Leaving the Tetons

Friday was our last day in the park. After a good breakfast at the lodge, we headed south towards Salt Lake City. We stopped at the Snake River overlook on the way.

I liked how this panorama turned out.

String Lake and Jenny Lake

A herd of Elk viewed from the Willow Flats. The picture was primarily of the mountains, not the elk. If you enlarge the picture, you can see spots in front of the dark shrubs on the left side of the picture.
Mount Moran from the Oxbow. We went to the Oxbow several times early in the morning and in the evening to see wildlife, but never saw anything bigger than a swan.
After I hiked back around Jenny Lake (Joy took the ferry), we went for a walk along String Lake. It was here that we saw our fox.
The afternoon was sunny and warm, so I decided to go for a swim after the hike. The water was much colder than at Moose Falls. I eased in and swam around for a while. It was not the coldest water I have been in, but it certainly wasn't warm. A group of four Germans were swimming next to us, and even though we don't speak German, we all laughed with them at their antics in the cold water.

After my swim, we did the Jenny Lake drive. Here is a view of Cascade Canyon from across the lake.

Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point

Thursday morning we headed to the Jenny Lake trailhead to hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. Jenny Lake sits right at the base of the Teton range, and Hidden Falls and Inspiration point are on the far side of the lake in Cascade Canyon. Here is Cascade Creek.
I believe that this is an Aconitum, or Monk's Hood. This flower was very showy and common in the canyon.

Hidden Falls

I spent more time looking for pikas than at Hidden Falls. I saw a couple, but they did not stay out long enough for me to show them to Joy.
After Hidden Falls, the trail curved around a promontory to Inspiration Point, with a nice view of Jenny Lake.

The view of the peaks for Inspiration Point.

Sitting at Inspiration Point, taking in the view.

It was when we were coming back down from Inspiration Point when we had our moose encounter.

Welcome to Grand Tetons

Now for some posts to wrap up our vacation from the end of August and beginning of September. We arrived at the Grand Tetons from Yellowstone on Wednesday. There were scattered showers and big clouds, but that did not stop us from taking a picture of the range from every angle presented to us.

The Grand Teton

After setting up our site at the Coulter Bay campground, we went for a drive up Signal Mountain, which presented some nice views of the mountains and Jackson Lake.
There were many trails along Jackson Lake by the campground. Here is Joy on the shoreline, taking in the sun, lake, and mountains.

The sunset on the Grand Teton from our campground

Cody, WY towards the Grand Tetons

When we got cleaned up and settled at Cody, we went out and found some great buffalo burgers and headed to the rodeo. Joy had never been to a rodeo before, so it was fun to take her.
It was a nice evening to sit and watch the sunset behind the mountains. The rodeo was occasionally entertaining. I could have done with less clowns. Nighthawks came out when it got dark and hunted around the lights.
The next day we headed west towards Yellowstone Lake. We had skipped the West Thumb area on the previous drive through, so we stopped to take it in.

A nice massing of Monkeyflower in the thermal area.

Lewis falls was one of our stops on the road south towards the Tetons.

We also took a short walk to Moose Falls, just north of the southern entrance.

When we got there, some folks were swimming down below the falls. It looked too good to pass up. The falls plunged into a deep pool, and you could swim behind the falls into a screened off room. The water was even comfortable after getting used to it.

Sunlight Creek and Dead Indian Pass

From the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone, we headed towards Cody along the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway.

There was a pull-off at the Sunlight Creek bridge. The bridge and the view was incredible. The bridge is the highest in Wyoming and spans the Sunlight Gorge.

The highway climbs after crossing the gorge up to Dead Indian Pass. I thought this was one of the prettier spots we had visited.

Panoramic

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to Mamoth to the Lamar Valley

I went for a short, easy run one evening at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. About five minutes in, I did a double-take to my left. A bright pink snake was along the side of the road. I stopped and knelt down to check it out more closely. I didn't know that Rubber Boa's (Charina bottae) were found at Yellowstone, so I wasn't even sure what it was at first. I picked him up to check out his yellow-green belly. I was so mad that I didn't have my camera, but such is life. I didn't want to move him from his habitat, so I reluctantly put him back and headed on down the road.

(This photo is from the State of Utah Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources site)

I think this is a Metalmark.

After our last morning at the Canyon campground, we had one more trail that we wanted to take by the lower falls. We enjoyed this trail to the brink of the lower falls.
Joy found the only other snake on our trip. This Wandering Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans vagrans) was along the trail to the Sheepeater Cliff. I was a little sad that I didn't get to see Joy's snake dance. ;)

A view from a short trail in the Lamar Valley.

Midway Geyser Basin & Whiskey Flats

After feeling a little burnt out on geothermal features at Old Faithful, we were glad that we still stopped at the Midway Geyser Basin.
This is Excelsior Geyser. It used to be a geyser, but the whole area exploded leaving a crater. The blue-colored pool was very pretty.

Looking up the boardwalk towards the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Grand Prismatic Spring got my vote for the prettiest pool/hot spring.

A Gray Jay watched us set up for a picnic.

We stopped for a peaceful picnic at the Whiskey Flat picnic area. It was nice to be somewhere that didn't feel like a theme park after being at Old Faithful.

Old Faithful Geyser Basin

We spent several hours in the Old Faithful area. We were glad to see the sights, but it was crowded, hot, and dry. We had our fill of geothermal features by the time we were done. Here is the Morning Glory Pool. Signs at the pool said that they have to clean out the debris every year from people throwing trash. Hard to imagine.
Gentians blooming in the thermal areas. A lot of the flora around the geysers reminded me of Indiana's fens.

Castle Geyser

Old Faithful