The route to Victor took us back through the heart of Yellowstone. Although there were a few stressful moments pulling the trailer on those narrow mountain passages, it was all worth it to soak in the magnificent scenery one more time.
We didn’t realize how close Yellowstone was to Grand Teton National Park – turns out they’re just a few miles apart. Upon passing the entrance sign, Sam proclaimed – “I think Grand Teton is going to be my favorite national park!” Unfortunately, this quote would go down in infamy.
Due to smoke blown in from the terrible 2020 Oregon wildfires, our view of the famous mountain range was obstructed for most of the drive. However, as we got closer, we were able to snag a few decent shots.
The crowds were also an issue at Grand Teton. We left early enough to give ourselves time for a quick hike around Jenny Lake as we passed through, but upon seeing the packed parking lot, we knew finding a spot big enough to fit the trailer was unlikely, at best. Slightly dejected, we continued on to Jackson – which we learned is different from “Jackson Hole,” the valley where the town sits.
We planned on returning to Jackson later in the week, so we didn’t stop when passing through and continued towards Victor. However, something we didn’t plan on was the steepness of the mountain pass between the two cities. This was probably the hardest we’ve pushed the truck in all our time on the road. Although the speed limit on this tight, two-lane highway was above 50, there were times when we couldn’t get above 30 mph without going above 4,000 rpm. Thankfully, we were right behind a large semi who was equally as slow, so the twenty vehicles behind us had someone else to be frustrated with.
Our truck finally got a break when we made it over the Teton Pass (near the Wyoming-Idaho border), and it wasn’t long before we were rolling through Victor towards the Teton Valley Resort.
This was a great campground. They had it all – big sites with full hookups, a pool/hot tub area, a restaurant, tons of cabins, and even teepees! We made sure to mention this spot to Sam’s folks in Boise, this would be a nice spot to have a family meet-up one day.
Much like Gardiner, Victor did not give off quaint, touristy vibes. There were a few restaurants/breweries that we would like to have visited if we were in Victor longer, but nothing compared to the huge selection over in Jackson. This discrepancy makes Victor somewhat of a migrant town, which we discovered when driving over to Jackson one evening for dinner past the long line of commuters on their way back into Idaho.
While in Jackson, we grabbed a nice dinner at Hand Fire Pizza. If you’ve read a few of these, you may have noticed a trend – yes, we do eat a lot of pizza. Sue us! But, in our defense, pizza is often the only gluten free option nearby (Sam has an allergy). So, we just do what we have to do. 😉
To work off that cheesy goodness, we decided to explore the town on foot after dinner. In addition to the lovely park at the heart of downtown, there were tons of fun shops, bars, and restaurants around Jackson that we would love to come back and visit in non-COVID times.
Although our trip to the area didn’t go exactly as we would have wanted (dang wildfires), we still managed to have a wonderful time. What better place to soak up the last remnants of summer than Teton Valley/Jackson Hole?
Now it was time for us to keep marching south, out of Idaho and towards Green River, Wyoming where we would be boondocking for an evening before continuing down into Colorado. Google recommended that we take the Teton Pass back to Jackson before heading south to Green River. However, we weren’t particularly interested in taking the trailer back over the pass if we didn’t have to, so we decided to stay on the Idaho side of the mountains and take highway 26 south.
This turned out to be an amazing decision! The foliage in the area was unreal. We caught the trees at the perfect time. Just when we thought we had seen all the possible color combinations, we would turn a corner and be blown away once more. Here are just a few of the seemingly endless parade of fantastic views that we took in along our drive.
Normally, any pictures taken along the trip to a given destination are included in the accompanying post for that spot. However, we decided to make an exception with the pictures taken along the route to Green River and include them in this post. Not only were these pictures taken just outside Victor, but as you will see in the next post, the scenery along Palisade Reservoir in eastern Idaho (where these shots were taken) resembles that of Victor much more than that of Green River.