We got an early start this morning by driving up the muddy dirt road of Mormon Row. In the late 1800’s a small group of Mormons settled within sight of the Tetons. Some of the original structures are still standing.
Kevin didn’t love driving down the dirt road, with its many muddy ruts. What made it worthwhile was when we caught sight of this group of bison grazing right off the roadway. Home, home on the range!
We drove up towards Jenny Lake and took the ferry across the lake. On the other side there is a trail that leads up to Inspiration Point, a vista made famous by many painters and photographers. As we hiked the trail, we came across a couple of moose – a sow and her calf, crossing Cascade Creek. We gave them a wide berth, you definitely don’t want to come between a momma moose and her baby!
The view at Inspiration Point was incredible. Today was a gorgeous day for hiking – not too cold, and the sun came out at just the right moments. When we got to the Point, we decided to hike a little further, into Cascade Canyon. One of the rangers had warned us that it was still pretty snowy, and she wasn’t exaggerating. We waded through the snowdrifts in our tennis shoes (to save space we only brought 2 pairs of shoes each – sneakers and flip-flops – we really need to buy some hiking boots, I think).
As we traversed one snowbank, we were met head-on by two adolescent moose who also wanted to cross. Kevin was in the lead and thanks to my hat brim (and needing to watch my footing) I didn’t see them until Kevin said “Hey, Moose!”. I was a little freaked out to be staring down a moose at 50 feet – way too close. Luckily, they didn’t want a fight and we stepped well out of their way as they crossed in front of us. Scaredy-cat that I am, I kept the camera in my pocket until they were too well camouflaged in the trees to get a good shot, so we have no decent photo of them. Needless to say, I walked a little more carefully after that!
We also came across some less-intimidating wildlife – this marmot was hanging out at the Jenny Lake ferry dock, just waiting to be fed. Something about his Ruben-esque figure tells me that plenty of tourists oblige him (we didn’t).
At the end of a long day, we stopped for beers at the Jackson Lake Lodge. From the deck they have gorgeous views of the Tetons. We have two more days here, so we don’t want to inundate you all with photos of the mountains, but here’s a nice sundowner shot.
So far no grizzlies sighted, but we still have a couple days to spot one. We spent last night in the Gros Ventre campground, and tonight we are in the Colter Bay campground. As we checked in, the lady mentioned that they’d seen a grizzly nosing around the group campsite this morning, so we’ll be sure to have the camera at the ready!
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