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View from the cache! |
I (Marvin) started my morning lying on the mountainside
listening to the roar of the Yellowstone River below me and taking in the
breathtaking beauty of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains across the river. I came to this spot to find a geocache and as
I lie there I mused upon how much enjoyment geocaching has brought to me. After savoring this piece of paradise for a
moment, I then decided to take a quick inventory of my body parts. Toes move - check! Fingers move - check! Hundreds of needles in my left side – damn!
I had come to this place to find a geocache to drop off a
trackable and was immediately enthralled by the magnificence of the site. I grabbed my bear bells and set out for the
cache keeping a watchful eye out for
bear, elk, bison and wolves which are all in this remote area. (Yes, Maryellen, I got your scat
comment!) When I got to the geocache
site I discovered that it was tucked under a large rock. The rock was big enough to provide shelter
for an animal on the lee side. Being
“Mr. Safety” I decided to check for wildlife on the other side of the rock
before grabbing the cache. I stepped up
onto an adjacent rock and immediately went whoosh/bam….down onto the ground
with my left side in the surrounding cactus.
It’s been almost 24 hours since the geocaching fun and I’m
still pulling cactus needles out of my arm, hand and leg. Good times!
|
Trail View |
Mona and I then linked up for another day in
Yellowstone. We started with a hike
along the north rim of Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon. This is a beautiful area with the sounds of
rushing water and incomparable views of waterfalls. I’m still not sure if we wanted to encounter
wildlife on the trail or not.
Regardless, we didn’t see anything other than birds.
|
Mona loves buffalo! |
Then, time for another drive through Yellowstone’s Hayden
Valley. This is the area we’ve seen the
most wildlife in and once again, we saw hundreds of buffalo and a large herd of
elk. In one spot the buffalo was within
twenty feet of our car. Love this!!!
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Grand Tetons! |
Now, we turned Red south and headed for the Grand Teton
National Park. We stopped at the first
Ranger Station and asked where the best places were for wildlife viewing. She recommended a gravel road by Moose
Junction. Off we go! As we drive through Jackson Hole we see incredible views of the magnificent Teton mountain range. These beautiful snow-capped mountains, seemingly float on
the water below them and pictures will never do this justice! We don’t see much
wild-life, even though there are lots of warning signs around.
|
Our first moose! |
We start down the gravel road at Moose Junction and soon
there is a pull-off. There’s a sign here
saying this is perfect moose habitat. We
agree it’s beautiful, but alas, no moose.
We drive farther along the road and come up to a group of cars pulled
off to the side. We pull off and ask a
passing driver what’s up? He said, “Look
behind you.” We turn around and there’s
a bull moose within 30 feet of us! Our
hearts pound as we get out of the car and start taking photos! This is incredible!!!
After nearly exhausting our cameras’ storage we leave Mr.
Moose and start farther down the road.
Within 100 feet there’s another moose, a cow moose this time! We were certain we’d never see a moose on
this trip and now we’ve seen two!
|
Teton Pass |
We pull into Jackson, Wyoming and stretch our legs a
bit. We debate staying here, but in the
end we decide it’s just too crowded and not for us. We head west, on a two lane highway, bound
for Idaho Falls. This route takes us
through the Teton Pass which has very steep inclines of 10 degrees and which
crests at 8600 feet. More breathtaking
views!
We’re not sure where we’ll end up tomorrow….can’t wait to
find out!
(Still pulling out those damned cactus needles!)
lol. so, did a bear push you into the cactus or did you dive into it voluntarily mr. safety? i never thought i would want to visit north but i'm loving this trip of yours. looking at water and islands is beautuful but so is this. pretty amazing
ReplyDeleteNo bear and the fall wasn't quite voluntary.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part of writing the blog is picking the pictures. We have so many great ones!
I want to see a picture of the bear bell. I think I would want I VERY BIG bell.
ReplyDelete