Caribou-Targhee National Forest

 [Sun 9/5 thru Mon am 9/6]

Well that was... different.

The ~4hr drive from Park City was easy and, at times, beautiful. The route straddles the Utah, Wyoming and Idaho borders, passing through open prairies, ranchland, and a few small towns. 

Open road

Afton, WY - population 2,058 (2019)

We had decided to camp outside of Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National park, in part because campgrounds and hotels in those areas were booked up for the holiday weekend. On a map, Alpine North campground looks like it's right up our alley - on the shores of a large reservoir formed from the Snake River. We had visions of renting kayaks for a paddle on the reservoir or a bike ride along the river.

We pulled into the campground mid-afternoon and checked out our site - decent enough - before heading out to explore the shores of the reservoir. We both noted that the vast majority of vehicles we passed were pick-up trucks or motorhomes towing some form of adventure vehicle - dirt bikes, buggies, ATVs, etc. Once we caught a glimpse of the reservoir, we understood why. The reservoir was clearly at a fraction of its normal depth, leaving vast stretches of dried up lake bed which had become makeshift campgrounds - and playgrounds - for the ATV crowd. There were dozens of 'pods' of camps spread along the few miles that we drove. One appeared fairly close to actual water, so we decided to drive down and check it out. Our shiny blue Mercedes-Benz camper van drew lots of stares from the made-in-the-USA-mud-covered-truck crowd, and the road became increasingly more treacherous with potholes and mud, so we decided this probably wasn't the place for us and turned around.

Halfway back to camp, we pulled over at a less populated spot and decided to try our luck riding bikes on the dried lake bed. It was interesting but difficult to ride on the caked mud. We rode about a mile before heading back.

Reservoir ride

For our next miracle...

We headed back to camp, got setup, then relaxed a bit before happy hour and dinner - leftover steak and salad. We were slightly concerned that a large group was setting up in a nearby site - with dozens of kids, barking dogs, and a loud boom box. They were loud, but we kept reminding ourselves of the annual end-of-school camping trip we took with school families when our kids were younger, when I'm sure we annoyed lots of other campers. Karma, right? A Prince fan took control of the boombox around 9:30pm and we climbed into bed listening to 'Purple Rain' and loud conversation from the remaining crowd. They eventually turned it down and we both slept reasonably well. In the morning, we didn't even bother making coffee - opting to quickly pack up and find a coffee shop in Jackson Hole, WY, our next destination.

Hiking: 0mi

Biking: 2mi