Category Archives: Bozeman Montana

Bozeman Montana, Jackson Hole, National Parks, Teton National Park, Uncategorized, Wyoming, Yellowstone Park

Jackson Hole to Bozeman Montana and Home Again…

January 31, 2017 Timothy Jennings Leave a comment

tetonpass_sign_400x300 — Welcome to Jackson Hole, Wyoming

A few years back my son Brock and I took a day trip to Bozeman Montana to meet some very dear friends from the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation located in Montana. Donovan Sr, is an Assiniboine Elder who trained me how to make traditional Native American Pipes, (but that is for another blog post) and Uncle Loren. The short version is we met Donovan Sr. and Uncle Loren (we call him “Uncs”) to pick up some sacred pipe stone and a couple of new pipes, just completed by Donovan Sr., to take back to Jackson Hole to be photographed. We also picked up some pipe stone for ourselves as well as exchange some pipe stems, ideas, and friendship! The day in Bozeman ended in what we call a “Good Trade” day.

Our trip started early on a Saturday morning, leaving Jackson Hole at around 8:00am. After getting our coffee and a couple of bagels we hit the road. When traveling through this part of the country, which is sooo amazing and in a single round trip of about 450 miles one can experience everything the Rockies has to throw at you. The weather this Fall day was awesome, skies were clear blue and the sun was shining bright, and the temperature was perfect when we left town. There are a couple of ways you can make your way to Bozeman from Jackson, one through Yellowstone Park’s south entrance or head through Idaho, back into Montana, north through the very northwest corner of the park and finally past Big Sky Montana as you make your way down the Gallatin River into Bozeman.

From Jackson to Bozeman is about 214 miles (one way) over some of the most beautiful roads you can travel. We chose to head west over Teton Pass and into Idaho, then north along the west side of the Teton Range. You first travel through beautiful rolling hills where much of the russet potatoes are grown in Idaho, not to mention double row barley (which Anheuser Bush buys for their beer) and after you make a turn east in Ashton Idaho you eventually end up in West Yellowstone.

For those who are not familiar with Yellowstone Park, there are 4 entrances to the park. Jackson Hole to the south, Gardiner at the north, the east entrance which leads to Cody, Wyoming and the west entrance which is West Yellowstone (it’s a town). Some of you may be familiar with West Yellowstone as some of the premier fly fishing rivers in the world are in the area. The Madison river, the Firehole, Henry’s Fork, the Buffalo, the Gallatin and many more. This is truly Lewis and Clark country.

From West Yellowstone you head north toward Bozeman and you travel though the very northwest part of Yellowstone Park and you quickly pass over the Madison River eventually picking up and following the Gallatin river all the way into Bozemen. One important note here is that you pass right through a part of the park that suffered from the big fire in 1988. It is awesome to see how nature has recovered. You pass Big Sky Montana Ski Resort and other beautiful scenery. This is one of the most beautiful stretches of road to drive at any time of the year.

Once in Bozemen we had our little pow wow with friends, stopped at a few stores and headed home. When we left Bozeman the clouds had started to gather. The weather from Jackson to Bozeman had been perfect! Clear skies, very dry roads, an easy drive. But things were about to change. We headed back up the Gallatin to West Yellowstone. This part of the trip is about 90 miles. As we pulled into West Yellowstone, Brock said “Dad why don’t we go home through the park”. I said sure let’s do it. It is important to note that this is about 4:45pm MST and it is getting darker. It is important because this is animal hour in the park.

We entered the park and headed towards the Old Faithful Geyser basin. This part of the trip from West Yellowstone to home in Jackson is about 130 miles. This is when things started to change. We first ran head on into a male buffalo that decided my truck was bigger than he was. So he mosied off the road and into the pasture that sat along the Madison river. He was the first of hundreds we were to run into this day of travels through the park. And on top of it, it was starting to rain. I quickly looked at my temperature gauge and saw that the temp has dropped drastically to 38 degrees. This was important because at 38 degrees and below it will start to snow if the conditions are right.

As we got closer to Old Faithful we saw elk, and big herds of buffalo and we drove along the banks of the Madison River, simply awesome. By the time we got to Old Faithful Geyser Basin the temperature was down to 36 and still raining. And it was now getting pretty dark. Clouded skis and looking even darker towards Jackson. Along this stretch of the road you travel along the banks of the Firehole river for part of the way and it gets it name from all the thermal activity that it passes through. An amazing sight to see in its own right.

This is an beautiful part of the park and we tried to take some pictures before the light got too low. Almost everywhere you look you see geysers, fumaroles, steam, hot pools, bubbling mud, trees, animals, – awesome! We decided to pull over to take a short break and just take in this beautiful valley. But we did not stay long as the temperature continued to drop and I said to Brock we are about to get snowed on. But the ferocity of the change was not expected.

We headed south towards home and as we got down the road about 5 miles the temp dropped to around 32 and I said to Brock here it comes. And come it did! It did not flurry a bit or start real light – it just started snowing. Now in this part of the country you will cross the Continental Divide many times. And we were heading for one of those crossings at an elevation of 8391 feet above sea level. One other thing to note here – the park was void of people as it was close to closing so we were basically on our own.

The snowflakes started to increase in size and the volume at which they fell was speeding up. The road quickly disappeared and became totally white. The snow was accumulating at a rate that I estimated at over an 1-2 inches per hour maybe even more at times. We put the truck into four-wheel drive as we were not going anywhere without it. Our speed dropped to about 25 miles per hour and we are crawling our way through Yellowstone park in the middle of a snow storm all alone. When we left Jackson it was sunny and clear. In Bozeman it was starting to cloud up but still relatively warm. West Yellowstone it started to rain and now we were surrounded in white.

Our final stop before it got real dark and we made the final trek home was the pass where we cross over the Continental Divide. We stopped and took this last picture here. We got out of our truck and it was completely quite. Snow was falling straight down and you could hear it hit the trees, your clothing, the truck. It was coming down so thick that it would fall right into your mouth. If you have never experienced the complete quite of the forest and to see snow falling straight down and building up in front of your eyes you have missed one of heaven’s real treats!!

The light faded fast and Brock and I decided that if we did not get moving we may be spending the night here as the snow was already over a foot deep on the road. We slowly made our way to the south entrance of the park and as the roads started to clear we made our way home to Jackson. You actually leave Yellowstone Park and then make your way through parts of Teton National Park before you get into the Jackson area.

This was an amazing day for Brock and I – we spent it together as father and son, we shared lunch with friends and they we got to see God’s hand on our Mother Earth. We were kissed by her this day and left with a memory I shall never forget! WE WERE TRULY BLESSED THIS DAY!

Bozeman Montana, Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, Moose Wilson Road, National Parks, Snake River, Teton National Park, Uncategorized, Wyoming

Morning Coffee Returns…

September 4, 2012 Timothy Jennings 2 Comments

Last winter we started posting several times per week to our blog what we called “Morning Coffee”. Simply put we drop our youngest daughter off at school and then head to the coffee shop for a cup and then we head out to see what we can find. We try to frequent our favorite coffee hangouts but we usually hit them all throughout the year. Summer has been absolutely spectacular here in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. But the summers here are too short and we try to make everyday count. But as quickly as summer rolls in – it rolls out and into Fall. Fall is actually one of my favorite times of the year. Cool crisp mornings and absolutely beautiful warm days.

Well school has started and we are back at it. This past weekend we purchased a new camera in Bozeman Montana. The new Nikon D3200 was our choice and so far we like it very much. This morning we headed north of town on the west bank side of the Snake River. Passing along the Moose Wilson Road we were met with a traffic jam as a Black Bear was foraging through the Hawthorne trees looking for berries. We decided to pass through the mayhem and onto Antelope Flats. There were almost no animals this morning with the exception of the bear but we did manage to find a small group of Pronghorn Antelope and shoot these shots. We are still trying to figure out how to use our new camera but I thought these pictures of a mother and her young were worth sharing.

The Pronghorn Antelope is a beautiful creature to see. They are the fastest animal in North American and can run at speeds that approach 60 miles per hour. They also migrate each year to and from the Yellowstone basin and their migration paths are some of the longest. This year the herds in our area have had a good year with offspring and they are growing in size. It won’t be long now before they start on their long journey south for the winter. When they do we will not see them again until next spring. The return of these awesome little guys marks the beginning of the coming summer which makes everyone around here happy. Stay tuned though as Fall and Winter approach we will be back at it again posting things we think are worth sharing about our home. We look forward to seeing some new and exciting events worthy of a post.

Bozeman Montana, Dining, Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, National Elk Refuge, National Parks, Teton National Park, Uncategorized, Wilson Wyoming, Wyoming, Yellowstone Park

Morning Coffee – Spring Raises Her Head In Jackson…

March 22, 2012 Timothy Jennings Leave a comment

Spring Morning In The Tetons — Spring morning looking west at the Grand. Sunshine is on tap for the day!

It has been several weeks since my last post – not sure where all the time has gone but the truth is winters can be long here in the Rockies. As we move from the depths of winter into the Spring season you can just feel the change happening. Not only with Mother Nature but with the people of this area. People attitudes start to change very quickly when Father Sun finally peaks out of the clouds.

So what have we been doing for the past several weeks? Good question – but I thought I would post just a couple of things that have happened. One of the sad notes in Jackson has been all the moose that have been killed by cars this winter. These big beautiful animals just do not understand the dangers of the highways. This morning after we dropped our daughter off at school in Wilson we headed for the Elevated Grounds coffee shop on the West Bank. As we approached the coffee shop a mother and her two calves decided to cross the road and as we slowed to a stop we almost witnessed another accident. Although this is not a good picture you can see the mother walking down the driveway just after crossing in front of our Jeep. Her two calves followed but almost did not make it across the road. If you visit this summer please be aware that you can be faced in a heart beat with this kind of interaction with these big beautiful animals.

A few weeks ago we made a visit to the north side of the Elk Refuge during a blustery winter day. We came upon an entire heard of elk all moving to the east trying to get out of the wind. This picture does not capture the enormity of this heard but we were really close. This picture was taken with a 50mm lens and this group was almost 3/4 of mile long. At one point we just parked on the road side and watched them. It is really cool to see how the stronger males take charge and keep an eye on you. To be able to experience this so close to home is really a treat. It won’t be long before they start to move back up into the high country. It looks like a warm Spring is about to arrive.

Our son Brock was asked to play a few of his songs at an event at the Jackson Hole Playhouse and Saddle Rock Saloon recently and it was really kind of a cool little event. For those of you who may be planning a visit here this summer you absolutely need to make time to go to the play this summer. The plays are really a must see event here in town. This summer the play is Cat Ballou and the season opens June 1st and runs through September 29th.

One of the cool things about the playhouse is that you can make reservations for dinner prior to the show. Having dinner at the Saddle Rock Saloon is a really fun family event. The casts are your waiters and they sing and perform during your meal. This is a really good way to get to know the cast prior to the show. The playhouse is one of the oldest building in Jackson Hole with a really interesting history. The cast will share with you all the things that have taken place over the last 100 years at this very location during the Pre-Show event. If you are looking for an opportunity to do something with your entire family that will stay in your memories for a lifetime then you must put the Play House on your bucket list.

Since our last post we had one of the better winter storms roll through the region leaving a solid blanket of snow. On these mornings when we wake up to heavy snow we like to cruise the town as it turns into a winter wonderland. The heavy snow creates such a beautiful atmosphere and one of our favorite things to do is just park and take a walk. If you have never taken a walk in the middle of heavy snowfall then make sure you make the effort to do it at least once in your life. Yes its cold but it is almost hard to put into words what the experience is like.

Finally I wanted to share with you that there are wonderful things to do outside of our valley. It is a good thing when you can take even a day trip to another place. Winters can be long and it helps if you can get away even if for just a few hours. One of our favorite day trips is to head to Bozeman Montana for the day. On this day which was just a week ago we found the town of Bozeman to be free of snow and almost 70 degrees. Brynn and her friend told us it was summer in Bozeman and how happy they were to see the sun. We stopped by the Museum of the Rockies which a very cool place to visit. The girls wanted to take a picture next to this big horse and just get out of the Jeep and run around. Look for more Morning Coffee Posts now that Spring has arrived and as we venture from our homes into God’s country this summer.