Grand Tetons (Day 1)

We got to Jackson Lake Lodge around 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 8^th.  Just in time to catch a breathtaking view of sunset over the Teton Mountain Range, and its famous peaks.  All the peaks have names – the most recognizable is the Grand Teton, which is the most jagged-edged and tallest peak, and also Moran, which is second tallest, and widest with a strange straight black marking at the top (see pics).  We grabbed a bite and a drink in the lounge and watched the sunset.  There were lots of people along the walkway in front of us taking pics of what we thought was just the mountains, but soon learned that a group of elk had been ushered or chased by grizzlies into the willow flats – the flat area before the lake.




Sign out front of our lodge

Looking at the Grand Teton







Monday, July 9^th, 2012



Looking out from Jackson Lake Lodge lobby

We hit the Lodge lobby on Monday morning, since our cabin had no wireless, in hopes of a few hours of catch up for me, and some blogging for Bill…but that plan didn’t work out so well – for me, at least.  Lo and behold, had to ship my PC home because of virus problems, but Bill did get to do some posts on the blog.  Finally, around 2:30, after FedEx had picked up the laptop, and Bill hit a stopping point, we ventured out to see some of the park. 



Many moosen...

We had met a gentleman in the lobby (Keith), who sat down and started talking to us about photos, trails, restaurants, and everything else under the sun – he was quite chatty.  His wife is a ranger (Ranger Nancy) and he is retired and hikes and takes photos every day.  He recommended some trails for us, and told us to look for moose at Pilgrim Creek.   So we took a ride and found the spot, and sure enough there were two moose grazing along the edge of a pond, took lots of photos.  This was our first sighting of moose and we were amazed at how big they were and how fuzzy their antlers are.  Very impressive creatures.







Colter Bay

Then we went to Colter Bay and took a short two mile hike around the bay…very soothing and pleasant.  The hike took us around the outer edge of a small island so we had views of the bay, the lake, and the mountains.  Along the hike we came across some deer grazing just off the trail.  Had to take the photo of the raven as we have seen them everywhere.   





Colter Bay



Colter Bay







Deer along hike at Colter Bay



The ever present raven...







I wonder who will like this?

We did a little shopping in the store there, and got lots of advice from the cashier (Ken) about some of the other parks we’re going to – he told us to focus on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and hike Angel’s Landing at Zion, and where to eat in Jackson Hole if we got down that way.  Then we did a scenic drive around Jenny Lake (took pics of the sign for Jen, of course), and then went to Signal Mountain Lodge to grab dinner at the Trapper (Keith had recommended it, and he didn’t let us down on the moose, so we figured why not).  Over dinner we chatted with a couple next to us – Jay and Chrissy.  They were camping down in Gros Ventre area (south in the park), and were from Santa Cruz, CA.  They also recommended Angel’s Landing at Zion, but asked if we’re afraid of heights, so we shall see.  Oh and there’s a t-shirt that says “I survived Angel’s Landing”, hmmm…we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.  The highlight at dinner, other than the nice conversation, was the half-size nachos we got (also recommended by Ken from the Colter Bay store – he said get the half-size, you won’t eat the full size).  OMG – the half-size was a mini mountain of nachos and could have been our entire dinner, for both of us!  But of course we didn’t know that, and so had sandwiches coming right behind it.  Maintaining, or losing weight on this trip is proving to be very challenging!  So we vowed we’d do a long hike the next day to work off some of the nachos (which we didn’t finish, just for the record;-).  Heading home we came across a large elk in the road – on opposite side of the road.  She was large and startled us, but got a cool pic.