Twenty-Trip -- Fire in Jackson Hole!

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

 

As we descended the trail we noticed an impressive plume of smoke rising above Jackson, and another to the east. This required investigation.

 

 

 There were two fires that started late on Saturday. This one was just south of Jackson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (This is the one further east--we didn't check that one out.)

 



 

There were airplanes and helicopters taking off from the airport as we drove back into town. As we approached, we could see them swoop in to pour flame-retardent on the hillside.

 

 

 

(We spent a good 15 minutes watching them on Monday, too.)

 

This is the view from the vistors' center lawn, just north of town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After supper we went a little ways south of town, to where we could see the fire glowing on the hills.

 

 

As it got darker, we saw more and more little orange spots jump up here and there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fire-watching became boring after a while, even with all the eavesdropping we were able to do on our fellow watchers, so we went back to the hotel.

 

 

 The orange glow in the centre is the fire trying to cross the ridge. Firefighters were trying all day and night to keep it from crossing the ridge, because then it would be hard to keep it from sweeping down into the valley,

and eventually into Jackson itself.

 

I sat outside for a good hour or so, watching the fire through binoculars and talking with my friend on the phone.

It made for an exciting night!

 

~Kiwi~

Twenty Trip--Hidden Falls, Grand Tetons National Park

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

 

Here you can see the result of our trek--Hidden Falls!

 

 

 

While we sat and admired the falls (and caught our breath from the climb!), there was a family with two young kids further up the mountain preparing to rappel down the cliff.

 

Looked like fun!

 

 

 

 

 

(My father took so many good pictures of the falls that it's hard to narrow it down to a few!)

 

The following sequence of photos aren't of the best artistic quality, but you could make a flip-book out of them if you wanted! =D

 

There were little wildlives scurrying around looking for handouts. How can you resist a chipmunk?

He actually ate a nibble or two from my hand, but we didn't get a picture of that.

 

It was a lovely day for the hike. I'm adding this to my "Places to Return To" list.

 

 

~Kiwi~

Twenty Trip~~Hiking Along Jenny Lake

(My apologies for the delay between posts. April was a busy month, but I will try to keep up better. I have friends heading out to Yellowstone and the Tetons at the end of the month, and I'm considering stowing away in their car...)

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

After our lengthy search for a restaurant--which took us to many interesting places we otherwise would never have seen--we drove out to Grand Teton National Park 

and stopped briefly at the welcome center.

My aunt and uncle had suggested we take the ferry across Jenny Lake, then hike up to Inspiration Peak to look down across the lake. 

Unfortunately, the ferry's last run was the day before our arrival!

We drove around to a trailhead by String Lake, which is right below Jackson Lake 

on this handy-dandy map.

The star around the little hiker-dude is where we started out. The trail took us along side Jenny Lake (but on top of a bluff beside it, so no wading!) through some beautiful scenery.

Right at the start we crossed this river (overgrown stream?) on a wide plank bridge. I appreciate the way the bridges were designed to blend in with the outdoors, not just plunked down as something to walk across.

See why I'm longing to return?

I'm not sure when the fire that took these trees out was. It's almost prettier with the dead trees. You can see farther--and it makes for great photos!

Dad + hiking stick + mountains + boulder!

Good picture, eh?

We saw two ospreys on the hike up, then headed back down we could see another in the nest.

Those green-turning-orange bushes in the foreground (of the amazing picture I took) are called "snowbrush" or "sticky laurel" bushes. They smelled amazing! The breeze was warm and brought a lovely, spicy scent down along the hillside. When you crushed the leaves the smell was even stronger, and stayed on your now-sticky fingers. If the scent could be bottled, I'd buy it.

Half-way up the trail.

This is the point where I told Mom
"I think I was supposed to be a mountain goat, not a city girl."

We stopped right on the other side of the rocks to eat our picnic lunch. I was too excited and ready-to-move to eat much, but managed to down the salami, crackers, & cheese, and the
lime-and-chili almonds Mom bought special for the trip.

Oh, I miss snacky picnic lunches on sun-warmed rocks in Grand Teton National Park!

~Kiwi~

Twenty Trip--Continental Divide and Tetons!

Saturday, September 8th, 2012

After a few stops down through the park for picture-taking, we crossed the Continental Divide for the third time 

and headed down into....

...Grand Teton National Park!

More amazing mountains! I don't know how I've lived the past 7 months with no mountains in view. 

We were driving through there in the late afternoon, as the sun was setting behind the mountains.

Lovely, eh?

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

After a hunt for a good breakfast restaurant (we happened to come on the same weekend the LOTOJA bike ride from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, so the town and restaurants were full of people!) we drove to Jenny Lake to hike. Pictures from the hike will be in the next post. Just enjoy the mountains for now!

Missing the mountains!
~Kiwi~