Hello Everyone,
I can’t believe that we’ve been away from Albany for a month already; it’s really flown by! We are in an amazing campground that sits along the Gros Ventre River. We’ve been exploring and birding and fishing and it’s simply beautiful... The first thing we were told when we checked in on Friday was that there had been a large bear walking right through the campground the day before. They wanted to make everyone aware so they could be extra vigilant; not that we’re not being cautious anyway:) This area is loaded with wildlife, elk, bison and moose and of course bear. There are signs of them everywhere. For those that don’t know there is scat (basically, animal poop!!) and tracks all over the ground. You learn that you need to be aware of this since it’ll help you avoid an encounter if you see anything fresh :) I am often torn between being quiet on my explorations throughout our travels in these beautiful natural surroundings and especially when birding or making enough noise to warn the wildlife that we’re coming through :)
It’s been getting very chilly here at night; mostly in the 40’s at night (thank goodness for warm comforters!) and then the low 80’s during the day. The weather has been quite beautiful for most of the trip...
We ran errands for a few hours in Jackson on Saturday and then came back to camp and went to the river to fish. I caught 2 fish and even took it off the hook myself! I’m finally beginning to feel much more comfortable fishing with my casting and mending my line and now taking fish off. That’s not to say I won’t be calling for help if I hook something that’s larger :)
I saw many water walkers (insects that stay on the surface of the water) on the river and it brought to mind when the boys were younger and how they used to be fascinated with them. I seem to be seeing everything on this trip through a kid’s eyes and can’t wait to someday be on an adventure with Rob, Mike and the their families....
On Sunday, we woke early and headed over to Phelps Lake again since there was a trail that we hadn’t hiked yet and there was also great birding in the area. Our intent was to walk this trail and then hike up towards the overlook to see if we could get some new birds. We didn’t realize that it was further around the lake than it appeared. Ultimately we walked the Lake Creek Trail to the Lakeside trail to Valley Trail to Death Canyon Trail. Therefore we came out of a trail head that we didn’t intend to and had to walk out to the road and back to our OTHER parking lot where we had parked the truck at the Rockefeller Preserve. As we were making our way down the final road I was seriously spent and luckily for us some nice guys saw us and offered us a lift which saved us the last mile of walking.... All in all, we hiked from 8:30 until around 2:45 and explored about 6 miles of beautiful scenery with level trails and switchbacks on Death Canyon Trail that led to the overlook of Phelps Lake and then the descent back down below. We were fortunate to see a bald eagle perched in a tree just above us at the closest range (about 50 ft) that either Ron or I had ever seen an eagle before. He was magnificent! We were also lucky to have a family of mule Deer cross right in front of us in a small meadow. the two youngsters from this year were so cute and stayed very close to mom and Dad....
We saw several new birds on this trip including the Green Tailed Towhee and the Brewer’s Sparrow. It’s been great going on a hunt for so many new birds to add to the life list... It’s like a mystery to solve, we check out the view through the binoculars and then I try to get some close-up shots with my telephoto lens (the camera is fabulous!!) and then we grab the bird book and problem solve until we identify them..
As I spoke to my good friend Jill today on the phone we discussed how small you can feel in an environment like the ones we have been exploring. You feel like such a speck in the universe when you look around the great expanse of woodland, meadows and mountains. This great expanse of nature is humbling...
I also talked to another great friend today and when Sandra asked me if I was homesick yet I had to say that actually I am not. IT is such a great adventure that the only thing I miss are my family and friends...
We came back to camp and rested a while and then Ron went off to fish while I organized camp for our departure in the morning and then relaxed and recovered some more....
We are leaving the Teton area which is a little sad because we’ve had such an amazing time here but we did get a great going away present. At the campground this morning we were breaking down camp and I asked Ron to go birding for a bit before leaving. It’s a good thing we did. Remember how I said that you have to keep your eye out for wildlife at all times? Well, as we were walking along the river Ron exclaims out, something I can’t repeat here, because right in front of us (about 50 yards) was a great big bull moose walking right towards us! My heart was pounding! We slowly started to back up and he kept pace with us as we made our way to the camper. Then, once we were at a safe distance, there came behind him another bull moose! What a sight!! They are massive; about 1200 lbs..... That’s not something that you see in your ‘backyard' everyday :)
(pictures to follow)
We are off to Baker’s Hole outside of West Yellowstone tomorrow where there is no cell coverage unless we drive to town. So it’ll be a while before I post again...
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