6th National Park
In Nevada. 7th State
Category: Adventures Page 6 of 10
You would think we would’ve had a great night sleep in a hotel but it was quite the opposite. We miss our little cocoon.
We woke up early and went for a walk to liberty Park, I was beautiful little park located at 600E 900S. And the city and court building located in the middle of a park in Washington square was a really cool building.
We picked up the RV and drove out to Antelope Island to see the Great Salt Lake. The girls are not impressed and do not think it is that great, but I think that’s just due to the amount of mosquitoes that are out here and the smell of brine shrimp. We did see both antelope and a bison as we drove to our campground, Bridger Campground. I would’ve gone swimming because I wanted to float in the salt, but I don’t think Edwin would’ve let me back into the bed, let alone the RV.
The sunset was beautiful though as promised
We camped right over the hill from Sundance so we decided to go check it out. Edwin and I both have a soft spot for Robert Redford in general which was reinforced 15 years ago when we ran into him at the SFO airport. He was just as handsome and rugged then as he was in the movies.
We thought we would’ve made it farther for fall colors, but this is where we are no and the it is beautiful. The road over the the pass however was treacherous with the size of our RV and somewhat forgetting it was Sunday and everyone and their mother would be driving on this road to look a the fall colors and take photos.
We made it to Sundance, but I really don’t know how to write this without getting completely annoyed all over again. It really was beautiful, but we were highly put off that we weren’t allowed to walk along the trails without buying a lift ticket to the top. Ok, fine, we’re at Sundance, lets do it. We’ll buy the tix and have nachos at the top of the hill and walk down and enjoy the sunshine, views, colors.
The said the top was open until 4pm. We get up there at 3:25pm and although their bar/cafe is supposed to be open until 3:30pm they said they were closed. It was insult to injury as nachos are being delivered by trays to everyone sitting there. They would not sell us anything, not even chips because they said they were closed. Edwin did even attempt to bribe the cook, kindly of course. All we wanted was some food. At this point we were starving as we had been waiting to have a lovely snack on top of the hill. There are some law-abiding folks in this area. No ifs ands or butts… Some other travelers were kind enough to share with us some granola bars that they wouldn’t be eating because…well…they ordered their NACHOS ten minutes before us. I’m glad it makes sense on their last day open of the season that they pack their remaining food down instead of selling out.
Fine, we’ll walk on down. I was a bit cranky to put it mildly, but was even more put off when we weren’t allowed to walk down in the sun because that trail was not open. Only the one in the shade of course was open. Then 1/2 way down the mountain where the sun was shining again…guess what…not open to walkers, only bikers. It was probably just me being cranky but their customer service was not what I was wanting it to be.
Nonetheless we had grand old time riding up the lift, the girls had their own, and the girls though I was being pretty funny on the way down because they’re not always used to hearing me being slightly belligerent.
Now we are that grand old Park City RV resort because we need a night where we can plug in, be warm, take a shower. Back to Salt Lake tomorrow to drop off the RV generator…can hardly wait.
After being traumatized by being in back in civilization for a day in Salt Lake we found the Timpooneke campground in the Uinta National Forest southwest of Salt Lake. Today was the first day in a long while we woke up in the RV and did NOT move it for any reason and went to bed. It was a much needed day of staying in one place.
We had fun shooting bow and arrows, playing around the campsite, building a fire, Edwin worked on getting more solar panels working, and most importantly, no driving the RV to a destination, going to the store etc…
We did walk around the trails in the campground and thought there were a lot of cars and realized half of Salt Lake came up to the mountains to take their fall foliage pictures for their annual family picture/Christmas card. Back to our little secluded campground we go.
But Isabella did talk me into doing a quick little photo shoot the two of them. She asked for a family one and I said if you can get dad to say yes then sure. Dad was working on the solar so it was a sister shoot. I was even talked into new grabbing out my big camera so most of them are on there but here’s a quick few from my phone
So the reason we did the crazy drive to Salt Lake was for a few reasons. 1. It was the easiest way for my mom to get home 2. The cheapest ($2000 to fly home from the town of Jackson). Too bad we didn’t run into a Hollywood star that my mom could’ve flown home with. 3. But really because our generator started smoking like crazy in Yellowstone and there is a Cummins dealer in Salt Lake. It only has 30 hours on it and we needed to get it fixed.
We had an appointment this am at 9am and were hoping it would be a quick fix. When Edwin fired it up they said they have to bring in the vehicle to their bay to check it out. We decided to be efficient and grab our laundry which we were in need of doing and taking an Uber to the laundromat thinking it would be fixed in the time it took to do laundry. No such luck. They called midway through the wash cycle saying that they would need the vehicle/generator for a week. That they could take out the generator and we could have our RV back and come back next week. Bummer. Then they called another 30 minutes later with more bad news. Taking out the generator would not be so easy and they didn’t have the time/manpower to take it out today so we would have to return on Monday to take out the generator, then return next Friday to pick it back up. Or, pick up the RV and fix it at another location on our route. Double bummer. But we kind of need our generator. Especially with going through cold water, wanting hot showers etc…
So we are making the most of it. I guess this is part of the RV life. We decided to go check out Sundance for a few days, hit up the great Salt Lake and will return on Monday.
Laundry at a laundromat. The girls were excited about what a laundromat is…that quickly faded once we entered. But this is also part of RV living
We are now back in our RV, have clean clothes, and are figuring out what to do next.
I’m so happy my mom came on the trip. I think it was great for her and we all enjoyed having her with us. We did a speed drive to Salt Lake City to get her on an airplane. We are going to miss you mom.
The original plan was to leave this morning but after the snowy weather yesterday and the bluebird day today we decided to push it. We woke up early this morning. My mom‘s flight was at 8pm so with the 5 hour drive to Salt Lake City we wanted to be in the car leaving by 1pm 1:30pm the absolute latest. Which also meant our turn around time from the canyon was around 11am.
It was essentially just a speed drive through down to Salt Lake. We drove from Wyoming to Idaho back to Wyoming down into Utah.
Utah. State number 6.
What a beautiful day!! An amazing day actually! The forecast said it would be clear today and it was. We woke up early because we wanted to get in a hike today before we drove my mom to the airport. It was a blissful 23 degrees when we woke up to watch the sunrise over the Grand Tetons. Not a cloud in the sky. Days like this is why you are here. On our drive to Jenny Lake we saw another male standoff, this time between 2 bull elk and their harem. The one bull elk with 15 just bugled and the other elk’s 5 females went over to the larger male.
The kids were not happy to be getting up early to go for a walk, especially since it was pretty cold outside…but we could not pass up this day. It was a an amazing bluebird day. The boat rides across Jenny Lake closed last week because of weather so it added on an extra 3 miles, which I was a bit nervous about at first since my mom was with us. Our goal was to hike into Cascade Canyon, right at the base of Grand Teton and Teewinot. Along the way we hiked to hidden falls and inspiration point. I’m so happy we did not do this hike yesterday as intended because I bet we would’ve turned around 1/2 mile in since it was snowing, but to not have done it would have been a sincere bummer.
We were up and out on the trail early. We were the first ones in the parking lot. The weather was still brisk but the sun felt so good. It was beautiful walking around Jenny lake through all the aspens. Everything about the hike was great. The crankiness of the morning wore off by mile 2, we found hidden falls because the trail led straight there (not so hidden falls :)), were “inspired” at inspiration point, and made it up to the canyon, and there was not a cloud in the sky the whole time. My mom did great. So happy we stayed for today. I love it here.
We’ve been camping on the Gros Ventre River down by the southern entrance of the park. The valley here is known for moose and boy have we been seeing moose. This morning we were going to go for a hike in cascade canyon but it was ugly outside. We were going to go anyway, but as we started driving towards the park it was especially gray and gloomy so we turned around and went back to camp. I’m happy we did because right inside camp about 4 RVs away were a group of people with cameras so I went to go check it out. MOOSE, MOOSE, MOOSE, and another MOOSE. There were 3 bulls and 1 female. no pics just enjoyed.
There was a bull moose in the trees with a female. Another bull started approaching from the right and when it got to about 30 feet away it bedded down. Assuming it was a submissive move. As the bull on the right bedded down another bull moose started approaching from the left. The middle bull moose now bedded down. Now the female who was with the male in the middle started approaching the bull on the left. When the bull on the left and the female were about 30 feet away from each other the middle bull moose got up and started following the female and then the male on the left retreated. The female then went back into the trees with the middle bull moose in the trees. This all happened as we were only about 40 yards away. Real life nature show.
We decided to check out the visitor center in the southern entrance waiting for it to stop snowing. The visitor center was beautiful. There were floor to ceiling windows, a giant indoor fireplace, and fantastic displays. Here’s my daily knowledge bit…
Grand Teton National became a National Park in 1929. The Grand Tetons have some of the oldest rocks dating back to 2.5 – 2.7 billion years old and the granite and gneiss rocks compose the “core” of the range.
The Grand Tetons were formed primarily from Earthquakes and Glaciers. There is a large fault (the Teton Fault) running north and south along the Tetons. The west block rose to form the Teton Range while the east block went under the west block to creat the valley called Jackson Hole. Then glaciers came and formed the valleys between the Teton mountain range to see what we see today. One of the reasons the Tetons are so spectacular and dramatic is because they jut upward seemingly almost out of nowhere and reach peaks up to 13,775 feet. Because the fault lies directly to the East of the mountain range, there are no foothills or smaller mountains to take away from the grandeur of the Grand Teton mountain range. The Grand Tetons are the youngest mountain range in the Rocky Mountains. The Shoshone people called the whole range Teewinot meaning “many pinnacles” and the French renamed them the Grand Tetons.
When we were ready to go for our hike, it was still snowing and so we changed course and decided to drive into the the town of Jackson for a late lunch and shopping. Jackson feels like an Aspen. Everything is very expensive, the conversations you hear people having are annoying, but its a fun a place to spend an afternoon. For how beautiful the Tetons are I could move to this area, but I don’t know if I could handle Jackson year round. I did find this amazing store and had fun spending $20,000 worth of hand made furniture in my head that I easily could’ve bought within an hour 😉
Their town square has 4 giant Elk Antler Arches that have served as entrances since 1960. The local Boy Scouts collect the antlers from the nearby National Elk Refuge nearby where 7,500 elk spend their winter. The bulls shed their antlers in March, are collected by the local Boy Scouts, and the arches are built by the Jackson Hole Rotary Club. The antlers are then sold by public auction each year in May. Looks like troop 6 is in need of a field trip #Ed Guzman & Roger Storm 🙂
We had a tasty Asian fusion lunch at Tiger Teton followed by a bit more touristy window shopping. We then drove to the Jackson Hole Ski Resort to check it out. Seemed cool, very big, I’d like to go skiing there, but I have to say my first thought was, it looks like fun, but if its this cold in the beginning of October, what is it like to ski here???
We got back to camp early enough to go enjoy a bike ride and watch the sunset behind the Tetons. And surprise…another moose in the field. We watched him for awhile as he crossed the field and ended up walking right through the campground not even 40 feet from us. Now after seeing 4 more bull moose’s since yesterday I’m realizing just how big that sucker was yesterday. Anyway, good way to end the evening and now its time for bed because tomorrow is supposed to be sunny 🌞 so we plan to do the Cascade Canyon hike tomorrow before we take my mom to Salt Lake City to fly home. Goodnight 😴
Although we are on our own schedule I feel like we haven’t stopped moving. Part of it is there is so much to do and see and part of it is the weather. We have to fit some of this in before the weather really changes. We got back from our walk and went straight to the visitor center in Colter Bay to get the girls started on their junior ranger badges for Teton. Its interesting seeing the difference in all the rangers within the various parks.
This visitor center up near Colter Bay has a big focus on Native American culture and features different artists each week. Edwin bought the girls obsidian arrow point necklaces from Willy a member of the Shoshone / Blackfoot tribes. His wife Debbie, also a member of the Shoshone tribe makes jewelry from beads and porcupine quills. She explained that porcupines do NOT “shoot” their quills. In fact, you can catch porcupines safely if you grab from under their tail. She removes less than 25% of its quills so they still have some for defense. Within 6 weeks the quills grow back. I asked how has my dog, well old dog Dozer, has been “attacked” three times by porcupines. She explained that porcupines only slam their tail upwards in defense if something gets close. While the girls are spending time doing their homework in the visitor center it gave us time to hang out and talk to the artists and one the rangers who is also from a local tribe. Willy, the artist who specializes in obsidian and arrow heads appreciated the time and ended up giving the girls a piece of obsidian before its in its final form. He then demonstrated how he works with the obsidian. Not with hammers and screwdrivers…but he uses elk antler, deer antler, and buffalo skin to protect his hand and thigh. Edwin then decided to go out and grab our Hungarian bows to show him and it was pretty cool how excited he was to see a similar style of bow just with a different type of artistry.
Oh yeah, and no big deal…but the Debbie’s great great grandfather was Sacajawea’s brother.
The ranger, Laine Thom, who was working this morning was also featured in the exhibit. Here’s some other Native American information we read.
Indians used the brains of the bison to preserve the hides of the buffalo. Brains contain oils which lubricate the hide fibers and allow them to be softened by pulling and stretching. The hides were then smoked to complete the tanning process. Tanned hides were cleaned by rubbing with a pumice stone or clay ball because washing them would remove the tanning oils. These brain-tanned hides can remain soft and pliable for centuries.
Indian women’s most valuable item was their sewing pouch. With their sewing pouch they could prepare and sew their family’s tipi, make moccasins, and other clothing.
We decided to change campgrounds so we could check out the southern part of the park where you have a better chance of spotting moose. We called ahead, and there was only 1 spot left. We high-tailed it down there and yes we got it. Edwin and I have been having good luck with our camping spot mojo. On top of that we heard there was a moose in the campground near the amphitheater so we followed the people with their giant cameras. Not only was their one moose but 3. Two females and one giant bull moose. How lucky are we. They were bedded down and just hanging out. We were pretty close, and stuck next to a bunch of trees just in case.
The sun was out. We got a camping spot. We just saw moose. It was only lunchtime and the day was already feeling complete. Actually we saw 3 moose. A bull and 2 females. They were right at the edge of the campground in the meadow near the road. Its easy to see a moose because really you spot about 10-20 people with 2 foot long cameras in bunches. This bull moose was impressive. He was huge! The rangers said it was the biggest bull moose they have seen in a while. We felt lucky. And we were close. About 30 feet away. With 2 females nearby. All 3 were bedded down so we just hung out behind a tree and watched for awhile.
We finished our afternoon with a hike to Taggart Lake and the aspens are really starting the change color. It was a beautiful trail and just felt good to feel the sun on us for a change. It was still cold, but at least we were able to take off our down jackets for a change.
Quick tidbit on the science behind fall colors…During the spring and summer, leaves use sunlight to generate food for the plant. Chlorophyll harnesses the sun’s energy to covert carbon dioxide CO2 and water into carbohydrates or food. This gives leaves their green color. In the fall, with less daylight hours and lower temperatures, the leaves stop generating food. The chlorophyll breaks down and the green color disappears allowing other pigments to become visible. The yellow/orange colors are from carotenoids (easy to remember – carrot – orange/yellow). The leaves that generate red pigments, anthocyanins are due to excess water and sugars. Temperature and moisture control the intensity and duration of the colors.
We made it back to camp at a reasonable hour after a quick stop at Mormon Row and Edwin made the most delicious salmon alfredo pasta. Feeling especially grateful this evening. Goodnight.
