Day 8 brought us our first winter weather of the trip and plenty of moose to go with it. We left Jackson around noon to explore Grand Teton National Park (we passed on the six hour detour to Yellowstone) as we heard Teton has pretty much everything Yellowstone has sans the geysers and vast bison herds. While we failed to see any bison, I did spy a massive rack of antlers- revealing two massive bull elk bedded on the flats just off the Snake River. I managed to get within about 40 feet of them (one realizes they must be pretty used to seeing bipedal mammals) and take some nice photos. Being that close to a massive wild animal is quite an experience. We then drove north toward Moran Junction and the infamous Oxbow Bend and caught a most beautiful sunset over the Tetons and, as luck would have it, another five moose. This time they were at a fair distance but we admired them walking through the river while the fiery sunset reflected off the water. I hope the pictures do it justice.
We also had our first snowfall of the trip, albeit just flurries. It was definitely cold enough all day. We did a nice four mile hike along the southern part of the park to Phelps Lake, which has as its backdrop the mighty Tetons. Quite a site, and best experienced as we did with no other people encountered. Despite the closure of most of the park roads we are quite appreciative of the fact that the park is almost completely empty of other tourists, allowing us to see it mostly as one hopes to but rarely gets to. On the hike back from the lake there were a couple mule deer frozen in the path. Kaya didn't notice them until Jenna took the camera and tried to approach them for a photo. Once she realized what Jenna was stalking Kaya went berzerk. I don't think she'd ever seen anything like that to accompany the smells along the trail and when she put two and two together she was beside herself with excitement. Alas no more deer on the walk back to the car but everytime we slowed the car down to look at anything she would rush to the windows, preparing herself to 'woof' at the offending animal.
We saw plenty of moose and deer but failed to spot any wolves or bear (though we did see plenty of tracks), and down by the river saw a few beaver. It is an amazing place, chock full of wildlife and we only scratched the surface of it. I was a little concerned to wander deeper off the beaten track as we are in the middle of hunting season and my clothes don't exactly distinguish me from a portly bear.
We left the park shortly after dark and headed towards the motel of the evening. As our friends in Telluride stated, it's 'motel cold'. Too cold to camp indeed. Lows here last night approached the teens. Jenna found us a dude ranch about 15 miles east of Teton NP and it felt like walking into another world.
This ranch is full of elk hunters at the moment. Met a couple authentic cowboys, Shane and Bill, who have been here for a while but have yet to bag their bull elk of the season. Passed on a couple '6x6' (I presume the points on the antler rack) in hopes of something bigger. They invite us to get up with them at 5AM to go see some grizzlies (apparently they are attracted to the scent of the communal offal dump of the hunter's kills) to which we keenly say yes and then after a miserable night dreaming of killer raccoons we decide to pass on. For a brief period last night, however, we were exciting about the prospect of a grizzly and were busy making preparations. Mostly for orange/red jackets after Shane said, 'I hope you aren't wearing that' while pointing at my furry brown fleece jacket. I ransacked the car and only managed to find a red biking top and an orange windbreaker, but all for naught as we decided to pass on wading through an ice-cold crick to find the grizz. Next time.
The story of the raccoon. As we went to bed last night in one of the dude ranch cabins, Jenna passed out quickly while Kaya and I stayed up as I did some reading (Edward Abbey's classic Desert Solitaire). This ranch has a few tabby cats that roam the grounds catching mice and other vermin from infiltrating the wooden buildings on the grounds. Well, about twenty minutes after Jenna fell asleep there is some screeching outside as a cat clearly has found its dinner right out our door. Jenna lurches semi-awake, flailing for the bed frame and shouting, 'oh my god a raccoon!'. I look at her completely bewildered, Kaya starts to bark and Jenna keeps flailing until I ask her what the problem is. She then realizes her folly and tries to play it off by stating, 'well I thought it was inside'. I shake my head as she giggles herself back to sleep in our posturepedic foam bed. This bed is intense. At first touch its like a rock but after a few seconds it begins to mold to your body. It's what I presume drowning in quicksand feels like.
Got a long drive ahead of us today- hopefully stopping at Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore before our final destination this evening at Badlands, SD. Unfortunately most of the 'wild' West is now behind us on this trip but knowing that we missed Yellowstone I'll be dying to come back soon.
We drove about 100 miles today, but nothing material enough to warrant an update.
The internet connections have sucked the last couple of days so I have a decent backlog of photos to post. Hopefully I will be able to do so tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment