Grand Teton National Park

We tried our best to head out early to get a early morning view of the park - we managed to hit the road before 9. I don't think Jeff and I slept very much because of the bed situation. So glad to be back in the RV.

The Grand Tetons are really striking and beautiful. It's a relatively flat plain with a line of mountains jutting out. They're tall - the tallest exceeding 13,000 feet, and still have snow on top. They also have about a dozen glaciers in the mountains. There's a grouping called the Cathedral Spires, and an early visitor to the area said they were nature's way of creating a Gothic Cathedral. Just like the Badlands, they do have a spiritual feeling to them.

We stopped at the visitor center in Moose to get our map and information booklet. It's a new center and has lots of interesting exhibits that show how the Tetons were formed. Basically, millions of years ago, two plates in the earth shifted, and one pushed down, creating the valley - and one pushed up, creating the mountains. Then a glacier with ice 3,500 feet thick moved through the area and carved out the mountains and the valley floor. A series of earthquakes has pushed the mountains higher and valley lower, and those earthquakes continue today.

On the way, we saw some pronghorn alongside the road, and while at a pullout, one ran right in front of the RV and across the road. It's wonderful to watch them run.


We took a side road to look at Jenny Lake, and watched a mule deer walk right across the road toward the lake. We parked the RV and the kids and I walked on a trail along the lake to get some pictures. We could hear the water lapping against the rocky shore, but then I heard something else. There are signs everywhere warning you about bears, so I pay pretty close attention to noises. We looked down where the noise was coming from, and it was the deer, down by the water, eating leaves off the branches. I managed to get some shots through the trees.

Then it was off to Jackson Lake and the lodge. Just as we turned onto the access road, Jeff spotted a bear in the woods. I have no idea how he can spot animals so well, but he does. He pulled the RV over to park and I ran out to take pictures. It was a young black bear - old enough to be apart from his mom, but not full grown. He walked across the road and up a hill in front of me, and I just kept snapping pictures as he went. I was also looking out for his mom, just in case.


As I headed back to the RV, Jeff had spotted another deer, this time a male with a full rack of antlers, grazing on some leaves right near the parking lot. Henry and I climbed a hill to take some pictures and it was so amazing to be so close to this magnificent animal. My only complaint is that right as I got the perfect angle, and the deer got closer, and he actually looked at me, people on the other side of the road saw him too and they're in many of my pictures. Hopefully Photoshop can help me get rid of them.

By now, we were starving, so we pulled into a parking area near the Jackson Dam. We could see the peaks of the Tetons, the water gushing over the dam, and the river flowing in front of us. We had a fabulous lunch of sandwiches, chips and homemade cookies and natural sodas (raspberry, lemon-lime, root beer and grape) made with sugar instead of corn syrup that I found at the grocery store at the Jackson Lodge.

As we ate, osprey flew overhead and some little birds came by to see if they could pick up a snack. The kids went down to the water after they ate and looked for interesting rocks. Henry had a ball throwing some into the river. We watched families take rafts to float down the river, and some fisherman across the river catch fish. It was sunny but not too hot, and it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

We then made our way up to the Colter Visitor Center, also on Jackson Lake. We watched a good Discovery Channel video on the Tetons and looked at the Indian Art exhibits. We would have driven all the way up to the Yellowstone border, but they've ripped up the asphalt to redo the road and it's just gravel. We've put the RV through so much we didn't think it needed a trek down a gravel road so we turned back.

We had missed a turnout on the way north, so Jeff pulled in on the way back. Waaaaay in the distance, Jeff spotted some animals - elk or pronghorn. Binoculars showed they were elk - several groups of them. Some were laying down, some were grazing, and some were going into the water. My longest lens is a 200mm, so I took some shots but unless I blow them up pretty big, the elk won't look like more than a couple of brown spots. At least we got to see them.

And to round out our animal viewing, we saw lots of brown specks on the right horizon further down the road. We were baffled as to how we missed it on the ride up, but there was a big incline in the valley at that spot, so we wouldn't have seen them. I zoomed in with my lens: bison! Hundreds of them! We found a side access road and got a bit closer, although they were still far away. I'm sure they migrate during different times of the day, so maybe we'll get a better view tomorrow.

Not bad for a day's work: pronghorn, deer, elk and a bear. All we missed was a moose. Oh, and a wolf, although that would be close to a miracle. They also have mountain lions here, but they're also difficult to see.

After our adventure in the park, we got the RV into our campsite. Jeff took the kids to the pool and I got the fire going to cook dinner. I hope the gout doesn't set in, but due to the sirloin steak defrosting because we turned the power off in the RV, we had steak again. I also wrapped some baked potatoes in foil and tossed them into the fire, along with some ears of corn. Delicious! But the real highlight of the meal was the sun dried tomato foccacia bread I picked up in the organic market down the street. I wrapped some in foil and heated it in the fire, and it was unbelievably good. The sun dried tomatoes were so full of flavor, and a little bit of mozzarella cheese topped off the soft and chewy bread. I will be going back tomorrow to get another one, that's for sure!

I also picked up some berry crisp and mini apple and blackberry pies - we'll be sampling them tonight.

We're going to have an early night tonight to get ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow we have a scenic float on the Snake River around 11:30. We'll float a bit and then get off the river for lunch, and then float some more. There's a chance we might see some more animals, but even if we don't, we're excited to get on the water. If the kids were older, we'd try the whitewater ride, but that can be for next time.

Well, that's about it for now. Oh, one more thing - we haven't spotted an Amish folks here yet. That's a first.