START: Grand Tetons NP TODAY: 347 Miles
END: Park City, Utah TOTAL: 3,462 Miles
CAMPGROUND: Jordanelle State Park
With high hopes we headed for the lobby at 7:00 a.m. We learned that not only was the road still closed, but worst news was that our campground was being evacuated. As we consulted the map to prepare for the five-hour detour, we were quietly told we might be able to join a ranger caravan north in order to evacuate our trailer. Timing is everything!
Sitting in line waiting for the rangers, a loud alert sounded on Ron’s phone announcing the evacuation order. The fire truck led the caravan of 4 ranger cars and 3 other private cars.
The smoke was very thick with low visibility and the point where the fire jumped the road was clearly evident. 
We saw trailers with horses headed south.
By the time we reached Headwaters, all the guests in the lodge and cabins had been evacuated and the employees were preparing to leave. We hurried through the process to disconnect utilities and hooked up the trailer. There were a couple of fifth wheel rigs and a few tents left in the campground but all other sites were cleared. Earlier all campers were being directed north to Yellowstone, but we were very lucky to arrive at the gate just as the rangers were forming another caravan going south. Wow, what luck!
The smoke was really strong, irritating our eyes and throats. As we passed Jackson Lake we couldn’t even see the mountains.
At the south entrance near Jackson Hole, north bound traffic was being turned around.
We experienced ear-popping altitude changes through Alpine pass as we crossed into Idaho.
The state highway followed the river as we crossed state lines; Wyoming, Idaho, Wyoming and then Utah.
In Utah we mainly saw family ranches with horses and cattle and farmlands of hay. This is cowboy country!
Entering into Utah we could not help but notice a change in terrain.
Approaching Park City, Utah it was clear that this was ski country—the slopes were hard to miss.
We settled into our campsite at Jordanelle State Park over looking the Jordanelle Reservoir.
We appreciated the views from out site after a long smoky day of driving.
Tomorrow we head to Arches National Park!
August 22, 2019
START : Grand Tetons NP TODAY: 26 Miles
END: Grand Tetons NP TOTAL: 3,115 Miles
CAMPGROUND: Headwaters RV Park at Flagg Ranch
We took our time this morning, had a nice breakfast then packed items for the Snake River float trip. Arrived at Jackson Lake Lodge about two hours early to take advantage of Wifi to upload photos and post to Blogspot. Jess was our guide for a group of eleven.
Our float trip was very relaxing with great mountain views. Jess did all the work and imparted history and wild life knowledge to the group. 
There was plenty of evidence of beaver activity on the river. Evidently the cambium layer of the tree trunk is a rich source of food. They fell the tree, strip the back, eat the exposed cambium layer, then strip the limbs off the trunk to build their lodge.
n a little over two hours on the water we had covered ten miles, snaking around for different views of the river and mountains. We spotted several bald eagles, but no large wildlife.
Rangers had the road blocked on our return to the lodge informing people that the road north of the lodge was closed due to fire threat. This meant we were stuck! Lodge employees scrambled to get information, but the bottom line was that the only way to get back to our campsite was a five-hour trip across the mountain range, through Yellowstone West Entrance and back south to GTNP. So for a mere $250 we booked a room at Jackson Lodge for the night.
Thank goodness we had packed a change of clothes in case we got wet on the river.
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