Sunday, June 12, 2011

Another Weekend in Jackson


I headed down to Jackson again this weekend. Last weekend, as I tried to gather my things for camping, I realized all my gear was in my storage unit in Jackson. This weekend I went down to retrieve it all and have some fun too.

Saturday I drove straight into town, ran a couple errands and went to my storage unit. I was also very excited to grab lunch at Betty Rock, one of my favorite sandwich places ever. My 2 favorites are the Thai Chicken and the Turkey, Gouda and Roasted Red Pepper sandwiches. After I was done in town I headed back up to Blackrock. The Bridger-Teton National Forest Fire Crew was having a bon-fire, so I went to that Saturday evening. It was nice catching up with friends and meeting some new people as well.

Sunday my friend Ross and I headed over to Teton Village. The Jackson Hole Resort was offering free admission on the tram to locals and we couldn't pass that opportunity up, even if it was a rainy, foggy day!

The tram, which takes skiers to the top of Rendezvous Peak in the ski season, takes you from 6,311 ft to 10,450 in about 15 minutes. This day the top was socked in with fog so all you could see was fog and snow everywhere! The ride back down the mountain was a little clearer and I am really looking forward to returning on a clearer day.


On our way back home we took the Kelly road and saw this little pronghorn on the side of the road. It's always so nice when they pose for you. :)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Trail Creek Forest Service Cabin


This last weekend I was invited to join my friends Mary, Laura and Kim for a little adventure. We were to hike into the Trail Creek Forest Service cabin off of Trail Creek Road (a dirt road between Emigrant and Bozeman, MT in the Gallatin National Forest). The adventure started out with us driving down Trail Creek looking for the proper road to turn off on. We eventually found it, drove until there was a large drop-off, parked our car and loaded our gear up.
From where we parked it was a short walk to the Trail Creek Trailhead where the hike began. I was very much under the wrong impression of what we were doing. I thought we were taking a 1.9 mile walk down an old road to this cabin. Instead it was a 3 mile hike on an actual trail. Needless to say I was a little un-prepared, as in I had on tennis shoes and was carrying food in a little cooler. (Still brings a smile to my face picturing me carrying a cooler around. Ha!)
The trail was a very nice one through the forest and paralleling a creek for most of the way. Well, I should say most of the trail was nice. There were many sections that were muddy. Very muddy. I was lucky enough to have only had one major fall, which resulted in mud from my knees down, and only lost my shoe 2 or 3 times. One of my friends, Kim, was not so lucky. At the start of the hike she sunk thigh deep!


After some speculation as to whether or not we were on the right trail, we finally found it! The Trail Creek cabin sits on the edge of a small cabin and was built in 1924 for the Bozeman Ranger District. There is a fold out table and 2 sets of bunk beds inside, a nice fire ring and an outhouse. Once at the cabin we all explored a bit, ate dinner and started a fire. I took the time to go relax in the meadow, got my paints out and drew a picture. (It felt great to be drawing/painting, even if the picture didn’t turn out great. For some reason I put my paints, pens and pencils down about 4 years ago and have not picked them up since. Ever since this winter I have had a strong desire to draw & paint again and was so excited I finally did it!)

As it started to get dark we gathered our stuff and headed inside the cabin for Boggle (which always reminds me of Grandma) and Kissmet (a game very similar to Yahtzee) before turning in for the night.

Sunday morning I awoke with the sun and took advantage of the morning peace and quiet. I sat on the front porch for awhile enjoying the mountain views and then took a small walk down one of the old roads which leads to a different trailhead. Eventually the rest of my friends woke up and we headed back out on the muddy trail. Funny how easy it is to walk through muddy trails when you are already muddy and don’t car if you get muddier. Lol! What a gorgeous day it was for a hike too, the sun came out and it was in the high 70s! Once back out to the car we drove back to Emigrant where I left in my car and the other 3 went out to breakfast.

I enjoyed my adventure, but will make sure to do my own research about where we are going next time.

Teton Weekend


I had a nice, relaxing Memorial Day weekend in the Tetons. On Friday I drove through snowy roads to get out of the park. I met my friends Ross and Warren at Leeks Marina in the Tetons for pizza and then we headed to their cabin at Blackrock afterwards.

Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day. Ross and I drove through the Tetons. We stopped at Jenny Lake and were rewarded with a bull moose sighting! The moose was fairly close and I got several great shots. I love moose!

After the drive we went to the Bar J Chuckwagon to wait in line for our tickets and seat assignments for our group. Eventually the doors opened, the rest of our friends found us and we got ready for the dinner and show. Dinner was great and show was fantastic!

Babies

This has been the week for babies! Baby Bison! What a natural ham.
Baby elk, hours after being born.
Baby bighorn sheep. I sure wish I could bounce and run over the mountain sides like this little guy.
Baby Doss! I can't wait to be an aunt!

Snow



It’s almost June. Why is there still SO much snow? Here in Yellowstone, we continue to get dumped on almost daily. In fact most of the roads have closed at one point or another over Memorial Day weekend. On Friday I was driving to the Tetons and encountered a good 3-4 inches on the ground between Lake and West Thumb. Luckily here at Mammoth and Gardiner we are in a lower elevation and all of our snow is gone. I can’t imagine when we are even going to be able to hike and explore the park snow free. Come on summer!