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Part 2 begins as we are leaving Granite Creek and heading to Afton (see part 1 here - https://backcountrypost.com/threads/wyoming-2025-part-1-teton-wilderness.11823)
Right up front, I want to thank "the fellas" Hugh aka @scatman, Bob aka @Bob and Gary aka @Chuckwalla for being patient with my son. He had just finished up a season of soccer and track so he killed us on the trails, but he was a lot slower on the off-trail parts which possibly mattered by the end of the trip. Thanks again guys.
We headed into Jackson to find lunch and then drove up the road a bit to check out the Tetons again.
Big pano of the Tetons (this is about 10 photos stiched together)
And then down to Afton where we had a room reserved before meeting up with "the fellas" for another backpacking trip.
My son liked the map of Middle Earth on the side of this building
Day 7 (July 7)
Met the fellas at the BBQ place in Afton and then drove to the trailhead on Commissary Ridge in the Salt River Range.
And down the trail we go, thankfully the weather forecast looks awesome for the next couple of day.
Hard to read, it says "Boundary Stock Driveway" with no obvious road around.
We missed a trail junction or something, the sign was wrong, so we headed up the slope and hoped we find our trail eventually, which we did after very little searching.
We set up camp in a great meadow with a nice creek nearby.
Day 8 (July 8)
My son was being lazy in the tent so I got up to wander a bit before breakfast.
Campsite below, would totally stay here again.
Waterfall near Corral Creek
The remains of a snowmobile, someone had a bad day
Below the outlet of Corral Creek Lake
Corral Creek Lake
Time for a little bit of off-trail work, there is a bit of a game trail going down off the ridge.
Our goal was to camp at the tarn in the middle of the photo.
Not photographed, there was a bit of an ugly scramble getting off the ridge. I took a stupid route and then my son had a bit of a panic attack. It had been a long day by the time we got down so we set up camp short of the target tarn. Pretty area, but the bugs were horrible.
2nd camp the next morning
Day 9 (July 9)
The tarn we were aiming for, buggy and not very pretty. I'm not sad that we didn't camp here.
Pretty bird
More off-trail work ...
... a little bit of butt scooting to get down (my son needs more practice with his scrambling to be comfortable in these situations).
North Crow Creek down below
There was a stretch of trail lined with coneflowers. It would have been great to walk through here in another week or so when they were blooming.
Lower Crow Creek Lake
The Wyoming Range in the distance
After dinner we sat by the lake and watched the pika run around. They move really fast in the talus, hard to get a photo.
3rd night campsite near Crow Creek Lake
Day 10 (July 10)
We were way behind schedule, no way we were going to make it to the end where we had a car waiting, so we decided to head back to the starting point. So we decided to head down North Crow Creek to Grays River Road and then either hope for a hitch back to my car or we would walk the road.
A bit of a scramble down to the official trail
Interesting marker near the road. On the USFS map there is a "drill hole" nearby, I assume the marker and drill hole are related.
Bridge across the Grays River
After a little bit of walking, a young guy in a jeep pulled over and gave me a lift to my car. He was from Canada and was taking 6 weeks or so to explore the American West.
While waiting for me to get back to my car, my son noticed this nest right at eye level next to the road.
We ended up making camp at the trailhead before driving back to Afton the next morning.
The next day, we got back to Afton and said goodbye to the fellas and we headed south to Vernal UT to pick up my oldest kid.
The Flaming Gorge is very pretty. It would have been neat to see before the dam, but the blue water and red rock go well together.
After dinner, we gave my car a washing to get the Wyoming dirt roads off.
The next day we got my daughter and went to check out the Quarry Exhibit Hall in Dinosaur National Monument.
We did a short hike near the quarry to find some more fossils in the rock.
And then we headed to Colorado to see my sister for one night and then back to Kentucky.
Right up front, I want to thank "the fellas" Hugh aka @scatman, Bob aka @Bob and Gary aka @Chuckwalla for being patient with my son. He had just finished up a season of soccer and track so he killed us on the trails, but he was a lot slower on the off-trail parts which possibly mattered by the end of the trip. Thanks again guys.
We headed into Jackson to find lunch and then drove up the road a bit to check out the Tetons again.
Big pano of the Tetons (this is about 10 photos stiched together)
And then down to Afton where we had a room reserved before meeting up with "the fellas" for another backpacking trip.
My son liked the map of Middle Earth on the side of this building
Day 7 (July 7)
Met the fellas at the BBQ place in Afton and then drove to the trailhead on Commissary Ridge in the Salt River Range.
And down the trail we go, thankfully the weather forecast looks awesome for the next couple of day.
Hard to read, it says "Boundary Stock Driveway" with no obvious road around.
We missed a trail junction or something, the sign was wrong, so we headed up the slope and hoped we find our trail eventually, which we did after very little searching.
We set up camp in a great meadow with a nice creek nearby.
Day 8 (July 8)
My son was being lazy in the tent so I got up to wander a bit before breakfast.
Campsite below, would totally stay here again.
Waterfall near Corral Creek
The remains of a snowmobile, someone had a bad day
Below the outlet of Corral Creek Lake
Corral Creek Lake
Time for a little bit of off-trail work, there is a bit of a game trail going down off the ridge.
Our goal was to camp at the tarn in the middle of the photo.
Not photographed, there was a bit of an ugly scramble getting off the ridge. I took a stupid route and then my son had a bit of a panic attack. It had been a long day by the time we got down so we set up camp short of the target tarn. Pretty area, but the bugs were horrible.
2nd camp the next morning
Day 9 (July 9)
The tarn we were aiming for, buggy and not very pretty. I'm not sad that we didn't camp here.
Pretty bird
More off-trail work ...
... a little bit of butt scooting to get down (my son needs more practice with his scrambling to be comfortable in these situations).
North Crow Creek down below
There was a stretch of trail lined with coneflowers. It would have been great to walk through here in another week or so when they were blooming.
Lower Crow Creek Lake
The Wyoming Range in the distance
After dinner we sat by the lake and watched the pika run around. They move really fast in the talus, hard to get a photo.
3rd night campsite near Crow Creek Lake
Day 10 (July 10)
We were way behind schedule, no way we were going to make it to the end where we had a car waiting, so we decided to head back to the starting point. So we decided to head down North Crow Creek to Grays River Road and then either hope for a hitch back to my car or we would walk the road.
A bit of a scramble down to the official trail
Interesting marker near the road. On the USFS map there is a "drill hole" nearby, I assume the marker and drill hole are related.
Bridge across the Grays River
After a little bit of walking, a young guy in a jeep pulled over and gave me a lift to my car. He was from Canada and was taking 6 weeks or so to explore the American West.
While waiting for me to get back to my car, my son noticed this nest right at eye level next to the road.
We ended up making camp at the trailhead before driving back to Afton the next morning.
The next day, we got back to Afton and said goodbye to the fellas and we headed south to Vernal UT to pick up my oldest kid.
The Flaming Gorge is very pretty. It would have been neat to see before the dam, but the blue water and red rock go well together.
After dinner, we gave my car a washing to get the Wyoming dirt roads off.
The next day we got my daughter and went to check out the Quarry Exhibit Hall in Dinosaur National Monument.
We did a short hike near the quarry to find some more fossils in the rock.
And then we headed to Colorado to see my sister for one night and then back to Kentucky.
