Tuesday morning, May 28th, we headed north out of Colorado into Wyoming. We woke up that morning to snow and sleet on the ground, and as we traveled into Wyoming, we found ourselves driving through snow, surrounded by snow-covered ground. It was beautiful and eerie!
We had to stop for some groceries at a Wal-Mart as it continued to snow.
The scenery in Wyoming was fascinatingly beautiful and not really what I expected!
Finally, as the sun began to set, we caught our first glimpse of the spectacular Grand Tetons!
We camped at Colter Bay RV park. It was probably my least favorite of our lodging arrangements, but it was functional and near a little general store, laundromat and gas. Plus, it was actually in the national park and had hook-ups.
Wednesday we woke up to glorious weather, perfect for a hike around Swan Lake in Grand Teton National Park! We started at the Visitor Center.
The kids were anxious to get started on earning their junior ranger badges!
The Heron Pond and Swan Lake loop is about 3 miles round trip. We started out on the hike and came across three young ladies who warned us that they had happened upon a black bear sow with cubs! They told us to be sure to make a lot of noise. It didn't take long with Audrey's incessant chattering to realize that we would probably not see any wildlife.
Luckily, we saw plenty of beautiful views!
 |
| Clark's Nutcracker |
We stopped for a mid-morning snack along the way.
 |
| Spoiler alert: the only wildlife we saw were squirrels and birds. |
Back at the visitor center, the kids were sworn in as Grand Teton Junior Rangers.
After lunch, we enjoyed some majestic views of the Tetons from a bridge over the lake.
We were then treated to a flyover from a bald eagle! God bless America!
Continuing south to Jenny Lake, we drove right by a coyote hunting near the road.
A stop at an overlook gave us more gorgeous vistas.
You learn quickly in national parks that when cars are stopped along a road and you see people with telescopes out, it's probably a good idea to find out what they're looking at. We came upon this "moose jam" and enjoyed spotting a female moose resting about 30 yards away.
After visiting the Jenny Lake area, I wanted to make a quick detour out to Mormon Row, some homesteads established in the 1890s by Mormon settlers. I can only imagine waking up to this view every day.
 |
| The kids enjoyed chasing prairie dogs while we looked around. |
Driving back up toward our campsites, we came upon another traffic jam and spotted a cinnamon-colored black bear in a clearing, probably 50 yards away!
Word on the street was that she had sent her cubs up into a tree for safety while she grazed nearby.
After dinner that evening, Mom, Dad, Audrey and I got a late start up Signal Mountain in an effort to watch the sunset. First, we were a little too late to actually see the sun set, and second, it was not the best view of the full Teton range. Plus, the better views were from a point on the way up the mountain, which we didn't realize until we got to the top and couldn't see the Tetons at all. Still, I captured a few shots of the beautiful sky that evening over the mountains.
Of course, an unlimited amount of time at Grand Teton National Park would be ideal. Only one full day there was just a taste, but we had to get on the road the next day to head north into Yellowstone!
No comments:
Post a Comment