I’m not sure when we first noticed that we were climbing as we left Dubois. Heading West towards Yellowstone, we started to see a few patches of unmelted snow. As we kept on, Nick tried to convince me that the drizzle was turning into big wet snowflakes – really, snow? In June? Soon there wasn’t a doubt – the flakes were coming down, and actually sticking to the ground. Increasingly, the woods were covered with tightly packed snowdrifts. Turns out we were crossing the continental divide, and were up at about 9,560 feet in the Shoshone National Forest. The scenery changed just as quickly as we descended from the mountains.

On my list of things I wanted to see was Jenny Lake in the Grand Teton National Park (for obvious reasons). Turns out there is also a Leigh Lake adjoining it! It was not the best day to be outside, so we headed for the Jenny Lake Lodge for a warm drink by the fire, then did some driving around the park. I was hoping to see Moose, but no luck – I don’t blame them, it was pretty gross outside so I assume they were hiding in the forest somewhere. I wouldn’t go out if I didn’t have to!

Yellowstone is just North of the Grand Teton park, so we headed that direction. Nick and I had both imagined that we would see Yellowstone on a hot, sunny day, but our plans of hiking and camping here were altered by the weather. The tourist traffic picked up as we approached the park – tour buses, RVs, tons of people despite the weather. Apparently Tuesday is the busiest day in the park, who knew? The geysers create a pretty surreal environment, ringing the crater lake and steaming on the side of the road. Old Faithful was pretty impressive, as well as the smaller smelly sulfurous pools around the geyser. The clear, steaming water in a few of them looked pretty inviting, and was tempted to jump in like a hot tub. I was amazed at how many people completely ignored all the signs to stay off the ‘thermal area’ or not to throw things into the pools…why do peoeple think the rules don’t apply to them? Grrr.

We called it an early evening, got some Chinese takeaway and watched a movie…best thing to do on a rainy night.