Most of Nancy's and Paul's groups decided to go, and Dad (Janet and Jennifer were in Arkansas). Chieko and I decided to take Elliot, since John's family, except John, was in town, and we thought Elliot and Jackson would have fun together. Then Sara wasn't feeling well due to her pregnancy, so her group dropped out. So we decided to take Jackson and Elliot. But then Elliot got sick, so we headed out on Friday morning with just Jackson. Later on Friday, Sara called to say they had decided to come after all, but too late for the Bar J.
This is all so confusing.
The Bar J Wranglers were great, as usual. Jackson clapped along with every song.
Jamie convinced me to get up at 5:15 on Saturday morning to take pictures of some old barn.
Jamie has better pictures of the barn than I do, so I'm just posting this one that was my experiment. You can see Jamie's pictures on her photo blog. I post most of my Jackson and Yellowstone pictures at gallery.mac.com/michaelastle.
An old log house just a short distance up the road toward the Gros Ventre slide and lake used to give some ranch family a great view of the Tetons.
By the way, the hot springs near the beginning of this road are great if you don't mind moss, tepid water, and a kid catching skeeters with a little old net he found. Chieko and I checked out the springs on Monday morning, but we chose to skip the soak.
These two made friends immediately.
On Saturday we drove to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
This isn't a good picture of a grizzly that lives just north of the Flagg Ranch, but grizzlies aren't so keen on people taking close ups.
We high-tailed it (but not over 45 mph) back to Jackson to watch the fireworks. Paul and the Scotts saved a great spot right at the bottom of the Snow King ski lift and run. Pieces of fireworks fell on us throughout the night; we were that close. Following are a bunch of pictures of the fireworks.
Finale
The kids had been collecting sticks for a campfire, but because we got back to camp late on Friday and Saturday Number One, we built a small fire on the morning of Saturday Number Two.
Tanner brought this to me, put it in my hand, and asked me what it was.
Tanner
Jamie and her troop headed back to Colorado Springs, or Oklahoma City, or wherever they call home now.
Sara and her clan had big plans to go to Old Faithful and then swim in the Firehole River near Madison Junction.
We got a pretty late start and made it only as far as Old Faithful.
Sara's group then headed toward West Yellowstone and home while Chieko and I drove back to our camp at Gros Ventre.
This bison is scratching his neck on the sign. After a good scratching, he turned and walked across the highway without even looking both ways.
On Monday morning Chieko and I drove down the Moose-Wilson Road.
During her college days Chieko worked at the Rockefeller's J-Y Ranch on the Moose-Wilson Road. Rockefellers donated the ranch land to the Grand Teton National Park a few years ago, and today there is a Rockefeller Preserve with a nice visitor center and some hiking trails.
We hiked to Phelps Lake, which is on a three-mile loop trail. It's a pretty easy climb up along Phelps Creek.
The Rockeller lodge and cabins where Chieko worked used to be on Phelps Lake, but all the buildings have been move to the Rockefellers' remaining ranch property somewhere to the south and to Colter Bay, where they're used as employee housing. The Preserve has been returned to nature.
Before we headed home we drove a ways up the road between Jackson and Moran Junction for one last look at the Tetons. With the late spring and all the water this year--more than I've ever seen in the lakes and streams--the desert flowers were still in full bloom.
We thought this cloud over the east side of the valley looked like a giant gorilla blowing on the Tetons.
3 comments:
I just don't see a gorilla... Funny, our posts are almost exactly the same. I even wrote mine a few days ago, it just took me a long time to get the video on there before I could post it.
As if I wasn't already sad enough that I didn't get to go... Thanks for rubbing it in :) Glad you had a good time!
In looking for old photos of the JY Ranch I came across your blog. I worked at the JY in 1969. I got hired from BYU.
I had no idea the buildings were moved. Thanks for that one. Not sure I could ever go back. I'll just retain my own photos and let the magic remain.
Wonder what happened to the other employees...the cook...Gertrude from ZMI to do flowers...the ranch hands....
Thank you!
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