Glorious Grand Teton National Park

Yesterday I had a leisurely drive up to Jackson, Wyoming from Salt Lake City. The drive was scenic and because I had less than 300 miles to drive I could take my time. I got to Jackson, also known as Jackson Hole, about 4pm. I promptly took a nap. I woke up about 6pm, went to a local laundromat and washed my clothes, then went to dinner at the Gunbarrel Steak and Game restaurant.

Today was a fantastic day! I drove the 20 miles to Grand Teton National Park and just checked it out. I ended up hiking a bit over five miles up to Hidden Falls. The trail goes along the shore of Jenny Lake for a good part of the way. My friend Cathy had recommended seeing Jenny Lake, and while I was there I saw the trail to the falls.

You will see snow in some of the pictures. It had snowed here two days ago, but only about an inch or so. In the shaded areas the snow remained. Some parts of the trail were still covered in snow or ice. This made the hiking difficult. At one point my foot slid and I ended up pulling my right hamstring muscle. I kept going, but tonight it has really tightened up and is very sore. At this point I will just let you enjoy the pictures with very little additional commentary until the very end. I think I got a good picture or two in this batch.



A moose, at least I think it is a moose, off in the distance.

Hidden Falls, not so well hidden that I couldn't find it.

You can see ice in the river below the foot bridge.

The chipmunk in the picture below answered to the name 'Bradley' for some reason.

There were so few people in the park I ended up having to take my own picture.

Elk, again off in the distance.

The park was almost deserted today. In the approximately 3 hours it took me to hike the five plus miles, I saw maybe 20 people. At almost all of the scenic overlooks I had the park to myself. I was able to stand alone just soaking up the beauty. In the isolation I could pray and reflect on the magnificence of creation.

It is cold here, the temperature barely got to 50 degrees, and that was only in the sunny areas. I can tell that winter is rapidly approaching by the number of caterpillars that I saw in the park today. See below.

I had to throw that in because I am aware that some folks are only logging in to this blog for the jokes and I didn't want to disappoint them.

Tomorrow I am going fly fishing if I can find a guide. I hope the birds are hungry.