Day 23 - Grand Tetons
We left Yellowstone about 5:45 this morning on the way to Jenny Lake in the Tetons. They do not take reservations - it’s first come, first served. As we drove out of Yellowstone the sun was just peeking over the horizon, and there was fog covering the valley floor. That made the park very cool looking but it also made it very difficult to see any wildlife. We did see a huge bull elk cross the road in front of us and a whole herd of female elk further on. We also saw a juvenile bald eagle.
We drove through the Rockefeller corridor and the fog came and went but we were able to see the tops of the mountains over the fog. Even the lake was shrouded in fog.
We arrived at the Jenny Lake campground in the Tetons about 7:40. There are only 40 campsites, so our job was to drive around and find someone leaving and claim the site as our own. Trouble was, there were no envelopes for paying, so we found a beautiful site that 3 young men were working on vacating, and we placed our chairs on the picnic table and wrote our name on the paper that is clipped to the site. Finally about 8:40 someone showed up with envelopes, so we got the site legally.
It had rained in Yellowstone a couple of times, so our gear was wet in places. We decided that a good use of our time would be to dry out the tent, ground tarp, air mattresses and John’s sheets. One of the rain fly fasteners had come off on John’s side so he had a wet bed for a couple of nights. Just on the edge.
John made a yummy breakfast of ham and eggs - Fairlie style. Yumm! Then we packed nuts, water, and sunscreen and headed for Cascade Canyon. We tried driving to the Visitor center and leaving from there, but based on the available parking spaces it was actually easier to leave from our campsite.
We paid the $15 each to cross Jenny Lake on the boat which saved us about 4 miles of hiking around the lake. Then, up we went. First stop, Hidden Falls. As we just started I told John I heard them. I was wrong - what I heard was white water that dropped pretty far. I still call them falls, since the water fell. As we almost got to the waterfall, I wah’d to John that it felt like 95 degrees outside. He says it was closer to 72. I had just overheated. We found shade, I drank water, and was fine.
The waterfall was pretty cool. It seems the water in this whole area is green and really rushes pretty fast. We crossed over the river a couple of times, and it was very beautiful. Next, Inspiration Point. To have Inspiration Point you have to hike up high. I’ve learned that with almost all of the Inspiration Points we’ve seen. The view here was of the lake. It’s a pretty big lake and very picturesque beneath these amazing snow covered alp-like mountains.
We continued on toward the canyon between two of the mountains. John had regularly seen moose here, and I was hoping to see one. As we hiked, we followed the river to the left of us. John kept a sharp eye out and as we passed people we asked if any of them had seen one. Several reported a buck, and others reported a baby and it’s momma. We came across a group of people looking in the distance… it was the calf! I looked for it, finally found it, and all I could see of it was it’s upper back. I was very disappointed.
John could tell I was sad because of something I said, and he reminded me that I wasn’t meant to see the calf. He reminded me of all the glorious sights I was missing out on by focusing on one animal. He was right, and I cheered up instantly. We hiked further and then heard the rumble of thunder.
We decided it would be best to head back, and if we were lucky we could save our pillows and blanket that we had hung out to dry before they were soaked. On the way back I spotted the buck! He was in some bushes by the river. I instantly started taking pictures, and as we rounded the bend in the path we noticed that we were not the only ones watching it. We enjoyed it for a long time, and then he turned away and everyone started to continue down the path. John and I were at the end of the group and walked pretty slowly. A few yards later, John turned around and the moose was out in the open! I was so excited!
Toward the end of the hike we noticed a woman sitting under a tree with someone taking her pulse. Apparently she was dehydrated. She was refusing to drink water too. They helped her onto the boat, and she sat behind us. The incident made me glad that John is always so careful about having enough water on our hikes.
We decided after we got back to camp to go to Moose. It’s a cool little place with a really nice Visitor’s center. Plus, it had free wifi so I could post yesterday’s blog. We watched the movie about the Tetons, which was really good. Some of the visitor center movies are pretty old. At the end of the film, they raised the screen and opened the curtains to a view of the Tetons right through the window behind the curtain! It was really awesome.
We had dinner, then John built a one-match fire that entertained us for a while. We usually have a contest on who can fan the flame highest with their breath. John has an enormous capacity for air. I never win.
I hiked to the one bathroom in the whole campsite and on my return I found John looking off into the distance. There was a buck eating leaves off a tree in someone’s campsite! It was amazing.
Tomorrow we are getting up early to hike Garnet canyon. It’s an 8-½ mile hike, up quite a way, and includes snow. In July. How cool is that??
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