Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks 9/19/2015 - 9/26/2015

Day 2 - Getting our tourist thing on, we stopped at the Grand Teton National Park sign, the photo of which will in all likelihood be our Christmas card this year. Afterward, we made our way back to Jenny Lake and took a boat ride across the sparkling, clear water to a series of trailheads on the other side. Dodging tourists (slower traffic keep right, please!), we zipped up 500 feet in one mile to stand atop Inspiration Point, and gaze over Jenny Lake. Parking ourselves on a rocky overlook for a hydration break, we were entertained by a comical Steller’s Jay pouncing on insects. On our way down, we took a detour and climbed up the Hidden Falls trail, which rewarded us with incredible views of the falls cascading and roaring down from the heart of the Tetons. After our boat ride back, we stopped for a picnic, where we were joined by two determined Gray Jays. Colter Bay was the next, with a shady trail along Jackson Lake.

Next stop, Yellowstone! Within 15 minutes of entering the park, we happened upon a bottleneck of cars. That’s when Maureen spotted the bull elk, nearly leaving her speechless. We pulled over and Jeff and Jared grabbed their cameras and ran back toward the crowd. A ranger was there, making sure no one did anything stupid (i.e. attempting to hug the bull elk or his cow, who also happened to be there). That’s the first time we heard a bull elk bugling – a very loud, screechy kind of sound. While Jeff pursued the elk, Maureen and Jared talked to the park ranger and learned it was his first year on the job and that his mother had been a ranger there back in the 1970s. He was from Minnesota and you could tell by the look on his face that he had landed his dream job. We totally get that!

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• Enormous arches composed of elk antlers stand on every corner of the town square in Jackson Hole. They were built in the 1950s and 60s. No elk were harmed in the building of the arches, however. Local boy scouts collect them every spring, after the bull shed them. The fine for extracting an antler out of the arches is $750!
• The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Bar stools made out of saddles, anyone? The bar has been featured in several westerns and its stage has been graced by country-western legends, such as Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr., Tanya Tucker and Willie Nelson
• John Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, for which he was paid $5 a month. He is also the first person of European descent to enter the area we now know as Yellowstone National Park and look upon the Teton Mountain Range. After spending months on end exploring alone in the wilderness (1807-1808), many consider him the first “mountain man.”
• An aspen donning its fall wardrobe.
• Look for this on a Christmas card in the near future! (Grand Teton National Park)
• Maureen waits outside the 8-foot high fence of the National Elk Refuge. She has a while to wait, as they won’t show up en masse until the winter. (“En masse” in this instance means 6,000-7,000 elk. That’s a lot of elk!)
• Grand Teton National Park
• Jenny Lake
• Cascade Canyon
• Jenny Lake
• Steller’s Jay in mid-pounce
• “Did you get my good side?” A Steller’s Jay poses for the camera
• Jenny Lake
• Boat on Jenny Lake
• Our view as we headed up to Inspiration Point
• Fungi of all colors and textures covered rocks and logs
• Another view on our way up to Inspiration Point
• Hidden Falls
• A grizzly bear paw (and claw!), as shown by a ranger at the Jenny Lake visitor’s center
• Pelts of both a grizzly and black bear. There IS a difference!
• Gray Jays are happy to join any picnic at any time!
• Aspens
• Aspens
• Jackson Lake
• Jackson Lake
• In the breeze, the spun-gold leaves tremor and shake like tiny tambourines
• Aspens
• More aspens!
• And even MORE aspens! Maureen decided the aspen is her all-time favorite tree. And what’s not to love? They grow in colonies from a single seedling via root suckers, with new stems showing up as far away as 131 feet from the parent tree! The root systems can live for thousands of years. Long live the aspens!
• Does this sign make me look like a tourist? Yellowstone National Park!
• An elk cow munches grass in a clearing, obviously unconcerned with the crowd she and her boyfriend have attracted
• We’re not in the park 15 minutes before we stumble upon this bull elk!
• Just look at that face!
• I’m outta here!
• One of many herds of bison we saw in Yellowstone. By the next day, we were actually annoyed by them impeding traffic!
• Dirt bath, anyone??

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