine your like shot,
chaser and beer, so three different, three different roles. I belie,
(34:00):
and it's kind of it's a gamble because I mean,
the beers are all good and the I think the
riskiest part was like the shots because some of them
are like traditional and then some of them are kind
of wild like they were there was like pickle green
pickle juice or something, and then hot dog water was
one of them, so you don't want to land on that.
(34:24):
The best part was, like I did it. I rolled
the dice, I got like something relatively tame. Same thing
for my brother, and then my sister was really nervous
to do it because she was definitely afraid of getting
hot dog water. You know, it's just understandable who once
thought but she finally did it. She was like, final,
roll it, and then she landed on the hot dog
water and we burst out laughing. So she immediately grabbed
(34:46):
the dice and rolled again as if we didn't notice
that she landed, but then it again landed on hot
dog water. She was just screaming. She's like, I'm sorry,
I can't do that. No, No, She's like, I am
high forfeit. Yeah, she um danced around that she cheated
(35:06):
to get out of hot dog water because she if
she was being honorable, she would have done the hot
dog water, but well she probably opted for one. I
get beautiful beers in Jackson. I mean, it's turning out
to be this little beer mecca with craft breweries propping
up all over the area in years. So I wouldn't
blame Emily for doing that. No, definitely hot water. That
(35:27):
sounds now. I still remember we went to this one.
Um it's roadhouse Brewnko, which has a small tap room
at its original brewery, and then there's another brew prob
located um where it has a full restaurant. Yeah, it's
just perfect, like all of it. Everything we do. I
love the decor. The decor is very rustic chic. The
beer branding is amazing, the beer names are amazing, and
(35:50):
the food it's just also good, really solid place. It's
all overseen by brewer Kolby Cox and Jeff Gavin Fine,
who definitely are one of the like snown chefs in
the area. Um and they have several restaurants are Al Jackson.
So his food at the Roadhouse is definitely better than
what most people would think when they're going to like
get brewery fruit. Yeah. I think the many here is
(36:12):
like full of surprises, definitely raising the bar on like
bar food, so to speak, because he's got things like
crd Idaho trout and fried artichokes and buffalo cauliflower so
not a calfar steak but in the same vicinity. And
then they're like kimchi hot dogs and kimchi hot water
shops for Emily, would you do that then? No? No? Uh.
(36:37):
They also had those Bonnie flat breads and yeah, oh yeah,
doc Putine. And then there's even a zucchini noodle lasagna,
which if you like, I mean, I'm really into zucchini noodles.
And he has a wonderful idea and we also had
something similar in less Yellowstone at some saland we went
at when I yes, and I had that there. I
(36:59):
had not Wazagnia, but I have like zucchini noodles with
I think like a pesto sauce of some sort. And
that was my first zucchini noodle experience, my first zoodle experience.
And now here it is again and Jackson, So I
think apparently Wyoming is in the midst of some sort
of zucchini renaissance and I love it. I fully supported. Yeah,
(37:22):
And the beers here are really good go to as well,
like the Walverse I PA. And then there's that American
palel called like Trout Whistle. They actually I have a
lot of like Hazy I p varieties. Would you love hey?
I love it. I love them all. It's my favorite
kind of beer. So just this year amount that they
have here makes me very happy. And they have a
lot of fun variations that they do and that they
(37:44):
kind of rotate almost in like a beer series, like
the Mountain Jam Volume three is a Hazy I Pay
with mango, and then the Mountain Jam Volume five is
a Hazy I Pay with pineapples and guava, little chopolical twist.
Love it. I think the Loris is their standard. I
remember getting some of that, like the stockpile in our
fridge as well. So there's like the Tallboys of this
(38:05):
wars I p A which is great and also a
great post hike beer. It's really refreshing, you know, because
white Russians and hot tubs aren't always readily available, so
sometimes you have to make do with I p A S.
That's true. You are listening to Park Glandia from my
(38:25):
Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is
part Glandia and this week we're talking about Grand Teton
National Park in Wyoming, my favorite and talking about like
your favorite I PA S. You know what time it is,
It's actually time to talk about our favorite parts of
(38:46):
Grand Teton National Park. We haven't told each other our answers,
so it's all surprised. So, Matt, what was your favorite
thing about Grand Teton National Park? My favorite thing, I
would say it was the Amphitheater Lake trail sounds so
beautiful and also known as like trail misery. Well, yeah,
(39:09):
like as long as you're not veering off and doing
Delta Lake when it's snowy and icy, I think yeah.
But amphitheto Lake is you might as well just like
stay in the mainshil go to the top and bring
a lunch or something and sit by the lake. And
it's so serene and wonderful. And even though like even
it was July and it was crowded, especially down by
the trailhead, but by the time I was up by
(39:31):
Amphitheater Lake, it was I had like the lake pretty
much to myself, and I could find a little nook
like sit by a rock and just like chill out
by the lake and eat the rest of my sandwich
or whatever. I don't remember what I brought, but and
then I remember just like touching the water, which was
like perfectly still and like ice cold, and there's little
(39:54):
patches of ice and snow all over it surrounded by
these like high soaring peaks, and it is a wonderful setting.
And I'm really glad that I like followed through and
finished that trail to completion. You know, I would highly
recommend that. Yeah, absolutely so that would probably be my
favorite part. What what about you, what was your favorite
part of grandt Titon. Well, mine was definitely the hoot
(40:17):
Nanny at NaN's Um, because you know, you can just
go there. It's every Monday at like six pm in
the summer. In the summer yep, absolutely, and sometimes they'll
even do it winter and fall inside. Um it's a
smaller area, so actually they don't like just stop, but
it's just not as big. I think that's a great idea. Yeah,
and so it's just like it's right there. Um. You know,
it's actually probably a ten minute drive from the Jenny
(40:38):
Lake Trail, so it's not even that far, um, maybe
fifteen or twenty, but you know, it's close. It's like
the first thing you get as you're going out of
the park going to Jackson. So it's in between Jackson
and the entrance where Jenny Lake is and all that
kind of stuff. Um. And so it's free um to go,
but you can of course support by buying like local
beers and drinks and talking with the musicians and artists
(41:02):
and just really having a good time. Um. Uh. Chris
Bingman he goes there. He's there all the time. I
know that. It's like like non tourism time now. So
he works at the National Parks and does different things
in the areas at hotels and stuff. So because it's
not prime time. I know he's off traveling the world
just like us, living his life, loving life and just
(41:24):
figuring it out. But I hopefully he'll be there again
next year, and if not, there's many other great artists
to go. Say hi do and uh support a nanny. Yeah,
it's perfect. That's a good one. Yeah, I agree with that.
So if we're talking about three things or or more
to bring to Grantita National Park, what would we recommend?
(41:47):
I think it obviously depends on season, yes, But if
you're going like when we went, which was during summer,
beautiful time, bear spray, no matter why, all the time,
all year round, bear spray. You know, not a lot
of people get attacked by bears. It's probably better to
be safe than sorry. And actually one there's a little
jingle bells. You could put it on your boot belt
(42:09):
and or boot um whatever you want, and it actually
just jingles, so it creates that noise for you. Matt
would be like, go crazy if I did that, But
it's better to be safety. Sorry. Yeah, so bears fray.
And by the way, you can get that pretty much
in any type of store in that's part of Wyoming
(42:29):
gas station, gas station, walmart, anything, camp stores, the National
Park stores, the RV sites that I mean literally anywhere
that sells. I bet you could probably almost get it
at the million dollar Cowboy bar. I don't think you can, actually,
but maybe maybe they have a behind the scenes maybe
or they'd be able to direct you to where you
(42:49):
can buy it. I'm sure most any place so bears fray.
And then it really depends on what trailer you're doing,
so ask park ranger or a DBUS concierge. But if
you're doing anything that could potential to be snowy, I
would recommend having proper hiking equipment for that, meaning mittens,
(43:09):
are gloves, water resistant gloves, water resistant gloss. I don't
get those thin ones, not the inserts, like get real gloves,
hiking poles, and then proper footwear. I think most especially
do not hike through snow with what I was wearing,
which was probably sneakers. Yeah. No, you definitely have to
have like water resistant hiking boots. That's even different than
just getting your normal ones everyday runners. But or like
(43:32):
those boots, those spikes they can put on your boots
and hiking snow. I love those and they make a
world of difference. So had I been wearing all of
this stuff, I would have thoroughly enjoyed Delta Lake and
not been miserable and like crying, literally crying. And if
you're going in the summer, you know it definitely don't
forget your sun's sunscreen and your bug spraying. You know,
(43:52):
you definitely going to need those. Yeah, especially sunscreen, and
especially because like even when it is snowy, don't let
that be mislead to you, because that actually might be
make it doubly important because the snow is also hitting
you directly and reflecting off of the snow and the ice,
so you're getting hit like twice the impact. So sunglasses
(44:13):
in sunscreen go a long way, as well as water
of course, but that's kind of always a necessity. And
then another another thing, and this was something we almost got.
But I remember we were like shopping in Jackson and
we went to a store and I wanted to get
like a big shawl. Do you remember that? Like it
was what is that? It was like a shawl, right,
(44:33):
And I almost got it, but as I was like
trying it on the store, the woman in the store
was like, that's a towel, right, And we even tried
to like, go to three other blazes that had that
the potential of having that, and none of them had
that one. But I like, it didn't really look like
a towel, so I was strong considering. I'm like, should
(44:53):
I just get this? And where a towel? I told
you to get it, but you didn't listen to me.
I almost got it. I love the pattern, and I
was I'm like, who would notice really like if you
touch it? I kind of felt like a towel. But
and it's Penalton anyway, so it's like, of course, like, yeah,
that's when we got our first Penalton blanket, which is
now in storage because we didn't want it in the Yeah,
(45:14):
we like, we wanted to be all nice and pretty
and we knew that it would be used a lot
in the r V, which is good, but it's also like,
that's more for the home, the cabin. When when when
we have a big home to live in again? Oh sorry,
I'm daydreaming. Um. I do love her IRV, but sometimes
it just gets a little cramped and it would be
(45:35):
nice to have multiple rooms. So yeah, from that right,
it's not a very Pendleton friendly r V. I guess no,
it's not, who knows what Finn would do to it.
So for a park that borders one of the country's
most famous national parks and often gets lumped in with Yellowstone,
Grant Titon totally manages to set us off apart and
really blow mines with its incredible views, scenery, food, white water,
(46:00):
are white Russians and musical activities too. Yes, major props
go to Rockefeller and Albright for seeing the greatness in
this place. Um, they work so hard to preserve it
for visitors like us and visitors in the future. Yeah,
and for visitors in the future. We'll try and save
some of Russians for you, but I honestly can't make
(46:20):
any promises. You've been listening to park Landia, a show
about national parks Parklandids, the production of My Heart Radio,
created by Matt Carouac, Brad Carouac and Christopher hasiotis produced
and edited by Mike John's. Our executive producer is Christopher
hasiotis our researcher, it's Jocelyn Shield. A special thanks goes
out to Gabrielle Collins, Christal Waters and the rest of
(46:41):
the Parklandia crew. And Hey listeners, if you're enjoying the show.
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps other
people like you find our show. You can keep up
with us on social media as well. Check out our
photos from our travels on Instagram at Parklandia Pod and
join in on the conversation and our Facebook group park
Landia Rangers. From our podcast in my heart radio, visit
the heart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
(47:04):
to your favorite shows, and as always, thank you for listening.
When you think about the Green Tetons, what comes to
mind iconic snowy mountains, pristine lakes, and grizzly bears mostly yeah, yeah,
but also how about white Russians, white water rafting, and
hooting nannies. I mean, sure, all of those things take
place here a Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, And
clearly there's a lot to love about this epic park.
Oh yeah, I'll say, as an avid and wrestles hiker myself,
(00:24):
this place is my dream. But also as someone who
enjoys warm cocktails well sitting in hot tubs, it also
scratches that itch. This place really has it all, from
all kinds of beautiful hiking trails and wildlife, to history,
musical hooting nannies, and some of the best restaurants and
bars in Teton Village in nearby Jackson. We could easily
spend a whole month here or more. Yeah, except the
(00:46):
r V park prices are pretty boogie and we'd probably
be bankrupt by the end of it. But at least
we'd be pleasantly buzzed from all the great local beer
and cocktails, probably merrily tapping our toes at the hooting Nanny,
which is a real thing, and I cannot wait to
talk about it. All that and more coming up in
this week's episode on Grand Teton National Park. Hi, I'm
(01:07):
Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia, a podcast
by iHeart Radio. We sold our loft in Chicago, moved
into an r V, and now we're traveling in the
country full time with our dog Finn, exploring America's national parks.
This week's episode is on Grand Teton National Park, which
is in northwestern Wyoming, immediately south of a little place
called Yellowstone, which you may have heard of, as we
(01:29):
talked about it already this season. Um, alright, so for starters,
we were here at Grand Teton in July, right after
our time in Yellowstone. Actually, since the two parks literally
border each other and Grand Teton is just to the south,
they're really the quintessential one to punch of all national parks,
I think, and unless you're strapped for time, it would
(01:49):
be a huge oversight to go to one and not
the other. Yeah. Absolutely, Even though they're right next to
each other, they're both so different and they vary from
one to the other. Um, they really looked nothing alike,
which is absolutely shocking. Yeah, the scenery kind of hits
you abruptly too, if you're entering Grand Teton from Yellowstone
heading south, especially, like all of a sudden, the scenery
(02:10):
explodes and bursts open into these massive, serene lakes that
brush up against the base of these enormous soaring mountains
with jaggs snow cap peaks. These, I really feel like
are the quintessential mountains of the American West, and they're
all here, just looming in the distance. It's at once
all learning and captivating but also intimidating, and it really
makes you feel small. Sometimes it's good to feel small,
(02:31):
unless you run into a grizzly bear in the wild
and then you're HyperWare of how small you really are. Yeah,
that'll do it. And that's why this is another place
where bear spray is super important. Like there are signs
literally everywhere in every store strongly recommending buying and carrying
bear spray and also hiking in groups and making noise
and all these precautions be bear aware. At least that's
(02:52):
what the signs saying. It's catchy and I like it. Fortunately,
we didn't see any bears here when you and I
were in Grand Teton. I did see a few years
back when I was here with my family on that
Yellowstone trip. Turned out fine, though clearly I didn't die.
But I mean, apparently, according to me, either die or
you're totally fine. There's there's no middle ground when it
comes to greats the Bears. Of course, I'm not gonna
(03:13):
say you're dramatic or anything, but I'll apply it history.
So anyway, let's start by talking about the background and
the establishment of this park, because it was a saga,
much more complicated and drawn out than most national parks,
which seems crazy because clearly, these beautiful mountains deserve protection
and preservation, so it should have been obvious, but not
(03:35):
necessarily in this case for everyone. Yeah, complicated is definitely correct.
But long before this whole tangled little mess, the region
was first populated by Native Americans some eleven thousand years ago,
since these abundant lakes were rich with game for hunting.
In the seventeenth century, French fur trappers is flore the
area and gave the park its name by referring to
the three tallest mountains as the Teton, which translates to
(03:59):
the three Nample which okay, like were these fur trappers
sixth grade boys or something a little time to say
with the straight vase. So basically, this is the Grand
Nipple National Park, right, real mature? But also can we
just say how masterful my French pronunciation was? I that
was great. I didn't know how because I've never said
it out when I said my head and it sounds good.
(04:20):
But I know we're both really mature. Um. The most
famous trapper to ever explore the area, though, was David Jackson,
who apparently loved the Teton Valley so much that the
president town of Jackson Hole isn't actually named after him.
Homestaters follow Jackson in the late eighteen hundreds, and then
conservationist Horace Albright came into the picture of the ninety twenties.
(04:43):
He was the first person to appreciate the Tetons from
a preservation standpoint, and sought to have them established as
a national park, since the National Park Service had recently
been created in nineteen sixteen. At the time, Albright was
actually the superintendent of Yellowstone, and he wanted to spread
the national parks loved to the South, so he used
his platform to take visiting congressmen and other politicians through
(05:05):
the Teton Valley to wild them and helped him see
the value of this area. Yeah, show it off a
little bit. Here's the problem though, The area was already
populated with ranchers at this point, and they were very
anti national park because they wanted their private land and
they wanted to obviously profit off of it, and it's
agricultural value and you know, just really milk it. And yes,
(05:25):
I realized he's in the phrase milk it in an
episode where nipples are being discussed. Isn't exactly ideal, but
that's history. Basically just wrote wrote itself this way, I
can't it fits. I mean it fits absolutely. Uh So, anyway,
you have Albright on one side, these ranchers on the other,
and they were very much on opposite sides of their
argument here. Um. But when things changed in um that's
(05:48):
because Albright crossed pass with John D. Rockefeller Jr. Yes,
he did. And John D. Rockefeller Jr. Is a wealthy
naturalist with a heart of gold and pockets line with
gold too, so it's good. He toured the area with
all right and loved it, and he supported the idea
of preservation. So they devised a plan that was a
little devious in retrospect, but it's clever and I love it.
(06:12):
Rockfellow started buying up tracts of land throughout the area
under the Moniker Snake River Land Company, which was masquerading
as a cattle ranch business. Very sneaky, and he wasn't
the only person doing this time. You know Walt Disney
That's how I built Walt Disney World. Did he do
that same thing? Oh yeah, but he had hundreds of
different names, So it's just fascinating, right. But then in
n a small portion of the land and several lakes
(06:35):
were designated as the Grand Eton National Park. But Rockfeller
had all of his extra land that he wanted to
include in the park. He wanted to donate to the
Park Service, but the government wouldn't just take it, so
he kept buying more land in additional thirty thousand acres. Yeah,
what a weird, unrelatable problem to have, Like, oh, I
just have excessive amounts of land and money. What a pickle?
(06:58):
What do I do? Yeah? And honestly though, it's refreshing
to see a filthy, rich person on such a heartfelt
mission like this, like, oh, you don't want to take
my donation, Well, then I'll just buy the whole state
and force you to which is you know, and that's
eventually what wounded up happening after you know, years and years.
So yeah, it's a crazy how drawn out this was.
(07:19):
It was really dramatic too. But Rockefeller wrote a letter
to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in telling him he would
sell them the land if the park servants wouldn't just
take it. You know. That's just like a little extra
slap in the face. The president created Jackson Hole National
Monument to the east of the existing part, but still
did not include any of Rockefeller's land. It's like they're
(07:41):
just dancing around it. And if I was Rockefeller, I'd
be I'd be furious. It took years. Just take my land, jeez,
just take my freeland. Initially, a lot of locals were
furious about more protectively and of course because you know,
I've yone wanted their own private cup, until after World
War Two when they eventually saw the economic benefit of
the National monument in park and how it was an
(08:03):
actually huge boon to the local economy. So now, finally, finally,
after everyone saw once and for all, what a big
positive difference these parks can have, the government merged everything
together into one park, including Rockefeller's land finally, and that
was in the ninety full twenty one years after the
initial formation of the park. One years. It took a while. Fittingly,
(08:24):
the National Park Service actually dedicated the whole route connecting
Yellowstone with Grand Teton to Rockefeller. So now it's called
the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, and it's a National
Park site in and of itself. Yeah, that's true. I
did not know that too. We're there, but that's great.
I feel like very desivering and it's one of the
most scenic drives we've ever done, and I really think
(08:45):
Rockefeller would be very proud now. So now today Grand
Teton National Park consists of three nine thousand acres with
more than two hundred miles of hiking trails, and that's
just a fraction of the size of Yellowstone to the north.
But it's really great that the Teton Range and its
valleys are all finally included in one glorious park, filled
with epic views in the most beautiful lakes and incredible trails. Yes,
(09:07):
it's a very fitting finale to this year's long saga.
And we'll talk more about those trails and more. After
this quick break, you are listening to park Landia from
my Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This
(09:31):
is park Landia and today we're talking about Grand Teton
National Park in Wyoming trails. So Grand Teton definitely ranks
way up there as one of my favorite parks for
hiking because obviously it's a mountain mecca with literally hundreds
of miles of trails from easy lakeside, John's Too, grueling
halls across boulder fields. It's got something for everyone, whether
(09:52):
you're a leisurely walker or a full blown massacrest. It
comes to no surprise that you've actually experienced some of
these growling trails. Yes, true, it shouldn't be surprise because
you all know me pretty well at this point. So
on my first trip to Grand Teton, it was part
of my family vacation with my dad, my brother, and
my sister. This was in two thousand sixteen or seventeen um,
(10:14):
and so this is like the first segment of that trip,
that Yellowstone Grand Teton thing. And we were staying at
this gorgeous lodge in t Town Village, which is the
Dreaming as Little Man said, resort I've ever seen. It's
it's beautiful, it's stunning. Um. You and I tried to
go back there this past summer one night, but everything
was pretty much closed. Yeah, it's not really a late
(10:34):
night town, I guess. But we were there like nine
pm and I was desperate to take you back to
my favorite spots and show you around. But oh well,
we wound up finding like expensive sushi and it was
it was all fine. Yeah, But anyway, the first full
day we're in the park, we asked the hotel concierge
for some hiking choil recommendations. This is when I was
with my family, and he suggested something called the Delta
(10:56):
Lake Trail was actually an unmarked trail that veers off
Amphitheater Lake Trail, which is kind of the main thing
that you see in the map. And so Delta Lake
was not even listed any of the guide books we had.
We hadn't heard about it. We we're just basically going
off this guy's recommendation and what he was explaining to us.
I love the locals, but that's kind of scary. I'm
(11:16):
surprised you actually agreed to do that. Yeah, me too.
In retrospect, so this Trail and Amphthly Trail start at
Lupine Meadows trail head area, not far from Titon Village.
It's super pretty and peaceful, and it all starts through
this lush pine forest that really just smells like a
big Christmas tree farm. It's very peaceful, very aromatic, very relaxing.
(11:39):
But we were all the whole time on like high
alert for bears. This was our first trail that we're
doing in this trip, and we're obviously all nervous wrecks
about the potential to see bears, so very worried. My
dad had bear spray at the ready. But about two
thirds of the way up the trail to amphith Amphitheater
Lake went to this point has had numerous switch backs
(12:02):
with the mountain, with some sweeping valley views below. We
cut off into the woods towards Delta Lake and things
started to get very icy and very snowy pretty quick,
and we were not properly dressed for it at all.
We were dressed for like late summer snow free walking
and like leisurely hiking, not for this. None of us
had gloves and we're all just like in hiking shoes
(12:23):
or sneakers even I think I was wearing like sneakers,
So that's good. We really got to get you better
hiking shoes. Someone those hikes as much as you do,
you need to have the best shoes, right, Yeah. I
think one of the pairs of shoes I had literally
as a hole in the bottom, like it's it's ridiculous now,
and especially for a grilling chair like this, which had
deeper and deeper snow, which went over boulder fields and
(12:45):
steep slopes that we we literally had to crawl up
some of them and get like hands on and remember,
like we didn't have gloves, So this isn't great. But
when we finally made it up to Delta Lake, it
really was amazing and we had it all to ourselves.
It's this gorgeous, perfectly still glacial lake that looks like
a mirror in the midst of these vertical peaks, and
(13:06):
the main Teton, the Grand Teton, was perfectly situated on
the opposite side of the lake, rising above a cloud
of fog and reflecting the water. It was really such
an amazing and surreal place to eat the rest of
our breakfast burritos the same that does sound really amazing
and peaceful. Yeah. Yeah, Well the peacefulness came to a
screeching halt on the way back down when we were
(13:28):
literally sliding down these deep slopes and crashing into rocks
and trying to keep our icy hands from frostbite. At
a certain point, I think I was like crying and
laughing at the same time, and my brother and sister
are like, are you actually okay or do we need
to work? And I'm like, I don't know, Honestly, I
can't tell you. I was just like uncomfortable and laughing
(13:50):
at the outrageousness of it all. I think, yeah, that
is pretty crazy. Yeah, And we were wondering this whole
time if the concierge recommended this hike to us because
he wanted to kill us, Like, was was this a
malicious recommendation? Because because you live to tell the tale? Yeah,
And I mean, I'm sure this trail is beautiful and
less miserable in like the peak summer months when snow
(14:11):
is either non existent or at least minimal, but this
is not the time of year for it. It It was
like late September snow was starting to come back in
full force, at least at these elevation levels, but at
least we'd be able to see where we're stepping and
not constantly falling into deep snow over boulders. If we
were to do this in the summer, which I would
totally come back and do this in the summer. I
think it's a worthwhile trail. You just need to be
(14:33):
equipped and um mentally ready and on the way back
down once we're back on the main trail. We actually
did see an adolyst and grizzly bear eating berries or something.
It was just like foraging romantic. Yeah, it really wasn't
as scary as I thought, or like this terrifying image
we all had like burned into our our minds of
what it would be like. It was mostly mesmerizing at
(14:55):
least for most insistance, And like it was an adolescent
So it wasn't this a gigantic looming you getting ready
to pounce, right? Um? I mean hopefully not. But even
if it was, we made it out. But it's safe
to say at the end of all of this, the
end of like this treacherous snowy hike and then the
bear setting, we're all very eager to make a bee
(15:17):
line to the hotel's hot tub on the roof and
that wasn't the first time you've ever had a white Russian, wasn't. Yeah,
somehow I've gone through my entire life without ever having
one of these, and they're amazing. Like, I just don't
get it. I mean, that used to be my go
to drink, but then I haven't had one in a while. No, well,
they're they're rich, they're kind of have a so I can't.
(15:38):
It's not something I would want to have on a
regular basis, But for this setting, like after a painfully
called hike, when you're like just sitting and mending your
wounds in a hot tub, it's it's really perfect, And
especially like these ones where it was like splashed with
espresso and it was all exactly what I needed. This
is like the medicine I need it. Well. The main
(16:00):
Ampusator Lake Trail is a good option though, um and
for anyone who wants to get those glacial lake views
without having to go off trail. Yeah, totally. I did
that main trail this past summer, and honestly, it was
just as beautiful as Delta Lake. So again, I'm not
really sure why the concierge didn't just suggest that one
to begin with it would have been much easier to follow,
and it would not have required scrambling over any boulder fields.
(16:24):
A great story it did, and ultimately I'm glad for that,
so I guess thanks in retrospect to that concierge, that
devious confierration altogether. And the lake is about ten miles
round trip, and it's pretty strenuous, with a tone of
switchbacks and some snowy maneuvering at the very top, but
it is worth it, and it's not as difficult and
(16:47):
hands on lake. Not all the trails at Grand Teatown
are strenuous are steep, though the mountains are the main
attraction for sure, but the park is also filled with
these incredible lakes that are surrounded by much easier trails
like Jenny Lake. Yes, Jenny Lake is definitely a leading
lady here. It's the second largest lake in the park
and one of the most visited areas, so prepare for
(17:09):
crowds and crowded parking lots and arrive early to avoid
both as much as you can, especially in the summer months.
I remember the day that you were doing Jenny Lake.
I was driving to r V to our r V
park near Titoon Village, which was really beautiful but definitely
the most expensive place that we have ever stayed. It
was basically hotel prices. Yes, it was like we've stayed
(17:30):
at hotels for cheaper. It's this is a bouge area
for sir. It would probably be like staying at stay
on property at like disney World or something. For Wilderness
definitely right with the r V or even this might
have been even more expensive, but we still Yeah, we
still had the rental car that we had been using
for Yellowstone to make it easier to park on trail
HUDs and such, so we were able to park it
(17:51):
here there are v park of the campground and then
just make it easier to get around and also to
park because this was prime time. So I used the
rental to drive to Jenny Lake one morning early and
thankfully like I got there with enough time to get
a spot. Parking lot was not yet a capacity, but
by the time I left, there were cars like literally
(18:13):
lined up down the main road, like down the highway
or whatever the freeway. Yeah, it's crazy. And by the way,
this is a good time to point out that grand
Eton National Park gets more than three million annual visitors,
making one of the top ten most visited national parks
in the country, and the most of those visitors come
in July and August, right when we were there. Yeah,
it seems like all three million of them were there
(18:35):
that day on this trail. It was a lot, and
it explains why I had to speed hike past a
ton of groups on that Jenny Lake Loop trail. It was.
It was crazy and exhausting, and I must be a
really quiet hiker because anytime I passed people, they always
do a little gasp and act so shocked that I'm
suddenly next to them, Like there's like you know, that
(18:56):
happened like repeatedly on the trail because I passed like
I don't know fifty different groups of people and they're
all like panic. I'm like, I'm just glad they didn't
like spray you with bear spray. Uh. Yeah, actually I
didn't want to catch them out guard and get sprayed
in the face. Yeah, You're quiet and fast, so it's
a tricky combination. No wonder you're always sneaking up on people. Yeah,
(19:17):
and especially sometimes I actudally find myself awkwardly like in
the middle of some larger groups and I'm trying to pass.
Like at one point in this trail, there was this
huge like family of like twelve or more people. It
seemed like they seem like they're all related. It was
like the family from Home alone or something with like
a bunch of bickering and like kind of chaos. And
I could only pass a couple of people at a
(19:37):
time because it's a big group. I can't just like
speedwalk past all twelve of them. And then I was
like kind of tangled in the middle, like mixed in
with their family. And at one point, this man was
like scolding his child and getting super angry, and I'm like, oh,
I don't want to get the middle of this, and
I'm worried I might, like, you know, witness something witness
like a family confrontation. And I'm like, sir, please, like
(19:59):
there's a stranger in your midst be You did not
say that, no, but I was thinking, okay, it sounds
like you love the trail anyway. And your photos were
some of the best ones I've seen of Grand Teatime. Yeah,
Jenny Lake is just incredible. So it's the seven mile loop,
all pretty flat, and it was a perfectly sunny and
warm day that I did it. With this wide open,
(20:19):
shimmering lake and the mountains off to one side, there
are boaters and kayakers criss crossing the lake. It was
also idyllic. I loved it. Yeah. And by the way,
for those of you don't want to hike around the
entire lake, there's a shuttle boat you can take from
near the like Jenny Lake Vissor Center for a small fee,
and it drops you right off near the entrance of
the Cascade Canyon, which is totally worth exploring. Absolutely. I
(20:42):
saw a lot of people used in that boat like
throughout the day, and the canyon was definitely fall when
I was passing through. I didn't do a ton here.
I didn't spend a lot of time there, mainly because
it was super crowded. I stopped at Hidden Falls, though,
which is a napic waterfall just slightly in the canyon
away from the lake, and then I did a little
hike up to this point called Inspiration Point. While Were
(21:05):
you inspired? Yes, I was. I probably would have been
even more inspired if the whole place wasn't swarming with people.
But still, I think it's also a good time to
highlight some of the Park's wildlife because there's a lot
of it, probably not much as Yellowstone, but Grand Teton
is still known for its moose, bear, and elk in particular.
(21:26):
There's actually a huge National Elk Refuge right near Jackson,
which is fascinating. It's a thousand acre preserve that was
created in nineteen twelve to protect one of the largest
elk herds in the world. Each winner about elk live here,
migrating down from Yellowstone, primarily since there was like an
abundant like grassy area here. Yeah, that's a lot of elk,
(21:48):
even more than all the elk we saw when we're
in Yellowstone. And that's really saying something because we saw
a ton. Yeah, you can actually see a lot of
bison here. Two. Um, you know what's actually beautiful though.
I actually camped at the top of the nextional Elk
refuge on the Mountain Um and it was like going
up this huge, like huge mountain and it was crazy
(22:08):
how big it was um because there's a lot of
ruts that were like a foot drop. So, like I was, remember,
Tim Burton and Brinsmine would Farm followed me up there
one day and this was on a different trip, but
basically Um, he's in a box truck with all the
syrup in it, and I'm in an suv and where
I'm going through these ruts and then I'm looking in
(22:29):
my back river mirror looking and watching him, and like
he was like white knuckling the stem wail behind me.
It was like a crazy time. But the National Elk
Refuge is beautiful, especially next morning when I got to
like go down the mountain to get out of there. Um,
it's just a beautiful, beautiful site, and you have the
Grand Tea tons in the back, and it's definitely worth it.
(22:49):
But there's camping up there just in case. That's great. Yeah,
it sounds beautiful. Yeah, And like you mentioned, you can
also see bison here, and these are especially common in
the plains near the historic Mormon Row area. And if
you don't know what that is, just by hearing it,
you've almost certainly seen a photo of it, because it's
one of those most iconic barns like anywhere in the country.
(23:11):
It's this historic district in Grand Teton National Park where
these farms were built in the early nineteen hundreds and
they've got this picture perfect back chop of the Teton
Range with potential bison sidings as well, so it's like
this most quintessential National park scenery all in one view river.
So in addition to hiking, Grand Teton National Park is
(23:32):
also a haven for water activities. Like I mentioned, kayaking
on the lakes is popular, but white water rafting is
also huge in the summer and early fall. And the
best part is when you can white water raft down
the Snake River, which we love because it's an iconic
section of the Oregon Trail game. Yeah, yes it is.
I'm pretty sure I drowned in that river several times
playing that game. It's treacherous, and now after rafting it,
(23:55):
I can attest to that, so yeah, I'm not surprised,
not at all. So I want to talk a little
bit more about this rafting trip because the Snake River
was really an adventurous day and it was epic. And
this was when I was with my sister and brother
and my dad and we carved out a day to
do this. It was pretty cold, so I was worried
(24:15):
that I might get hypothermic, but they dress you in
wet suits and layers so that you're well insulated. And
the trip has kind of deviated into two different parks.
You go down part of the Snake River that's really
docile and calm, and it's mostly just drinking in the
scenery at a comfortable pace. I remember seeing several bald
(24:36):
eagles perched in trees along the river, and we would
see these like lavish mountain mansions along the side of
the river and up lake along the slopes. And then
after that portion you kind of make you get off
on some like shore of the river and then get
get back into the van, and then they drove you
(24:58):
a little bit down the road to a portion of
the river that gets more rapid. You all get back
into the raft and then this is the part that's
really white water. And for this one, my sister and
I both put on like head where as well like
wet suits for the cover of your hair, and so
we were like almost all of us, almost all of
(25:18):
our body was covered because I was just worried about
being really freezing. I was late September in Wyoming, so
it was chilies to the least. And so yeah, we
go down this white white water section and it was
such a blast, and you have so much a drunaline
that you don't even notice that you're cold, you just
like hit all these big, aggressive, crashing waves and you
(25:41):
get soaked. So much fun. I've loved it. And I
remember our guy at one point telling us that, like
one of the main like waves that you hit, he
said on one trip he had recently done the whole
raft I actually like shot straight in the air and
then like went upside down, so everyone like fell out,
and I'm like, oh, my gosh, that's horrifying, but also
like kind of exciting. I don't know if I wouldn't
(26:03):
want to experience that, probably not no. But the my
like the most fun part of it was there's this photographer.
He's perched on like one of the rocks along the
river and he's taking like, you know, professional photos of
your group as you're passing by, and then once you're
done with the trip, you can look at those photos.
(26:23):
It's sort of like when you want to ride at
like a theme park. I didn't get to see the
photos that we're taking on the ride, and we saw them,
and it was so funny because my sister and I
look like identical twins. We have like these huge smiles
in our faces, the samm exact smile, huge, wet cold, yeah,
smiling through the like pain. And it was so great
(26:44):
because we just were having the best time and the
photo really captured that. And we also like it confirmed
that like her and I just look like the same person,
especially when our hair is all covered up. We just
looked like twins. You know what the best thing to
do after like a trip like that would be after
a white water raft? Yes, I sip with get hooting Nanny. Yes, exact.
(27:05):
And that's why I really want to talk about the
hooting nanny right by Grand Teton National Park food. Oh
my gosh. Yeah. Prior to experiencing this activity year, I
think I thought hooting nannies were like these storybuck activities
that only took place in TV cartoons or like on
Splash Mountain, not Magic Kingdom like I thought. I didn't
know that they were real, but real things. You kept yeah,
(27:26):
you kept talking about this hooting nanny that takes place,
and I was like, real, My friend Chris Bingman he
Um invited us out to go to the hooting Nanny
and you know, have some drinks and tap our shoes
while we're listening to this great music. And I mean
these guys were hilarious, super talented. There's a lot of
locals that come out every single week and they really
enjoy giving this beautiful music and creating this community. And
(27:50):
it was packed because it was colder. There's it's in
a smaller like area, but um, I mean at least
(28:11):
a hundred people were there and people from out of
town in town. And the cool thing is they said
they even invite like traveling musicians out to it. So
you just have to be there at the right time,
right place, I guess. But and I do it every
single week, and it's a really beautiful place because I
just I felt so much soul there. Yeah, me too.
(28:34):
I loved it so much more than I thought I would,
I guess. Yeah. And it takes place in the summer
months at this resort called Dornan's. Yeah. I remember, like
when I was first thinking about this and you told
me about this like resort. I thought Dornan's was a
restaurant in Jackson or something. I I literally had no
idea it was in Grand Teuton or like what it was.
(28:55):
I definitely did not expect what it turned out to be.
But it was awesome. And this resort looks like a
rustic lodge or something. It looks like more like glamping
than a hotel, I guess, and I love it so
so cool. Yeah, and this whole event takes place there
with these musical performers under a tent and food and
drinks served all night long. I mean it was just
(29:15):
an absolute blast. Yeah it was. And speaking of food
and drinks, I think we need to carve out some
time to talk more about the town of Jackson and
also Titown Village and how incredible the food scene is
in both of these places. It's wonderful. I love it. Yeah.
Like the million Dollar Cowboy Bar, that place is great.
You and I have both been a couple of times now,
(29:37):
and this is like an iconic stop in Jackson. It's
like right on the central square of the town and
one of the older venues in Jackson. And it has
a really big, like light up sign, kind of like
a Las Vegas with a big, huge cowboy. It's stunning. Revolves, right,
he like spins around. Yeah, I think he does well. Yeah,
(30:00):
And inside is this big, sprawling saloon like bar. And
the best part is the literal bar itself is lined
with not just bar stools, but their stools with what
are they what are they called they're like so they're
like saddle which are a little hard to climb up onto,
(30:22):
but it's really saddle like on a horse. I mean,
I have very little experience with horseback riding, which you
might explain my desperate confusion right now. But I love
it though. You know, it was really beautiful just to
get on those saddles and just like sit there and
have a drink. And they have some great cocktails in
their food. You know, it's like a pickup window um option.
(30:44):
There's that one where you go order it from the window,
go up to the bar, put your number down and
they'll bring it to you. But then there's also that
steakhouse down below, which you haven't I have myself to
a really beautiful dinner there one night, and I just
loved it. Expensive for one person, I mean, I'm not
(31:04):
getting it was probably like ninety bucks by the time
I was done. I'm not surprised. I had. I had
steak potatoes, I had cocktails, and it was it was perfect.
But I feel like you did it right. That's like
the most classic Wyoming meal. Yeah oh yeah, yeah, go
to Wyoming in it, Like, hey, can I get a
cauliflower steak? I'll have the to like I'd probably get
(31:27):
like literally thrown out of the front of the saloon doors, right,
and you would deserve that. Yeah, absolutely, so this place
is essential. I think my favorite place for food is
this cafe called Persephone Bakery. And there are actually two locations, yes,
they do the area. Yeah, so there's one like right
around the corner from this bar in the heart of Jackson,
(31:48):
and then there's a newer one near to town village
and which is like right by where we were staying. Right.
This place is so good. It's like sunny and sleek
and modern, and the food is just really wholesome and
delicious and seasonal. And they're known especially for like their
bait goods like cakes and cookies and quick breads and
(32:10):
stuff like that. I wouldn't be surprised for them just
like serve a like a cauliflower steak if they they
start dinner, but they don't. But because it was more
like modern like like grain balls and party wholesome stuff
like that. And when we were last there, when you
and I went together, I had like a carrot coconut
bread or something, so not like a cake. It was
(32:31):
more like banana bread but with coconut and carrot and
so just wonderful. They do everything perfectly in terms. Yeah,
where was that place that you had the white Russians?
So that was the lodge we were staying in Tetown Village.
This place called the Spur and just it's just like
beautiful looking homie cozy um like restaurant slash saloon in
(32:56):
on the bottom level of the hotel. And it seems
like the right play store or a white Russian like.
It's that vibe you just want to like do all
the cozy things and drink the like boozy espresso stuff.
And it was great. And then you told me about
this bar where you like roll the dice to determine
your shot and beer and your chaser or whatever. You know. Yeah,
we need to talk about that. So that place is
(33:18):
called the Handlebar. It's also within Titon Village. It's just
it was a short walk away from we're staying. And
that was my favorite thing ever. And that was the
one I really wanted to take you two, but they
were closed, in addition to most everything else in Teton Village.
But so the deal is, like, I mean, the restaurant
itself is just great. It's this beautiful kind of mountain
lodge restaurant with like polished wood and soaring ceilings and
(33:40):
just you know, whis great whiskey list and beer and
fried chicken sandwiches and stuff like that. Looks like we're
gonna have to go back. Yeah, I think this place
alone is like worth a reef visit. But the best
thing about it is there's this option on the drink
many where you roll dice to determine your like shot,
chaser and beer, so three different, three different roles. I belie,
(34:00):
and it's kind of it's a gamble because I mean,
the beers are all good and the I think the
riskiest part was like the shots because some of them
are like traditional and then some of them are kind
of wild like they were there was like pickle green
pickle juice or something, and then hot dog water was
one of them, so you don't want to land on that.
(34:24):
The best part was, like I did it. I rolled
the dice, I got like something relatively tame. Same thing
for my brother, and then my sister was really nervous
to do it because she was definitely afraid of getting
hot dog water. You know, it's just understandable who once
thought but she finally did it. She was like, final,
roll it, and then she landed on the hot dog
water and we burst out laughing. So she immediately grabbed
(34:46):
the dice and rolled again as if we didn't notice
that she landed, but then it again landed on hot
dog water. She was just screaming. She's like, I'm sorry,
I can't do that. No, No, She's like, I am
high forfeit. Yeah, she um danced around that she cheated
(35:06):
to get out of hot dog water because she if
she was being honorable, she would have done the hot
dog water, but well she probably opted for one. I
get beautiful beers in Jackson. I mean, it's turning out
to be this little beer mecca with craft breweries propping
up all over the area in years. So I wouldn't
blame Emily for doing that. No, definitely hot water. That
(35:27):
sounds now. I still remember we went to this one.
Um it's roadhouse Brewnko, which has a small tap room
at its original brewery, and then there's another brew prob
located um where it has a full restaurant. Yeah, it's
just perfect, like all of it. Everything we do. I
love the decor. The decor is very rustic chic. The
beer branding is amazing, the beer names are amazing, and
(35:50):
the food it's just also good, really solid place. It's
all overseen by brewer Kolby Cox and Jeff Gavin Fine,
who definitely are one of the like snown chefs in
the area. Um and they have several restaurants are Al Jackson.
So his food at the Roadhouse is definitely better than
what most people would think when they're going to like
get brewery fruit. Yeah. I think the many here is
(36:12):
like full of surprises, definitely raising the bar on like
bar food, so to speak, because he's got things like
crd Idaho trout and fried artichokes and buffalo cauliflower so
not a calfar steak but in the same vicinity. And
then they're like kimchi hot dogs and kimchi hot water
shops for Emily, would you do that then? No? No? Uh.
(36:37):
They also had those Bonnie flat breads and yeah, oh yeah,
doc Putine. And then there's even a zucchini noodle lasagna,
which if you like, I mean, I'm really into zucchini noodles.
And he has a wonderful idea and we also had
something similar in less Yellowstone at some saland we went
at when I yes, and I had that there. I
(36:59):
had not Wazagnia, but I have like zucchini noodles with
I think like a pesto sauce of some sort. And
that was my first zucchini noodle experience, my first zoodle experience.
And now here it is again and Jackson, So I
think apparently Wyoming is in the midst of some sort
of zucchini renaissance and I love it. I fully supported. Yeah,
(37:22):
And the beers here are really good go to as well,
like the Walverse I PA. And then there's that American
palel called like Trout Whistle. They actually I have a
lot of like Hazy I p varieties. Would you love hey?
I love it. I love them all. It's my favorite
kind of beer. So just this year amount that they
have here makes me very happy. And they have a
lot of fun variations that they do and that they
(37:44):
kind of rotate almost in like a beer series, like
the Mountain Jam Volume three is a Hazy I Pay
with mango, and then the Mountain Jam Volume five is
a Hazy I Pay with pineapples and guava, little chopolical twist.
Love it. I think the Loris is their standard. I
remember getting some of that, like the stockpile in our
fridge as well. So there's like the Tallboys of this
(38:05):
wars I p A which is great and also a
great post hike beer. It's really refreshing, you know, because
white Russians and hot tubs aren't always readily available, so
sometimes you have to make do with I p A S.
That's true. You are listening to Park Glandia from my
(38:25):
Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is
part Glandia and this week we're talking about Grand Teton
National Park in Wyoming, my favorite and talking about like
your favorite I PA S. You know what time it is,
It's actually time to talk about our favorite parts of
(38:46):
Grand Teton National Park. We haven't told each other our answers,
so it's all surprised. So, Matt, what was your favorite
thing about Grand Teton National Park? My favorite thing, I
would say it was the Amphitheater Lake trail sounds so
beautiful and also known as like trail misery. Well, yeah,
(39:09):
like as long as you're not veering off and doing
Delta Lake when it's snowy and icy, I think yeah.
But amphitheto Lake is you might as well just like
stay in the mainshil go to the top and bring
a lunch or something and sit by the lake. And
it's so serene and wonderful. And even though like even
it was July and it was crowded, especially down by
the trailhead, but by the time I was up by
(39:31):
Amphitheater Lake, it was I had like the lake pretty
much to myself, and I could find a little nook
like sit by a rock and just like chill out
by the lake and eat the rest of my sandwich
or whatever. I don't remember what I brought, but and
then I remember just like touching the water, which was
like perfectly still and like ice cold, and there's little
(39:54):
patches of ice and snow all over it surrounded by
these like high soaring peaks, and it is a wonderful setting.
And I'm really glad that I like followed through and
finished that trail to completion. You know, I would highly
recommend that. Yeah, absolutely so that would probably be my
favorite part. What what about you, what was your favorite
part of grandt Titon. Well, mine was definitely the hoot
(40:17):
Nanny at NaN's Um, because you know, you can just
go there. It's every Monday at like six pm in
the summer. In the summer yep, absolutely, and sometimes they'll
even do it winter and fall inside. Um it's a
smaller area, so actually they don't like just stop, but
it's just not as big. I think that's a great idea. Yeah,
and so it's just like it's right there. Um. You know,
it's actually probably a ten minute drive from the Jenny
(40:38):
Lake Trail, so it's not even that far, um, maybe
fifteen or twenty, but you know, it's close. It's like
the first thing you get as you're going out of
the park going to Jackson. So it's in between Jackson
and the entrance where Jenny Lake is and all that
kind of stuff. Um. And so it's free um to go,
but you can of course support by buying like local
beers and drinks and talking with the musicians and artists
(41:02):
and just really having a good time. Um. Uh. Chris
Bingman he goes there. He's there all the time. I
know that. It's like like non tourism time now. So
he works at the National Parks and does different things
in the areas at hotels and stuff. So because it's
not prime time. I know he's off traveling the world
just like us, living his life, loving life and just
(41:24):
figuring it out. But I hopefully he'll be there again
next year, and if not, there's many other great artists
to go. Say hi do and uh support a nanny. Yeah,
it's perfect. That's a good one. Yeah, I agree with that.
So if we're talking about three things or or more
to bring to Grantita National Park, what would we recommend?
(41:47):
I think it obviously depends on season, yes, But if
you're going like when we went, which was during summer,
beautiful time, bear spray, no matter why, all the time,
all year round, bear spray. You know, not a lot
of people get attacked by bears. It's probably better to
be safe than sorry. And actually one there's a little
jingle bells. You could put it on your boot belt
(42:09):
and or boot um whatever you want, and it actually
just jingles, so it creates that noise for you. Matt
would be like, go crazy if I did that, But
it's better to be safety. Sorry. Yeah, so bears fray.
And by the way, you can get that pretty much
in any type of store in that's part of Wyoming
(42:29):
gas station, gas station, walmart, anything, camp stores, the National
Park stores, the RV sites that I mean literally anywhere
that sells. I bet you could probably almost get it
at the million dollar Cowboy bar. I don't think you can, actually,
but maybe maybe they have a behind the scenes maybe
or they'd be able to direct you to where you
(42:49):
can buy it. I'm sure most any place so bears fray.
And then it really depends on what trailer you're doing,
so ask park ranger or a DBUS concierge. But if
you're doing anything that could potential to be snowy, I
would recommend having proper hiking equipment for that, meaning mittens,
(43:09):
are gloves, water resistant gloves, water resistant gloss. I don't
get those thin ones, not the inserts, like get real gloves,
hiking poles, and then proper footwear. I think most especially
do not hike through snow with what I was wearing,
which was probably sneakers. Yeah. No, you definitely have to
have like water resistant hiking boots. That's even different than
just getting your normal ones everyday runners. But or like
(43:32):
those boots, those spikes they can put on your boots
and hiking snow. I love those and they make a
world of difference. So had I been wearing all of
this stuff, I would have thoroughly enjoyed Delta Lake and
not been miserable and like crying, literally crying. And if
you're going in the summer, you know it definitely don't
forget your sun's sunscreen and your bug spraying. You know,
(43:52):
you definitely going to need those. Yeah, especially sunscreen, and
especially because like even when it is snowy, don't let
that be mislead to you, because that actually might be
make it doubly important because the snow is also hitting
you directly and reflecting off of the snow and the ice,
so you're getting hit like twice the impact. So sunglasses
(44:13):
in sunscreen go a long way, as well as water
of course, but that's kind of always a necessity. And
then another another thing, and this was something we almost got.
But I remember we were like shopping in Jackson and
we went to a store and I wanted to get
like a big shawl. Do you remember that? Like it
was what is that? It was like a shawl, right,
(44:33):
And I almost got it, but as I was like
trying it on the store, the woman in the store
was like, that's a towel, right, And we even tried
to like, go to three other blazes that had that
the potential of having that, and none of them had
that one. But I like, it didn't really look like
a towel, so I was strong considering. I'm like, should
(44:53):
I just get this? And where a towel? I told
you to get it, but you didn't listen to me.
I almost got it. I love the pattern, and I
was I'm like, who would notice really like if you
touch it? I kind of felt like a towel. But
and it's Penalton anyway, so it's like, of course, like, yeah,
that's when we got our first Penalton blanket, which is
now in storage because we didn't want it in the Yeah,
(45:14):
we like, we wanted to be all nice and pretty
and we knew that it would be used a lot
in the r V, which is good, but it's also like,
that's more for the home, the cabin. When when when
we have a big home to live in again? Oh sorry,
I'm daydreaming. Um. I do love her IRV, but sometimes
it just gets a little cramped and it would be
(45:35):
nice to have multiple rooms. So yeah, from that right,
it's not a very Pendleton friendly r V. I guess no,
it's not, who knows what Finn would do to it.
So for a park that borders one of the country's
most famous national parks and often gets lumped in with Yellowstone,
Grant Titon totally manages to set us off apart and
really blow mines with its incredible views, scenery, food, white water,
(46:00):
are white Russians and musical activities too. Yes, major props
go to Rockefeller and Albright for seeing the greatness in
this place. Um, they work so hard to preserve it
for visitors like us and visitors in the future. Yeah,
and for visitors in the future. We'll try and save
some of Russians for you, but I honestly can't make
(46:20):
any promises. You've been listening to park Landia, a show
about national parks Parklandids, the production of My Heart Radio,
created by Matt Carouac, Brad Carouac and Christopher hasiotis produced
and edited by Mike John's. Our executive producer is Christopher
hasiotis our researcher, it's Jocelyn Shield. A special thanks goes
out to Gabrielle Collins, Christal Waters and the rest of
(46:41):
the Parklandia crew. And Hey listeners, if you're enjoying the show.
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps other
people like you find our show. You can keep up
with us on social media as well. Check out our
photos from our travels on Instagram at Parklandia Pod and
join in on the conversation and our Facebook group park
Landia Rangers. From our podcast in my heart radio, visit
the heart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
(47:04):
to your favorite shows, and as always, thank you for listening.
Parklandia News
Hosts And Creators
Brad Kirouac
Matt Kirouac
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