Heading south from Yellowstone you leave one National Park and soon enter another. We stopped at Flagg ranch, marked on our map as an information center, but only the fuel station and store were in operation and we were directed to stop at Colter Bay visitor center 20 minutes onward. Shortly we came to Jackson Lake which appeared to be dried up (but we saw later that it has a dam), and on the opposite shore sits the towering Teton range with its jagged peaks showing its youthful age – sitting here and there are glaciers and between the peaks are large canyons. The mountains dominate the landscape making a beautiful backdrop.
At Colter Bay, a popular resort town and water play area we saw there is a campground, so stopped in to see about a spending the night, but, after being quoted a $100+ per night, we declined. At the visitor centre we received info. on a scenic drive and a scoop on dispersed camping. The scenic drive was perfect to view the mountains up close and afterwards we found the dispersed camping spot easily just off the main highway. The dirt road was well enough maintained and we found a nice quiet spot to camp. A family of pronghorn in a small ravine entertained us for a while and later we took a long walk and checked out the creek and the other campsites. The last site is very large and could easily fit a group of four campers.
Teton National Park is not large and we soon left it behind and drove into the very pretty and well known ski destination Jackson Hole. Clearly a tourist town, some of the architecture conjures up a Swiss Alps ski resort vibe. Surrounded by mountains we once again had to drive over a high mountain pass as we left Jackson. The climb to Teton Pass summit, at 8431 feet, is steep and steady both up and down. Our Portage, of course, handles the mountains really well.