Christmas in Grand Teton
January 29, 2024
It’s been a little over a month since returning from Wyoming where we spent a few days over Christmas weekend, and it was a beautiful trip! I wanted to share some of the highlights and resources for where we like to stay, dine, and explore whenever we visit Wyoming.
Traveling up to Wyoming in Winter can be risky (obviously! you are probably saying to yourself as you read this). For this trip, we really lucked out with great roads for most of the way, and very little precipitation. We have had previous trips with much sketchier driving and weather, so this year was a treat. We normally head up via Route 287 to Laramie, west across I-80 to Rock Springs, then north along 191 through Pinedale up to Jackson. Alternatively, we have traveled up 287 to Laramie, then west on I-80 to Rawlins, where we continue on 287 up through Lander, eventually meeting junction 26 to head up and over Togwotee Pass and down into the north end of Teton valley. This way generally takes a bit longer and Togwotee pass can be quite icy, but it is a beautiful drive along the Wind River range! These routes both start in Denver, CO. When we go through Pinedale, we always like to stop at Wind River Brewing Company or Mountain Mocha depending on the time of day. If we end up staying in town, we usually opt for the budget-friendly(est) option, but there are several lodging options to choose from!
As we make our way out of Pinedale, we continue along 191 up through Bondurant (population 155) into the steep-sided Hoback Canyon. There are usually very few others along this drive, and we have seen a plethora of wildlife in the area - Bald Eagles, Hawks of all kinds, Moose, Elk, Deer, and Big Horn Sheep. This is a great drive to do in the daytime to see all these creatures, and a bit of a scary one at night when one them could step right out into the road in front of you! We were making our way through the canyon around 8 o’clock at night when a herd of about 200+ elk decided to cross the highway a few miles outside of Hoback Junction! Fortunately, we had been following a large plow truck that had slowed way down for the elk, so we took our time and patiently drove by listening to hundreds of cow elk calling out to each other in the pitch black of the night! See below for a quick video of the experience.
Cow Elk calling to each other along Highway 191 in Hoback Canyon, a few miles outside of Hoback Junction, WY - December 2023
Once we arrive in Jackson, we usually check into our hotel and either find a place for a meal or head into the Square to check things out. We really like to stay in budget friendly places, so we typically pick the Super 8 in Jackson. TIP, it’s well-worth joining Wyndham Rewards to earn points at your hotel stays, and it’s even more beneficial if you sign up for the Wyndham Rewards Visa. I’ve earned several free hotel nights using these together, and it has really cut down on some of our travel costs! Plus, the Super 8 in Jackson is the only hotel I’ve stayed at that has a pancake machine…yes, a pancake machine. It is highly entertaining to watch guests use it during the morning breakfast hours. And the pancakes aren’t half bad. We like to stay at a hotel that offers breakfast since we are usually itching to get up early and go on an adventure and don’t want to make an extra stop to fuel up.
For this particular trip, we arrived late on a Friday night, and had booked a wildlife viewing tour with Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures for Saturday afternoon with our favorite guide & friend Laura K! We had the morning to explore a bit, so we had our Super 8 breakfast, made a stop at Cowboy Coffee in downtown Jackson, then headed north to look for wildlife! Our first stop was along highway 191 at a pullout along the National Elk Refuge fence line where Trumpeter Swans, Common Goldeneye ducks, Bufflehead ducks, Mallards, and Common Mergansers were all enjoying the “warm” water while the snow was blowing all around. High winds and blizzard like conditions lasted for about 30 minutes, so pictures weren’t great, but it was so fun to see Trumpeter Swans (the largest waterfowl in North America, and heaviest flying bird!) up close!
After taking a few moments to admire the birds, we continued north to get to Grand Teton National Park. We took a left at Teton Park Rd to head west toward Moose, WY and into the park. At this time of year (December) you can only go a few miles into the park on the interior (“scenic”) road up to a trail head to turn around. It is still worth checking out, since wildlife is usually up and moving around, including Moose, Elk, Deer, Coyotes, lots of migrating birds, Ravens, and Wolves. We were also able to take Moose-Wilson Rd for a few miles to another trail head before turning around, and upon turning back, we saw our first moose of the trip!
Looking for wildlife in the winter in the Greater Yellowstone Ecostystem is both incredible and incredibly rewarding.
A few tips for spotting wildlife in winter:
1- Look for tracks in the snow - tracks tell us about the presence of an animal in all seasons, but are more easily seen from greater distances in the snow. You can usually tell if tracks are fresher based on how filled in they are from snow melt or additional snowfall. Tracks also tell you what direction the animal was traveling.
2- Snow provides easier viewing conditions for dark animals like Moose, Elk, Deer, Big Horn Sheep, and Birds since their earthy colors tend to stand out more with a white background.
3- Snow slows some animals down so you may have a better chance at seeing something if you are carefully looking for wildlife and aren’t in a position to cause greater stress to the animal by seeing it (i.e. being too close on foot/snowshoes/skis or verbally harassing an animal from a vehicle).
4- Plus, snow can provide some epic backdrops for scenic viewing if there is no wildlife present!
See the slideshow below for all the highlights on our trip:
After a quick tour along Moose-Wilson Road, we headed out to the infamous Mormon Row to take a look at the barns and check for wolves. We had to make things quick, as we had our tour lined up with Jackson Hole EcoTours at 1 pm. After a few minutes at the barns, we decided to head east, then south to drive through the small community of Kelly, WY before heading back into Jackson to get ready for our tour.
Before we knew it, 1 pm arrived and Laura came by our hotel to pick us up before heading to the town square to get the rest of our guests. We picked up 2 more couples and headed out for some sight-seeing in the National Elk Refuge. This time, we took the road along the interior of the refuge that heads north along the Gros Ventre mountains. It didn’t take long before we saw a couple small herds of Bighorn Sheep. When you are in the refuge, you are not supposed to stop/park along the main road, so we found the first pull-out and all got out to watch a few rams competing for dominance over the group of ewes. December is the start of the sheep rut and the rams are all amped up in anticipation of clashing horns for dominance and breeding rights. Bighorn Sheep have one of the shorter gestation periods of the horned/antlered animals in the area (approximately 177 days), thus their rut is a bit later in the year than deer, elk, and moose.
We spent a fair amount of time observing the sheep, but unfortunately, we had to move on, as more sheep were crossing the road to join the bigger herd and they were coming right at us. Although they seem “friendly”, these sheep are wild and can cause severe harm in a moment’s notice. Plus, they like to target stopped/parked vehicles to lick the salt off them. This is not good for the sheep, so vehicles are encouraged to keep moving when sheep seem to be approaching. Even though this seems “cute” or “funny”, it can be really detrimental to sheep. The “salt” they are licking from vehicles often has other chemicals (think washer fluid, coolant, oil, etc.) mixed in, which can poison the sheep. It is also a way for sheep to gather in unusually close contact, which can spread disease. Sheep are highly susceptible to pneumonia and an outbreak can wipe out a herd! You can read more about it in this article by Jackson Hole EcoTours.
We got back in the tour van and continued heading north along the Elk Refuge road. To our delight, HUNDREDS of elk were bedded down along the tree line, all making their way down to the refuge for the winter. Since we couldn’t stop along the road, we couldn’t get pictures, but it was really cool to see. We got to the end of the road and turned around to leave the refuge and head into Grand Teton. We got lucky with a Bald Eagle sighting first thing. We then spent some time driving along Gros Ventre road, where we managed to see a small herd of elk in the falling snow, then a lone Big Horn ram making his way towards a rival across the canyon. What a cool sighting!
Next, we aimed to find moose! We did manage to find a group of moose hanging out on Antelope Flats. This is an area in Grand Teton that the moose tend to spend a lot of time in during the winter. They have ample food here and find strength in numbers against their number 1 predator, wolves. None of the moose were very close for this outing, but we managed to see a beautiful sunset over the Tetons, that hadn’t shown themselves all day…and our last sighting was a small group of mule deer, including a nice buck rubbing his antlers on a bush. All in all, a great outing rich in wildlife! After being dropped off at our hotel, we decided on dinner at The Bird. This is a favorite among locals, and a new place for us. They had a wide selection of beers on tap, full bar, delicious menu items (we tried the chips and queso and their burgers), plus a laid-back and fun atmosphere - highly recommended!
The next day, Christmas Eve, we spent the whole day driving through Grand Teton National Park, all the way to the Headwaters Lodge area where many of the winter Yellowstone tours are staged. We didn’t end up seeing much wildlife, but we did enjoy some beautiful views. We ended this day with a stop at Snake River Brewing, one of our favorite area breweries. There is a wide variety of beer styles and food offerings in an upscale atmosphere. We really love the pretzel and the Zonker Stout!
The only cow moose in the group on Antelope Flats on Christmas morning, 2023
Finally, Christmas Day had arrived! We choose to head out somewhat early and drive around Mormon Row and Antelope Flats for a couple hours before heading back to Denver. We were not disappointed! We started the morning with a text from Laura @ EcoTours that fresh wolf tracks had been seen on the very road we were going to drive! We spent some time looking for wolves as we drove around, and we did find A LOT of fresh tracks all over the area. Adrenaline was high and we were hopeful that a wolf would appear. We missed out on seeing one, but knowing they were in that very area just hours before we got there was exhilarating! The time was flying by and we needed to start our long drive home, but we decided to take one more pass along Antelope Flats on the way out. We drove down one of the west/east roads that ventures out into the sagebrush and stopped at a viewpoint where some moose were a little ways out in front of the glorious Tetons. I got out and set up my tripod to take some landscape photos when all of a sudden the moose were on the move, and they were headed straight for us! We picked up the camera gear and got in the car just in case. The blue-eyed cow moose in the group was making a b-line to my car!
Moose on Antelope Flats inside Grand Teton National park, on Christmas morning, 2023
It turns out, the moose also like to approach parked cars and give them a lick for the salt/minerals! And that was exactly what these moose were trying to do. The cow moose got a few licks in before we were able to move the car. It is best practice to move your car if moose approach, or if you can’t move, honk your horn or try to haze the moose to avoid vehicles. Just like any wild animal, associating any type of reward from humans can lead to harm or death of the animal. After this really exceptional encounter with these 4 moose, additional moose approached the area and three bull moose started play-sparring with each other literally 10 feet from our car! I also got to take a photo of a young bull moose walking in front of the Tetons! All in all, there were probably 10-12 moose in the area moving around. It was really neat to be in the middle of it!
A young bull moose walks in front of the Grand Teton on Christmas morning, 2023
We ended our morning on a high note and started to head out of town. The drive back to Colorado was pleasantly uneventful and we enjoyed seeing dozens of Bald and Golden Eagles on the way home. The trip was great and we had a very Merry ChristMOOSE! We can’t wait to get back to one of our favorite places for another adventure soon…
Send me a note if you have any questions about the area or comments to add. I always love telling people about the area and would welcome a conversation with you!