Grand Teton National Park

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Tuesday 7/15
Went on a hike up the Fourth of July Creek and onwards to 4th of July Lake. It was a mostly uphill climb 550ft over 2.5 miles. We arrived at an alpine lake. Nearby was a group of back country campers. Along the shores of the lake there was a hatch coming off. Some kind of fork tailed mayfly. They were crawling all over us, which was a pleasent break from the mosquitos, of which we have lived among since arriving in Idaho. Another reason to love Oregon; very few mosquitos. Much of the forest had been burned 3-4 years ago which creates a soil rich in potash. This in turn creates a plethora of wildflowers. We don't hike very fast as there is always some new flower to investigate. We also were now weary of bears and made frequent cries of "HEyyy BEEEAAR" so as not to surprise any. When we got back we were early to bed. The Sawtooth mountains have to be one of the most unappreciated and unknown treasures we have. (Unless you mention Sun Valley)

Wednesday 7/16
We had pre-packed the van the evening before so we could make haste in the morning. We intended to make Jackson, Wyoming by early afternoon. Route: Hwy 75 through the Sawtooth Valley (Amazing) into Ketchum and past Sun Valley. We didn't go into sun Valley, but Ketchum is the gateway city to there. Ketchum was touristy enough, but had some great things going. Lots of lodging, good restraunts and cafes, amazing views and great access to wilderness with the facilities to sell or rent you just about anything you may need. 75 to Hwy 20 to Hwy 26 where we past by the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Weird and scary place. A huge landscape of rolling hills of black lava rocks. They extend for many acres. In the hot sun it is the kind of place you do not want to get stuck in. I imagined withering to death in the middle of it with no trees for shade, no water, barely any plantlife at all...nevertheless, I am sure it maintains a delicate ecosystem that is probably unique to itself. We then passed through Arco, the first city to be lit by Atomic Energy and then through Atomic City itself. Not far from there is the massive INL (Idaho National Laboratory) which I have made a note to self to find out what they do there. However we veered back onto 20 before we got to Atomic City and followed that into Idaho Falls. The Snake River must be dammed there because there was lots of boats everywhere. After passing under Hwy 15 we got back on 26 and took that to Swan Valley between the Caribou NF (National Forest) and Targhee NF, 31 and 22 through the Targhee NF to Jackson. We arrived about 2pm in Jackson. Jackson is like the Vail or Aspen of Colorado. Built completely around tourism. It is the southern Gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone NPs. We visited the Visitors center and spent some time searching for a hotel to spend the night in. We both needed a shower and bed after 5 days of camping (I guess we didn't need them as we have a solar shower and nice foam mattresses for camping...we Wanted it). Found a place we liked in Teton Village called the Teton Village Lodge. Thelodge was nestled against the western side of the Tetons and provide an up close and direct view of the range from that side. We aslo had an amazing dinner. I had Bison Tenderloin that was to die for and a nice glass of Alexander Cabernet. Sarah had veal shank and champagne. We lingered at dinner as we were among the few guests present, most people seem to like to go into Jackson for the night life so we chatted with the waitress and Sommenier about the area. It was a luxuriously lazy 2.5 hour dinner.

Thursday 7/17
Tetons today!! Our primary mission was to locate a camping site that was somewhat private and quiet. I had been to Yellowstone before and I have seen the campsites. For the most part they were awful, like Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone-horrid sardine can of 350 sites, side by side, huge RVs, generators and zero privacy. Following the recommendations in several guide books and an article in Budget Traveller we were heading to the northern most car accessible campground in the park called Lizard Creek. We checked out a few others along the way. Colter Bay is the same as Fishing Bridge, Jenny Lake looked ok, but it was full. Lizard Creek is amazing. Well placed and wide spaced sites back up to the forest or Jackson Lake. There are many walk-in sites (usually only 100ft or so and providing additional privacy) and minor ammenities - bathrooms with running water and a water spigot near our site. This was nice after our primitive camping in the NFs. Not quite the privacy, but some modern comforts. The whole park takes bear awareness very seriously. Basically they don't want you leaving anything out unattended; food, water bottles, soaps/perfumes, suntan lotion etc. All these things will draw in bears who have a nose 7x more sensitive then a bloodhound if you can imagine that. We spent the rest of the day setting up shop, eating, and taking small walks around the camp ground. I spotted the deer you see in the pictures about 200 yds above our campsite under a group of lodgepole pines. They are mule deer. I think there were 3-4 bucks and a doe. We met up with a fellow traveller named Joe Miller. An interesting fellow on a short tour on his BMW cycle. He shared many stories of an interesting life. We have a like for Costa Rica in common where he owns a bit of land near Jaco. We sang and strummed all night and had a grand old time. We were probably a bit too noisey, but I think we were all having too much fun to notice.

Friday 7/18
Spotted a woodpecker I mistook for a Pileated because of the red "crest". I have yet to get a good picture, but I am 90% sure it is a red-naped sapsucker; beautiful birds, they seem to travel in pairs. Following the advice of our camp hosts, Rodger and Rita (from Kentucky, more on them later) we went down to Colter Bay and hiked the Swan Lake/Heron Pond trails. It was about 4 mile RT and the scenery was varied from thick Lodgepole woods to wide open meadows of wildflowers and sagebrush to marshy ponds to lakeside vistas looking out onto the Teton range. I would really like to add a Moose to my wildlife spotting journal, but still no moose. Sarah explained that moose hang out or near the willow flats and the surrounding woods. I had forgotten that one of her jobs in Alaska was as a field research assistant where she tracked moose behavior.

The Tetons are quite spactacular. As people said they do remind me of the sawtooth mountains. There are a few differences I have noticed. The Tetons extend a shorter range than the long Sawtooths (20 peaks over 10k feet). The Tetons however seem more extreme, perhaps because of our vantage point. At almost all viewings you are looking out across Jackson Lake from which they spring immediately into the air. There is very little build up to them in the way of foothills. I suppose we are camped IN the foothills. Whatever, when you see the tetons they just tower there as if someone just carved them out of a solid block of rock and plopped them down on the far side of the lake. I hear there was huge snowpack this year and the Devide trail is impassable by none but the most experienced of climbers.

Saturday 7/19
We went for a drive to the northern boundry into an area called the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway. It is confusing but that is the name of the area, not the road. The gravel road that passes through it is pretty rough. We went in about ten miles to Grassy Lake resevoir. There was more amazing scenery, the grassy meadows we are becoming used to, ringed by the lodgepole forrests, willow flats surrounding rivers and creeks (still no moose!) finally climbing to a towering view over the large Grassy Lake Resevoir. One of the highlights for me was the road early on where the NFS maintains primitive and FREE campsites along the Snake River. The River is lined by willows and flows through a valley westward towards commanding views of the Tetons. I have posted some photos of this. More wildflowers. The new one I remember is called Bear Club I think; tall green stalks topped with conical bundles of white flowers.

That evening we were joined by Rita and Rodger. I forgot to mention that on our first day at Lizard Creek campground Rodger found my wallet floating in the lake. apparently it had slipped out of my pocket. We got a bottle of wine and asked them to join us. They would not accept the cash we offered them for going to the trouble of locating us. My wallet had Sarah's fishing liscense in it which had her phone number. They are in their sixties and shortly after retiring hiked 1000 miles of the appalachian trail. They had not been into back-packing before then. They had some great stories and advice and were very sweet in general. They are encouraging us to do some back-packing which we are both a bit apprehensive about. But after talking with them I am much more interested.

Sunday 7/20
Today we went to Colter Bay where we did laundry and took showers and had a hearty breakfast at the Chuckwagon. We then went down to Jackson Lake Lodge so I could use the WiFi to upload some photos and "check the net". The lodge has and amazing view of the Tetons out a set of three towering windows. On the back observation deck it overlooks a large willow flat which is supposed to provide good moose spotting in the mornings (still no moose for me). We then returned to Colter Bay and set out for the Hermitage Loop trail. This is about 9 miles round trip. Similar scenery to the Swan Lake trail except thicker woods and a great overlook to the Tetons. we got spooked by the sound of breaking branches just past the halfway point. It was like a bear was climbing a tree or scratch-marking a tree. we decided to take the cautious route and returned the way we came. After this relatively short hike we were both sore and tired. We had a bite to eat and went fast asleep.

Monday 7/21
Rainy day. We drove past Moran to the town of Dubois. 48 miles. Really a beautiful drive through the Shoshone NF, past the towering Breccia Cliffs and then through these painted hills just before Dubois. 26 followed Blackrock creek which was a grassy banked meandering classic western stream and then Wind River. Passed the continental divide for the first time at 9,658 ft. Sarah bought sardines in Dubois to satisfy a craving which put a big smile on her face.

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