Thursday, November 25, 2010

Western Vacation 2010 Day Three: September 5

This is the log of my western vacation in September 2010. Some of my own photographs are included and some from Wikipedia.



Our first stop in the morning was at the Jackson Whole Grocer. Their deli made some very good sandwiches.





We drove north out of Jackson Hole into Grand Teton National Park. This drive is perfectly designed- you cannot see the Tetons until you come around the northern edge of the Western Gros Ventre Butte. Once you do, you can see them in all their glory. This is the only place I have ever seen that brought tears to my eyes by its striking beauty.









There is a park road that parallels 191 and the Snake River, at which point you must pay the joint park access fee of $25. Along this route, we stopped and took pictures and saw a large herd of elk. We stopped at the Colter Bay on Jackson Lake.



After our lunch we did a hike from Jackson Lodge on the Lakeside Trail. It was very windy and cold- so much so that the boats stayed off the water.





Next we did our first mountain hike - up the road climbing Signal Mountain. This is a paved road, so many cars were taking passengers to the top. We saw deer, elk, and even a black bear in a tree. There are a few places here where the mountains peek through the cover too. Of course, there is a great view of the mountains from the top. We took a woods trail back down and saw another deer.





After dinner at Signal Mountain Lodge, we drove south on the park road with stops at Jenny Lake and the Lupine Meadow Trailhead. There were many more elk in this area. The Trailhead was the closest we came to the base of the Tetons.



And then just at dark we saw two bull moose feeding at the Snake River. Cross another new animal off the list!



No comments:

Post a Comment