Day 13 – Tetons Day 5 -- Slide Lake & Signal Mtn.

Miles traveled: lost track
Hours on Road: 5.5
States covered: 1 –Wyoming

We had to pack everything into the van this morning. With an additional person with us (Jeff), things didn’t fit very well. Trey is stuffed into the way back seat, barely visible from the front. All of us have to travel with things on our laps, so traveling the next week and a half is not going to be comfortable. We were all packed up and on the road by 10:30 a.m.

We couldn’t check into our hotel until 4 p.m. so we had some time to kill. Jeff had seen a nice scenic drive we could take without having to put any effort into walking. That was just our speed. Besides, today was the first rainy day we’ve had since arriving in the Tetons, so all we really wanted to do was take it easy. We really just wanted to be in our hotel room, but that would have to wait.

We drove up Signal Mountain. From the top you can see a dent in the prairie below where a glacier had planted itself to melt. We couldn’t see any of the Tetons because of the cloud cover. Soon after we reached the top the rain began to fall and thunder and lightning erupted. We headed back down.

We stopped at a store called Dornan’s, which was located in Moose. We bought stuff for dinner and a bottle of wine to give to Jay, Jeff’s niece Leah’s cousin, as a thank you for setting us up with a night at the Snake River Lodge and Spa. It was the perfect day for staying at a hotel rather than camping out.

After the store, to kill time, we visited Deadman’s Bar. It was not, as the name would indicate, a place to get a drink. It’s the spot along the Snake River that most rafting trips start from. The road leading to the river has a 19% grade.

We loved the look of the clouds rolling through the mountains. We took lots of pictures, but none of the photos ever seem to represent the real scene we see. The beauty just doesn’t translate.

John left his Yellowstone & Grand Teton book with us when he left, which is where Jeff discovered things like Phelps Lake and Signal Mountain. Another thing he discovered was the town of Kelly. It’s located in what is called Gros Ventre, pronounced GROW-vont, which means Big Belly in “French trapper lingo,” according to the book. The town of Kelly is made up of several yurts and log cabins. Those who live in the yurts share a common bathhouse and rent the land. A little farther along the road is Slide Lake, which was created when a section of the mountain “2,000 feet wide and a mile long slid 1.5 miles down slope, instantly damming the river.” A rancher witnessed the landslide and barely made it out alive with his horse. The dam held back the river for two years, at which time a section broke loose “pushing an enormous wall of water through the downstream town of Kelly.” Six people died in that flood.

When we first drove down the highway to Jackson last Friday, Parker had said that there was a section of the mountain that looked like Bob Marley. It turns out, that’s the section of the mountain that had the landslide. It’s now mostly barren, but a few trees remain, giving the hill the Bob Marley look.

At four o’clock we finally got into our hotel room. I have to say, we’ve never stayed at a hotel as nice as this one. But it isn’t snooty nice; it’s friendly nice. Everyone is welcoming and kind. We entered our room to find a bottle of wine and box of chocolates waiting for us, along with a nice welcoming note from Jay. Unfortunately, Jay was not working today. Maybe we’ll get to meet him tomorrow.

All three boys went swimming for a while then came back to the room for dinner, which was sandwiches again. Then Jeff took Cal and Trey back to the pool where they stayed for nearly two hours. The pool goes both indoors and out and has four waterfalls. They had a blast. Now we’re all lying in bed watching TV. We love camping, but pampering like this is a welcome change.

For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1832007027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/