NORTHERN BLT
So today didn't start too early because we didn't have too long a drive. Today we were meant to be arriving in the Jackson area of Wyoming and taking on the Tetons - The Grand Teton mountain range, with more hikes!
After two days in Yellowstone without much let up in the walking and with the weather being cloudy and rainy (not a good day for hiking), Jake suggested we switch up our itinerary a bit for the next few days. Everyone was happy with this so we left West Yellowstone, Montana and made our way to...
Jackson, Wyoming:
Instead of the Tetons Jake took us to Jackson Town Square, also known as Jackson Hole. As it was the Saturday of memorial day weekend there was lots going on despite the rain.
This was a great thing about our trek, being able to change some activities to take in the benefits of whats going on locally in the towns and cities we got too. When we arrived Jake gave us a couple of hours to wander round.
We were greeted with tents and country bands playing music. Some of our group headed to the beer tent area and whiled away the couple of hours here but myself and a few others wandered round. We watched the line dancing in the streets and had a look in all the local shops, country items and cowboy boots aplenty! I was so tempted with a pair of genuine cowboy boots, but what with the price and lack of room in my suitcase I just admired them in the shops and snapped some photos, maybe next time. After being really restrained with my money knowing I still had another three weeks in the US, we wandered round some more looking at the local statues and antler framed arch entrances to the main town square.
We also had great views of the hills and mountains surrounding the town square that you could see are used for some amazing asking in winter, there was still touches of snow on these even in May!
We went into a nice little local coffee shop to get some lunch and a hot chocolate to warm up and get out of the rain. After this and a bit more wandering we headed back to the van, where Jake took us onto our stop for the night...
Snake River, Jackson, Wyoming:
We arrived at cabins again so the usual groups of three applied. We got into our cabins and had some downtime due to changing our plans for the day…this was so badly needed! These cabins, although the same as most of the others we had stayed in seemed much more picturesque. The bathroom block was really close by and there was a large shop near the entrance to the site with snacks, guidebooks and lots of other essentials. There was also a laundry room here and at the back of the site snake river ran right by us, it was a nice quiet secluded site and I felt really comfortable and at home here straight away. It felt like a mini holiday / weekend away whilst being on trek. By this point the weather had turned sunny!
After a bit of chill time and showers to warm up after the rain, we all gathered by the van as Jake had told us earlier in the day there was a rodeo on that night. This couldn't have been more perfect!
Jake drove us all to the rodeo at Mateosky Park, and dropped us off before heading off for a bit of time off. He told us a time he would be back to pick us all up (it was a good few hours, when the rodeo was due to finish).
We all decided to pay a little bit extra to get the covered seating at the rodeo as the weather hadn't been great and we headed in. We grabbed some seats all together and then each headed out to get dinner / snacks - hot dogs etc. Whilst in the stands we spotted some of the camping group over the other side in the uncovered stand. As the sun went down behind the hills it was a picture perfect night.
Then the rodeo started…we were watching cowboys in cowboy country!!! It was incredible, there was bull-riding, horse riding and lots of other events in the arena and boy was it tough. The bulls were such fierce animals and it was amazing anyone could stay on them at all…I've never seen anything like that live before, and of course there were some handsome cowboys that we couldn't take our eyes off. It was all glamorous though, there were quite a few cowboys missing teeth that we spotted on the way in.
We all had such a great night…this might have been my favourite evening of the trip. I felt really at home here and like I wanted to stay here for months…who knew I was a country girl at heart. I definitely want to come back to Jackson, which was a somewhat unexpected development. I did not expect to love this area so much, before I started trek it was one of those cool stops on the map to get to other places but boy was I wrong, this is proper american heartland and I was loving it, I highly recommend a visit here in rodeo season.
We headed out quickly as the rodeo finished and hopped back in the van. A few people wanted to head to the Cowboy Bar at the town square so Jake drove us over there where a few of the group headed out and would get a taxi back whenever their night finished. I was very tempted to go to the bar but I was really tired and had had the perfect day so decided to call it a night, this is the downside to travelling when you're older!
Jake drove the rest of us back to the cabins, it was already getting in for midnight and the perfect day in cowboy country had come to an end...
ITINERARY (LISTED): Take On Tetons
DISTANCE TRAVELLED (MILES): 130
ACCOMMODATION: Snake River KOA Cabins - Jackson, Wyoming
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