Abbey's Road

On Tuesday morning we started off at the West Thumb Geyser Basin, real close to our campground. When we got to the parking lot we saw a huge bull elk and his cow not far from the cars. As usual, there were the typical idiots getting way too close in order to get the best picture. We stuck around to see if there would be any excitement, but luckily the people finally got wise and moved away.

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that the first night we could hear the elk bugling most of the night. It's their mating call. It's a very unique sound and one that is very hard to describe. It almost sounds like one of those toy plastic horns that we used to blow through when we were kids. The first time we heard it was a bit puzzling until I finally remembered it was mating season for the elk. After the West Thumb Geyser Basin, we made our way fairly quickly through the southern end of the park and into Grand Teton NP. The mountains in Grand Teton are much higher and more rugged than anything in Yellowstone.

The other thing we noticed was that the aspens were starting to turn a brilliant yellow.

Since Abbey had been relegated to taking short walks around the campground and on the roadways the last few days, we decided to take a hike just outside the NP in the national forest. The views of the mountains in the background weren't exactly blog material, but they were pretty scenic nonetheless. At least Abbey got out for a while and it was our first real hike. For the most part in Yellowstone we were just walking on the boardwalks and pathways, though it was still a lot of walking. Anyways, before calling it a day we stopped at a well-known moose hangout called Willow Flats. Some people there thought they saw a moose through their binoculars way out across the meadows by the lake, but we couldn't really see it. So Chris and I decided to set out across the meadow to get a closer look. We didn't make it very far before being turned back by too much brush and too many creeks. We found a nice campground at Signal Mountain to spend the night. While paying I saw a beautiful snowshoe rabbit. It was mostly grey but with big white feet, which I'm sure is where the name comes from. Abbey saw it too, but luckily I had her on a short leash at the time.

The next morning we woke up to rain and clouds so we decided to give Willow Flats another shot. Before we even got to the parking area we saw the paparazzi lining the roadway. We stopped and saw a cow moose about 30 feet from the road seemingly oblivious to the crowds of photographers trying to get the best shots.

On the other side of the road we saw another cow moose lying down in the brush. To top it off we finally saw the bull moose at Willow Flats, though not until after we had already gotten back in the RV and were about to pull away. I noticed someone had spotted something so we got out for another look. Despite the off-and-on rain we decided to take a hike up Cascade Canyon which starts with a cold, wet boat ride across Jenny Lake. The 5 minute ride to save 2 miles walking was well worth the price especially with the rain. The first mile was pretty steep but after that it flattened out quite a bit. Surprisingly, even with the weather there were a lot of people on the trail. After a short time we passed a couple going the other way who told us there was a moose family a little further up the canyon. We then ran into a young German couple who told us they saw a bear and turned back. We later figured out, along with some other people, that they mistook one of the moose for a bear (it was probably partly hidden in the brush). I felt bad for them because it was just amazing to see the family of 3 moose including a young baby only a few dozen yards away from us on the trail. We stood and watched for a long time before they noticed us. We debated a few times about moving further back but they didn't seem too bothered by us. They finally gave us some room to pass by on the trail. We ran into several other people who saw them so the family must have been there for a good part of the day. It was pretty spectacular, though my pictures just don't do it justice. That's when I really wished I had one of those mega-zoom lenses that most everyone else seemed to have. We hiked further up the trail, but we weren't done yet with moose.

In the middle of the stream we saw a cow moose all by herself. We were going to get out our cameras when she started moving towards us. When she saw no signs of stopping we decided it was time to move on. She came all the way up to the trail right where we were standing. She was either mad or very curious. Then again, it is mating season. Maybe she was lonely. It started raining again on the way back and we got pretty wet the last mile, but we didn't really care. All told we saw 7 moose for the day '? nearly twice as many as I had seen in my whole life. And they were the first moose that Chris had ever seen so it was a great hike.

We celebrated by heading to the town of Jackson, WY at the southern end of the park for a nice dinner. After Chris got some obligatory souvenir shopping done, we found a nice out-of-the-way local restaurant with real good Buffalo sirloin (sorry, Rachel!) and Moose Drool beer. It seemed the fitting end to a great day.
Cloudy Grand Tetons

Hidden Falls