Wyoming & Montana, Part One: Driving Across Wyoming

We spent two weeks hiking and biking in Wyoming and Montana. We actually flew into Denver, for a variety of reasons. We got to spend a couple of days with some friends before picking up another friend for the journey northwest. 

Our trip took us north to Laramie, then to Rawlins, where we had our first adventure trying to find lunch. We initially tried to go to a Mexican restaurant, but since it was a Sunday, it was closed. So, we headed for the second most highly rated restaurant in town (based on Yelp...and there are not a lot of non-chain choices). We arrived, it was open. We walked in the door and I swear, the music stopped. It was a bar, a very local one at that, and everyone sitting at the bar (noon on a Sunday) turned and looked at us. We shrug and head for a table. It took a long time for the bartender to come over. In the meantime, we could hear her talking about pouring shots of Fireball for the other patrons (again, noon on Sunday). When she finally came over, she very nicely explained that they had run out of food, but she could serve us drinks. Since we were looking for food, we asked for recommendations and she sent us on our way with the advice to avoid the biscuits and gravy at the diner we wound up at ("but everything else is really good!"). 

With that, we headed towards Grand Teton National Park. There isn't much between Rawlins and the Tetons, but the landscape is absolutely beautiful.

Trying out the new wide-angle lens along the highway.

Ferris Mountain, north of Rawlins.

A butte north of Lander, Wyoming

After driving for most of the day, we finally entered the Absaroka Range. We stopped at a pullout with this little pond. We hopped out of the car and started walking down the gravel road without thinking anything of it, intent on taking pictures. After a few minutes, I thought about it and realized we should have been carrying our bear spray, which was in the car. For the first couple of days, it took the three of us reminding each other that we needed it. We just aren't in the habit of carrying it in the east.

 Lupinus argeneus (Lupine) in the meadow near the pond.

The Breccia Cliffs along highway 26. This is what made us pull of the road to take pictures.

A few miles further, we got our first glimpse of the Tetons from an official overlook on the highway. Spectacular.

Asters at the overlook.

We stayed in a tent cabin at Colter Bay that night. The next morning, we got up early to get our backcountry permit for our backpacking trip up into the Tetons. More on that in the next post.