Mid August through end of season (September)

 9/28/2021

While at work on August 28^th a sow black bear with her two cubs decided to look for some berries just outside the store. They live near Jenny Lake and spend a lot of time in the Jenny Lake campground and around the lake. The rangers have to spend quite a bit of time keeping the tourists and the bears at a safe distance from each other. Because we were working we were only able to get a good photo of the sow.

The next day, as we were heading out of the campground to go to work, we came across three bull moose.

 The 30^th was one of our days off, so we took a drive to West Yellowstone. On the way out of the campground a bull moose was crossing the road from the edge of the campground to the interior area. It was within about 20 feet of our truck.

The next day we saw what we think is the same cow moose and baby that we saw near the trailer earlier in the season. They were both looking very healthy.

The 3^rd of September it was back to work. Crossing the road that leads from Gros Ventre campground to the highway was a bull moose who was loosing his velvet.

While at work, a red tail fox came strolling through the visitor center area.

On September 6th we saw a bull moose and a buck mule deer near the campground, while driving home from work.

On the way to work on the 8th we saw a couple of Blue Herons along the Gros Ventre river.

 While working on the 9^th, a dusky grouse decided to check out the store. 

September 13^th was another of our days off that found us driving to Yellowstone for the day. Between Jackson Lake Lodge and Colter Bay we saw a wolf in the field.

Matt and Lisa stopped by the 18^th while they were on their way from Philadelphia to San Diego. The night after they left we had a snow storm that left a good layer of snow on the peaks, so we decided to take a drive around for a look around.

On the way out of the campground there were a couple of mule deer bucks.

Once we got into the park, the weather was clear and we got a great view of the snow. 

My good friend Phil has asked where the pictures of the fish are. Well, here’s the only one I caught.

We will be leaving the Tetons in a couple days, so this will be our last post for a while.

 

Mid June through Mid August 2021

8/24/2021

Time flies when we’re having fun. I thought I had made another blog post in July, but when I went to write this post, I found I hadn’t done one since the middle of June. So…

June 28^th we went back to Yellowstone and stopped in a few locations we hadn’t been to lately. The Mud Volcano area was relatively empty of tourists, so we stopped there since we always like to take a look at Dragon’s Mouth. To our surprise, it appears that the side of the opening had partially collapsed, preventing the normal surge of water from rushing out the opening in waves.

A little further up the Hayden Valley we saw a beautiful field of blue wild flowers with a few geese and ducks hanging around.

Just over the next rise was a herd of bison.

Near there we saw a number of moms with young red dogs napping.

Just east of Mammoth Hot Springs we saw a group of elk with their young.

July 12^th we made a run to Idaho Falls. We just after sunrise and had a delightful view of the sun coming up behind the clouds, shining through the smoke from the fires in the western states.

Back in Yellowstone the 20^th of July we saw a number of mule deer near the road between West Thumb and Canyon.

On our way home we noticed a traffic jam on the Jackson Lake Dam. As we got to the jam a grizzly bear cub crossed the road in front of the car ahead of us.

Then we noticed, in the field across the road, three more bear cubs, though we couldn’t get very good pictures of them.

It turns out, these are the cubs that belong to a very famous sow – Number 399! She is probably the oldest grizzly bear in the area at 25 years old. She’s had litters of four cubs many times and these are her cubs from last year. She was out in the field somewhere, but we couldn’t see her.

July 26^th, Penny’s sister, brother-in-law and niece came up from Pocatello and we all took a hike to Taggart Lake. It is a beautiful alpine lake with creeks to cross as you hike out to it.

August 17^th it was back to Yellowstone for us. Left the campground at sunrise, but it took a little extra time because there was a mother elk and her calf in the campground. We couldn’t leave without taking a picture of them.

Then as we were driving out toward the highway from the campground, we came across two bull moose near the Gros Ventre River.

Up along Yellowstone Lake the smoke made for an interesting sight.

In the Hayden Valley were a couple of Trumpeter Swans in the Yellowstone River.

There were lots of bison in the Lamar Valley doing their rut thing. We parked and watched them for a while. Two of the bulls decided to get into a little tussle with each other.

On the way home we were able to get a photo of Lewis Falls. Still quite a bit of water flowing, even in the middle of summer.

I’ll try to post one more blog near the end of our season. We will leave here the end of the last week of September and plan on arriving in Oregon sometime the first week of October.

Mid May to Mid June

6/16/2021

The 18^th of May we took a drive up to Signal Mountain peak. The morning was calm and we were able to get a photo of the reflection of the Tetons in Jackson Lake as we drove to the junction.

 Along the road up to the peak we came across the bull elk in velvet.

The 21^st brought a storm into the park. Before we left the park we saw a very young buck mule deer in the bushes

As we drove into the park we saw a beautiful rainbow in front of the mountains.

That night we had a snow storm that restored some of the snow to the mountains. We wish it would happen every week. The next day the mountains had a new coating of snow.

Along the highway, east of the snake river is an 1800’s log cabin that was owned by one of the first people in favor of designating the area a national park.

 On the 24^th we drove up to Colter Bay and saw a lone grizzly bear.

On our way back through the park we saw a moose near the Taggart Lake trailhead.

The next day we saw the same moose again in the same area.

On May 31^st we decided to take our first hike. On the west side of Jenny Lake is, probably, the most popular hike in Teton National Park called Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. The hike starts near where we work and there are numerous ways to get there. You can hike around the lake either direction or you can take a shuttle boat across one or both ways. If you hike from our work location to the falls, the hike is 3.5 miles if you take the boat, you only have to hike a half mile between the boat dock and the falls. We decided to hike around.

As you walk around the lake there are openings through the trees where you can see the peaks of the Tetons and if you’re lucky to have a windless day, you can get a wonderful reflection of the peaks in the lake.

 

The falls are beautiful and you can’t see them until you go around the last corner on the path.

A half mile farther is Inspiration Point where you can get a panoramic view of Jenny Lake and the valley east of the Tetons.

 

Since we are not the greatest hikers in the world, it took us over 3 hours to get to Inspiration Point and we were very tired by that time, so we decided to take the boat back. Even with cutting three miles out of the hike, it took three days to recover.

June 2^nd we drove around the lower loop of Yellowstone. Along Yellowstone Lake we saw a healthy bull elk grazing.

On the 7^th we took another trip through Yellowstone. This time we saw a few Harlequin ducks at Le Hardy rapids.

Monday June 14^th found us, once again, driving around Yellowstone. In the canyon area we saw a group of people watching a cinnamon black bear. As it turns out it was a sow with two cubs. By the time we got parked and out of the truck they had headed into the woods and all we were able to get a picture of was one of the cubs.