Gros Ventre Campground, River, Canyon, Road, and Junction

Sunday August 16, 2015     Day 19      Grand Teton National Park, Gros Ventre Campground, site 69

136 towing miles

 

Today we leave Sacagawea so we made our coffee, put it in the truck, connected the trailer and rolled out at 08:15 into the morning, low angle sunshine.  We love early morning driving because it really makes the scenery stand out.

The road out of Sacagawea.

Early morning sun leaving Sacajawea.

More.

A boon docker, one of many along here.

 After 22 miles we were back on a real road again, US-191 that we took the entire distance except the last few miles on the road to the Gros Ventre (pronounced grow vont) campground. 

 

 

We passed through Jackson on a sunny afternoon full of tourists and traffic.  Passed the elk antler structure and Marsha took a picture for those of you who haven’t seen it.  We were too busy hauling the trailer around the busy narrow streets and dodging big motorhomes and tourists to take any more.

 

We passed through the Hoback River Canyon on the way to Jackson Hole.  My Wyoming fly fishing book talks about what a great river that is to fish.  Saw some fisherman in the river, but not as many as I would expect.  It was mid-morning when we were passing through. 

 

We got to the campground at 11:30.  There are 232 sites in eight loops.  They go for $24 ($12 for us senior citizens).  There are a few electric sites for $50 ($38 for seniors, they only discount the site fee, not the electric).  We don’t need electric in the mountains, because of the cool days and cooler nights.  A.C. is not needed.  We haven’t had electric hookups since we left Sterling State Park in Colorado.  Here's our site:
 

 View of Oliver and Tetons together.

 



Campsite not pretty, but view out back was.

View from our campsite

View looking through the campground.  Tetons in background. 

After we set up, we made some sandwiches for lunch.  We left without breakfast because we were in a hurry to hit the road.  But we did have a treat we haven’t had for a while.  I stopped in Big Piney to gas up and went inside to pay for a couple bags of ice.  I saw some Hostess fruit pies and other assorted Hostess products on a rack and grabbed a cherry and an apple pie.  Marsha was surprised when I gave it to her.  We both like them, but refrain from eating stuff like that.  So that makes it like a treat.

 We stopped at a pull over where we enter the park boundary to take a picture of the sign.  People were literally standing in line waiting to have their picture taken in front of the sign.  It was difficult to get a picture of the sign without some stranger standing in front of it, but we timed it right.  We didn’t want to wait in line to take a picture of ourselves and ruin it.

 

 

Entered from the south on US-191 

The Gros Ventre Campground is on Gros Ventre Road, which you turnoff at Gros Ventre Junction.  It follows the Gros Ventre River which comes out of the Gros Ventre Mountains through the Gros Ventre Canyon.

 After setting up, I decided to go find a place to fish it. I had one more day on my 3-day fishing license purchased in Big Piney.   I followed the river upstream into the mountains for about 10 miles, but it goes through a canyon and could see no way to get down to it.  So I headed back and went the other way.  About 2.5 miles down from the campground, I found a turnoff where could get to the river.  There was a couple there (a man and a woman), both had painting easels with a little umbrella over them to keep the sun off them.  They were painting the scene before them, which was a bend in the river.  There were two women fly fishermen fisherpersons there fishing downstream when I got in.  The painters told me that earlier two guys had caught a few cutthroat.

 Well, I had no luck.  It looked like good holding water.  Nymphed (for non-fly fishers, it would take a few paragraphs to explain nymphing) a long riffle with no success.  Then put on a Patriot dry fly and had a few takes, but didn’t hook them.  I didn't take any pictures of the river and certainly no pictures of fish. 

Went back to the campground and took Marsha to dinner.  We were told by a reader of this blog, that we should go to Dornan’s near Moose Junction because the bar had a good view of the Teton’s.  He went to school with the owner.  So we looked it up and was trying to figure out if he meant Dornan’s Spur Ranch, Dornan’s Chuck Wagon, Dornan’s Pizza and Pasta Company, Dornan’s Trading Post, Dornan’s Wine Shoppe, Dornan’s Gift Shop, or Dornan’s Service Station.  We settled on Dornan’s Pizza and Pasta Company.  That was the place with a good view of the Tetons from the bar.  It was really good and we enjoyed the food and spirits and had a nice evening there.

 

Taken from inside Dornan's

 

 

Back at camp, the sunset over the mountains was beautiful.