Who Goes to Teton National Park?

 

 

We drove up to Jackson, then up through the park, into Yellowstone and back home. 

Okay, now that you have a slight idea of where we went--

 

Happy to get out of the car, we had to take the classic JH picture, right? 

 

With scenes like this, who wouldn't go to Teton Nat'l Park??

This is near Oxbow Bend.

Jenny Lake-

Pretty but it was cold, until you got down near the water front, then it was significantly warmer.

We had to go on a little hike to get down to the water....

Just a few pictures from where we sat during our lunch.  I really was beautiful!!!  The tops of the Teton Range were touching the clouds.  I don't know if that means, the  clouds were low or those mountains are incredibly tall.  Both, maybe?  We had stopped at a picnic area by a river bed, and that provided 30 minute more of entertainment as we threw rocks in the water.  It was really fun, and so pretty! The scene of the Tetons and that little cabin were just breath taking--exactly what I picture in my head for the "mountains" and the "wild frontier" and "wide open spaces".

 

 

Some of the wild life we saw this time, far out did what we have ever seen in Yellowstone!  

Really!  

HERE IS WHAT WE SAW:

Pronghorn Antelope who were way off the side of the road, and my photo isn't great, 

but we hadn't ever seen one before and there were about 5-7 of them.

 Buffalo (we have seen plenty of these, 

so we weren't disappointed when they were a way's away either...)

Deer on the side of the road.  They were so close I could have nearly reached out my window and pet them.  

I had to change lenses they were that close.  

These girls were hanging out up near 

the John D. Rockefeller area. 

(Between Yellowstone's South entrance and Teton's Northern entrance.

 

A Buck Elk and his women (about 20 of them) were grazing near Jenny's Lake.

 

 

 

He and his girls were probably about 200 yards off the side of the road.  We were the only ones to see them at that time, as NO ONE was around.  I got out of the car.  Kyle and the kids followed me.  Slowly we started working our way towards them.  We were so close, any novice hunter could have shot them down right between the eyes.  Don't worry, we weren't too close.  But my photo is NOT edited to make him appear closer.  I shot him with the focal length I had, and got what I got.  When he turned and saw us, I felt panic. You can really see him staring me down, can't ya!  I then realized we might be too close for him.  What would he do? Then he turned his head and I saw his horns stretch out over the length of his back and thought to myself, I haven't EVER seen an elk this close or that big!  He was suddenly very intimidating.  We backed off and they ran away.  Still it was so cool!

A cow Moose, literally off the side of the road at Moose Junction. 

She was the first animal we saw, 20 minutes into our trip!

 

AND A BEAR!  I remember my aunt Lisa telling me that she has been to Yellowstone for years and years, and hasn't ever seen a bear there.  Well our encounter was nearly magical.  Well, for everyone except Catelyn, who started freaking out that we were going to get hurt and that he would chase us!  She cried and screamed and whined for us to roll up our windows for about 10 minutes!  

We were driving north and saw two cars stopped along the side of the road.  So we slowed, and then Kyle nearly slammed on the breaks and hollered, BEAR!

Sure enough! There he was!  He had just crossed the road (we missed that part), but was slowly meandering around.  We watched him, desperately trying to get a photo, but he just keep dodging just right behind trees and wouldn't look at us at all!

When he was out of sight, we felt sad, but then saw we might get another glimpse of him if we turned into the Lodge area.  We didn't know where he would go, and we took our chances.  You can see the path we took. 

And sure enough, we found him!  A few locals who work there came out of their places, and were on golf carts and were watching too!  He wandered around getting really close to the camping site, and the rangers were called in.  Normally, they let him do whatever he wants, as it is his park, but if he gets too close, they shoo him away.  Turns out he had been coming towards the Lake every day that week, looking for more huckleberries.  The Rangers and local guy we talked to were telling us about him a bit.  He's about 4-5 years old and keeps coming around because he found a bush with berries there and keeps looking for more.

We got our own private showing of him for about 20 minutes. WE WERE SO SPOILED! IT WAS SO COOL!

BUT he was as stubborn as mule, and so "arrogant" as he would NOT look at us.  It was like he knew, and eventually we even started to kinda call to him, just to get his attention, and even then he wouldn't look at us!  No wonder people want to feed them.  It was so tempting, but he just flat out was ignoring us, it seemed, on purpose!  So all that, and these are the two best shots I got of the devil!

 

 

 

It truly was a beautiful drive, and though it was colder than we would have liked, and rained a bit more then we wanted on the second day, we still had a great time!  I am so glad that our kids like this kind of thing.  makes the idea of planning a trip to the Grand Canyon realistically possible, as I know they are starting to like the outdoors.  I am also eager for them to be a bit older to hike some.  That will really be fun!