SPRING HAS FINALLY COME TO THE TETONS

Spring has quickly come to Wyoming as evidenced by these flowers which are in full bloom.  The blue flowers are Lupines.  We erroneously called some other blue flowers Lupines in an earlier blog entry.   

And the yellow flower is called yellow arnica.

Both of these flowers can be found all over the valley floor as you drive the park road.  This is a very colorful sight, especially in contrast the rather neutral color of the scrub plants found in the meadows that the deer, elk and bison like to eat. 

Since the weather had warmed up considerably, we decided to try some of the tourist options offered by our employer, the Grand Teton Lodge Company.  On Tuesday we took the hour long drive up to Colter Bay which is the northern most area of Grand Teton National Park.  Along the way we were stopped by road construction and were treated to this great view of the Tetons with a reflection of the mountains in Jackson Lake.  More mountain pictures?  Are you tired of them yet?  We just can't get enough of the spectacular mountain views.

We took a 90-minute cruise called "Fire and Ice" from the Colter Bay marina.  The boat held about 40 passengers comfortably.  A National Park Ranger was onboard and talked about how the Teton Mountains were formed by earthquake faults millions of years ago.  Jackson Lake was once a glacier that has melted and formed a very large lake with a depth up to 450 feet deep.  We were able to get a close-up view of Mount Moran from  the boat.

When we passed several areas across the lake that were devastated by forest fires, the ranger discussed the fire control system used today.  Modern day practice of the Park Service is to let natural fires caused by lightning and other forces of nature burn themselves out unless the fire threatens structures or other sensitive areas of the park.  Once in a while, the Park Service will "set" a fire to thin small areas which are over-grown with trees or brush.

The marina has slips for about 60 boats and an additional 50 or so buoys to tie a boat up to in the bay that can be rented.  According to our captain, there is a 5-year wait for a buoy and a 15-year wait for a boat slip, at up to $2000 rental for the 3 month boating season.

On our 2nd day off this week we plan on taking a float trip down the Snake River.   

BASEBALL IN IDAHO FALLS

A summer wouldn't be complete without baseball.  The closest baseball to Jackson, Wyoming is in Idaho Falls.  So off we went to see the Idaho Falls Chukars play the Orem (Utah) Owlz, two teams in the Pioneer League, one of minor league baseball's short season leagues which begins play after the major league draft held in early June.  Melaleuca Field was opened in 2007 and has a seating capacity of 3400.  Sam Adams and Summer Sam were both available on tap so the concession stand received an "A" from us.     

After work on Monday we traveled a shortcut dirt road past the Rockefeller Preserve and Teton Village and then across Teton Pass (elevation 8,431 ft.) towards Idaho Falls.  Our Honda Fit struggled to go up the 10% grade.  

Along this two-lane road we found a mother moose and her calf eating by the fence that borders the road through the Preserve.  How often have you seen wildlife on the way to a baseball game?

The Idaho Falls mascot is a Chukar.  What is a Chukar, you ask?  A Chukar is a game bird similar to a pheasant that lives in the Rocky Mountains.

Less than 10 minutes before game time the temperature was 74, the warmest weather we had been in since we arrived in Wyoming.  The large number of fans down along the fence are part of a group outing.  Picnic seating between the thirdbase dugout and the left field bullpen is a nice way for a group to have an outing at a ball park.
  

The visiting team. the Orem Owlz (not a misspelling!), is a Los Angeles Angels minor league team.  The manager is Tom Kotchman, a longtime friend from my days in Pinellas County.  The Owlz, defending Pioneer League Champions, currently have 8 players from Florida on their roster.

The two teams split the 2 games we saw with the Owlz winning the first game 8-3 in front of over 3,300 fans and the Chukars winning the 2nd game by a score of 11-2 on the strength of 18 hits.  The 2 Owlz runs were both the result of solo home runs.  Attendance for the 2nd game was an announced crowd of 1900+.  This picture was taken 5 minutes before the game with a view of the Chukar dugout and towards the clubhouse down the rightfield line. 

I have to believe they count tickets sold because the stadium was a third full at best. 

And the reason the city has its name are these huge falls along the Snake River.  Not very high, but the falls go on for at least a city block.

MOTHER NATURE AT WORK

We spent our 2nd day off visiting the nearby town of Kelly and taking a short hike to the Gros Ventre slide area.   Kelly has a population of a little over 200 and is located 2 miles east of the campground where we are staying for the summer.  In our four previous trips to the Jackson area, we have never gone this direction before. 

History lesson:  On June 23, 1925 following weeks of heavy rain, approximately 50 million cubic yards of rock slid off the north face of Sheep Mountain, and into a valley formed by the Gros Ventre River. The rock formed a large natural dam, backing up the water and forming Lower Slide Lake.  After viewing this enormous pile of rock and timbers, it is difficult to imagine that mother nature via streaming water could cause such damage.  The dirt area at the top of the first picture is where the debris was once located.

In May of 1927 after a winter of heavy snow, residents started to notice debris from the flooding of the upper valley floating downstream in the river. Several alarmed residents from Kelly went to the dam to discover that the lake had overflowed the top of the dam and was beginning to erode it. A "Paul Revere" type of warning was given, and the residents of the town evacuated. The ensuing flood was 6 feet deep for at least 25 miles downstream. The flood destroyed most of the town, leaving only the church and the schoolhouse standing.  Fortunately only six people perished in the flood.   

HIKING TO PHELPS LAKE FOR ANOTHER VIEW OF THE TETONS

The Rockefeller Preserve opened in the fall of 2008 and is the lasting legacy of the Laurance S. Rockefeller Trust.  Prior to that time, it was the private ranch of the Rockefeller family.  Ann and I took our first hike in the Preserve last September when we were in Jackson and wanted to come back again.  The Preserve is very well done in terms of a nice visitors' center and well marked trails.  No buses or motorhomes are permitted along the road that leads to the Preserve so the area is less crowded compared to other parts of Grand Teton National Park.  

We hiked in the Rockefeller Preserve on our first day off this week.  The trails from the visitors center wind through forests and rocky meadows along a fast-flowing creek toward Phelps Lake - a great atmosphere for taking a walk through nature.  However, the only wildlife we saw was this chipmunk along the lake shore.

We stopped early in the hike to view a mini waterfall brought about by the increasing snow melt.  The temperature was in the 60's during this morning hike of about 4 1/2 miles.

After hiking about 2 miles to the shore of Phelps Lake we were treated to these views of Tetons.

Parts of this hike felt like we were experiencing these views during Christmas as the smell of pine and evergreen trees was very noticeable.  We then continued around Phelps Lake to Huckleberry Point.  Here the view is a little more majestic.  Yes, I know we post lots of photos of mountain peaks.  But that is what the Grand Tetons are all about.  There are no foothills in the Tetons, just mountains springing up from the valley floor.

Non-native plant eradication was a requirement of the agreement between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Park Service when they took over the Preserve.  Here are two different types of over-the-trail methods of killing the unnatural Lupine flowers (as told to us by a member of the National Park Service).  How's that for plant control Teton style!

The trail we chose to follow from the lake back to the visitor's center followed this stream, with the onrushing snow melt cascading down the creek to eventually flow into the Snake River.

Up until this point, we had seen all the usual wildlife in Grand Teton National Park except either a grizzly or black bear.  On our drive from the Rockefeller Preserve, we came across this grizzly cub sitting up in a large pine tree.  Knowing the mother bear was probably nearby, we didn't venture too close but were able to get this photo.  One of the things you don't do when hiking is to get between a mother and her offspring which causes a defensive reaction by the mother.

PLAYING TOURIST

After over 10 straight days with some rain, the Gros Ventre River is rising to the top of its banks.  Our campground is located along this river, although our campsite is over 400 yards from the river's edge.  The rain has caused the snow in the higher elevations to melt quicker than normal, so the snow melt and rain water combined has caused near flooding conditions in the Jackson area as well as much of Wyoming. 

On one of our days off we hiked partially up one of the mountains from the Lupine Meadow trail head in the park.  You can see I am wearing sunglasses in this photo--yea, no rain yet on this day.  The stream below the bridge contains more snow melt flowing down to the valley floor and into the Snake River.

The Teton Mountains were created by huge glacier ice fields many millions of years ago.  Here is an example of the huge rock areas created by these ice fields.

On our way back to our campground, we saw another cute baby bison.  Notice the horns on the adult bison as well as the difference in color of the two bison.  These bison were right along the side of the road.  

On our other day off we took a tram tour at Teton Village.  Teton Village is a large ski resort on the west side of the Teton range about 12 miles from the town of Jackson.  This first picture is from the gondola before the tram ride began.  The tram took us up over 4,000 feet to the top of Rendezvous Mountain, which has an elevation of 10,450 feet.  The temperature at about noon at the top was 38 degrees while the temperature at the bottom was a balmy 55 degrees.  Once all the snow melts (July according to one of our hiking books), you can take the tram to the top and hike down the 7.4 miles or do the trip in reverse.  Due to the steep incline the difficulty rating for this hike is "strenuous".  We will pass on this hike.     

The gondola holds several dozen passengers.  Yes, that is snow below the gondola.  This picture was taken as the tram entered the docking station. 

Near the top of the mountain we saw the beginning of this advanced ski run.  Skiers actually jump down into this 70 degree drop area just to the left of the huge rock face on the right of the picture.  This is not our idea of fun. 

There was over eight feet of snow piled at the top of the tram ride.  The "closed area" signs are to keep visitors from wandering into deep snow and possibly falling down the mountain, at least until they hit a tree. 

After our long day of playing tourist, we went to the Snake River Brewery where we found out they have begun to have live entertainment on certain afternoons.  Below is a quartet playing in front of the huge stone fireplace.  The music was Celtic tunes played on string instruments and a squeeze box, which blended nicely with the crowd of mostly locals and some tourists.  We have been to this local brew pub every week we have been in Jackson.  I wonder if we can be called "semi-locals" yet?  We do visit other restaurants also but the one constant each week is this great micro brew pub.

Ready for a cold one?

WET WEEK

We were able to get a short hike completed last week during one of our days off before the rains came.  This photo was taken during the hike.  The big hill to the left is the hill the arriving planes fly around before making the approach into the Jackson Hole Airport.   Trivia fact:  This is the only commercial aviation airport located within the boundaries of a national park.

While we saw no wildlife on this short hike, we did see a lot of lupine flowers.

We also explored both sides of the Snake River at Menors Ferry.  Back in the 1850's the two Menors brothers built a pulley system to utilize for their ferry so settlers, ranchers, and others could cross the Snake River, as their were no bridges back then.  Here are some photos of the area.  Once the river crests in late June, the National Park Service will offer rides on this replica version of the ferry.  The original ferry is preserved under a shed and is about 35 ft. long and about 8 ft. wide.

Just down-river from the ferry is the river bank where a lot of the float trips let off their passengers.  If you look closely, you can see a van with a flat trailer backed up to the river to load the raft that is being unloaded on the far shore.  We plan to take a float trip on a day off this summer.

Now to Grand Teton National Park history.  In 1923, a group of prominent Jackson Hole residents offered to the Federal Government some land to add to Yellowstone National Park.  The meeting was held in this cabin on July 26th of that year.

This plaque commemorates these events.

A few years later John D. Rockefeller, Jr. finally persuaded the federal government to establish what is now known as Grand Teton National Park.  Rockefeller bought land in secret from farmers and ranchers similar to the way Walt Disney bought orange groves in the Orlando area to establish Disney World in the 1970's.  Rockefeller then donated the land to the federal government after much persuasion - a letter on display from Rockefeller relates his intent to sell the property of the federal government did not accept the land donation.  How our country would not embrace this beautiful place as national land set aside for sharing with all is mind-boggling.  However, the government reacted a few months later by accepting the donation and first staffing the park with 5 employees.  More park development history below.

The newest trails in the park are located in an area known as the Rockefeller Preserve.  It is the last donation to the park, occurring in 2007.  These are the closest hiking trails to the town of Jackson Hole.

Our second day off last week was confined indoors due to the rain.  It has rained for 5 days straight.  There have been several days where we have sold over 125 cups of coffee and hot cocoa.  Needless to say, smoothie sales are next to nil. 

On our rainy way to work one day, we took the following pictures of a giant rainbow with the Teton peaks as a backdrop. 

On our way home from work another day, we saw a moose and her newborn calf during this brief respite from the rainy weather. 

This afternoon, the rain finally let up and the sun came out.  We are hoping to go hiking on our days off this week.

MORE EXPERIENCES OF A LIFETIME

Our drive to/from the store continues to be an adventure.  We saw two different moose recently wandering through the sagebrush and nibbling the ground cover.  The first moose was in a meadow along the Snake River and the second moose was near a housing area for National Park Service workers by the south entrance to Grand Teton National Park.  Notice how close the 2nd moose is to the RV.  There was a park ranger by the road protecting the moose from tourists as they snapped photos, so that they would leave the moose alone.  Some tourists forget that the we are sharing the park with the wildlife - it is their home, not ours.

 




























We have been extremely busy at the store this past week.  Our total sales have climbed into the 4K range over the Memorial Day weekend.  The most unique experience was verifying a signature on a credit card when the signature was written in Chinese.  The letters looked the same so I handed the girl her card and receipt.  I also met a young couple in their late 20's who live in the Palo Alto area and who had visited Ann's cousin's gourmet restaurant, Manresa, in Los Gatos.     

Some of the female bison have now had their calves.  This calf is not more than one or two days old.  Twice this past week we have again been stopped by bison crossing the road.  Here are some pictures of the baby calves.