We only stayed here for one week so we were on the go everyday to see as much as we could. The Star Valley Ranch is located in the Star Valley which is located just south of the Tetons and is surrounded by three national forests. Many years ago the valley was called the Salt River Valley because the Salt River flows through it. So why is it called the Star Valley now? Just looking up at the night sky and you can see why this is called Star Valley.
As early as the 1870s the Mormon Church was placing cattle here to summer graze on the lush meadows. Later, Mormon pioneers dotted the valley with small farms consisting of dairy cows, beef cattle, sheep, and hogs supported by hay and small grain production. The valley remains the same today loaded with farms and ranches.
A few miles south of the campground is Afton, WY. One of our first stops was to check out the town. When we got to town the main street was closed for an antique car show so we just had to walk around checking out the cars and local shops.
That is the World's largest Elkhorn Arch you are looking at. Built in 1957, it spans over Main Street with over 3000 antlers.
Afton was our main stop for dining out and you know how we like to dine out.
After we left the car show we stopped at Taco Time for supper. This is the sign that greeted us at the front door.
How great is a town and state that is not trying to take our guns away. This beats the hell out of the restrictive laws the idiot politicians in Connecticut passed. (I digress, that is a different story for a different time.)
One thing I didn't realize is there was an aircraft manufacturer in Afton. The CallAir Museum is in the center of town at the visitor center so I definitely had to check it out.
The CallAir Museum re-enacts the history of the CallAir passenger and agricultural crop duster spray planes. CallAir airplanes were manufactured in Afton from the early 1940s to the late 1960s.
Over the years local craftsmen have produced hundreds of airplanes, many still in use today. (For some reason I never heard of CallAir, probably because I never flew a crop duster.)
In the early days CallAir didn't just build airplanes, it manufactured snow cars and snow skis that attached to airplane wheels.
The Snowcar provided a practical solution for snow bound regions. Using aircraft type construction, the Snowcar was strong and light weight (450 to 550 pounds empty). The enclosed cab allowed two passengers to ride comfortably.
OK, that's enough of Afton, lets go to the Grand Tetons.
Along the way to the National Park.
Coming from the south you must go through Jackson Hole, WY on the way.
This is their Elkhorn Arch.
Too many people in Jackson Hole, Bev and I didn't want to spend any time in town.
The Tetons are within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest nearly intact natural area remaining in the contiguous United States. Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, seven national forests, and two national wildlife refuges comprise most of its acreage, but federal, state, and private lands also provide essential buffers to this ecosystem and it free-roaming wildlife.
Bison, elk, bears, and eagles once thrived nationwide. Now, these and many other species survive in this island of hope. We didn't see any wildlife on our trip, I guess they were all hiding in remote areas.
The scenery was fantastic though.
More than any other erosional force, great Ice Age glaciers sculpted this mountain skyline. Today a dozen glaciers flow, the Teton Glacier is the largest in the park.
A better look at the Teton Glacier.
Upon leaving the confining canyon, the most recent mountain glacier spread into and pressed deeply into the valley floor creating Jenny Lake. Jenny Lake is one in a chain of similar glacial lakes at the base of the range.
On a side trip we drove up a mountain and hiked to the top of the viewing area to see the valley below.
We passed by the Jackson Lake Dam and Reservoir which dams up the Snake River.
Like I said we were here a week and covered a lot of ground. About 15 miles south of Jackson Hole and heading east on Highway 191 we drove through one of the most beautiful canyons in the surrounding area. Winding through this canyon is the wild and scenic Hoback River.
This canyon first provided a way through the mountains for game and Indians, and later for mountain men and settlers, but the rugged trail was hazardous for horses and wagons. This stream and canyon was named after John Hoback a legendary trapper.
Our campground brochure mentioned a great road trip down Grey's River Road which we just had to take. The Grey's River Road (so the brochure said) is approximately 55 miles long and passes through some truly amazing country. The "gravel" road is open June through October and access to the road is found at both the North and South ends of Star Valley. We picked up the road on the north side from Alpine, WY.
Note, the brochure said the road is approximately 55 miles long but 30 miles down the road I checked with my Garmin GPS how far it was to the main road on the south end and it said it was another 58 miles to go. At that point we decided to turn around and return to the campground back the way we came.
It was a fantastic trip down the gravel road although it was dusty until we were hit by a rain storm. The rain stopped the dust but sure made the car muddy.
This is an open range so we had to watch out for cattle on the road. This cow was thinking "what are you looking at!!"
That was a great trip even though I had to drive the car through a car wash when we got back.
I know - I know, this was a lot to cover in one blog, it was such a scenic week and I wanted to cover as much as I could.
I didn't cover a great hike we took to the Periodic Spring just east of Afton but I will on the next blog along with our trip through Idaho to our next stop at Hot Springs Resort in Garland Utah.
So much to see so little time to see it.
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