Grand Tetons

August 16, 2007
Today we finished up our day in Grand Teton National Park and crossed the 6000 mile mark (we have been mile heavy the last few days). The highlight in the category of animal sightings was a pair of bull moose. The only bummer is that I couldn’t pull over and park. One guy had already gotten stuck in the loose dirt on the shoulder. He buried himself pretty good. I dropped off Sheri, who took some pictures and then walked to where we could park. The highlight in the category of activities was a hike we took. The neat thing about this hike is that you rode a boat to the trailhead and then hiked up to waterfalls and a 500 foot overlook (that is 500 foot above the lake, elevation was 7200). Brandon, Bailey, and I stopped at the waterfall and waited for Sheri and the older boys to complete the overlook portion of the hike. The highlight in the category of entertainment was an evening outdoor gunfight/show that takes place each evening in Jackson Hole, Wyoming right in the middle of the town (they shutdown an intersection for it). When I had first heard about this, I envisioned an old western shootout between the good guys and the bad guys. I set the expectation a little too high. It was put on by the local theatre so it appealed to the musical folks. It was more like guys and gals singing and dancing with a few gunshots mixed in. Still entertaining, but not quite the "shoot em up" I expected. Our next stop is Glacier National Park. However, it will take us 2 days to get there. We actually have to back track through Grand Teton and Yellowstone Parks to get back up to Montana.
August 15, 2007
Today we left Yellowstone and drove down to Grand Teton National Park. There are only 7 miles between the parks, so essentially they are connected. Most people cover both parks. However, they are very different. Grand Teton does not have any thermal features, but has more magnificent views and landscape. The towering Teton range spurts up and the views with the lake in front are beautiful. We didn’t see any wildlife today other than a bald eagle, but we are told they have similar wildlife to Yellowstone. The highlight of today was the evening ranger talks at 7 and 9 pm. The 7 pm talk was on the pronghorn antelope, which is quite a strange creature. The thing I found the most interesting is that it runs 70 mph but it won’t jump fences like mule deer or elk. Another really good talk was at 9pm on the Raven. These creatures are incredibly intelligent. They actually have a symbiotic relationship with wolves. Wolf scientists have proven time and time again that ravens will show a wolf pack where an injured animal, or other available kill is so that they can kill it. Then the ravens will dine with the wolves. Coyotes, on the other hand, will kill the raven if it tires to share in their kill. Our ranger had many fascinating stories that proved how smart the raven really is. My favorite was that Ravens will kill a squirrel but without a sharp beak they cannot puncture its hide. So they have developed a good mechanism for getting it open. They drop it in the road and wait for a car to run over it! I must admit that when I heard the talk was on ravens, I was thinking I’d be bored. However, the presenter, the amazing raven behavior, and the stories she told were well worth attending.
August 14, 2007
Today was our last full day in Yellowstone and a full day it was. We left our site around 10 and arrived at the Old Faithful geyser area around 11 am. The boys received their junior ranger badges and then signed up for a young scientist program. The program is a pilot program they just started this year in the Geyser area. Its similar to the junior ranger program where they have a workbook with questions and activities that require you to go and find answers in the geological features. The boys really liked the scientist program because they had a tool backpack that you borrowed for the program. In it they included an infared thermometer. The kids really liked that fun gadget. Old Faithful is actually one of 50 or so geysers. It’s the most predictable and one of the largest, but not the highest. However, they are all similar, so seeing Old Faithful covers about 80 percent of the experience. The upper geyser basin in Yellowstone is one of four areas in the world. The other three areas are in Iceland, New Zealand, and somewhere in Siberia. We finally left the old faithful area around 6 or so and went to another mud hole area. There a small volcano erupted in 1870 so you can view what remains. On the way we saw a huge bull elk, but we didn’t get a picture before he bedded down in some tall grass. We also saw a badger at the gas station, but once again I missed the photo. Another missed photo was an osprey with a fish in its talons. That one would have been a great photo because he flew right by an erupting geyser. But sometimes the eye is faster than the finger. We also saw another bison walking down the middle of the road. They must prefer to travel by road. We finally arrived back at the site around 8:30. Tomorrow we will go to the Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole. Then we will work our way up to Glacier National Park in Montana.