Grand Teton

Visiting Our Very First National Park! 

Not only was this our first National Park, but its our first time camping and traveling together. We flew to Denver where we started by renting our car from Costco Travel. I honestly think Costco has the best rates for rental cars. Even better than the google corp rates I used to receive. Plus you get to add another driver for free. That makes it easier for me to fall into my passenger princess ways. You're probably wondering why the heck did we fly to Denver instead of Jackson or Bozeman. It's because we didn't have any camping gear. We had no idea what the hell we were doing. We went to REI about a month prior and picked up some Salomon Hiking Boots and never looked back. We ended up borrowing every single thing we needed from my friend from college, we call her BonBon. She taught us how to pitch the tent and how to use a jet-boil stove. I was so scared that I would blow us up with the stove that I took a video on my phone so I can remember how to use it just in case the internet didn't work on the scene. I was so nervous the before the entire trip, it was just a feeling that loomed over me until I got to the park. I was worried about getting lost, people being racist, not knowing how to pitch the tent, and not having cell service.  I started to feel a little better after Bon assured us that we would be fine and we are gonna have the trip of a lifetime.

After we gathered the materials we loaded everything into our SUV and went to bed at the Hilton in downtown Denver. Well Kam went to bed, I chose to stay up all night partying with my other friend from college, Manny and his girlfriend Angela (now fiancé). So you know that meant I was tired as hell when Kam wanted to check out of the hotel to start driving at like 2am. I had the hardest time getting up; I only had like 2 hours of sleep. I was so tired I was gagging! I shoulda just went to bed at 9pm like Kam said. We had a long drive ahead of us! Kam drove for like 4 hours and he let me sleep. I took over driving for about 2 hours or so until we reached Jackson Hole. We stopped at the Walmart to grab some food and other essentials. This is when we realized exactly what we were doing. We were legit the ONLY black people in this town. It felt very strange when everyone stares at you. I was kinda nervous. Turns out people are nice as hell and that was my own uncertainties getting in the way of my experience. We filled up on gas and drove about another 2 hours to the park. 

We stayed at Lizard Creek campground between Teton and Yellowstone. We pitched the tent successfully for the first time. I started to feel better because at least we got the shelter. I think pitching the tent only took like 20 mins (it shoulda took 5) and we only argued for like one second. We set up our chairs and said to ourselves "now what" as we sat at the fireless fire pit. We wandered to the visitors center to grab some wifi and check the alltrails app for directions nearby. The store had everything even a gas station (gas was expensive as hell).

We decided to hike our first trail and we could not find the trail head to save our life. We walked around for like 20 mins until we saw a ranger who showed us the trail. She also looked at us crazy because she noticed that we didn't have bear spray. She advised we grab some so we went back to the store and spent $50 on a damn bear spray canister. When buying it we knew we coundnt fly with it back home but sometimes you just have to keep that thang on you for peace of mind.

We finally found the trailhead to the Grand Teton National Park road trip trail. I felt like I looked so cool with my lil bear spray on my hip. We played around with it so much talkin' about some "wish a bear wood" while pretending to spray. We hiked and found this cute overlook over the river and took some cute pictures. We had so much fun on the trail. We kept marveling at its beauty. This is the hike where BPO was born. We were playing too much (this happens alot) and said we was gonna make a page called "Black People Outside" because we're black and we be outside. We wanted to just show people like us what its like hiking and camping, hoping they would wanna do it too. The page did not come alive until almost 6 months later and this blog took another 3. 

We finally made it back to our campsite were we built our first fire with firewood left at our site. We used the fire to heat up chili in a can and we ate some chili dogs. Im thinking the first camp meal is a success until I look over and see these people pulling out marinated chicken and fresh fruits and veggies. I was like damn we gotta step our game up. As we sat by the fire it began to get dark. This is when my life changed forever, I looked up. It wasn't even all the way dark but the sky was littered with stars. More stars than sky was visible if you ask me. I Immediately started crying. I could not control the streams and streams of tears coming down my face. I was in love. I saw shooting stars, satellites, planets and even the milky way!  When I say my neck was hurting from looking up so much, even walking to the bathroom I could not stop looking up. 

As darkness falls it gets a lot colder! It was like 49 degrees at night when it was about 90-95 during the day. We were sleeping on the sleeping pads we borrowed but we could not keep warm even with our sleeping bags. I was also scared because my stupid ass peed outside the tent because I was too scared to go to the bathroom alone. So I was terrified that a bear would come smell my pee then eat us, yes so irrational. We got up at 3am, we left the tent to sleep in the car with the heat on for a little. 

We woke up early around 5AM and threw everything in the back so we can try to get in line to snag a spot at Colter Bay Campsite. This was during the early stages of the pandemic before the registration system, so campsites were first come first serve. We arrived at 6am and we were probably 10th/11th in line. We waited until the gates opened at 8am. To pass the time I walked around the area, ate a few snacks, edited/filmed a few videos and talked to the one and only Black park ranger. It was so fun catching up with him! He mentioned that he does not see many Black people in the Tetons so we really had a ball with the jokes and other Black People banter. 

We got to our spot at 8:15-8:30am. We threw up our tent and had oatmeal for breakfast. We went to the main visitors center to use the bathroom and gather some wifi so we can plan our hikes for the day. When I say this campground is BUILT UP I meant that. They have a store, clean new bathrooms and lots of parking for everyone. It was already too late to start this 10 mile hike along the Hermitage Point Trail, which is currently closed in 2023. We decided to do it anyway even with the lack of time. It was thee most stunning place I have ever placed eyes on. We filmed bae at the bay at Colter Bay Lakeshore Trail and took in the views for about 4-5 miles. We realized that we did NOT have enough water so we had to start turning back. The trail was a combination of high and low elevation with many parts exposed to the sun. That part was our downfall. On the way back we we saw deer, eagles, many wildflowers. We stopped at this lake along the Swan Lake and Heroin Pond Trail to just relax and take a break. I have NEVER been surround by such a calming atmosphere quite like here. 

We finally made it back around 5pm. We stopped at the store to grab our fire wood and that shit was like $9 for 5 pieces! We decided we would just collect our firewood for the rest of the trip. So thats what we did. We both grabbed a garbage bag and filled it up with wood. Threw it in the trunk and drove back to our site. When we got back I saw like a million bugs in the car so I had to get them out. I really didn't realize how many bugs we brought with that wood. But this is why they say burn wood where you buy it. I also found out that some parks do not allow you to collect downed wood for fire, so you should check that out on the park website before you decide to be a cheap skate like us. 

For dinner we made Teton sausages that we got from the store, we ironically got them cuz we wanted to eat some Tetons in the Tetons. We still buy these sausages to this day! The night wasn't that eventful. We went on a night hike along the main road to the visitors center and went stargazing, it was so romantic. We left after a couple said they saw a fox. We slept in the tent for another cold night. 

The next day we spent the day in Yellowstone (Details in the Yellowstone post).

The day after chilling in Yellowstone, we left after breakfast to drive to Saratoga Hot Springs to celebrate my birthday. I was so happy to have a bed and shower. The drive was about 6-7 hours. We checked in the hotel had free warm cookies for us to enjoy, if you know me you know I love cookies and nocap they were almost DoubleTree level. We dropped our bags off and checked out the rooms. They were cabin style and kinda rustic but clean and super comfortable. After that we went straight to the hotel restaurant. They seemed understaffed because everything was so slow. There were no more than 5 tables occupied out of 30 tables. We sat outside and I ordered the cheese sticks they came with ranch and blue cheese (I don't like none of that) so I suggested some tomato sauce for dipping. When I say the sauce took an additional 15 mins to come to me AFTER they brought the food. Kam went to find the waitress and it still took another 10 mins. My food was cold  by the time the sauce came and when the sauce did arrive It was ICE cold. I was so mad because I was hungry as hell. The cheese sticks were okay; they would have been better if everything wasn't cold. Kam got the burger, he said it was amazing. After eating we hung out in the teepee natural hot springs until the sun went down. The front desk has robes, cookies and hot coffee to keep you warm through the night. 

We woke up early the next day to get in the heated pool. It was really nice to have the pool all to ourselves. We checked out, grabbed more cookies and hit the road back to Denver to drop off our gear and catch our flight. The drive and flight were uneventful (besides the views) but I wont bore you with that.