Day 5 – Grand Teton National Park

     Today was my first day in Grand Teton National Park. My day started later than I planned, due to my sleeping though my alarm. Thankfully, I didn’t sleeping though the whole day, I only slept until 9:00 a.m. I got the park and my first stop was the visitor center to see how the road conditions were. I asked one of the rangers about a good 6 to 8 hour hike that I could get to in my without four wheel drive and snow tires. He suggested the Jenny Lake Loop to Hidden Falls. He told me the roads that were open were snow free, so I would be good on that concern.
     I drove out to Jenny Lake and immediately encountered snow on the hiking path. I have never experienced hiking in snow and needless to say I was underprepared for the difficulties in hiking in snow and 7,000 feet. At certain points I was knee deep in snow.

     I made it about half way to Hidden Falls when I slipped on a snowy embankment and twisted my ankle. At that point I decided it was safest if I turned about and head back to my car. The close I got to the car the more my ankle hurt and it got the point I was just saying to myself “one more step and I am one step closer to being done.” At one of my rest stops, I heard this twig snap and looked up and there was an adult moose. The moose just looked at me like I was crazy and continued to eat his twigs.

     From Jenny Lake, I drove further into the park. The next stop was a overlook on the other side of Jenny Lake. At this overlook, I met an older gentleman, who was looking for someone to go snowshoeing with. My ankle was feeling better so I went with him about a mile. 

     Yesterday, this gentleman had found three wolves feeding on a kill further into the park. I followed him out to this spot and we started watching. The first thing I noticed was a heard of elk near the spot he had seen the wolves. As I was watching the elk, they took off running and I noticed a gray wolf bounding behind them. The wolf didn’t catch an elk, but it was still cool to see. The wolves then spent over an hour feeding on the same kill as yesterday.

     After the wolves, I spent the next two hours exploring the park and just viewing the sights. I will try to post pictures soon. But I have to go through 442 pictures. 

Animal Count:

• Moose – 3
• Elk – to many to count over 100
• Otter – 2
• Wolf – 1 (A ranger confimed this was a wolf, it was wearing a radio collar)
• Muskrat – 1
• Coyote – 2 (I am not entirely sure they were not wolves but coyotes are more common)
• Bison – 15
• Many types of birds