"Wildlife crossing means go slow; that bull moose is some cow's beau."

From the National Park Service signs entering Grand Teton National Park.

The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park

Vacation this year was the most amazing trip I've ever taken, second to our honeymoon. For outdoor enthusiasts, this is definitely the place to go. We covered a lot of ground for the week we were out West, so I'm going to break it down in sections. Some of the pictures posted are from a distance, so you may need to click on them in order to see the full detail. Also, most of what we encountered was from the car (most everything was visible from the car).

Grand Teton National Park

The mountains to the east of the Tetons remind me a lot of the mountains in NC and TN: tall, rolling mountains. At the base of the Teton range is a fault which has caused the Tetons to jet up taller than any of the other mountains in the area. The valley floor was around 6300 feet above sea level, and rising up out of the valley floor approximately another 7000 feet was the peak of Grand Teton. It was breathtaking. The peaks of the Tetons still had some snow, and there are even a few glaciers in some of the crevices on top of the mountains. Jenny lake and Phelps lake are just 2 of the many glacier created lakes in the park. These lakes have beautiful clear blue water--clear like the water you see in the Carribean or around Hawaii.

View from Oxbow Lakes

The trees there were in full color change as winter is quickly approaching. The hues of gold, orange, and red were the most brilliant colors I have ever seen. These colors were the most brilliant around Oxbow lakes, which is where the popular Ansel Adams photo was taken back in the 1940's.

There is an abundance of wildlife in the Grand Teton National Park. The elk are in mating season, so the bull elk are now bugling for cow elk. After the mating season is over (in the next month or so), they will make their way down to the National Elk Refuge right outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Here they are provided food by conservationist organizations and the NPS to help them make it through the winter. These bull elk are amazing. Their racks average 4 feet wide (tip to tip), and have about 12 points.

Bull elk bugling for cow elk




On Monday evening, we were scheduled to take a wildlife excursion offered by the National Park Service. We had been in the northern portion of the Tetons that day, and on our way back (around Oxbow lakes) we ended up in a traffic jam. We originally thought there was an accident, but as we approached we ran into this guy.
This was actually the second grizzly we saw on the trip (but the closest we came to a grizzly). We saw one from a distance on Sunday from the top of Signal Mountain. He was down in a valley feeding in the meadows. He was quite a distance away, so we knew he had to be a big boy for us to be able to see him through binoculars from a distance.

We were also blessed to see quite a few prawnhorn antelope, bison, a beaver, mule deer, and even a few moose in the Tetons. The most awesome thing about seeing all this wildlife is we saw most of it from the car. It did require us getting up early as most wildlife feeds in the early morning hours, and staying out a little late as they feed again in the evenings.

Moose in Grand Tetons (left) and Prawnhorn Antelope (right)

Yellowstone National Park

The second part of our trip was spent in Yellowstone National Park. YNP also has its share of geologic wonders as well as wildlife. About a third of the park is located in an active caldera, hence there are all sort of active geysers, fumaroles, hot springs, and mud pots.

The Geyser Basins

Of course the most well known geyser in YNP is Old Faithful (pictured on the left). We spent a day at Old Faithful, and walked around the other pools and geysers located in the Upper Geyser Basin. Old Faithful is fairly predictable, and erupts approximately every 90 minutes (plus or minus 10 minutes).

The volunteer base in YNP is huge. During our trip we ran into a number of people that go to Yellowstone yearly to volunteer or just wildlife watch. While we were walking around the Upper Geyser basin around Old Faithful, we ran into someone who notified us that Daisy Geyser was about to erupt. Daisy geyser had erupted faithfully every 2 hours 10 minutes for who knows how long. Of course, when we were there she did not erupt at 2 hours 10 minutes; she waited until 2 hours 15 minutes. Anyway, due to the large number of geysers, volunteers are placed at various geysers and radio in to the rangers when each eruption starts. The rangers are then able to predict the next eruption and notify the public at the visitors center when each predicted eruption will occur. The volunteer we met at the geysers makes a two week trip each year to Yellowstone, and has been doing this for 35 years.

The hot springs and pools were pretty amazing as well. Thermophiles (heat loving organisms, such as algae, bacteria, and archaea) thrive on the hot water in the hot springs and pools. The growth of these organisms create beautiful colors around the pools and hot springs. The largest is Grand Prismatic Pool (pictured above). In order to get a picture of the entire pool, David had to climb a mountain across the street so he could capture all the color of this amazing pool (it was hard to see the whole thing and all the color from the boardwalk next to the pool).

An interesting fact about the bacterium in these geothermal areas in Yellowstone (per a phamphlet by the NPS and Yellowstone Association): "In 1966, Dr. Thomas Brock discovered a bacterium Thermus aquaticus in a Yellowstone hot spring. Scientists extracted an enzyme from this bacterium, which has contributed to developing DNA "finger-printing," a powerful tool widely used in criminal and medical research." This bacterium (and the colors they produce), along with the gases underground from the volcanic activity provide a bit of excitement for the senses (beautiful colors and bad odor).

Wildlife

Wildlife in YNP is even more abundant than in the Tetons. There are about 4000 bison in Yellowstone. It never ceased to amaze me how docile these animals appear, and how they did not seem to be bothered by humans. We gave them plenty of room, though, as they can start running at 30 mph if they decide to run. Of course the stupidity of people also amazed me (almost as much as the animals themselves). We found ourselves caught in bison jams, and impatient people trying to go around them (like you're any match for a 3000 pound bison in the road). We also ran into this guy right down the road from the Grand Prismatic pool. Obviously he understands the rules of the road (he must do this often). As cars would approach him from behind, he'd just move over to the right side of the white line.

The Druids

Wolf watching in the Lamar Valley was the highlight of the trip. Lamar Valley is one of the best places in the park to observe wolves. The Discovery Channel goes to Lamar Valley to film their documentaries on wolves. Many of the professional photographs taken of wolves are also captured in Lamar Valley. The Druid pack is the most predominant pack in the Lamar Valley, even though occasionally other packs will wander into their territory.

We saw as many as 16 members of the Druid pack. We did not see the Alpha male or Alpha female, though. We also got the chance to watch them chase a bull moose (the one and only bull moose we saw on our trip). Luckily the bull moose was able to get away. I had no desire to watch them actually do a kill. Most of their diet consists of cow elk, and we did run into an elk kill which occurred about 30 yards from the road early one morning near the Twin Lakes. That was as close as I cared to get to a kill. Anyway, we were lucky enough to hear them all howl (when the wind was blowing in the right direction). The above picture are two wolves from the Druid pack. They were approximately 1/2 mile from where we were observing them, so the picture is a little bit blurry.

We met several people watching wolves; everyone from expert observers to us novices. We ran into a gentleman who comes to Yellowstone every year for a week just to observe the wolves. Many poeple follow the Yellostone wolves closely; following each pack and certain members closely. After observing them for the 3 days we did, I can see how one can become consumed following them. The gentleman we met there had to stop following them so closely as he said he became so involved that he was mourning the loss wolf members when they would die/be killed by other packs.

Other Wildlife

As I mentioned earlier, Yellowstone is home to several species of animals. We were also blessed to see a couple of Bald Eagles, a weasel, swans, grizzlies, mountain bluebirds, bison, a bull moose, elk, and bighorn sheep. The only thing we did not see was a black bear.

Bull moose near Mammouth Hot Springs, a Bald Eagle, and Bighorn Sheep near Tower Falls

The Beartooth Highway

We took a side trip one day and explored the Beartooth Highway. The Beartooth Highway is known as one of the most scenic roads in America. It takes you over the top of Beartooth Mountain, which is over 10,000 feet above sea level. It gets very cold up there during the winter, and of course receives who knows how much snow. The road markers along the Beartooth were approximately 12 feet tall. There was a picture in a restaurant we ate at taken on the top of Beartooth Mountain on June 10, 2008. The snow was at least 6 feet deep. There were still patches of snow from last year's snowfall when we were up there.

The most memorable thing about the Beartooth Highway for me was when we stopped at the pit toilet. It was a nice overlook, so David stopped to take a picture. I decided to make a quick pit stop, so I headed over to the ladies room. The building was about 100 feet from the parking lot, and 100 feet from some woods. Upon finishing, I came out of the building and started heading up the path back to the car. All of a sudden I started to hear a grunting and growling sound from behind the building (towards the woods). Of course I started to run up the path towards the car (the one thing they tell you not to do if you encounter wildlife), turning around frequently to look behind me. At first I thought it was David standing behind the building making these noises just to scare me. Upon reaching the top of the hill, I saw David standing over to the left. Having heard the same noises, he was frantically looking through the sage bushes for me. I yelled to get in the car, so we both jumped in the car as fast as we could. We waited around for a few minutes hoping that whatever was making the growling noises would make its presence known, but it never showed itself. We aren't sure what it was, but we suspect there was possibly a grizzly bear in the woods maybe giving me a warning (trying to defend a kill or something).

Yellowstone Falls

I do want to say a quick word about the waterfalls we encountered in YNP. The waterfalls there were much larger than any i've ever seen on the East Coast (even though David says there are some just as large here). Of course Yellowstone Falls (pictured on the right) are the most common, having been painted from Artist Point.

Final Thoughts

We decided a year ago, after seeing a Travel Channel special, that would would vacation in the Tetons and YNP this year. We had no clue we would encounter what we encountered: the amazing wildlife, glaciers, glacier created lakes, waterfalls, the list goes on and on. We took over 1000 pictures. The pictures we took do not even come close to describing the beauty of these parks. Anyway, I cried the night before we flew home. I have never experienced anything as majestic and wonderful before in my life. To see so many amazing things right in front of you--all created by a very artistic God. We will be going back.