Sunday, September 4, 2016 Gros Ventre

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Me-owt!  Me-owt!  Why aren't my humans letting me out?  My paternal human has put some paper on my perch and he is staring at it.  I will go sit on it in front of him and turn on my purr box.  Loud.  I will strut back and forth and put my tail in his face.  He has to know I want out.  He is so easily manipulated...

After our morning exercise, we headed out to explore.  We stopped to check out the 'moose' zone from the other day.  No moose, but we saw three a) beavers, b)otters, c)muskrats.  We couldn't tell but they were frolicking in the pond.  For some reason, my spouse seems to think that once an animal is in a place, we will always see it at that place.  So, we saw moose there once, therefore they will always be there... As if!

Next was the Signal Mountain Summit.  Here are sweeping views of the Tetons and Jackson Lake, as well as the valley east of Jackson.  Look on the horizon...  those are dark clouds.  It is raining over there.  As we head down the hill, we are pelted with sleet.  It is deafeningly loud.  Spouse is deaf and can't hear under normal circumstances, at this point, I am yelling at the top of my lungs.  'Jack' is going to get a good washing with this.  Five minutes after it started, the sleet stopped.  As we pass by Jenny Lake, the rain starts pelting.  Is Rolf getting wet?  Another 3 minutes later, the rain stops, and the sun pokes through the clouds.  It is warmish in the sun, and cold in the shade.  It is windy, and that is cold.  After a lunch in Jackson, we head to explore the Gros Ventre area.

Gros Ventre is technically in the GT National Park, but it is not behind the gates.  It is in the southeast area along the antelope flats.  It is arid with lots of cottonwood trees along the Gros Ventre River.  Passing the antelope flats, we head into a valley.  Desert scrub is surrounded by stands of aspens and pines.  We stopped at the Gros Ventre slide area.  In 1925, a major slide occurred creating a dam and major floods, basically changing the landscape of the canyon.  We hiked about 1/2 mile to the debris field to look at the lake that was formed.  Oddly, it is called Slide Lake.  Rolling hills surround the lake, and there are a few horse farms.

Continuing on the road, we pass a primitive campground with killer views of the lake.  At that point the road goes from pavement to gravel.  We are no longer in the national park, but in the national forest.  It keeps getting prettier as we go on.  Layers upon layers of mountains overlap the river.  As we make more turns, the mountains turn red, like in the Arizona desert.  It is a stunning contrast to the green of the trees.  After a few miles, we get to another primitive campground with killer views, and turn around to head home.

The clouds are threatening but it doesn't rain.  Nothing in the moose pond, but we had our own wildlife waiting for us when we got home.

Saturday, September 3, 2016 Sprechen sie deutsch?

Saturday, September 3, 2016

I know it is my feeding time.  I am hungry.  I will stare at the cabinet where I know my food is.  I will telepathically tell my humans that it is time for them to feed me.  It is all about me.  Whatever else they are doing is inconsequential.  It is all about me.

Last night, it wasn't five minutes after we came in from sharing our campfire with neighbors Jerry and Carla of Colorado, when it started to rain.  Not hard, but it was pleasant listening to it falling on Hannah.  Around 2am, we got some lightening and a more powerful storm.  I wear ear plugs when I sleep so I don't hear Spouse, but I took them out to listen to the storm.  Unfortunately, I had to smother Spouse so I didn't have to listen to his snoring...

By the time we woke, the rain was over.  The streets were wet and it was cool.  We lazed with our coffee.  After my morning walk, I came back to Spouse doing some repair work.  Some caulking needed to dry.  So, off near the visitor center is a small hike to Swan Lake.  Although they say it is a bear trail, with all the weekend activity, I doubt that is an issue.  It is a soft trail by Jackson lake, then through a forest.  The lake is classic moose territory.  Lots of water plants floating in a beautiful lake surrounded by pines.  I am sure the moose took one look at the batch of kids near the shore and hightailed it out of there.

We decided to eat at the restaurant there.  They have wi-fi.  I brought the laptop so I could do my blog.  Such a luxury.  Afterwards, to the laundry house.  They have wi-fi too.  Down right makes it bearable!  Leave Spouse off the leash and the next thing you know we have a guest.  Rolf Diersch aus Leipzig, Germany will be going on our 4WD tail along the river road.

We pick Rolf up at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center.  He is bicycling around the world.  Wait, he has already done that, but he is doing more.  He is 33 and got into biking 6 years ago.  He has biked from Germany to Singapore, he has biked around Australia and South America.  He landed in Anchorage mid-may and biked around Alaska, up to Denali and through the Yukon, down through Canada.  Did some coast travel and now he is here, eventually ending up somewhere probably in Bolivia in April.  He likes to do at least 65 miles a day, but it is not unusual to do 100 miles in a day.  Tomorrow is an off day for him, so he is doing a 27 mile hike.  That ought to let his body rest...  Sure makes me feel small with my 4 miles a day!

The 4WD road we are on is a bit rough but goes along a ridge over the Snake River.  It is very scenic. We leave around 6pm, hoping to see a lot of wildlife, but all we saw were gazillions of antelope.  They have the cutest white butts!  We didn't finish till after dark and we took Rolf back then headed home.  This is NOT a good time to be on the road.  Watch out for that antelope.  I see eyes, watch out for that fox.   We slow, we see more eyes and it is getting ready to dart into the road, but thinks better of it, thank you very much.

Our own set of eyes was waiting for us when we got back, thinking he was going to get some outside time...  Dream on pussycat!

Friday, September 2, 2016 Two Ocean Lake

Friday, September 2, 2016

I love being outside.  My humans let me roll.  Wait... what is that?  Why am I getting wet?  Something is attacking me!  What gives?  HUMANS!  LEMME IN!  I AM GETTING WET!  Save me!  It's so noisy!  But my humans will keep me warm and cozy.  I don't like this noise...

Today we are doing a hike at Two Ocean Lake.  We scouted it out yesterday.  It is a 6.4 mile loop around - you got it - Two Ocean Lake!  It looks like a gentle hike, and given Spouse's knee issues, he should be able to do it.

It is a narrow, soft foot trail that weaves along the lake.  It goes through the dense conifers, a little up and down, and across stunning meadows bordered by aspens of all sizes.  When we pull up to the trailhead, we are glad to see a couple of cars.  We are in bear country... They call it 'wildlife' for a reason... That 'wild' thing can make a big difference in your experience! 

We make noise on the trail as we walk.  Spouse has bear spray as well as his other anti-friendly-critter protection mechanisms.  He wants me to go first so that if we meet up with a bear, he has time to get to his stuff.  I think he not only wants me to be the sacrificial lamb, he wants me to break through all the spider webs crossing the trail.  We are at about 7000 feet so it is easy to get a bit winded on the climbs, even though they are quite gentle.  It is important when you are hiking to stop and look behind you.  Not that you are being followed, but the view is sometimes so different looking the other way.  Look at that Christmas tree.  Oh, those aspens are so pretty.  Hey, here is a nice log to sit on.  We cross paths with humans...  Oh, there was a bear sighting on the north end.  There is a big bull moose on the other side. 

We did not see the bear, nor the moose, but we did see the moose droppings.  The fall colors are coming in.  Each day, we see a teensy bit more.  Some of the trees that were yellow yesterday have a bit of an orange tinge today.  They are expecting temperatures to drop into the 20s this weekend.  By the time we leave on Monday, we may have some real reds.  Towards the end of the hike, we did get some raindrops, but it wasn't enough to put on a jacket.  There was thunder in the distance.  The skies have been threatening since then.

We did notice from our vantage point at the lake that the fire in Yellowstone does not look as big.  Perhaps yesterday's storm actually helped over there.  Just because it rains here does not mean it rains 10 miles up the road, but apparently, it had some effect.  And tonight, we are back to having a campfire.  We just can't get enough of that smoky smell!

We noticed lots of cars lining up to come into the campground for the labor day weekend.  We are glad we have a good site.  The RV park is full too. 

Thursday, September 1, 2016 Exploring then Bullwinkletta and calf

Thursday, September 1, 2016

I am Thunderpaws!  King of the morning!  I run, I fly, I chase inanimate objects.  Ok, sometimes I knock things over.  Sorry about that.  But I AM THUNDERPAWS!

I wake up to the smell of smoke.  I guess the wind has shifted.  I look outside.  Are those clouds?  It starts to rain... all of 362 drops.  I am sure that will help the fire in Yellowstone.  As we enjoy our morning coffee, we get another 196 drops of rain.  It is cool, but not cold.  We get another 206 drops of rain before the sun comes up over the trees.  On my morning walk, I headed over to the visitor area and read about the fire. The smoke was thick, making it hard to breathe.  The fire was started by lightening, and they are letting it run its natural course.  It may burn into the winter, and the firefighters will do what they can to protect any structures and such, but that is it.  There are firefighter camps all over the place with helicopters and tents.  Hopefully, the wind will shift again.

Today we are going to explore some 4wd roads.  We saw a road out of Antelope Flats that ends up near Moran Junction, so we figure we would try and start at the Moran point.  One small problem... there is no sign on the road, so which one is it?  We had some rangers redirect us from one road.  We follow the meager map we have and hit a fork in the road.  Ok, we should turn left.

Now, to be clear, there are several types of 4wd roads. 

-One is just a plain dirt road.  Even cars can drive on those. 

-The next level up is a dirt road that you have to go real slow on because it is somewhat rough.  Cars can drive these roads, but slowly. 

-Then, there is the road that cars shouldn't drive on as you need high clearance otherwise you tear out your undercarriage.  'Jack' is still good at this level.

-Then the next level is a narrow road, with major ruts.  Not only is your undercarriage at risk, your paint job is at risk. 

The road we were looking at was the 4wd road of the highest caliber.  We took it for about a half mile.  Are we on the right road?  Jack's alarms are going off telling us we are getting too close to things.  Naw... we draw the line at this.  Let's go over to the Antelope Flats side and see if this is easier.  When you are crossing the Antelope Flats, imagine what you see... antelope, but of course!  We stop for lunch by sitting on the tailgate of Jack, watching rain on the horizon.  We hear thunder.  We get a few drops of rain, but that is it.  It doesn't look like it is raining on Yellowstone.  Too bad.

There are lots of forks in this road - not on our map - and the road it looks like we want to take is the big bad 4wd road...  Ok, we will pass on this.  There are plenty of other roads to explore...

Back into the GT National Park, we explore the Pacific Creek Trail.  It is a decent dirt road back through meadows and valleys.  Plenty of pines, and aspens that are turning yellow.  Add a stream and you have a stunning landscape.  This road actually takes you out of the national park, into the national forest... where hunting is allowed.  There is an outfitter way back there promising a trophy elk.  The campgrounds have structures that allow you to hang your kills.  We hiked a little down one of the trails.  Is it hunting season????  Let's get out of here!

Over to Two Ocean Lake.  What a gorgeous ride.  Looks like we may hike here tomorrow.  This is way too pretty to let slide.  On our way back to Hannah, we see people with cameras on the side of the road. 

 

What animal do we have here?  A she moose and her calf... awwwww.

Back to Hannah and Rudy, as we settle in... the action started.  RAIN!  POURING RAIN, and thunder!  A real life storm!  Rudy wanted no part of being outside.  He wasn't real keen listening to Hannah getting pelted.  He stayed right next to his humans till the storm passed.  Then he wanted out again!  Fair weather cat...  Oh, and no chance of a campfire tonite...

I have noticed a phenomena specifically related to this neck of the woods.  It is 'OHS' - Oblivious Humanoid Syndrome.  It seems humans are struck with awe at the beauty of the area that they forget how to drive.  They will go 25 mph in a 55 mph zone, oblivious to the fact that the entire state of Wyoming is backed up behind them.  Now, I totally understand wanting to enjoy the beauty... BUT PULL OVER!  How hard is that?  And make your turn when there is no traffic.  Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?  MOVE IT or PULL OVER!  Sheesh... Yeah, I am talking to you towing the Airstream.  And you, that little pickup...

 

Wednesday, August 31, 2016 Golfing the Tetons

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

I really like this new place we are staying.  My humans took me for a long walk.  I got to roll in the dirt.  But then, my maternal human patted all the dirt off of me.  Why did she do that?  I was feeling pretty good till then.

This morning, we loaded up the golf clubs and headed to the Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club. It is situated in the valley near the airport, north of the elk refuge.  The Tetons tower over the course making for a scenic wonderland.

It is expensive to play here.  Just like Jackson - if it should cost $90, they will charge you double.  My thoughts are that it is a one time experience and just enjoy it.  I am not sure Spouse ever got over the sticker shock... He quit taking his score on the third hole!   The course is in immaculate condition.  The fairways are perfect, the first cut of rough is a bit challenging, and the second cut of rough can put you in the emergency room when you try to swing through it.  Surprisingly, being this close to the mountains, it is not very hilly at all.  But there are water hazards and chaparral hazards that make the course interesting.  And there are bunkers.   Spouse struggled all day.  I was ok for the most part, but my evil twin made a few appearances, and when she was there, she was REALLY evil.  The weather was perfect, maybe around 80 with white puffy clouds.  The fall colors are starting to splash in.  Pops of yellow on the aspens, and the undergrowths are starting to show the reds.  It made for a very pleasant day for me.   I still don't think Spouse is over the sticker shock.  To put it in perspective, we played golf in Banff which really sets the bar for beauty.  We played there at twilight, and it cost a bit less then here.  This wasn't quite in the Banff class, but every bit as expensive.  And alas... another round without  a hole in one...

Afterwards, we had our '19th hole' at a tavern in town.  We struck up all sorts of conversations with people from all over.  yakity yak yak yak!  And the best is yet to come... Thai food!  YUMMY!  As we were getting in 'Jack' ready to leave, the streets came to life with a staged shootout.  The Jackson Hole Playhouse had their cowboys and saloon girls doing their thing.

We finally made it back to Hannah with our own hungry beast awaiting his meal.  He missed his humans!

Tuesday, August 30, 2016 Back to the Grand Tetons

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Last night, my paternal human was purring really loud.  My maternal human went and slept on the little bed in the other room.  It is small, but there is just enough room for me to snuggle in.  But I have to do double duty snuggling with both humans in different spots.

This morning's walk took me into the town of Victor.  Little stores, a bank, some fishing shops.  It is not yet 8am, and lots of traffic.  Many fire service trucks pass me by.  Well, we are not going in that direction today, so hopefully, we won't have any issues.

We both get back to Hannah, shower, and get her ready to go.  We will eat later, but let's get on the road.  The pass over to Jackson, Wyoming goes over a mountain pass through the Targhee National Forest.  It is quite gentle going up, but a 10% grade going down for several miles.  Our truck (I have decided to name our truck 'Jack' after Jack Lemmon.  We got it on the lemon law, so it seemed appropriate).  Anyway, Jack has some great breaking abilities so we could handle the grade with no problem.  But about 3 miles down, there is a truck braking ramp.  Now, let's think about that... You are going down a killer grade with no brakes, and you have to make it 3 miles around sharp curves, then you have to cross the road - hoping there is no traffic coming the other way - to get to the brake ramp.  Really?  Sounds like a horror flick to me!

We have to head through the heart of Jackson to get on the road to the Tetons.  It isn't even 10 am and it is crowded with cars!  Is something going on? 

Once on 191, we pass the elk refuge and miles of beauty.  The Grand Tetons are rugged mountains carved by glaciers.  They tower over rivers and meadows.  There is a hint of smoke in the air from a fire in Yellowstone.  Supposedly, they just opened the southern road into Yellowstone today.  We check out a couple of the campgrounds, but find the one we stayed in 3 years ago.  It is the Coulter Bay Campground.  There is a full service RV park, but we don't even try to get into that.  Last time we checked, it was booked a year in advance.  The sites are nice there, woodsy, and you have a little room.  But there are lots of rigs.

We prefer the campground over the RV park because they have a loop of sites that are huge, and they have electricity.  We had to fenagle a site in the J loop because there are fire evacuees there.  They also save a couple of sites in case a disabled person shows up.  But, there were some people scheduled for late checkouts, so they gave us one of the sites scheduled for the disabled, knowing that others would be available later today.  I doubt the ones they save for the disabled are used too frequently, so I am sure they know what they are doing.

For us, we can deal without water and sewer.  We filled Hannah to the brim with water which should last a while.  We are right next to a bathroom, so we can use that to some extent.  When we were in North Fork, we used water and the toilet frivolously for 5 days and didn't have to drain the tanks, so we ought to be ok being a little conservative.

We disconnected Hannah, and went back down to Jackson to walk around.  We pass a heard of buffalo.  Looking behind, we see the smoke from the fire at Yellowstone.  It doesn't look good. 

 Jackson is a western town run amok.  It has fine art galleries, exclusive furniture and, of course, souvenirs.  If something is worth $25, it will certainly cost $40 or more in Jackson.  It is a cute town, with nice restaurants and taverns.  They have a real grocery store with great selections of foods.  It is a fun place to walk around, but not a place to actually buy something.

After we left  Jackson and headed towards Hannah, we noticed the smoke from Yellowstone was even worse.  We are planning to be here for 6 days... I wonder if that will really happen???

Monday, August 29, 2016 Trading the cush of North Fork for the tush of Victor

Monday, August 29, 2016

I want some loving.  I don't care that it is dark and you are sleeping.  You are my humans and you must pet me.  You are so easily manipulated.

This morning we are faced with leaving this paradise.  Spouse went fishing and I did my walk in this land of inspiration.  If I could paint this, it would look fake.  Of course, everything I paint looks fake.  Ok, so if somebody with talent could paint this, it would still look fake!  But alas, it is time to move on.  It is probably a good thing, since today starts the bighorn sheep season, and the guy that came in last night is on the hunt.  Only the males can be taken.  Maybe that explains why we saw only females the other day, but I can't imagine taking one of these beautiful creatures.  The meat is not anything special, so it is only for the trophy, which just doesn't sit well with me.  But I am not a hunter so I just don't understand.  Hell, I can't even put live bait on my fishing hook...

We head south down 93 to Salmon.  After a grocery shop, we start south on 28, leaving the Salmon-Challis National Forest.  We are in a valley flanked with cerritos on the inside, then rugged mountains beyond.  And of course, there is the riparian corridor.  The Lemhi River meanders around the valley.  There are alfalfa farms and horse meadows.  After about 70 miles, the cerritos fade away and we are driving in a high desert prairie.  My turn to drive, Spouse will navigate.  Poor guy, it took him forever to figure out where we were.  I was vibrating in place.  But, we all got on the same page... eventually... after about 40 miles...

Now, I could drag this out and make it some kind of adventure, but bottom line, we took 28 to 33 east, to I15 south, to  48 east (thank you GPS Samantha for taking us on this stupid road.  Yes, it may be the shortest route, but DEFINITELY not the quickest!), then to 26 east.  For all intents and purposes, we could have just as easily been in Iowa as Idaho.  Flat farmland, with a creek here and there.  It is pretty, but relatively non-descript. 

When we get to 26, we head east.  We start coming back into mountain territory as we approach Swan Valley.  There is a forest fire with several burn spots going in the Targhee forest.  Then turning north on 31, we head towards Victor.  Lots of fire activity going on, but so far, our road is still open.  We are on a gentle mountain road curving through the forest.  We have been here in the winter to ski Grand Targhee, but it looks a lot different without the snow.  That snow would sure come in handy for the wildfires, but at 85 degrees, I don't think that is going to happen!  We were hoping to find a small campground, but alas, it is after 4 and we stop at an RV park in Victor.  It is pretty, but too close of quarters for my taste. 

We follow a man in a golf cart into our site.  He has to direct us in so we don't take up too much room.  The people next to us bring in their shade awning so we will fit.  When we open our sliders, we are practically in our neighbor's living room.  Please don't bring someone else in next to us...

It is only for one night so I guess I will get over it.  And talk about a slow internet...  I was spoiled up in North Folk!  We are campers that happen to have an RV.  This is an RV park where this is what people do.  They like being in close quarters and they like big rigs.  I doubt any of these people have EVER been in a campground off the grid.  We talked to one couple with a 41 foot rig and the wife would NEVER consider an RV park without full services.  They will certainly miss out on some beautiful experiences.  Oh well, to each their own.

The smoke from the fire is on the horizon, as are the helicopters with the big water buckets making run after run. 

Rudy wants to explore.  He actually made a verbal cry to go outside!  Normally, he mimes it!

Note to Spouse:  Low fat does not translate to being healthy! 

Tomorrow, we will head into Jackson, and most likely park ourselves in the Grand Tetons through the holiday weekend.