Part 4:Tetons and home

We were on our trip two weeks, and it’s taken two weeks to finish blogging about it. In the mean time I’ve been reading a lot, beading some, stressing out, and celebrating.
Grand Tetons National park was amazing. The Grand Teton mountain range is huge, even though the highest peak wasn’t quite as high as the RMNP highest peak, the mountains themselves were definitely more threatening looking. Grand Teton national park was wonderfully different from RMNP, in that here we were at the base of the huge monstrously majestic peaks. There was lots more wildlife here as well.

We set up camp at the Signal Mountain campground, in a nicely wooded campsite. The campground was conveniently located close to the lodge, convenience store, and bar/restaurant. If you walked a little bit through the woods you would easily find Jackson Lake, a huge lake at the base of the mountain range. We spent the first afternoon walking along the lake’s beach, up at the bar checking out the local brews, and then back around a campfire.
The next day we hiked up and summited Signal Mountain. It was a shorter hike and really didn’t get too high up, but it provided a wonderful view at the top. It’s also not a very popular hike, apparently you could also drive to the top which seemed to be the preferred way to go. So we were alone out on the hike which was kinda nice. Immediately we came to a small lake where we found a young male deer grazing not 5 feet from us. Farther up we found ourselves in a valley between 2 mountains and a pile of bear scat in front of us. Funny to think now that I’ve had conversations about the freshness of a pile of poo…but in reality we had several. This pile didn’t seem very fresh, but it did make us more aware and kept us talking while we hiked. Slightly farther up the trail we found another pile..this one fresher. At this point we were climbing out of the valley and into denser woods, so we picked up some sticks to hit together and began whistling in between our conversations. Encounters w/ bears occur when you sneak up on them, so our making noise was to let them know we were there. And then the climb got steeper and we knew we were close just as we passed the third and freshest pile. We walked faster banged sticks together more regularly and summited the mountain. The trip down was much faster and once we passed the obvious bear area we stopped to rest and take a drink. I swear I hear a tree growl at me, so we picked up the pace and hiked back to the lodge for lunch. The rest of the day was spent driving around the park and cooking up a nice steak dinner.
After dinner we headed out to watch the sunset and look for moose. I’ve never seen a moose and have always wanted to, and Willow Flats was one of the more popular places they like to hang out at. It was also a perfect spot for the sun set. So we sat on a small hill above the flat land covered in willow shrubs and the sun set. We watched the shrubs for movement until the shadows came in. And just as we were about to give up a female moose raised her head about the willow. It was too dark for pictures and she quickly left. The while driving back to camp we saw some cars pulled off to the side. We stopped to see what they were looking at and could see a family of moose. The bull moose we only saw briefly before he disappeared behind a shadow. Then there was a mother and her calf chowing down on some willow. In the quiet you could even hear them talking.

Thursday we had plans to get up early and try out some of the more popular hikes. We hiked the edge of Leigh lake which was at the base of more mountains. A beautiful lake that provided amazing reflections of the sky, tress, and mountains. We even saw a herd of female and young deer drinking and eating in the water. Then we turned to go check out the Jenny Lake area. Unfortunately, all the trails in this area were closed off b/c there was a search and rescue mission going on. Everything turned out alright but it was kinda intense to see the helicopter circling around the tree tops. So instead of hiking we headed back to camp and loaded up some beers in a backpack and headed out for the beach. We found a secluded spot amongst some driftwood and sat in the sun and relaxed. This was teh first and only day we did nothing but relaxed on our vacation. And we spent the entire afternoon here on the beach. Definitely one of the best times of our trip. That evening we ate dinner at the bar and headed back to willow flats for more moose watching. That night we saw two more female moose amongst the shrubs.

Friday was our day to sleep in but we awoke to noisy new neighbors. After a little discussion we decided we would leave for home today, but not until after we kayaked in Jackson Lake. So we ate breakfast and packed up camp. Jackson Lake is clear for twenty feet down into the water. While it definitely got deeper than that it was amazing to hear that. We kayaked around the lake for about and hour and a half. It was still early and kinda chilly, but the water wasn’t freezing so it was tolerable. We kyaked out to an island in the middle of the lake and Chris got out to look around. We’d been told a small black bear had swam out there and was living on the island. We were hoping to get to see him, but didn’t have any luck. After kayaking we had some blackberry pie at the restaurant and hit the road for home by noon.

The drive home was long…longer than I anticipated. We drove 10 hours the first day to get to North Platte Nebraska again. Here we showered our first shower since California. I can’t describe how good that felt. Another 10 hours Saturday to get home. Home coming was great, our kittens missed us as much as we missed them. Still 2 weeks later they are extra cuddly and spoiled for attention.

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