• Friday 26th May 2023: London to Salt Lake City (SLC)

Leaving Kidbrooke by bus and then then Queen Elizabeth tube line direct to Heathrow T3, flying with Delta Airlines. Efficient boarding but due efficient queueing organisation. Unfortunately take-off delayed by an hour due to plane traffic jam.

Pretty eventless flight; nice food, gluten free option, snack before landing. Bit shaky 1 hour before landing as the captain avoided the local storms we would realise were hitting the area then every day in the afternoon.

Easy disembarking and luggage collection though slow at border control as a single non US passport line to a single officer had to give way to the line for the crews and the one for those having a connection; though the border officer has been super quick once we reached him.

We took a Lyft for $15 + tip to drive us pretty quickly (15 minutes) to the Holiday Inn Express Downtown hotel we booked for a night in Salt Lake City. The staff was nice and efficient, we even had the choice of the floor and we picked the highest, hoping for a view to the mountains surrounding the city.

We found nearby a nice and welcoming pub nearby - the Squatters Pub Brewery - where we had a local lovely amber beer and a fulfilling salad to recover from the trip.

• Saturday 27th May 2023: Salt Lake City to Grand Teton National Park - Gros-Ventre campground

 Fulfilling breakfast provided by the hotel, we left our luggage at the reception before heading for a quick tour of the north centre and particularly to the Mormons temples and main building (more about it later as we returned to SLC 10 days later).

We then took a Lyft cab (so cheap compared to London !) to get to the location to pick the RV camper van from Cruise America – we were early but the vehicle was ready, the paperwork, the checks and routine explanations about the camper van were smooth and easy. We were quickly on our way only stopping to Wholefood Market to grab 10 days of food.

We had lunch at the nearby Sugar House - Wasatch Pub which was quite welcoming and provided us all we needed before we hit the road for a 5 hour long trip once we filled the tank (and camper vans have a large tank ! 3/4 of a tank cost us $100 but a full tank lasts, we only filled it 3 times overall while we drove 1,200 miles overall).

Then we were on our way up north in the direction of Gros-Ventre campground just north-east of Jackson Hole. Long road but quite scenic - we followed the 89 on the way there and 189 on the way back, we found the 89 nicer and less monotonous). We found the campground quite easily - even at night, as well as our parking slot (envelops with details for late arrivals was left on the door at reception). We quickly jumped to bed for the night.

• Sunday 28th May 2023: Gros-Ventre to Colter Bay - Grand Teton National Park

Sunrise start so we could drive to Mormons Row (check the picture at the top of our Home page) which is the location of a former Mormon’s settlement where old farms and barns have been preserved. One of the barns is very popular and famous for its unique view with the Grand Teton NP in the background. The proper access if from the north, coming from Highway 89 but not straight south from the Gros-Ventre campground.

We then traveled to Moose, aiming for the Park Visitor Centre in order to buy a National Park yearly entry ticket though they had system issues so we had been asked to wait a day before applying again. Though we were able to pick a map of the park.

At Moose, we went for some info at the Centre (trails and walks to go through) but no opened places for a coffee.

Later, we stopped at Taggart Lake to follow the Taggart Lake Trail (a mile long each way as we did not get the boat to return nor circled around), which is a very nice easy trail with varied landscape and flora. We came across a good variety of fauna (prairie dogs, marmots, chipmunks, American robins etc.) on the way to the lake. Some point of view to the Grand Tetons peaks are fantastic, with a lot of various sceneries from the trail so multiple photos could be taken. We were lucky as despite the clouds, the weather changed quickly and allowed us to enjoy the view of the peaks around.

We then resumed our trip to reach our next campground at Colter Bay Village, by the Jackson Lake.

We stopped at the Jackson Lake dam as it offers a great view over the Grand Teton peaks.

The campground is beautiful, depending on where you slot is, the village can be a good 15 minute-walk. The village is composed of a gas station, a general store – including a large shop and a sort of Starbucks), a Visitor Centre and a building with a restaurant/bar and food court. We had dinner there; all of very good quality, good portions and decent prices. Lovely local beer (the Jenny Lake - can sticker to be peeled off for a surprise!). The staff is very attentive, very nice and helpful.

• Monday 29th May 2023: Oxbow Bent and Colter Bay surroundings

After a few busy days we decided to have it easy that day.

We then drove to the main village, enjoying a coffee from the general store and visiting the large cloth and souvenir store they have within the same building.

We then walked down to the visitor centre for more browsing – we can be very standard tourists sometimes !

Back to the camper van, we decided to head towards Oxbow Bent Turnout to scout the area for next day’s sunrise. Caroline spotted a beaver just after a bridge over the Snake River, we stopped at the next junction to join a crowd watching a group of elks grazing in the fields.

We then drove and parked at the Turnout, taking and testing pictures of the peaks with a lovely foreground of hills and the Snake River – spotting a few geese in the distance and the one ground squirrel nearby.

We then drove to the Moran park entrance in order to get our yearly National Park entrance permit ($80 then for us).

We headed back to Colster Bay Village, parked by the store and started to walk along the Jackson lake but the trail to Hermitage point was closed due to bears spotted in the area. Enjoying the nice view over the peaks and a bit of the wildlife living around (mainly birds, chipmunks and squirrels), we returned to the village, the marina and further north the small crowd sunbathing over the rocky beach with a view towards the peaks.

We then had a quiet evening and dinner at the local restaurant, preparing the following day programme.

• Tuesday 30th May 2023: Oxbow Bent, Cascade Canyon and Inspiration Point Trail

Early wake up to reach Oxbow Bent turnout before sunrise. Beautiful views and colours, though relatively busy with tourists and keen photographers !

We stoped on the way back for the same herd of elks, with mountain view in the background, morning mist cloud and still rising sun (check out our photo gallery and Instagram for those great shots !), as well as the empty road with infinity view towards the Tetons with golden hour back light.

We then drove to Jenny Lake, stoped at the visitor centre starting the main trail up to Cascade Canyon and Inspiration Point – with lots of birds and wildlife already around the lodges.

Lots of birds, squirrels, chipmunks, marmots on the way up, while beautiful views over the cascade, the lake and the peaks. There are bears and grizzlies around but we did not see any.

It was a relatively busy trail at the main viewpoints but still pretty quiet walk overall.

• Wednesday 31st May 2023: Colster Bay to Yellowstone NP and Madison Campground

We left early to travel the short drive north from Colster Bay to the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park with the time to stay at the Madison campground – which turned out to be the most beautiful and idyllic campground we came across. There are quite a few stops to make on the way for lookouts (the views over the valley of Lewis river or over the mountains through the forest, the gate entrance to the park etc.) .

Our first major stop on the way was for the Old Faithfull Visitor Education centre (where we collected a map of the park) as well as to the various shops and cafes there. After checking the expecting range time for the next eruption, we joined the spectacle of the Old Faithfull Geyser erupting bang on expected time at 2.11pm !

Next step was a stop at the Midway Geyser Basin which owns the famous Grand Prismatic Spring – one of the natural Wonder of the World in my opinion ! We stopped by (with difficulties to park nearby) within the volcanic park itself. It offers a well designed board walk and great view of the various basins. But then we realised as we could see them there could be a much more panoramic view from above through the overlook trail and view point located on the other side of the river. We would highly recommend to go the extra mile and walk this trail as there are additional views which make the overall experience unique (with a miniature Prismatic amongst other natural beauties; with abundant wildlife birds and bisons resting by the trails).

We then drove to pick our spot at the beautiful Madison campsite and having a short walk to enjoy the magnificent view of the slithering Madison river, mountains, prairie and later a herd of bisons walking by in peace to reach the rich lands of grass by the river to the astonishment of the people from the camp.

• Thursday 1st June 2023: Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin

Another early wake up to capture the sunrise over the Madison river flowing within the campground.

Leaving the camp early too in order to drive to Mammoth Hot Springs with the intention to stop to most points of interest on the way up north.

First stop was at the impressive and highly named Roaring Mountain, where the slops of the mountains are always covered with a large cloud of steam, where we spotted 2 bisons having a rest, deep in the volcanic park with still a sunrise light and the white silica slop - we captured epic pictures of the out of this world scene !

Then drove straight to Mammoth Hot Springs where we walked from the bottom of the cliff (by the village) and up to the very top of the boardwalk. There is a lot of different views on the very varied silica formations with various colours and shapes, without forgetting the views over the valley and mountains around as well of course as the busy wildlife with lot of birds flying around.

We walked down to the village but not much there as most of the restaurants were not opened yet – the one attraction was a lone elk peacefully grazing in the protected green area in the middle of the village.

On the drive back, we stopped a bit south of Norris at the Norris Geyser Basin and visited this volcanic park there. Beautiful panel of colours of the various ponds, basins and pools, all a large diversity of birds and bison to be entertained with.

Later on, on the road , we came across a large herd of bisons with calves grazing both sides of the road and providing a massive amount of photo possibilities with all types of angles - a photographer’s dream ! Then, Caroline was the only one to spot the wolf which was passing nearby as discreetly as possible over the forest and I had just enough time to capture a few pictures (check out our gallery for a proof !) – unlike any other people around who did not realise as focused on the herd.

Back to the campground, we went for another walk to the river and prairie nearby where we spotted a few birds and an isolated bison (we named him Bill…) safely on the other side of the river, allowing us to come close enough for a large set of close-up photos.

•  Friday 2nd June 2023: Lamar Valley, Slough Creek and Tower Fall

Waking up early at 5.15am (quite critical to maximise the chance to see a diverse wildlife !) in order to complete the 1hr drive toward the Northeast entrance of the park in direction of Tower-Roosevelt to reach the Lamar Valley while firstly targeting the side road leading to Slough Creek as Caroline received local intel that would be the best place to see wolves.

Lots of birds and bison visible over this beautiful Slough Creek valley just by following the main road which foes along the river, enjoying the area and talking to people around we went back to the van for breakfast.

Caroline – again! – spotted a wolf nearby having a rest, dozing a fair bit. Perfect opportunity for photos there; as well of a quite jealous or den protective ground squirrel spotted a meter away in our line of view to the wolf.

Once the wolf went, we then went again for a much longer walk along the road, enjoying the valley, people and wildlife along. We spotted a first coyote, which then get chased away by a couple of bison. We have then been warned a bit later by a photo huntress of another one coming over; which we spotted from quite close with a better light. More bisons (some chasing away one of the coyote) and elks before we left the valley to re-join and progress west deeper into the Lamar valley.

Quite early in the valley, we spotted a few pronghorns, and as we were working on those, 2 came sprinting from a valley at the back and reached the road allowing close-up photos - just as I ran out of memory ! But I managed to take a few anyway.

We continued at slow pace across the valley, great sceneries of prairies and rivers slithering through them, spotting more bisons as well as many birds.

We stopped by Roosevelt Lodge Cabins in hope for a coffee but it only offers a sort of cafeteria, which is not what we were looking for so we ended up with a cold coffee drink picked at the nearby gas station. On the positive side, this pause allowed us to watch the large tourist western coaches the lodge is offering to bring the tourists to the valley, as well as a group of riding tourists and their guide cowboys.

On the way back down to our new campground by Canyon Village, we drove back south from Tower-Roosevelt and stopped by Tower Fall to admire the dramatic landscape and valley shaped by the river and its consequent fall. We would advise to stop at the 2 lookouts at each end of the fall (one with the village and the other being a bit more difficult as located within a sharp curve) as it will provide two very different though beautiful views, we captured those and display them in our gallery.

Tempting our luck again for a cappuccino there, we happen to discuss with a group of people there staring at the opposite slopes of the valley with binoculars – showing us what they saw, an elk but also our first black bear. A few minutes later, some people spotted a female black bear with two cubs literally on the edge of the forest in front of us, allowing us a few close-up shots.

Then we drove to the campground, very forestry and hilly road – lovely though, unfortunately with very limited services and option to stop.

•  Saturday 3rd June 2023: the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Leaving the campground early enough, we were lucky enough to spot early on our way an eagle resting while hunting in a tree, then elks while arriving south toward Mud Volcano park for our first stop.

Mud Volcano park is a really lovely valley with a boardwalk and lots of trees and trees trunks and dead branches facilitating the picturing of the many birds around.

We then continued the main road through the Hayden Valley, enjoying the various views, landscapes with rivers and ponds. Many water birds and a beaver spotted and photographed. A bit later we paused for close-ups on bisons and a couple of elks passing by.

We then drove back north toward Canyon Village in order to walk along the trail south side of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone; showing us fantastic views all along of the great colours of the canyon, despite the relatively wet weather. We walked all the way up to the point of view above the waterfall, which could be accessed directly by car (missing out on all the beautiful spots on the trail though)a and the view point is very well designed and maintained.

On our walk back, we spotted a snow-show hare, unafraid of us, allowing is to take so many shots !

Back to the van, we drove to the north side the canyon, where we stopped by all the lookouts along this side – spotting a young male elk on the way.

On the first look-out, one of the visitors pointed us at a moving animal on a rock we then identified thanks to our longer lens to be a marmot – posing on a sole rock, basking by the sunset sun, we had time for a lot of close-up shots from various angles and with various poses.

The other stops along the canyon provide a large variety of great angles and various lights as despite the dark skies some sun came out as the day was getting older so we could pick great views with great contrast while beautiful colours of the rocks within the canyon.

•  Sunday 4th June 2023: back to Grand Teton through the Grand Prismatic Spring again !

Our next step is somehow the begging of a return south through Grand Teton National Park, we decided to go through Madison so we could stop again at Monument Geyser Basin (for a shop stop for a Grand Prismatic bandana for Caroline only sold there…) and then to admire the Grand Prismatic Spring again from the opposite valley trail and overlooking lookout as we wanted to get more pictures to compulsively re-insure ourselves we have all angles and the best colours of this unique place !

We spotted some geese on the way and tried to wander closer through a large swamp to large tall birds we identified then to be cranes though too unaccessible for a clear shot I could be happy with !

Before we reached the Old Faithful site, we spotted a very large group of cars and people – stopping in emergency (Caroline dropped me off so she could find a parking place and join me running with the tripod). What a great surprise and treat to discover people were looking at a female grizzly with 2 cubs quietly wondering around in plain sight in the prairie on the edge of the forest and the slopes of the mountain.

Many many photos later they left by climbing back up in the mountain.

We later stopped by the Lower Geyser Basin for a few views of the basin but certainly mainly because of the beautiful scenery of the nearby river boarded with wild flowers, spotting bisons afar to add to the scene.

Further down the road we stopped for another large group of bisons moving slowly north along a beautiful grassy valley, amongst trees and across a river – another easy opportunity for more shots.

Then came the stop at the Grand Prismatic Spring – and its hundreds of pictures !

One short stop at the Old Faithful to pick another sticker we only found there – did I mention how weak and touristy we can be ?

We then drove south towards Grand Teton with the aim of finishing the day at Jackson Hole but willing to go through the eastern main road to enjoy all the various lookouts over the mountains. We literally stopped at all of them (as did many tourists we keep finding at each stop) - Oxbow Bend Turnout (again !); Elk Ranch Flats Turnout (where we had great shots of horses with the peaks in the background); Snake River Overlook; Teton Point Turnout; Glacier View Turnout and Blacktail Ponds Overlook before we turned left to visit again Mormons Row with the hope to get the farm with the peaks in the background (despite the fact the light was not in our favour as literally behind the peaks !).

We finally reached Jackson Hole for the one night, stopping at the Virginian RV Park, perfect of such stop and walking distance to the town centre (20mns walk though). We arrived as the night felt, we dropped the van and walked straight in town where we had a quick glimpse before stopping at the Million Dollar Cowboy bar, to pick a beer and burgers with the sides unfortunately all gone already at 9pm ending with one fries and one salad - quite disappointing and sad as the place is nice otherwise. We walked back to the camp through a different though darker route of Cache Street and W. Snow King Avenue.

•  Monday 5th June 2023: Jackson

City day to enjoy the return to civilisation and its benefits. We walked to town through the quiet road, where we found a nice place for breakfast at a cafe named The Snake River Roasting Co. on West Broadway. We shared a breakfast burrito and pancakes, both very nice as were the coffees - particularly enjoyable from their terrace on a sunny day like we had then.

We then spent the day walking across the various streets, shops for photos and shopping with a quick jump to the post office (FYI: 220 W. Pearl Avenue) for a stamp.

We walked all the main and back street to find out where to get lunch, we were not particularly amazed by the choice to be honest. We ended up having a late lunch at Hand Fire Pizza, which happen to be really nice with a good service and eating filling pizzas.

Back strolling the streets, we came across a sort of cowboy show in the street (quite average, not that distracting). We stopped by a nice sustainable coffee shop named the Healthy being Café & Juicery which sell good sustainable food and drinks/coffees (and lovely people) and visited on the green area behind the cafe a sort of gig outside looking to be celebrating the coming summer !

Jackson is a nice walkable town where it is easy to spend a day or two. Unfortunately, we did not take the time to pop over Jackson Hole but it is definitely on our list for the next visit.

Tuesday 6th June 2023: Jackson to Salt Lake City

Up relatively early as we had a long road back ahead to Salt Lake City, we quickly went to Healthy being Café & Juicery for coffees on the go. Then we drove straight away through the faster road (highway 189), the 1st third was pretty nice with mountains and valleys, the last 2 thirds are quite boring with not much to see apart some Badlands.

We paused mid-day at Daniel, a tiny village at a gas station for a break and lunch and later on for a break and just a quick walk to ease the legs at Marbleton. We made a longer stop at Kemener by a Walmart car park again to stretch the legs in the store and rest a bit in the van. Nothing over exciting over any of those spots really.

We then finished the last bit of the trip and reached the Koa campground in Salt Lake City in the early evening as the daily storm was approaching. We stayed there for the evening, overall staying two nights, filling the van and cleansing it and having diner there.

Wednesday 7th June 2023: Salt Lake City

Early start, so we could finish to clean the van, empty the water and leave the park before 9am.

The hotel for the night was the same as on our arrival (Holiday Inn Express Downtown hotel), so we decided to stop by on the way to drop the heavy fully packed luggage to facilitate the return back to the hotel by taxi from the Cruise America van drop location. They kindly accepted.

We were then shortly at Cruises after we filled the gas tank. After a quick review at their end they were happy to release the renting. We were very happy all along with their services, the van and the overall experience - we would highly recommend them !

Caroline got us a Lyft and it brought us to the Capitol – hilltop, so easier for us to visit the area, avoiding the climb up there !

We then walked down and had a look around the city, managed to found a nice place for breakfast at Alpha Coffee cafe. This is when we discovered Harmon’s groceries as we saw many white-collar workers heading out and coming back with food from there. We visited the place out of curiosity and decided to come back later for food shopping for our evening at the hotel.

Back to the hotel later with food from Harmond’s, we played it lazy for the evening by watching game 3 of the NBA finals between the Miami Heat and the nearby city Denver Nuggets (then held at 1-1 after game 2).

•  Thursday 8th June 2023: Salt Lake City to Denver

Very early start and a Lyft to the airport to catch our plane to Denver.

Smooth security checks and plane onboarding, travelling with Delta again. Short flight across the Rockies and lending on time an hour later in Denver.

There is a free bus service from airport dropping people to the car rental location away from the airport. Caroline booked us a car for the day with Alamo - overall very good, nice and quick service and an upgraded car at collection point.

We were on our way to Colorado Springs in no time; which we reached in a bit more than an hour, then driving a bit further to the west to the stunning Garden of the Gods; beautiful natural wonder we would highly recommend though it is a bit exhausting if you pack too much over a single day !

We were lucky to found a car park space and went for a walk within the stunning rock formations and spikes. Quick stop at a store nearby, we then decided to start to drive back to Denver but to pause at Castle Rock – sort of mid-way – as we spotted an outlet on our way in; it is a decent one with most brands you would expect.

We had lunch on sited once made a full tour we drove back to Denver to stop at the hotel, the Hilton Homewood Suites Denver Downton, to pick the room and drop the luggage. It is very well located in central Denver, the room are like small apartments, very spacious.

The traffic having been quite bad in town, we decided to stay in the room a couple of hours before heading back to the airport to give the car back hoping the traffic to ease up. We went for a quick walk around ten back to the room; lot of tram works on the Main Street, the 16th, but relatively pleasant town centre.

2hr later we drove back to the airport, the plan fairly worked – we filled the gas close to the rental car area, gave the car back with no issue and get into the free bus to the airport where we caught a train to Denver Union station (35 minutes for USD 21 return - which we needed for our next flight anyway).

A storm was starting in this early evening so we spent only little time to visit the lovely Union station before we hurried to go back to the hotel, trying to find a place for diner, which happened to be the bar of the hotel next door - the Hyatt.

• Friday 9th June 2023: Denver Downtown

Day fully programmed to visit Denver CBD. We took off in the direction of the main street (the 16th), firstly in the search of a good coffee while going in the direction of the Colorado Capitol. Then, despite a bit concerned by the number of homeless people we went around the capitol for views of the outside. We then went down the 17th for various tourist and window shopping, then back to Union station to view it in full at daylight its beautiful interior.

We pushed north up to the 20th to have a look at the Coors Stadium, house of the Denver baseball team of the Colorado Rockies.

We then had a look at the nearby McGregor Square to find a place for lunch, but unsatisfied with the choice we pursued our way on the 19th and found not far, at the corner with Wazee street, a very colourful and attractive Mexican restaurant name the Kachina Denver where we shared delicious chicken enchiladas, and we tried a tasty carne asada taco (after discovering it on our neighbour’s table) and a fruit juice. The restaurant is nice and next door to a really nice and well-designed hotel (the Maven hotel – well we only saw the ground floor reception).

We then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around, going down to the 14th to have a peak at the Four Seasons hotel, before returning to ours.

We had a rest and went out again to the main street to the Henry’s Tavern we spotted earlier in the day as looking as a nice place to watch the 4th game of the NBA finals played in Miami. The tavern had a great choice of beers and a very decent food menu; perfect for us to watch the game at the bar.

We then left after the game and the victory of the Denver Nuggets, glad the hotel was really nearby after three beers.

•  Saturday 10th June 2023: Denver to London

 Time to go home already – up and ready by 7am, check out and Caroline ordered us a Lyft to bring us to the Delta departure gate at the airport.

We checked-in with no issue but discovered a really long queue to go through security but we went through it all within 40 minutes - not too bad, in a good atmosphere. Then a bit of shopping inside, we found a nice café for breakfast and then waited for the plane. Flight with no issue to Minneapolis, where we had a 3 hour stop (only wandering around this very standard airport) before boarding to London for a 7h30 long flight with no issue apart the usual lack of sleep. Lending and getting our luggage with no issues, picking rapidly a Elizabeth line tube to Canary Wharf, then a change to Woolwich Arsenal and a 122 bus back home where we unpack before resting for the rest of that Sunday

Hope you enjoyed this summary, use the buttons at the top for any question or to reach the full photo gallery about this trip and do not hesitate to look at all our other sets of photos also on ShutterStock/Getty Image or Instagram (also through the buttons and links at the top) !