Day 12 - Colter Bay to Jackson

Weather: rainy and mid-50s, as per usual

Steps: Shaun - 6,642; Shannon - 6,622

Varmints: a red-letter day! We saw beavers, a toad, a tadpole with back legs but no front legs, bald eagle, uinta ground squirrels, bison, red-tailed hawk, white pelicans, tree swallows, yellow-rumped warbler, yellow warbler, Barrow's goldeneye (a kind of duck), and we heard bullfrogs, though we didn't actually see them.

Points tally:  Shaun - 22; Shannon - 21

Today we moved from the north end of the Grand Tetons to the south where we'll stay until the end of our trip. On the way, we stopped at Oxbow Bend again and saw a bunch of white pelicans and another bald eagle.  He may be the same one we saw the last time we were here, but we're very glad he likes us.

We ended up pulling into the very same Snake River overlook from the start of our trip (even though we didn't know it until after I took the picture above....which is the same one that Ansel Adams made famous...too bad I didn't make as much money on mine as he did on his!

I know.  I've included too many pictures, but this place, Schwabachers Landing, was so beautiful, I just couldn't limit my choices any more. The Landing is at the end of a road off the main drag, and it's on a tributary of the Snake River. We were initially just going to go down to the water and take some pictures, but then we saw a beaver dam, and walked a little down the trail. Then we saw the beaver swimming around the dam. Then we saw more dams down the river, so we walked further down the trail to check them out, and before we knew it, we had reached the end of the line, maybe a mile down the river (and I hadn't even locked the car)! 

Along the way, we saw lots of different kinds of birds, including the yellow warbler, tree swallow, and Barrow's Goldeneye, as well as a ton of uinta ground squirrels, which had built burrows along both sides of the river. The weather cleared up while we were on our walk, and the water was so calm that it reflected the mountains, and just about everything else, wonderfully. This ended up being our favorite stop of the day.

We finally left Schwabachers Landing and continued on our way. Before long, we made the turn onto Antelope Flats Road, which goes through an area of flatlands with sagebrush frequented by pronghorns, buffalo, and elk. We saw a few pronghorns, but not much else, since it was the middle of the day, but we did take the opportunity to take some artsy shots while we were there. The barn above is one of the most photographed structures in the park because of its beautiful dilapidation. It's part of Mormon Row, a line of barns and other buildings that were part of the first settlement in the valley. Shaun didn't understand the appeal, but she took a picture of it anyway. Shannon utilized the macro to take some shots of the larkspur and this yellow flower we don't remember the name of.

Just before we reached the town of Kelly, we stopped at the Kelly Warm Spring. It's a pond warmed by  geothermal activity below, so it's constantly bubbling and maintains a warm temperature throughout the year. Because of this, tropical fish that were released into the spring by former fish tank owners have managed to survive and reproduce. There are signs all over the place telling people not to release fish or amphibians into the spring, but what's there has managed to survive. It looks pretty gross with all the algae and whatnot, but it was pretty fascinating to watch all the fish. We even saw a partially transformed tadpole and heard bullfrogs talking to each other across the pond.

From there, we took the Gros Ventre Road back to the main highway, but rather than turning onto it to head back to Jackson, we decided to take another side road. This would take us to Jackson at a more leisurely pace through unexplored territory. The road went past neighborhoods and ranches, and as we were passing one of the ranches, we saw the beauty above sitting on a fence post. We're pretty sure it's a red-tailed hawk, and his coloration is just wonderful. 

We eventually got to Jackson, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing, shopping, and piddling around town. Our hot air balloon ride is scheduled for tomorrow, though we don't have high hopes because the forecast has called for rain. Fingers crossed!

Day 11 - Colter Bay to Jenny Lake

Weather:  Same as usual.....50's with spots of rain, but when we were out in it, it was lovely

Steps:  Shaun - 16,221; Shan - 16,372

Varmints:  White Pelicans, bald eagle, sandhill crane, chipmunks, elk, bison, mule deer, a ton of pronghorns, which is new for this area, northern shoveler (a duck that looks like a mallard but has a big shovel on its bill

Points total:  Shaun - 20; Shan - 20.....oooooooo, we're neck and neck folks......who will pull it off in the end?

Jackson Lake....in the rain!

Fairy bells....aren't they cute?

Shannon feeling up the hairy moss

Today was a hiking day.  We started out with a 1.8-mile hike around Jackson Lake.  Most of the time it was raining, but it wasn't too bad.  We saw all kinds of wonderful flora but not much in the way of fauna.  We did see a cute chipmunk that was about twice as big as he should have been, but he wasn't marked like a squirrel....so what do we have folks?  Another conundrum!

As we headed south towards Jenny Lake, we did see this sandhill crane who was close enough to get a picture.  I know he's not as exciting as some of the stuff we've seen, but he's still cool!

Also on our drive south, we stopped to climb Signal Mountain.  Even though the skies were rather gloomy, it was still pretty, and we ate our picnic lunch up there.....in the car.

 

 

 

Our next stop was a place just north of Jenny Lake that had two lakes connected by rapids, and the second one could only be seen by hiking to it. The first lake was called String Lake, and the second was called Leigh Lake.  The weather actually started turning nice just as we had completed the 2-mile hike, so we got to play with the reflections in the water.  Aren't they cool?  We also happened upon a female mule deer relaxing in the meadow who wasn't bothered by our presence at all.

As the skies cleared over the mountains, we got some pretty spectacular shots of the clouds.

We also came upon a herd of pronghorns right near the road.  These are all females, and they're actually a little freaky when they're looking right at you, don't you think?

We had passed the Jackson Lake Dam on the way out, so we decided to stop there on the way back, and we're so glad we did for a couple of reasons.  First, they were drawing the water down while we were there, so that was seriously cool.  Secondly, there were thousands of swallows gorging on insects all over the place.  There's no way to capture them in a picture, but it was so crazy to see them all swooping and flitting around in the sky.  We said thank you to them and headed out.

Our final stop of the night was back at Jackson Lake Lodge because we wanted to catch the sunset over the Willow Flats and hopefully see some animals.  Unfortunately, we saw some elk on the way, but we were denied both the sunset and any other animal sightings. We thought there was a moose there, but we never definitely saw it, so we called it a night.  We did decide to eat in the famous Mural Room Restaurant with its incredible view, so it was a wonderful way to end a wonderful day. Tomorrow we leave Colter Bay and head back to Jackson.

Day 9 - Old Faithful to Colter Bay

Weather:  Mostly sunny and upper 50's

Steps:  Shaun - 20,442; Shan - 20,899

Varmints:  Snake (point for Shaun), bison (duh), elk, osprey (no point, unconfirmed, but I saw one flying and then we got a picture of one minding an old abandoned eagle's nest where at least I got a point for largest nest), trumpeter swans, golden-mantled ground squirrel, mule deer, and a rainbow over the mountains - not technically a varmint, but Shannon got a point for that one!

Point totals:  Shaun - 18; Shan - 17

The grand fireplace at Old Faithful Inn            Kepler Cascade

This turned out to be the day that we almost broke, and especially Shaun.  If I thought the smashed thumb was bad, I hadn't seen anything yet!

The day started out wonderfully as we gathered at the Old Faithful Inn at 5:45 a.m. for our five-hour photo safari.  We met our fellow travelers and found out that we would be using one of the eight beautifully restored 1930's touring vehicles that the park service bought back from a park in Alaska several years ago.  They have wooden frames and a canvas roof, and they were super cool.  Aren't we cute in front of it in the top picture?  Anyway, we also met our wonderful tour guide, Betty (I want to be just like her when I grow up!), who led us through our day, teaching us all kinds of wonderful photography techniques, as well as ways to use our cameras that we would have never thought of.  More importantly, though, she taught us to see our surroundings in new and different ways.  Below find some of the cool pictures we took of places we would have driven right by without her insight:

These are using a slow shutter speed to stop the water. The one on the right is a bit too slow, don't you think?  The last one is Shannon's, which I think is the best one.

    Macro close up of the droplets on the lodgepole pine

Using leading lines and atmospheric lighting to add interest to a shot - note the "bobby socks" trees, which were mineralized by the water they took in. This killed the tree, but it will continue to stand because of the process.  Aren't they cool?

 

Vertical perspective and moving the camera slightly to blur the shot, which creates interest.

             Being conscious of how much the background can add to your shot

 

               No technique here, just Shanny Girl being cute!

There's a big long story behind this thistle, so I wanted to remember it with this shot.....I won't bore you guys with it though!

Zoom in as close as you can....isn't the second shot better than the first........

........but sometimes, further is better to tell the story.

We got caught in a bison jam on the tour, so I was able to get a good shot of this big dude.  Lesson from Betty, always focus on the eye of the animal.

Shannon got this osprey in a stolen eagle's nest from a moving car through the forest. Is she awesome or what?  I still think I should get the osprey point, but hey, I'm not bitter!

Using leading lines and surroundings to draw the eye to the subject (that would be the elk in this case)

         Our touring car in front of the inn - cool huh?

Once we finished the tour, we checked out of Old Faithful and were greeted by another mountain bluebird. We also got a pic of the female this time too. It's a nice close to our time at Old Faithful, since a mountain bluebird greeted us when we were checking in too.

 

 

Our next stop began my fall from grace, literally.  Our biggest priority in the entire geyser basin was the Grand Prismatic Spring which is the largest and far and away the most colorful feature in the park.  Instead of just seeing it from the boardwalk, however, we decided to hike up a trail that would give us a bird's eye view of the spring, as well as throwing in a lovely waterfall as a bonus.  The only problem was that there really wasn't a trail to follow for the bird's eye view...it was more a scramble up a mountain, over trees and loose rocks where it would have been better if we were mountain goats.  The climb was totally worth it, but the descent proved to be too much for me and I took a tumble...not a horrible one mind you...but it looked pretty bad from behind, which is where Shannon was.  It also tore a hole in my pants and tweeked my knee a bit, but all in all, it was okay.  It could have been A LOT worse.

Shannon here, picking up the rest of Mom's harrowing adventures on the trail to Fairy Falls. Continuing down the trail after the trip down the mountain, we went through a forest, crossed a stream, avoided giant mud puddles, and climbed over some rocks to get to the base of the falls. They were well worth the hike and gave us a chance to stop, catch our breath, and practice some of our new photography techniques. 

Two familiar varmints. We would have preferred two unfamiliar ones, but they're still pretty cute.

On our way back, Mom's fall from grace was completed. The stream we crossed and giant mud puddles we avoided on the way to the falls? Yeah, not so much this time. Mom managed to get her pants and boots all muddy and then all wet, and by that point, we were ready to be airlifted out of there. It was everything we could do to get back to the car. I guess 5.2 miles, plus a scramble up a mountainside was our limit.

It wouldn't be a day in Yellowstone without a few bison jams, right?

The road from Old Faithful to West Thumb was closed, so to get out of Yellowstone and into Grand Teton National Park, we had to go north, cross to the east side of the park using the center road, then go south again. Not very efficient, but our only option. We took the opportunity to go down a side road and check out Firehole Falls. This is a waterfall on the Firehole River, and it was moving very fast, due to the spring melt. North of the falls is a swimming hole where the Firehole combines with warm runoff from the hot springs, making the temperature very nice, but swimming isn't allowed at this time of year because of the swift currents.

Notice the thermal feature at this end of the lake which is the start of the West Thumb Geyser Basin.

We passed by Lake Yellowstone again, but this time we got to see the other end of it, and it really is something special.  It's the biggest lake in the park at 14 by 20 miles and one of the highest lakes in the country at 7,733 feet.  The lake is famous for cutthroat trout fishing, so Grandpa Dan, you need to come here during the summer.  We were lucky enough to see it when it was sunny again, so here are a few more pics.

After this little detour, we continued on our way, stopping only to view the pretty rainbow that formed over the mountains (my point for spotting it first). We arrived at Colter Bay Village just before sunset, checked in, and collapsed for the night.  Tomorrow will be a day to gather ourselves, figure out the plans for the rest of the trip, and basically recover from today!