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Published: November 11th 2009
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Neighbors
These three like a free meal in our yard every once in a while Liz posting:
After arriving in the Jackson area- actually
just south of Hoback Junction - we are finally settled in. The hard, windy drive from Colorado to Jackson was not that fun, but arriving to my aunt's house with glasses of wine and beer nearly poured for us was.
Saturday was a really long, full day. We started by going to the Jackson Hole Ski Club's annual fundraiser- the Ski Swap. The swap features all gear related to skiing. Mark and I scored! We were each able to buy a pair of ski pants, ski boots, skis, $2 dollar t shirts, and a number of warm jackets for a low, low price. In fact, I found a jacket very similar to one I had almost purchased the day before. Though the first jacket was deeply discounted from $340 to $138, I passed. Lucky I did because the jacket I found at the swap was only $10! It does, however, have a lot of embroidery which features a wizard (lizzard the wizard as mark is saying), the words "Jackson Hole Ski Club" and a name on the front- Brad. So for this winter I am Brad in my ten dollar jacket. Hell yeah. Maybe someone
New neighbors getting used to us
Its not only the humans in the neighborhood who are a little skeptical of the new neighbors. These guys came up right next to the window. will mistake me for an actual skier? It should not go unmentioned that the ski swap was held at Jackson's indoor rodeo grounds. This was our very first exposure to the cowboy skiing my aunt keeps mentioning. Also, as we walked through the racks, my aunt would point out with true admiration the many talented skiers and snowboarders who were also trying to score deals. There were even ex-Olympians hanging out. We definitely felt like we were at the cool place to be.
Later in the day we did a run-through with the owners of the house we are renting/care taking- J & L. This couple has a great sense of adventure, too, and a beautiful house. My aunt had mentioned that their house was nice, but we weren't sure what to expect. It has everything we need and more. I am sure we will post more about our great digs at some point.
After the introduction to the house, Mark and I introduced ourselves to the "foothills." We live behind one of the National Elk refuge winter feeding grounds and took a "walk" in the area before it closes to the public on December 1st. Basically, we
Oh, Deer.
I'm pretty sure these aren't the last set of pictures you will see of these guys. hiked straight up for an hour and eventually found something that we considered a peak, so that we didn't feel like the mountain had beat us the first day. I'm telling you, I was not prepared for how challenging this "walk" would be. Mark and I both had burning lungs and near tears coming out of our eyes for a large portion of the walk up. At one point I wanted to turn back down, but Mark said he needed to feel like he had accomplished something and would keep going until we hit the top. First lesson of mountain hiking-
just when you think you have reached the top, it keeps going and going and going. I don't think I felt that out of breath during any point of my three and a half hour triathlon. We finished off the day with a great dinner at my aunt and uncles.
After our little walk on Saturday almost did us under, we (read: me) were a little nervous about going on a "walk" with my insanely fit aunt. In my family, S has been known to take us on "little up and overs." These little "up and overs"
The neighborhood
Yep, thats where we live, and yes, thats how far we are going down. This was taken on our long hike on sunday on the Greyback Ridge. were never little and usually resulted in the person or persons dragging themselves "over" whatever peak they were reaching. I believe I was too young to ever really experience these, but I certainly remember my dad coming back from these little adventures saying something like "****, ****, ******, S tried to kill me,*****." I also remember when two family friends came to Wyoming with us and went on a hike and the wife literally fell off the trail on the spine of a mountain and landed upside down in a tree. Right after getting up, she found herself running away from lightening strikes as a storm rolled in. Knowing all this and still feeling a little burning in my lungs, I was a little hesitant to sign-up for a little four to five hour "up and over" on Sunday. My uncle even said to us, after we decided to go for it, "Oh, I'm not going, this is all on S."
Sunday we went on the hike. Kitted out with layers and layers, we were warm and had a great time. S was right, the "walk" was fine and we didn't almost die. It was too muddy for my
tastes at points, but all in all it was a nice, reasonably challenging "walk." If you were wondering why I keep saying "walk" it is because that is what my aunt says. I'm pretty sure she doesn't call anything a hike unless she ascends 3,000 to 4,000 feet in less than half a mile. Anyone else, we think, would call them hikes. We were also glad that S had the foresight to take us on this particular walk because it ends in our backyard. As she went along, she was teaching us about the National Forrest land trails that we can access and how to not get lost. Which is very important.
Monday we job searched. I think that call for a separate entry, so I will skip it.
Tuesday, yesterday, we did a number of chores at the new house, and went for a hike nearby at
Willow Creek . We did about an hour up- yes, straight up, again- and an hour down. Again, it was tough (more for me, I think), but once we reached the top of the ridge, the views were extremely rewarding. In the distance we could see the Grand Teton peak sneaking through
Vista
The views make the huffing and puffing all worth it. the clouds.
As we were heading down the trail, we heard some rustling in the trees. Along with the whistling wind, the eerie creaking of the aspens and the calls of the birds whizzing above our heads, it is very easy to be paranoid in these woods. Looking around, we saw nothing and wrote it off to a busy squirrel or something similar. But then that sound again. It sounded bigger and more controlled than a squirrel. We stood still. Nothing. We walked a few steps, there it was again. Standing still again, nothing. I decided to investigate a little more by back tracking about fifteen steps. Through the trees, glaring at me I saw the dark, dark brown body of something very large that did not appear to have long legs. Oh, ****, a bear. Two more steps towards it just to make sure (I know, what the **** was I thinking?). Oh thank god, long legs. Its just a moose. Just a moose. A young, bull with budding paddles. He thought his game of walk away, stand still, walk a little further away, stand still had alluded whatever it was coming nosily toward him, but he was
Liz and Aunt
We look very serious here...maybe her more than me... wrong. He took one look at us and trotted off at a good pace in the opposite direction. And there it was, our first close encounter of the moose kind.
As we continued to descend to the trail head, we also caught a glimpse of a young, male white tailed deer and were caught in a number of light snow flurries.
More fun to come, we hope. I know our dedicated readers our on the edge of their seats...hehe. Thanks for reading!
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Ian
non-member comment
Awesome
Hey guys - congrats on making it out there. The pics look awesome, very scenic "back yard" you have. . . how is Best Buy or Target going to build a store in those hills though?? I wanted to tell you both - I have family friends who live west of Cheyenne (I know it's a bit of a hike). They are great people and love me (Mark they were at my wedding but I dont know if you met them). Anyhow, if you guys are travelling to/from Denver or just need a taste of some "Back East" folks let me know and I can put you in touch with them. They'd love to meet you guys and hook you up w/ some home cooking, etc. Enjoy it out there. I'll say hi to the ocean for you here. . . . - Ian