Tuesday, September 23, 2014

More From Grand Teton NP

 

P1120083

Besides doing some hiking, we’ve also done a little work since we got here a week ago. Our new window track arrived and we spend three frustrating hours installing it. In case anyone is interested, here is the link to what we bought. It wasn’t as easy to put up as we had hoped, but it works well so I’m happy.

For years now the cruise control on our Lazy Daze has only been working intermittently. A friend had the same issue and spent a couple hundred dollars having it diagnosed,  just to have a simple $25 part replaced. After much research, Jim decided to order the part because he thought he could easily replace it himself. The new cruise control cutout switch, which he found on Ebay for $16, arrived in the mail the other day. A simple 5 minute job removing the old one and screwing in the replacement, right? Not for us!  After we both tried for about thirty minutes I finally got lucky and was able to get the threads to catch and screw in. Another frustrating do it yourself project. And since we haven’t driven yet, we don’t know for sure if this was the defective part. We will find that out when we leave, but I have high hopes.

One day we went to visit Brian and Leigh at their great boondock site just outside of the national park. We would definitely stay there another time but just didn’t want to be that far from town. They have such a nice view.

P1120086

On Saturday morning we went to Jackson and wandered around the town square for the final farmer’s market of the season and checked out some of the shops. Ended up spending quite a bit of time playing with the cats at the Animal Adoption Center, just a couple doors down from the Lotus Café, where we ate an excellent lunch. Everything on their menu can be made vegan. We would highly recommend it and will probably go back before we leave.

We did several short hikes, one in the late afternoon to the Phelps Lake overlook and down the trail to the lake.

P1120102

P1120105

Another from the campground along the Gros Ventre River, which goes a couple miles to the small community of Kelly.

P1120072

P1120078

Another about 5 miles up the road to the Gros Ventre Slide.

P1120110

P1120111

Lower Slide Lake, a five mile long lake created by the landslide.

P1120112

And we hiked up Blacktail Butte, just across the road from the campground. If you want to hike alone in the Tetons, this is the place.

P1120119

It is an extremely steep climb up, 500’ of climbing in half a mile, but we found a longer and gentler way back down. There are animal trails going every which way.

P1120136

P1120125

P1120135

P1120134

We haven’t seen any wildlife on our hikes except for a few grouse and insects.

P1120130

But we’ve seen plenty in and near the campground. In fact every morning the wildlife tour vans drive through our loop.

Pronghorn hang out just across the road.

P1120093

P1120094

Yesterday between rain showers Debbie and I walked her dogs around the loops and saw two moose. Gros Ventre Campground is so huge we clocked over four miles of walking one day. When we got back Jim was up on our roof with the camera watching as a herd of bison walked right behind our site.

P1120142

P1120138

P1120141

We are so glad we came here.

14 comments:

  1. What a beautiful fall hike! An RV roof top is a great place to be to photograph the big guys :-) Is that your motorhome? If so, what is the story with the picture of the man in the window? Just curious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, that is the RV at the next site over. Jim asked the owner who it was in the picture, and he said it was his brother-in-law at age 17, who is now in his 70s. He failed to ask him why it was there, though, and I haven't seen them to find out, but I am curious, too!

      Delete
  2. I'm loving the fall colors already showing up in the northern states :-) Beautiful photos of the lake and mountains. Funny that all the wildlife is close to the campground and not out in the wild!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Special photos from a special place. I can't get over how quickly fall has come up there. Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What happened to the Jackson fine beer report?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are two breweries here and we haven't made it to either one yet. Sorry, we are slipping!

      Delete
  5. I can't get over how close you were to the pronghorn! Jealous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Which loop are you camped in? I am planning on spending time there next summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are in loop A, which is the one with the least amount of trees so it is better for solar. Also has the nicest views.

      Delete
  7. With your fantastic visit to the Tetons, we are thinking of heading there...if the weather holds:) Aren't the fall colors gorgeous. Glad you had some animal sightings!! Looks like great hikes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It appears that the window of opportunity for good weather is coming to a close this weekend. We've had temps in the 70s, but when this front moves through it looks like 50s will be the highs next week. We're out of here!

      Delete
  8. LOVE all the wildlife in the campground! I have never seen pronghorn close up and they are just so darn beautiful! Lucky you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Looks like the fall colors are arriving there. So, nice you don't have to go searching for the critters. Hope you get out of there before it gets cold.

    ReplyDelete