This is a hike on a large peninsula on Jackson Lake. The trailhead is at a busy marina where folks moor their big motorboats for the season, as well as put in the smaller pleasure craft like canoes and kayaks. The hike starts off with the usual warning to be alert for bears. The path is shared by horses and follows the shoreline south. Thick trees go down to the water’s edge and so screen the water from view for much of the going. Every once in a while we get a nice break and a spectacular view of the water and mountains beyond. There is a pairs of people paddling in bright red canoes across the reflection of Mt. Moran in the bay. It must be magical to be out there on the water right now!
Author Archives: kdtitley
Living with Bison
… for now we have dappled sunshine and a soft breeze, and fifty minutes to hike north. The trail is very busy today — we see countless kayaks, canoes, inner-tubes, and paddle boards being dragged up the trail, looking for a good place to put in. Lots of families obviously arrived earlier in the day and have been picnicking lake side. A far cry from the last time we were here in winter gear — was that really just three weeks ago?!?! By the end of the hike it is warm enough that I am ready to jump in too!
Dave’s groupies
Thunderstorms are expected this afternoon so Dave is off quickly to get his daily hike in. This time he starts in Lupine Meadows. An innocuous sounding name that means straight up! I remember it well and I remember being quite mad about the false advertising years go when I got talked into the hike. From there Dave continued on to Garnet Canyon until the snow was too deep on a scree field to safely traverse and turned around. The 7.5 mile hike ascended 1800 feet of elevation. Along the way he met a very curious marmot that came to his feet until Dave reached for the camera, then he’d scamper away, but come back to his feet as soon as the camera was put away. Not so camera shy was the black bear (colored brown) Dave and a pair of hikers saw on the trail. “She was just being a bear,” Dave said.
Hey, there is a bison in my yard!
Out the window Fred and Rickie have brought their cousins — there is a small herd (100 adults and calves) in the sage brush north of the barns and the flower meadow. Most of them are laying down, so look to be enjoying themselves. The male bluebird is on sentinel duty, perched on the top of the nest box outside the window or observing from the slightly higher vantage point of the nearby snow marker as it sways in the rising wind.
Adventure: Yellowstone, Day 2
During the night I discover that my height is exactly the same as the distance from the front seat-back to the back hatch door. Headlights from a few late arriving campers shine in the car during the night, and we could have used more padding but overall the night wasn’t too bad. We were very lucky, the forecast low did not verify — we stayed near 40 degrees. As Dave says, “It could have been worse. We could have been trying to sleep sitting in an airplane seat.”
Adventure: Yellowstone
Let’s go to Lamar. We’ll ride through Hayden Valley and see what we see. Along the way, we pick up ready made sandwiches from the vendor in the Canyon area, scope out where the campground is located and resume the trip. The last time we had been in this area was December 2014 — it was novel to see it without five feet of snow. And with people.
Bluebird of Happiness
We’ve set aside tomorrow for a trip to Yellowstone. Selected as an auspicious day by the happy collision of Memorial Day vacationers having left the park and the weather predicted to be the sunniest with pleasant not-too-cold and not-too-hot temperatures. Hayden Valley is about two hours away. The original plan was to stop there, but all of our neighbors think Lamar Valley further north is the place to go.
The day feels over by 7 am
22 degrees at 5:15 on a Memorial Weekend morning — are you kidding me?? We stick close to home this time and decide to photograph one of the two Moulton barns that we can see out behind the cabin. Already the space for taking the iconic photo of the barn is colonized by a flock of photographers. Okay, so we find more creative places to wait for the sun to rise.
Another workday
Just before sunset we went over the Blacktail Overlook where Dave had seen moose last week. The snake river meanders below the overlook. It was once a beaver pond which has now filled in with meadow and habitat favored by elk, moose, geese, ducks, hummingbirds, and yellow warblers. We got to try out new tripods — though mostly just on landscape shots.
Wow, are we pooped!
Just a few miles up the road from the cabin is a place called Schwabacher’s Landing. More than just a highway turnout, it is an access road down to the Snake River. I mentioned this place in an earlier travel log. Well, the parking lot was packed and a few vehicles dropped off a dozen photo excursion attendees. Almost instantly the riverbanks which had the magic combination of being aligned with the Grand Teton and a quiet body of water are claimed by a wicket of tripods guarding massive camera bags.