Virginian Lodge Jackson

... Lake where the Snake River is dammed to enjoy some more quiet reading time. After getting back to our campsite, Andrew received a voicemail from our real estate company in Portland, letting us know that the apartment we had secured had flooded and was uninhabitable. We scrambled through dinner and then headed back to Jackson to use the internet at the most fantastic honkey tonk pub we have ever seen (over a dozen elk heads ...

... Hayden Valley with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains. We stopped at Canyon Village and took a short walk to look at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Lower Falls, where a large waterfall dropped into a long narrow canyon with white and yellow sulfur sidewalls. Here we also got to experience the huge crowds that people complain about at Yellowstone. After the Falls we went on to the ...

... so riesig dass er nicht auf ein foto passt und die bilder der realität schlicht nicht gerecht werden. ist doch auch schön, dass nicht alles mit einer digicam aufgenommen werden kann, ich hab die bilder stattdessen mit meinen eigenen instinkten aufgenommen und kann jedem grand teton besucher nur empfehlen, den ca 1 stündigen aufstieg auf sich zu nehmen!<br>

... br><br><br>Heaps of wildflowers line the approach trail to Garnett Canyon<br><br><br>The Middle Teton and the famous black dike that splits its east face (look for the stark black line in the middle of the peak!)<br><br><br>Ben ...

... waiting to see the Old Faithful geyser go off, which I found to be a bit dissappointing! But it was on time!<br><br>By the time I left Yellowstone it was nearly dark and I still had about an hours drive to Jackson and arrived there around 9pm. Next to Yellowstone is Grand Teton national park which I will check out more tomorrow. The first night in Jackson was a quiet one, I went to a nearby Mexican ...

... have seen so much wildlife during our trip and now we would only stop for bears, moose or wolves. Okay so we stopped again tonight to see a herd of elk in the Tetons. It is still awesome to see these animals in their own habitat. Kevin and I discussed our hike for tomorrow and decided to forgo the backpacking trip due to my swollen foot and blisters on my other foot. We have plenty of options for day hikes and/or renting bicycles tomorrow...maybe we can get in some fishing.

... and started climbing to the foot of the lower Exum route, on the south face of Grand Teton. There was a section of fixed rope, then we're there at the start of the climb. Seeing another party ready to start, Dirk quickly made a go for it so we could be ...

... Pardon me, but I did my research beforehand on what bears can do to humans! It turns out we had a better idea anyway: rock jumping. I had never done this before and I was a little nervous, but it was meant to happen anyway. What a blast it was. There are few things quite as exhilarating as hurling yourself off a rock into an unknown abyss, that for all I know, could be filled with rocks right below the surface. I lucked out. But you could ...

... and we really felt luck wasn't on our side. After another great day of cruising around Grand Teton, seeing various sights, watching the wildlife and generally just taking it easy enjoying the park, with the sun having long ago set beyond the mountains and in virtual darkness, Kirilee suggested that what could it hurt, making one last trip up to Colter Bay to see if we might finally see the foxes. It was well past 10pm when we went up there, rolling into the car ...

The Tetons are beautiful....unfortunately we were pretty much shot at this point, so we didn't do much here. We got out of the car, walked around a little bit, took a couple pictures, went to a small visitor center (I don't think this is the main one, it just seemed way too small) and that was pretty much it. Oh well, Tetons go on the list of places we need to get back to and do some backcountry.