Grand Tetons National Park,
Wyoming,
United States
Sunday, September 7, 2008
We left Cody Wyoming this morning in overcast, damp and cool weather. We are driving through the West Entrance of Yellowstone to the South Entrance into the Grand Tetons today. We stopped at the Buffalo Bill Dam just outside of Cody. Buffalo Bill Cody spent many years promoting and attempting to raise money for irrigating thousands of arid acres east of Cody from the Shoshone River. Construction began on October 19, 1905 and was completed January 15, 1910. The total cost of the dam was $929,658 (can you imagine what that would cost today!). The length of the completed dam was 70 feet at the base and 200 feet at the crest and the height in 1910 was 328 feet. The dam was modified and expanded adding another 25 feet to the height. There was a very informative visitor center at the dam where we spent a good bit of time. It is amazing that they had the technology in 1905 to build this structure. When the last concrete block was laid in the dam on Jan. 15, 1910 it was 15 below zero....burrrr. We headed on our way to Yellowstone then on to Moose, Wyoming. We drove nearly every road into and out of Yellowstone. We made a few more stops for pictures in Yellowstone as we rounded the huge Yellowstone Lake and headed for the South Entrance. As we got closer to the Grand Tetons the weather started to improve some. We took some pictures but they were so hazy. We found out later that there were some forest fires around the Cody area and that caused the haze. We drove up the scenic Signal Mountain. The view from the top is spectacular. On the west side of the mountain you have fantastic views of the Teton Mountains with Jackson Lake in the fore ground. On the east side of the mountain you have beautiful views of the Jackson Hole Valley. We drove on down the park road and stopped to take some pictures of the pronghorns (antelope you know, Home on the Range...). There was one male and two females, it was fun to watch them. We headed on down to our cabin in Moose, Wyoming. This cabin is so awesome. The views of the Tetons from our side porch are fantastic and the Snake River is just 50 feet from our door.
