Grand Teton National Park

Mormon barn in Grand Teton NP

After spending almost a month camping in Grand Teton NP with almost no cell phone coverage or wi-fi we have finally emerged and reconnected with the world, thus this late blog entry.  We initially dry camped for 2 weeks at Gros Ventre Campground at the south end of Grand Teton NP.  This is high desert and we had a wonderful site overlooking the mountains and sagebrush.   Nearby are the unbelievably picturesque Mormon barns built by early settlers to the area.  These barns are some of the most photographed in the world and early birds are rewarded with golden light hitting the barns and lighting up the mountains.  We went twice and it was very chilly (low 40’s) but fun talking with the other small group of photographers that had gathered.

Dawns early light

Gros Ventre Campground at Grand Teton NP

We had a cow moose and her calf that wandered through our campground on an almost daily basis. They were behind our site several times but we missed them there.

We spent lots of time exploring, I polished my photography skills and hiking.  The area is so amazingly beautiful that it’s hard to stop taking photos from different angles and foregrounds.

The Cunningham Cabin, an early homesteader cabin from the 1880’s.

Rare twin calves on Moose-Wilson Road.

We did a lot of hiking and almost always saw a large animal of some sort.  On the very popular hike to Taggart Lake we encountered a grizzly bear just off the path eating grubs in a stump.  He saw us and was not concerned.  Two other hikers came along and as we all stood together and watched him he decided to come towards us and cross the path in front of us.  The bear spray was out and ready but he continued on into the woods and we hurried on down the path looking over our shoulder every once in a while.

A not so good picture of a grizzly bear, the camera was not ready.

On another hike Leonard saw a huge black bear.

He even saw a large bull moose watching him from a distance.

Crossing Jenny Lake to do some more hiking.

Hidden Falls across from Jenny Lake

A pretty little Western Tanager

Leonard went on several strenuous hikes that I couldn’t go on, including on here at the Laurence S Rockefeller Preserve which is just south of Grand Teton NP.   Cool mornings and warm dry days, perfect weather.   Here is a link to a map of all the hikes that we did.

His reward for getting out early.

So beautiful!

A 2700 ft climb into Garnet Canyon

The trail ended with patches of snow and black dots traversing them.

Closer inspection revealed serious mountain climbers forging their own path across the snow and ice.

The Chapel of the Transfiguration, built in 1925

The rustic interior of the Chapel with its window behind the altar.

The amazing view out that window.

Reflection in a beaver dam at Schwabacher Landing.

Schwabacher Landing

One day we made the drive back up into the southern part of Yellowstone NP, an area that we hadn’t seen on our previous forays earlier in the summer.   We went to the West Thumb Geyser Basin which is situated on the shore of Yellowstone Lake.    How fascinating to see the beautiful hot pools drain scalding water into the lake.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Fishing Cone Hot Spring. So named because in the early days fisherman would catch fish in the lake and then dip them in the cone and cook them instantly!

Another beautiful sunset at Gros Ventre Campground

After Gros Ventre we spent almost 2 weeks at Colter Bay Campground on the shore of Lake Jackson and continued our biking, hiking and explorations from that area.  Finally that BIG event, the eclipse was drawing near and while Grand Teton NP was in the zone of totality it was a little too far from home for us and we need to slowly make our way east.  So we’ve picked Central Nebraska to view the eclipse from and the next blog will pick it up from there.