Grand Teton National Park

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There was ice on the car top carrier, the temperature fell below freezing overnight. I was a little chilly under our sleeping bag. We got out our wool hats to wear on these cold nights to keep the body heat in. We took all our food and stoves out of the bear box, tied all the containers down on our cargo carrier and left for the Grand Tetons.

Heading out of Yellowstone we passed the Lewis Falls and followed the Lewis River which gradually worked it’s way down into a gorge several hundred feet down. As we were riding through the forest we got our first glimpse of the mighty Tetons. The closer we got the more impressive the mountains became. The Teton Mountains are massive rock formations over 12,000 feet. We got several nice pictures with the mountains over Jackson Lake and Jenny Lake, where we found our campsite for the night.

We drove into Jackson Hole, a town I am sure that got it’s name from being in a hole surrounded by mountains. It’s a typical western tourist town, with mostly clothing, jewelry and souvenir shops and lots of cowboy bars. The Mercantile Store had a great selection of taxidermist animals. The most expensive was an 8 foot grizzly bear for $8000. They had buffalo, long horn sheep, mountain lions, elk, pheasants, etc. We did our chores - grocery shopping, laundry - catching up on our blogs - since we finally had cell phone service.

Back at the campground, again with the bear container. We had to separate out anything that might have a food odor and put it into the box. Dave heard a bit of a commotion in the site across the street from ours. There were two rangers shagging a bear out the site, they were throwing stones and making lots of noise to move the bear along. Dave saw the small black bear as he was being chased. We later found out this was the second time within a half hour they had to chase him/her away.

The big problem with bears getting human food is that they then become aggressive. If a bear takes food he is tagged and taken away. If he has a second offense the bear is usually destroyed. That is why it is so important to keep your food away from the bears - it’s to save his life. There are heavy fines to camper who don’t follow the rules and the rangers check constantly.

Had a great campfire and made chicken soup for supper. We were trying to keep the smells down to a minimum, as to not attract the bear. Thankfully, tomorrow we will be leaving bear country and will not have to contend with any more bear boxes.

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