From a landscape of red to one of green, we drove across Colorado through rain, fog, lightning and thunder between hills and peaks that, as we got closer to the Rockies, were covered with a light layer of snow like powdered sugar on top of a cake. Upon arriving at our campsite on the edge of Rocky National Park, we learned that we probably should have checked out the weather forecast. The area had seen countless cancelations of campsite reservations as we were in for a weekend of snow and freezing night temperatures.
Driving towards the Rockies from Grand Junction, Colorado
We managed to do a short hike in the park on our first day along a meadow with snow covered peaks surrounding us. As we got back to our tent, we got the first taste of the bad weather that was coming towards us. Hail began shooting down hitting our tent like bullets.
Our tent view when we arrived vs. after the hail storm
Due to the cold, we spent the first night in our car. Around 2 AM on a trip to the bathroom, I found that our tent was covered with ice. In the early morning hours, it began to snow which continued until past noon when it turned into rain.
Seeking refuge from the weather, we made the hours pass in coffeehouses, artisan shops and even a little library around the small town of Grand Lake. In the evening, we went to a bar and got a pint of Guinness each plus an equally dark stout to prepare us as we decided to spend our last night in the tent.
The weather gave real life a black and white filter
Sunset from our campsite
From Colorado, we drove north to Wyoming. Despite its large size, the state only has a population of about 585 000 people and our first hours driving up were frankly quite boring. Just a whole lot of nothing. But then, the Teton range came into view on the horizon.
We had two nights and one full day in Grand Teton National Park. Our time here included two hikes. One to Hermitage Point in rainy weather between lakes and meadows on the lookout for wildlife (which included three pronghorns, one fox and unfortunately way too many mosquitoes) and a short one in the solitary southern part of the range to Phelps Lake.
Hiking back from Hermitage Point
Phelps Lake
Additionally, we managed to catch two sunsets by the lake that included pastel colors of orange, purple, pink and blue, a few rounds of cards and on our last night a couple of local amber beers.
Even though our time in the park was limited, I think Grand Teton might be one of my favorite places on earth.
Grand Teton at sunset by Jackson Lake
Danni showing off
From Teton, it was only half an hour drive further north to arrive at Yellowstone National Park. However, it took us another hour and a half to arrive at our campsite as Yellowstone is the second largest national park in the country not counting Alaska (number one being Death Valley).
Yellowstone's own Grand Canyon
Yellowstone is known for its many geysers and springs of different kinds as a result of the super volcano that lies beneath the park. Due to the size of the place, we have spent a lot of the last two days in the car driving to all of these geological wonders (some of which fortunately required some hiking to get to).
Prismatic Spring
The most exciting attraction of the park might not even be seeing the Old Faithful Geyser erupt shooting streams of water 30 meters vertically up into the air or waking on the edge of the many steaming pools of deep blue and orange colors. Instead, traffic jams appear frequently whenever there is a bison in sight or usually a whole lot of them. Sometimes you see tens if not hundreds of these big beautiful creatures roaming the fields and meadows surrounding the roads.
A group of pronghorns just chilling
The bisons were extraordinarily indifferent to humans
Now, we head back west with exactly one week to go before we have to catch our plane back to Europe. We have no further parks or stops planned. Instead, we will simply see what the road brings and enjoy this last part of our journey.