Hiking to Phelps Lake, Grand Teton National Park

We spent two days looking for bears in Grand Teton Park, with no luck.

The Hawthorne Trees are filled with berries. However, the foliage is so dense that unless you get lucky you can’t spot the bears. We never got lucky. Still, we had beautiful spots for picnics, the days were smoke free and on the second day we hiked to Phelps Lake. Rating the hikes, Phelps Lake is the easiest. It’s normally 2.2 miles but the normal route is closed due to black bears. A temporary route is open which adds another 1.2 miles to the round trip, making the round trip 3.4 miles total in length.

The elevation gain is only two hundred and twenty-five feet and its rated as an easy hike. We spotted a doe and fawn black tailed mule deer. They were healthy, unlike the doe and fawn we see in our rv park, dying from chronic wasting disease.

Returning to our car we next drove to Sawmill Pond where we spotted a belted kingfisher. A moose had been visible, but it had disappeared just before we arrived. It was still a nice place for lunch. After lunch we drove the Teton Park Road. Lots of people, lots of people with electric bikes, but very little wildlife. The parking lots at Jenny Lake and Lake Taggert Trail were both jammed with cars, many being forced to park alongside the road.

We saw quite a few people at the Black Tail Pond Overlook. A juvenile bald eagle was soaring overhead, and we got a pretty good image. It’s a huge bird and the beak it unmistakable, the beak of an eagle. It’s not unusual for us to miss seeing any bears. Normally we see bears for about one day for every three days we visit. We’re not sure if we will get back to the park as our time is getting short and we will be heading south when our park closes. The water is shut off, on/about October 15th. Clear skies

Hiking to Grand View Point, 2025

Earlier this summer, our Daughter Jen joined us for a hike to Taggert Lake. The next hike on our list, and the most strenuous, was our yearly hike to Grand View Point. It’s listed as an easy hike but at seventy-three, there really isn’t any such thing. Arriving at the parking lot we put on our hiking boots. Starting up, I asked Renita where we headed and she promptly answered, “To the Top”, (thanks to Steve Gardiner for telling the story in one of his books of hiking with his daughter up Snow king).

The first part of the trail had mud puddles, and we realized it had rained shortly before our arrival. We didn’t see any bear prints, always a good sign. Some years we have seen grizzly prints on the trail, so we were carrying bear spray. As we entered the forest canopy the trail was covered with debris from the rain and the rocks were slippery. Stepping carefully, we avoided any slips and falls, perhaps due to our trek poles. The trek poles give us extra balance as at our age balance is a problem…At one point Renita spotted a flock of Dusky Grouse.

Stopping frequently to catch our breath, we didn’t notice dead trees form beetle kill. Most of the trees looked to have survived the year. The only berries we noticed were snow berries, a white berry that humans can’t eat but one of the foods for hungry bears. About two thirds of the way up we were passed by a younger retired couple from Pennsylvania as we visited another retired couple stopped on their way down. They were from Virginia. It was like a mini happy hour on the mountain. We wished everyone safe travels and headed for the top.

The forest opened as we approached the top and we stopped for views of Two Ocean and Emma Matilda Lakes. At one of the openings there is an excellent view of the Tetons, almost as good as the false summit.

On the summit we met a family with five kids who ranged from ages ten to two years old. They must have carried the two-year-old girl. The parents had their hands full! They were also on a yearly hike to Grand View Point and like us from Wyoming. On top, three young women from Texas were taking pictures.

The real summit has a sign on it and after some pictures we headed down to the best view of the Tetons and our favorite lunch spot. Some clouds were forming, and I became concerned about the possibility of lighting. It has happened to me before and it’s not fun to huddle in an exposed position as lighting flashes and thunder booms all around you. (I have been caught three times on mountain tops, twice on Devils Tower and once while on the summit of Darton Peak in the Bighorns. Hurrying our lunch we headed down. The pace going down was so much easier but we had to stop and rest. It was taking more effort than usual as the rocks under the canopy were still wet. My legs were feeling like jelly, so we found a tree stump and took a brief respite. The storms moved away from us, and we continued to the car. We had reached the top! Clear skies

The Fires are still burning, cutting Australian Opals

The fires are still burning, even after the heavy rains. In some places the thick forest canopy acts as an umbrella for the fire and in other places the fire is so intense it didn’t die out. Finally, in some areas, (think steep valley mountain canyons), the fires cannot be safely fought. The current Wyoming fires around us are: The Willow Creek Fire of 4065 acres, (6.4 square miles), is thirty eight percent contained The Red Canyon Fire near Thermopolis, has burned an area of 125,000 acres, (195 square miles), is 93 percent contained The Dollar Lake Fire near Pinedale covers an area of 16236 acres, (25 square miles), is 22 per cent contained Finally, the Little Grey Fire, about 35 acres which is 100 percent contained We have not had any air quality warnings, even though we stay inside when the smoke is so thick that the government should have issued one. Perhaps it’s part of the cuts in federal funding……. One recent release on the fires said that the fire needs a big snowfall to finally put them out. Meanwhile I have been cutting a friend’s opals, cleaning our rock studio, and cutting cabochons that we will make into jewelry for next year’s shows. We were taught by our mentor, Dick Cline, (may he rest in peace), to never waste time working inferior quality stone. Today I amd planing on painting the dog house which is a cover for our heat pump and air conditioning. It is necassy to prevent damage from the winters snow, (two years ago we had twenty one feet)! Its too early for snow for the fires, but being a former member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, I always end my posts with Clear skies.