A Day filled with Moose

We had heard that the grizzly bear Miracle, (not an official name), had appeared and so we headed back to Grand Teton National Park. We weren’t sure of the right spot to sit and wait but as an Ecotour bus showed up and waited, we figured we were probably in the area. After having lunch, we waited for several more hours with no luck. We needed to return home as we were driving to Montana for Mother’s Day. It is always a great day when we are in a National Park and this day turned out to be exceptional one as we saw and photographed four moose in three different spots, (often it is difficult to see any moose as they are hiding from bears and wolves).

The first Moose was a bull that was feeding of willows near Willow Flats, (Imagine that). It was a Mature Bull, and you can see in the photos that its antlers were beginning to grow. The willow trees produce a chemical from which aspirin was discovered, so besides being a food source, the trees also act as a pharmacy especially for cow moose that have given birth to their new calves, (not sure if you should call them foals).

We also had spotted a smaller moose in the same general area, and a little further down the road a very pregnant moose was sitting on a snowbank, along with a two-year-old calf.

Our day’s total was five moose, which is really great! It was a moosey day! In case you are wondering the park service recommends you stay at least twenty five yards from Moose, Elk, and Buffalo. This is the minimum distance for safety and two often we see people getting to close. Later that day we saw people trying to get close for pictures of a bull elk growing a nice set of antlers. Thwy pushed the bull into the willows and lucky for them did not enter the thick growth.

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A great Day in Grand Teton National Park A face off between two bulls!

We were busy packing when our neighbors Becky and Fred told us about their trip to Grand Teton National Park. They had made a quick trip to the park and in only six hours got to watch two moose and a black bear! The weather here has been crazy with daily heavy rains, but the forecast was for a one-day break before the rain and cold weather returned. So the next day we got up early, at six am, and headed to Jackson for a quick breakfast at McDonalds before heading to the park. Taking the roundabout, we drove towards Kelly and quickly ran into a moose jam. Stopping, we talked with a person who told us four moose had been in an open area but that they had just disappeared into a thicket of willows,

Looking further north we saw people still taking pictures and so we parked, grabbed our cameras and joined the group photographing a huge bull moose guarding a single cow. At one point the bull turned and looked at us but he decided we were not a threat.

A smaller moose calf fed in the willows. Suddenly a small bull moose appeared across the Gros Ventre River.

He was smelling the cow and walked up to the water before the huge bull made an appearance.

The much smaller bull seemed to lose interest, and the large bull decided the challenger wasn’t worth the effort and the cow laid down for a siesta. The young bull decided the time was right to try and sneak across the river as the smell of the cow in estrus was driving him wild.

It’s rutting time and it was the first time we have ever seen two bull moose squaring off over the cow. The young bull started to wade across the river. It would take a few steps and then paise looking for his opponent.

Slowly he approached the south bank of the river when suddenly the huge bull stood up and appeared on the bank.

We have never seen a moose move as fast as the young bull as it splashed away to escape the massive rack.

Discretion can be better than valor. The young bull decided to leave the area and disappeared in the willows on the north bank of the Gros Ventre. What a start to the day

. Clear skies In spite of the government shutdown, the park was open, but without any services besides the restrooms. The entrance booths were unoccupied, not that it mattered much as we both have Senior Passes.

Doctors, A Birthday Present, Wildlife In the Park, and getting the New Park Model Ready for Winter

We made plans with our friends for our yearly hike up to Taggert Lake. It’s a well-loved place and you have to get there early, or you may have to hike a long ways just to get to the trailhead. Unfortunately, the smoke from a nearby forest fire was so thick that we decided to postpone the hike until it cleared. The next day I went to a doctor and found out other tests were needed. After that tests I had to make an appointment to have surgery and so our hikes, for this year, are done. The surgery went fine and I was released but confined to the house.

As I sat at the dining room table Renita, and I noticed movement across the street in our neighbor’s flower garden. Her flowers were doing great, and it attracted a deer which stood there eating flower after flower. Cars were stopping and the deer ignored them. Finally, it had eaten its fill and moved on, (the deer may have cronic wasting disease). The deer come into our park when deer season starts and even elk, moose and bear have learned the park is a safe haven. While we haven’t seen the bear others have and it also leaves large scats, one of which was in our backyard.

We usually go to Grand Teton National Park for a birthday present. Instead, our friend Barbara called us to tell us that she had a consignment of larimar rough, so we bought it all. Larimar rough sells for a dollar a gram.

Nothing like buying yourself a birthday present, (when we saw, grirnd ,and polish we lose seventy per cent of the original rock), so a twenty gram piece will end up as a six gram finished cabochon, which by the way is now about a thirty karat stone).

Finally, our place is almost ready for winter! A local glass man replaced our two broken windows. Next our contractor skirted it and now we are waiting for a warped door to be replaced and an electrician to replace the wiring where a nail caused a short. It won’t be long before we leave on our migration. We have a person lined up to shovel our roof, when needed and another to winterize it, (two years ago we received twenty-one feet of snow, the houses here have to withstand a snow load of eighty pounds per square foot). Clear skies

Grand Teton National Park Day 2

We arrived in the park later than we planned. A traffic jam was at the same place as yesterday and we hoped to see the bears, but not that morning. The bears had been out all morning but they disappeared over the ridge just as we arrived. We waited around in the hopes they would come back but almost everyone left and so we headed to another spot. It was a sunny day and we arrived at the oxbow at the perfect time. Three otters were swimming in the open water before diving under the ice shelf but soon returned, (freshwater otters can hold their breath for up to eight minutes). They all shot from the water onto another ice shelf and huddled together as if they were discussing the fishing. The sun was perfect, and their coats glistened from the water. It was the perfect shot. The best picture I have ever taken of otters. They returned to the water and swam away so we left looking for bear 399 and her cub, but they had not yet made an appearance. Our next stop was at Pilgrim Creek, and then Leeks Marina, From there we drove north to Yellowstone Park but the road was closed at Flagg Ranch.

Turning around we stopped as a fox was in the middle of the road. It was begging for food from a truck and ran to our truck hoping for a handout. People don’t realize that a human fed animal is a dead animal. The wild animals get used to eating human food, they become pests, are captured and then euthanized.

Near the entrance at Moran Junction, another traffic jam had formed. The bears had returned to the place they had been for the last four days but still stayed far away, almost four hundred yards. After a while they headed back over the ridge and so we decided to head to a pond, near Moose Junction.

On the way there, a car had stopped, and a photographer was taking pictures of a fox. The fox was mousing, and we watched as it located the mouse, by hearing, then leapt into the air and made a one-point landing on its mouth as it attempted to grab the small rodent.

It missed and so we drove on. We had watched fox and coyotes exhibiting the same behavior. Talk about acute hearing!

Nothing was at the pond, and we ate lunch there. Two years before we had watched as 399 and her four subadults walk out from the trees. That was an incredible experience as we watched alone for about twenty-five minutes before we were deluged with cars and photographers. (That was when we took the picture on our 2022 Christmas/Holiday Card.

We had a list of things to do in Jackson, so we called it a day. It had been a great day with otters, fox and even far away grizzly bears. On the way back to town we were wondering where the moose were and sure enough, they were just south of Moose Junction, (I wonder how it got its name)?

The moose are shaggy this time of year as they are shedding their winter coats. They have already lost their antlers. As I said before it had been a great day! Clear skies

Hiking the Taggart Lake Trail 2023

Each year we must hike the Tagaert Lake Trail. Its trail head is easy to find, just drive the Teton Park Road and look for the traffic jam. It’s one of the spots that’s so loved that the parking lot is full before nine am and this day was no exception. Our friends Becky and Fred got the last spot, and we ended up parking alongside the road. Grabbing our bear spray and day pack, we met them at the trail head and up the trail we went. While we hike a lot, Fred and Becky are in better shape and so we were in our usual position at the tail end. Becky patiently stopped Fred until we caught up and they only had to stop for us four or five times until we reached the top of the terminal moraine, (that’s the pile of rocks that marks the lowest elevation the glacier reached and forms the dam for the lake.

The lake was perfectly calm, and they shared the above picture of the reflection of the Tetons in the still waters, (Fred posted it on his photo sharing site and at last count he had over five thousand likes, one of his highest totals). There were quite a few other people, and we took turns taking pictures of each other. Crossing the foot bridge, we parted ways as our friends were on a time constraint, (their dog was at home alone and sometimes has an accident). We loved having our dogs but decided that we will not get another as dogs are not allowed on the trails as they attract bears. Our friends returned down the trail, and we continued up and over the high point. Renita posed at the high point for a picture.

The leaves had not turned yet and so the image was not as colorful as last year. Suddenly we heard an elk bugle, and it was close! Stopping, we scanned the forest but did not see it. Another elk bugled in answer to the first and we hoped to see them fight but we never did. The elk are in rut right now and its one of the reasons we hike the trail, so we can hear them challenging each other. We passed the spot where in the past, we had encountered a bear. The bear was so close that it almost ran over Fred and he was staking its picture! As usually happens the bear fled when he stood up, he is over six feet tall. If you encounter a bear, get big, always carry bear spray and do not run! We have only been charged once and that bear stopped before we had to use it but still….

Look for the two sets of ears As we walked along the trail section, we noticed moose tracks. Another hiker told us there was a cow and calf moose very near the trail and sure enough there was a moose jam as other hikers stopped to take their picture. They were too close to the trail for comfort, and so we continued past them before taking pictures. Both were watching us and at one point I thought the cow was going to stand up, a scary thing as moose kill/trample more people than bears. We finished the hike and Renita saw that Becky had texted us.

She wrote that a large bull moose was at our favorite pond and so we drove there to join the crowd. It was where we had seen a bear before but no bears just a bull who was pestering a cow and calf moose.

From there we drove to other bear spots, but we didn’t see any, (our friend Vicky was also looking for bears and ended up taking pictures of three black bears and one grizzly bear! Talk about a lucky day)! It was time to head home, we could now check the Taggert Lake hike off this year’s list of hikes, to do in Grand Teton National Park. Clear skies

Another day of sharing our love of Grand Teton National Park with Friends

It’s been ten days since I last wrote a blog entry. My excuse is that it has been a busy time with bear watching with friends, selling at a new show, and looking to purchase a park model, and hiking to the Periodic Springs. One of our dear friends Betty, who lives in Iowa, has been wintering at our rv park in Texas. There we have met her family including two of her daughters, Melanie and Alana. This spring Melanie mentioned to us that she was planning on taking a trip to Glacier and Grand Teton National Parks. Renita and I love to have visitors and told her to call us and set up a time to meet at the park headquarters in Moose Wyoming.

They told us that they had seen elk, antelope, deer, and a mountain goat but had not seen any bears or moose. The pressure was on! Renita and I talked it over and decided to take them to Sawmill Pond. The men rode in one vehicle and the women in another so Renita and I could regale them with our stories, mostly true. One of our favorite places,it was was not very far away, and as we neared the spot we saw cars, pickups, a large crowd of people and the parks wildlife management group. A bear jam in progress! Finding a place to park we joined the throng and had several people point out the black bear. It was under a tree, behind bushes, and difficult to see.

As usual I had the camera on autofocus. The bear was basically a black smudge in the dense brush. IT started to move, and I got one shot as it walked across an opening. Of course, the autofocus took a great picture of a branch and a blurry picture of the bear. Before I could change to manual focus the bear was gone from sight. Our favorite trail was still closed and so we continued along the road looking for more bears. While we didn’t see any bears, we did spot a cow moose feeding in a small pond.

In the first picture taken with a 75-600 mm lens you can see the bugs, (little specks), that are bothering her.

The second picture was taken by Melanie with her cell phone and the third by Renita with her 75-300 mm lens.

From there we drove the Teton Park Road without any success. Still we pointed out the places we had seen grizzly and black bears, and the rockslide on the mountain. Other points of interest were the Potholes where ice was buried during the last glaciation. It had melted during the last five hundred years, and settled forming depressions, which filled with trees, (not the same as sinkholes which form above cave systems) These depressions are places where the elk calve and are frequented by grizzly bears in search of an easy meal. From there we headed to Coulter Bay for lunch before driving past the dump road, Pilgrim Creek and one of our favorite trailheads, No bears, moose. elk were posing for pictures and so we next stopped at the location of Cattlemen’s Bridge, (long since gone).

Looking down the Snake River we could see American white pelicans, double crested cormorants, and common mergansers. All the birds were resting after feasting on fish. They must have a fishy breath as they tend to hang together!

A mature bald eagle perched on a tree but did not provide us with a clear shot! From there we drove to the Oxbow and then returned to where we had started. No bears were visible, and we took a last ride down the narrow road. The men’s car took the lead and soon after we had passed a spot the women had to stop to let a bear cross the road.

It ignored them and started to feed on the berry laden bushes. It was so close they had to keep their windows up! The bear was so close that the best picture was taken by Melanie with her cell phone. Driving further they spotted a moose, and a bull elk. We never got a good pic of the elk and when we turned around to see the bear, we only saw moving bushes. A Bear management person told me to roll up my window. The bear must have been in the ditch but none of us could see it. Our last meeting was at the Sawmill Pond, where a moose had appeared for more pictures. Our last wildlife enbcounter was of a herd of cow elk on the ridgeline and ended our great day in the park!

Everyone had seen black bears, and moose so now our friends had checked most of their animal boxes. They had not seen any grizzly bears, but we later learned there were two feeding alongside the Towgotee Pass Highway. Perhaps next time! Thanks for the visit, we love sharing our knowledge of Grand Teton National Park! Clear skies

Trail closures and new restrictions due to the concentration of bears

We always look forward to the fall. That’s the time the bears are in hyperphagia and are relatively easy to photograph. Last year they fed on hawthorn and choke cherries and as the berry trees and bushes are along the Moose-Wilson road the road and associated trials, are alive with bears. (mostly black).

This year major changes have taken place. The road was repaved and the spots where you could pull over are closed, (most of them). No standing or stopping is allowed, and you are not allowed to walk along the road, (although biking is still permitted, (and we see pedal and electric bikers), there is no way we are stupid enough to ride our bikes along the road). In addition, our favorite hiking trail is closed.

Some of our other trails have seen idiots carrying in coolers and packs which they have left untended. and the bears have gotten food rewards. A fed bear is a dead bear! With warning signs on many of the trails reminding people to carry bear spray, we often see families hiking without it, (most of the people we meet do not have bear spray).

The final problem is that the heavy rains have resulted in the heaviest berry crop we have ever seen. It has also resulted in the tallest grasses, flowers and plants and in many places their height can completely hide a walking bear. Taking a good picture of a bear un the heavy brush is nearly impossible. Since our last post we have spent three days in the park. The first of the three resulted in us not seeing any bears, (but lots of other wildlife), in the second we did spot a large black bear but it ran across the road so fast that we could not stop the car in time before it disappeared into the forest. The third trip was the most successful but that’s going to be the next post. We did take a short hike on atrailwe have never trod. No bears but Renita, (who I refer to as our pioneer woman), did spot one probable partial bear track).

We understand Grand Teton Natonal Parks new rules and closures. Unlike my other posts I am not posting the pictures in sequential order. Finally, always carry bear spray and keep your food with you. Clear skies

Hyperphagia, It's bear watching time

The bears are now in hyperphagia. That’s the time when they eat constantly preparing for hibernation, (as much as 22 hours a day). So, it’s easy to find bears, just look for trees with berries. Knowing such a place Becky and Fred joined us as we headed to the Grand Teton National Park. Arriving we saw quite a few people taking pictures at our favorite pond. They were all taking pictures of moose. In the pond below a cow and a new calf were feeding. The cow was grazing while the calf was waiting patiently for it’s nursing. After taking quite a few pictures we headed down our favorite trail. After a short hike we came upon a lady who said there were two bears below us. She said they were in the thick berry laden bushes.

Stopping for a bit and we could see a bush shaking but we continued on. The brush this year is the highest we have ever seen and so the bears could easily hide in the shoulder high vegetation. Besides the berry laden hack thorn bushes white snow berries were also along the trail in shorter bushes. Snow berries are another bear favorite but are poisonous if people eat them. Unlike last year we did not see any Oregon grapes, service berries, (also called June berries in other places), or choke cherries all three are good bear food. We walked further and encountered two other people who also said they had seen black bears. Waiting, we didn’t see any ourselves, so we returned to where the first lady still waited patiently. We could see brush moving and Renita said she could hear brush breaking. The bears have to be close to hear them especially with my bad ears. Finally, I heard an especially loud crack, and we spotted the black bear at the bottom of the hill.

As we watched, for nearly two hours, the bear fed nonstop.

We couldn’t get any good pictures as it was in such thick brush, but every so often we did catch a quick glimpse of black and the unmistakable black bear ears, The bear finally moved out from the trees and crossed thorough high grass. It never did look directly at us as it was completely consumed with hyperphagia.

It finally disappeared into the pine forest, and we headed back to our cars. Just before we reached the parking lot we saw another moose, this time a cow leading its smaller calf to the pond. As we watched a red squirrel ran up to Renita hoping for a handout, but we never give people food to wild animals!

Before we reached the parking lot, we spotted a thirteen lined chipmunk sunning itself in a bush.

It must have thought we wouldn’t se it and it remained on the branch it had selected for a siesta. A little further and a raven fed on a dead merganser.

Renita and I decided to drive to the LSR Preserve. There is a hike we love there but the parking lot was filled with cars. We decided to instead return to where Fred and Becky were waiting. We never did see any other animals, but it had been a great day with fou moose and a bear. Even if we don’t see any wild animals, it’s always a joy to see the beauty of Grand Teton National Park. Today we had seen four moose and a large black bear! Clear skies