Grand Teton National Park...We Have Elk!

We began today's journey in Rawlins, WY and headed toward Grand Teton National Park. Just the drive out there is absolutely amazing. Kate and I were taking pictures as fast as we could. We went through Red Rocks Canyon near Dubois, WY which was awesome. I'm running out of adjectives to describe the landscape so I'll let my pictures do the talking for me.


As we got closer to the park, we saw a mountain rainge in front of us that had to be the Grand Tetons, so we were excitedly snapping photo after photo.


What we didn't realize, was that those mountains were just the warm up act for the Grand Tetons. We came around a bend and WOW!

We pulled into the park and went to our campsite at Colter Bay. Most of the camping areas are located around Jackson Lake which is the crystal blue lake with huge mountaisn framing it. Again, just see for yourself. Even the pictures don't really do it justice. This is one of those things you have to experience for yourself.


After we got camp set up, we decided to go for a hike around the lake to a spot called Swan Lake and Heron Pond. We were hoping to see some wildlife and we weren't disappointed. As we were standing on the bank, we saw an osprey and some white pelicans. Who knew there were pelicans in Wyoming? Then, all of a sudden, Kate ripped the binoculars out of my hands. She spotted an elk just across the lake. We don't know whether it was male or female, becasue the males don't have their antlers yet this time of year. We got a couple of pics from the distance. This was our first major wildlife spotting of the trip, which isn't bad since we had only been in the park a couple of hours.


We got a little lost on the way back, but we found our way. You feel a little silly as you hike because you have to clap your hands and sing to scare bears off the trail. You feel pretty dumb when people come by and look at you funny.


That's it for today. More to come from Grand Teton...

~Andy