I finally finished my back rehab and now it was time to test it with a hike in Grand Teton Park. We left home late and didn’t arrive at the park until eleven thirty. Our first stop was at Leeks Marina, and the lake was extremely low.
Taking a break from checking out the water level we stopped at the Grand View Point Trailhead, geared up, and headed up the trail. WE didn’t plan on making the top. Our goal was to hike one third of the way up. There were a few sections of trail
that were steep for us but they were easy and soon we reached our goal. We both felt good btu decided to return to the car taking pictures of the flowers along the way.
Renita poised at a huge deadfall that had caught in the fork of a smaller tree. Talk about a widow maker! After a few pictures we circumvented the deadfall and continued down the trail.
Reaching the bottom of the hill near the parking lot, a covey of ruffed grouse ran across and then stopped, hiding in the brush. I thought at first it was Dusky Grouse, but you can see the topnotch besides the size difference, The Ruffed Grouse are much larger!
Eating lunch at the car our next stop was at Colter Bay, The bay was dry with the boats stacked above the normal water level. A nice trail called the Hermitage started at the end of the parking lot, but we opted to continue to Jackson Lake.
Parking at the dam we were amazed to see the low lake level! In yesterdays Jacson Hole Daily News it was reported that Jackson Lake and Palisades Reservoir held only sixteen percent of their normal forty nine percent fall water. Its really sad to see the lake so low, but the water was first claimed by the farmers in Idaho. The Saying goes “First in Time, First in Line”! and that’s in perpetuity.
We had heard that there were several bears at a spot we know but we drove there and didn’t see any wildlife. Our next stop was at a small pond near the Moose Park Headquarters but again nothing was happening, so we ate some lunch. On our way into Jackson we encountered a traffic jam. There were two huge cow Moose near the Gros Ventre bridge and so we stopped so Renita could take a few pictures.
Returning home, we hit the traffic just right and kissed the usual madhouse. Saying that we were in a line of twenty-one cars, almost all heading home from work in Jackson. To tired to cook we stop ped at a grocery store and got two healthy deep fried chicken dinners.
Clear skies
Ps Our local; river, the Salt River, has had a record fish kill. A small parasite has killed all the Mountain Whitefish and a number of the trout. The Salt River is extremely low from the drought….
