9/16 - West Yellowstone to Boulder, Wyoming

If we hadn't been sure of which route we'd take this morning, the 33-degree pea-soup fog would have quickly made up our minds.  

Leaving the campground we couldn't even see to the end of the road. There are mountains out there somewhere.  As soon as we crossed the border into Idaho the fog disappeared.

We took the route which went back into Idaho and south along the mountains to the pass below Jackson, Wyoming. This added about 40 miles to the trip but avoided the treacherous Teton Pass which is definitely not recommended for heavy vehicles, RVs or trailers. I'm sure it would have been picturesque but one cannot enjoy a picturesque route when it's accompanied by terror.

The Snake River near Swan Valley, Idaho.

As it turned out, the route we took south of the Grand Tetons was an easy drive and really beautiful, running along the Snake River for many miles. It was a great choice.


There were no towns of any size along our entire 258-mile drive. The biggest one by far was Rexburg (population around 25,000) which is the home of Brigham Young University-Idaho. Everything else was farmland with a few tiny villages.

Much of the farmland is devoted to producing animal feed.....mainly hay and alfalfa.  This is one of the countless hay fields we passed.  We saw one sizable cattle operation but, other than that, there's far more animal feed than animals. Since my cousin's husband grows hay in Utah for farmers in Tennessee, we're guessing this hay probably gets shipped far and wide. 

  

A dam was built on the Snake River in 1957, creating the Palisades Reservoir. It produces hydroelectric power as well as providing water storage for farming.  The Idaho-Wyoming border crosses the eastern end of the lake.

The reservoir's level appeared to us to be extremely low, but it is probably fairly normal although this year has been very dry. Most of the water comes from winter snow melt so it would be full in the spring and gradually get drawn down over the summer. The boat ramps are at least 100 feet from the water so there must be a lot of unhappy boaters.

The mountains towards the eastern end of the Snake River gorge begin to look more like the southwest. Everything to the west is heavily forested. Here the trees are in patches. There are also patches of maples which have turned a vibrant red.

By the time we got to the booming metropolis of Hoback Junction (population 1,176) at the Wyoming end of the gorge, the mountains had very few trees left on them. Quite southwest-looking, probably because the west side of the mountain range is in a rain-shadow.


Now for the Wind River Range which is exceptionally beautiful. It's so high, the peaks are way above the tree line....

Wind River Range

Town (or village?) of Pinedale with the Wind River Range and Gannett Peak in back.  The Wind River Range has the highest mountain in Wyoming, Gannett Peak at 13,804 feet.

We continued traveling down the valley between the stunning Wind River Range to the east and the Wyoming Range to the west until we got to our campground in Boulder. We're 12 miles south of Pinedale which is the largest town for many miles....population about 2,000. It looks like there are more hotel rooms than people. It must be a very popular spot for hunters as there are big "Welcome Hunters" signs in town.


There was an incredible sunset tonight....the first 360-degree sunset I've ever seen. 

East 

West

South

North

Tomorrow we're going to do the Skyline Scenic Drive which goes from Pinedale up into the Wind River Range. It has outstanding scenery and is only 32 miles long so it will be a good break from the all-day drives we've been doing.