The search for a White Christmas!
With a few extra days off for Christmas this year and no snow in Flagstaff, Allie and I racked our brains for days trying to plan where the heck to go for a white Christmas. Images of bright angel trail, El Cap, the San Juans, and June lake ran through our heads. We had some simple criteria: plenty of snow for snowshoeing and being within a reasonable drive. Now a “reasonable” drive has a lot of definitions and for us the length fluctuates heavily depending on how beautiful a place is.
Bryce Canyon was the front runner for us, extremely beautiful, less than 5 hours away and plenty of camping close by, but no snow. Yosemite is a bucket list trip and one we’ve been looking forward to for quite awhile. I was lucky enough to visit back in 2018 but Allie has never been, so we started a bit of a plan in that direction knowing we could hit another park or two on the way home. With a quick call to the ranger station on Christmas Eve our dreams were washed away with forecasts of heavy rain and no snow. Silverton Colorado is one of our favorite places to visit with its crystal clear alpine lakes, towering jagged peaks, and endless views that have been carved into our memories for life. The one tiny negative? We visit the San Juans very often in the summer, and we wanted some variety.
Enter Grand Teton National Park, this park has impressed us to no end in the past and with the forecast calling for upwards of two feet of snow we decided to go for it! I had to work until about 5pm on Christmas Eve and all we wanted was to wake up to snow on Christmas. We mapped out a route, grabbed a case of Red Bull and a bag of Chomps, hooked up the camper and settled in for the 875 mile drive. I can’t count the number of times we’ve driven through the night to get to a far away destination and though this was similar, it kicked our butts, and pulling a camper through terrible weather and tight mountain passes certainly adds to the experience. Torrential downpours and high winds kicked off the drive, but the most treacherous roads of the trip were slowly being covered in snow and ice as we made our way north through Utah. After pulling over for a quick snooze and our millionth fuel stop we exited I-15 onto a rural backroad in Idaho. Almost immediately the rain froze and the speeds dropped. What was once a 65 mph road and a “shortcut” to the Tetons was now a slow rolling farm road with invisible markings and not a soul in sight.
We finally found the fluffy stuff in soda springs and Allie’s Christmas wish came true, waking up to snow and the sight of me stuffing my face with a delicious triangle donut, iykyk. Heading north out of soda springs we found more snow and some of the best winter views we’ve ever had. It was as if the trees were dusted with powdered sugar and the hillsides were littered with tracks of all shapes and sizes. We entered the Tetons around noon and after many failed forest road camp spots we finally found one we liked enough to call home for a few days. With setup finished we headed out on the snowshoes for a small adventure behind camp and took in the fresh mountain air. Sunset at 4:52pm and clouds galore took away any views rather quickly but with empty bellies and frozen toes we enjoyed the whole reason we brought the camper in the first place, a heater! Once thawed and fed we got down to business, it looked like a wrapping paper tornado rolled through our camper after we tore into some much anticipated gifts. Darn tough socks and dehydrated meals littered the seats joined by smiles big enough to make our faces sore. We know it’s not about the gifts, but we sure had a blast getting each other some supplies for the many adventures to come this year! With trips to Baja Mexico, Costa Rica, and thru hiking the Colorado trail already on the docket, we’ve had more than a few items on the ole wishlist.
Day 2 in the Teets was our only full day in the park and we sure made the most of it. Now full of eggs, potatoes and cinnamon rolls we set off for an afternoon of snowshoeing. The main road around Jenny Lake is closed for winter allowing folks to snowshoe and cross country ski with dogs. One of the best parts of any hike is having a nice spot to make ramen and take in the views. What would likely be a very busy roadside picnic area in summer was all ours with high winds and snow flying. We had to basically bury our pocket rocket just to keep the flame lit, 40+ winds and temps below freezing made cooking tough but the warmth was more than worth the effort! Even in a plastic bag for protection, Allies camera still froze, but halfway back to Lola the weather finally began to cooperate. We made our way to the only other dog friendly trail in the park to finish out the evening and from the start we were blown away. The first hike of the day was wide open across a prairie of sorts but this one was surrounded by snow covered trees. There's just something about the quiet that comes with fresh snow, it’s tough to beat that peace. We managed 4-5 miles of snowshoeing in the park, of course we wanted more but we sure enjoyed ourselves out there!
Our final day in the park brought the most incredible view, the clouds cleared for about 20 minutes and gave us one of the best looks we’ve ever had, maybe second only to our trip through the park in October. The bright pink hues of a mountain sunrise mixed with cool temps in the teens framed up one hell of a morning from our hillside camp! Almost as quickly as it appeared it was socked in by clouds once again. After some coffee we packed up and headed for the National Elk Refuge, a bit touristy for us but this place was a neat stop. The interior dotted with unbelievable artwork and spotting scopes fixed on thousands of elk make this a wonderful spot to stop and stretch the legs.
Our last stop on the trip was to Fox Run Park. This place was completely covered in 2+ feet of snow and no footprints or paths ahead of us, we had the entire place to ourselves and with the snow coming down like crazy we didn’t expect any company. After finishing the perimeter loop we sat down in the dog park to let River get out any remaining energy while we warmed up with another cup of ramen. Pulling a camper through 2 feet of unplowed snow is a unique experience but I’m sure glad we did it to get to this little park. And with that we settled in for the rather slow drive back on many “not maintained at night” mountain roads until we hit clear highways around 2-3 am and were able to relax a bit.
All in all this trip was spectacular. The Tetons offer some of the best views of any park in the country and it’s well worth the long drive to get there.
