Sept. 10, 2010

Moose antler table

Before leaving the Virginian Lodge in Jackson, WY, I wanted to take a few shots of their lobby, filled with many of the animals I hoped to see during the day.  Not sure I'd see them in the wild, I thought I would at least capture them "stuffed."

Pronghorn in upper left corner

The Pronghorn antelope in the lower picture is, according to a ranger in the park, being threatened by the oil drilling I mentioned in my Sept. 9 post because their sage habitat is where the oil fields are being constructed.  At this time it would seem there is plenty of room for both, and people are working to keep the oil companies informed, but the sage fields are where these antelope find their food in the winter.  They are fine looking beasts ... fastest land animal in the U.S.

From the motel we went to the Bunnery, where we feasted on one of the finest breakfasts ever.  Fortified (for the day) we headed out to the National Museum of Wildlife Art, just north of Jackson  and just across the road from the National Elk Refuge.  In the beautiful structure of the museum, we saw in particular (and I might add, relatively quickly), a couple of works of note.  One was by a painter whose name I can't recall, but he had done one painting of a Greater Sage Grouse.  Now what's cool about a GSG is not only that is looks like a military transport plane because of the way the wings are attached high on it's body and the size of it's breast, but because it was first noted for Americans by Lewis and Clark on their journey west.  Lewis called it the "cock of the plains."  The second painting(s) of note were by artist Karl Bodmer, a Swiss guy who came to the states, and to the west, shortly after Lewis and Clark.  He painted the upper Missouri River ... had drawings of the stretch of river filled with the white cliffs and Indians that L & C wrote about.

Leaving the museum, we looked out over the refuge and saw, guess what, an elk.  Well, actually we didn't see the elk until later in the day, but if you look in the very center of this photo, you will see a tiny beige dot that is an elk in the wild!  In the refuge, in winter, over 7500 elk graze.  Because they are there, wolves are there, too.  In the spring, Jackson Boy Scouts collect the antlers and auction them off.  Some are used in furniture and some for the arches that grace the town square.  Some are sold to Asian buyers who use them in medicines.  The money raised is used to buy feed for the elk.  What a nice sustainable project, huh?

As we left the museum/refuge area we headed north, rounding one curve and seeing before us the mighty Tetons, rising majestically before us.  We even saw a rainbow through the mist.  The clouds changed everything every minute.  We had rain, sun, sleet, even a little snow during the day.  We stopped for a bit at the Craig Thomas Visitor Center and then headed toward the Taggert Lake Trailhead, which we hiked.  It was on this hike that we honestly saw a moose grazing.  My picture didn't turn out of him ... too far away and too unsteady a hand.

On to the Jenny Lake turnout: we looked across to see the Cascade Canyon cut.  For those who have hiked that trail, it still looks inviting and beautiful. The following two pictures are from there.

Jenny lake

From Jenny Lake, we drove to our lodge, Togwotee, 16 miles from the park.  This is where we encountered snow since we'd made a significant climb.  But we wanted to go back to the park for dinner at Jackson Lake Lodge and for a wildlife watch at Oxbow Overlook.  Dinner consisted of appetizers and a beer at the bar, overlooking Jackson Lake, which was magnificent.  Colter Bay is part of Jackson Lake, and is named for John Colter, a member of the Corps of Discovery.

At the Overlook, we were lucky!  A ranger confirmed a grizzly and we did actually see the fellow swimming across the river!  It was a terrific ending to a terrific day!