Tuesday, June 18
We slept in til 9, as it was very cold sleeping last night. We had snow flurries last evening and again this morning and even some at noontime today. It was 42 degrees when we crawled out from under the covers and had our yogurt for breakfast. It was an overcast and cold day with sun predicted to appear at 3:30 in the afternoon. Our first stop in Grand Teton NP was down Antelope Flats Road at Mormon Row, where the classic Ansel Adams barn photo was taken with the Tetons as a backdrop. I have better photos of this from previous trips when the sun was out, but here goes anyway.
Then we stopped at what has become one of my favorite vistas in the park: Schwabacher Landing, still int he south side of the park down a gravel road, where you can see views of the mountain range with a winding stream in the foreground. We walked down the path a little way and then people got all excited because they saw a moose cow on the opposite side of the river come out into the open not too far from the parking lot. As time went on, the moose came closer and her calf also emerged from the woods. Both of them drifted upstream toward the parking area and gathering crowds of (what I must say were respectful and quiet) people. I have never in my life been this close to a moose and her calf. They were probably only 50 ft away at one point. After innumerable photos and videos and as they came even closer to our side of the bank, a female ranger came running up the trail to ruin all the fun and shoo the people away. For a cloudy and damp cold day, this was a highlight for sure.
Our next wildlife sighting wasn't too far up the road as a bunch of cars were pulled over at Jackson Lake Junction to see a herd of elk in the meadow. Park rangers were already all over this crowd, directing traffic, blocking off parking, and keeping people at a distance.
We continued north on the main park road to the Colter Bay visitor center, near the northernmost terminus. We had a sit-down lunch here, stamped our map and postcard, and Jessica paid $5 for a nice hot shower. The sun was starting to peak out a little as we headed back south down the park road. We stopped at Willow Flats for a photo of the arrowleaf balsamroot flowers. Then we decided to do something new on this tri and drive down the gravel road to Two Ocean Lake. This was kind of a bust, as the views were not great and it was still cloudy at this point. Back to the main road, we had some sunshine at Oxbow Bend and stopped here for a while.
Heading north on the main park road, this time we turned at Jackson Lake Junction in order to go down past Jackson Lake, Moran Point, Mountain View, String Lake, and then finally Jenny Lake as the afternoon wore on into early evening and the light changed on the mountain range.
After that, we headed back to the hilltop free boondocking site only two miles off the main park road on Topper Lake Road with views of the Tetons outside the sliding door. We had dinner, called home, and for the next two hours I sat with the slider open and the sun beating in on me while I labeled my photos and wrote this blog! I am hoping for a beautiful sunset later.
Bingo!
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