Day12-We arrived at the Rocky Mountains! After settling in at Salt Lake City, UT last night, we took a short trip to Antelope Island State Park in the middle of the Great Salt Lake this morning, before heading north. Great Salt Lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River and is a remnant of the pre-historic Lake Bonneville, which covered more than 20,000 miles during the ice age. The park gets its name from the Pronghorn Antelope that roam freely on the island, along with many Mule Deer. But, its most famous residents are American Bison. Twelve animals were brought to the island in 1893 and now there’s a healthy heard of around 600. Along with the larger mammals, the park is home to Coyotes, Badgers and a variety of birds. It’s a unique, amazing park, and I really l would like to return to spend a few days roaming around!
Our travels took us north to some of the most famous, and visited, national parks in America-Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone NP. Our plan was to hit Grand Teton today and visit Yellowstone the next two days. On the way to Grand Teton we trekked through some of the most beautiful high mountain meadows we’ve ever seen. The areas we traveled through were found at about 6000’ and were vast and lush with huge green meadows, fresh water ponds and even some cattle pastures. Most people probably just drive through them on their hurried way to get to the big parks. We were able to spot several Sandhill Cranes, hawks and waterfowl using these habitats.
I think the Grand Tetons (a local range in the Rocky Mountains) are the most majestic-looking mountains in the entire country. Each time you look at them, you photograph them! It doesn’t matter how many times you stop, or from how far away your parked (or hiking), you just keep snapping. When you first see them from a long distance, you pull-over to take pictures almost thinking you better capture them now before they’re gone, even though you know you’ll get much closer! A cloud gently rolls in over one of the peaks and you look at it thinking, “that looks cool, I don’t have a picture of that yet,” then the sun breaks through the clouds and illuminates one of the glaciers that hides between the peaks, and again you steer the car nearly into the ditch. Why? Because the mountains beg you to stop and photograph them. Lots of other cars are almost in ditches, too-even though 100 yards up the road you discover a large, safe turnout to stop in. Even after you’re all done for the day and you’re heading out of the park, you still manage to snap one last picture through your window at 40 mph, as twist your head around into a pretzel! That’s what the Tetons do to you! That’s their magic!
We called today Mammal Monday because of all the mammals we spotted throughout the day. We started with Coyotes, Pronghorn, Bison and ground squirrels on Antelope Island SP, and continued our good luck with seeing a young, bull Moose feeding along the Snake River in Grand Teton NP. We also managed to see a few Elk grazing nearby, Mule Deer along the busy roads and chipmunks playing among the rocks at Jenny Lake. The ladies made fun of me (and started to get a bit concerned) as Big Blue spent quite a bit of time driving in reverse. I would spot something, then wildly hit the brakes as if something just ran in front of me, take a quick look in my mirror, and start backing up to get a better view of it. It started with seeing two Coyotes on the causeway into Antelope Island SP. I noticed a pair of them crossing the shallow flats in the Great Salt Lake, and were headed right for us. As they got closer they started trotting down alongside the truck, but in the opposite direction, so I started backing up. This continued for another ¼ mile as I positioned myself to get that perfect photo of both of them together. Fortunately, no other cars were on the road, or it might have been a problem. Finally, I heard the cries from the back seat, “Stop! Let’s go forward and get to the park!” The message was received loud and clear!
Western Meadowlarks an Black-billed magpies could be seen and heard throughout travels today (see below)
