Finally made it to the Tetons! The area is as beautiful as I had imagined it would be. My parents tell me I’ve been wanting to come here almost my whole life, any time we were given a family vote on where to go for vacation this is what I said. It’s been an interesting life’s journey to get here but I’m finally here where I almost feel like I belong.
We did end up getting lost though. We were supposed to meet Emily at her house in Moose but instead of following the directions in my head from the phone I thought I must have heard them wrong and turned around literally like 1/2 mile from our destination. Instead we wound up 8 miles down a rough and muddy backcountry dirt road full of deep pot holes. Pretty trail but after the very long haul all day the engine was nice and toasty and the exhaust much louder than normal. All the hikers and wildlife photographers just glared as we rumbled past weaving through the potholes. Sorry! Its not normally this loud 😉
Emily and Matt who kindly loaned us their 5th wheel for a night and gave some welcome recommendations of what to see when and sent us to try the outstanding nachos from Signal Mountain Lodge. The kids have gotten big since I last saw them.
The view from their front yard. Very nice for government housing!
The Tetons were a wildlife watchers dream, many kinds of critters large and small and none of them too shy. We saw everything from crazy Banzai squirrels that run and leap and chase each other along the fences and walkways right over you if you are in their way,
To more cautious chipmunks that keep more distance from you.
We took a boat ride tour of Jenny Lake and got to see our first ever Moose! and baby moose! Unfortunately no camera, and my cell phone pics didnt turn out.
On the way to our campground one night we saw our first buffalo, or bison, or whatever you want to call em close to the road for some good pics.
About 20 yards from the road. They’d be a lot closer later on!
We also saw our first and only Grizzly Bear chase an elk down across this field into the bushes on the right. They are FAST!!!
We were at an overlook at the time and a ranger thought bear might pop out on the road and raced away to block off the dirt road. A hour later it was starting to get dark and we needed to head back home. The elk had moved close to the road and didn’t mind the bike at all, I counted about 80 of them in a panoramic shot I took. We sat for a while and the elk came right up close to us, all of them looking at the bike like they were wondering what strange sort of animal it was.
This was the most wonder wildife adventure I ever saw. I love it very much. I love all animals. I have respect for them.