… 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!
Category Archives: Grand Teton
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.
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.
Race for the Sun
Irrespective of hour or season, whether viewed on clear days or stormy, the Tetons are so surpassingly beautiful that one is likely to gaze silently upon them, conscious of the futility of speech. ~Fritiof Fryxell, 1938
Looking for bears in all the wrong places
After consulting the map over coffee we decided to drive some of the back country roads we’d never been on before to look for wildlife.
We can see as far as the driveway.
Thick and low clouds blanketed the hills to the east this morning, making us doubt that the sun could penetrate the gloom and light up the peaks this morning. But we got lucky and for a few moments watched dawn come to the Tetons. Over night snow visited the elevations around us and we could see fields that had been green yesterday look like cakes that had been dusted with powdered sugar.