Happy Birthday to me!
When it started pushing 100F in Moab, Utah I got out of there and headed for the southern part of Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area on the Utah/Wyoming border. I camped just short of the gorge on a summit in Ashley National Forest. That summit was 8500 feet and sure enough it snowed on me. Then I thought, snow is especially pretty in the Grand Tetons so off I went again.
The snow was pretty in Grand Teton National Park. Unfortunately the weather wasn't so pretty. I signed on for 5 days at a campground and it rained 3 out of 4 days with low lieing clouds so you couldn't see much of anything. I skipped the 5th day.
The 3rd day was only partly cloudy and there was some sunshine. Got some nice pictures of the Tetons with the clouds swirling around them. I tried to hike up to Leigh Lake but couldn't get through because two feet of snow still covered the trail. With no real objective I started around Jenny Lake. Some snow but passable.
Spotted a moose on a slope above me and then an elk above the moose. Got a photo of the moose but was out of postion to get both of them. Lots of marmots around too and they weren't shy.
A little ways past the moose I saw a good sized blond (cinnamon?) black bear just on the down side of the trail. I whipped out the ol' camera and started blasting away. I watched it tearing up rotted logs looking for bugs as it continued down the slope. I tried to get ahead of it on the trail and waited but it didn't reappear where I was expecting it too.
Then I saw it coming up the slope and when it hit the trail it turned towards me. I was still blasting away with the camera as it got closer. Just as I started thinking 'uh oh' it turned on up the slope. I got several pretty good photos especially with it coming towards me. Check it out at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Photo Album.
With snow on the trails there wasn't much to do so back down to Flaming Gorge. I went to an area where I knew there was a tough hill and practiced on it for several days. Back up to the Wind River Range and too much snow on the trails again. Met a couple of guys who were going to tackle one trail using snowshoes. So now I'm in the market for snowshoes with a small footprint.
I went over to the Grand Tetons again but didn't really think about stopping. It's the quickest way to Yellowstone National Park and I figured there probably wasn't much snow around the hot springs, etc.
As I was passing out of the Grand Tetons I spotted a mama moose and a calf that couldn't have been more than a day or two old.
Entering Yellowstone takes you up to 8500 feet. Big time snow on the up slopes by the road... some 8-10 feet high. The tourist area is only 6500 feet and there was no snow in early June.
Big stormy clouds for several days. Lots of good photos of geysers and hot springs anyway. Lots of wildlife too. Buffalow herds everywhere, most with young calves less than a week old.
Saw one grizzly way off in the distance through a borrowed telescope. One black bear with at least one cub but the photos were out of focus. One moose, one wolf and some elk.
I was in the park for a few days and went to Cody for a day. Tried to get back in early next morning but the park was closed. There was an inch or two of snow at the lower elevations, probably more higher up. The real problem was an accident somewhere around Yellowstone Lake. The roads were all closed because all the rangers were tied up with that. Once they cleared that up they could then evalutate road conditions at the passes. I sat there for over 3 hours but they finally let us in.
The weather didn't get any better and I finally gave up on Yellowstone. On the way out by way of the south entrance I saw a scraggly, soggy looking wolf trotting along the side of the road in the rain. Don't know where he was going.
Got down to the Tetons and stopped to check the snow on the Leigh Lake Trail. Most of it was gone. On the way from the trailhead I was treated to another cinnamon bear sighting. There were too many people trying to get too close and the bear finally spooked and ran across the road and into the far woods.
More bad weather but I did get to hike/walk the String Lake/Leigh Lake trail. What a gorgeous trail with the Tetons rising up directly from the lakes. After a few days I gave up on the weather and back down to Flaming Gorge I went. Another week there trying some longer walks then up to the Wind River Range one more time.
Tried the Pole Creek Trail off the Elkhart Trailhead again. I got 100 yards the first time and about 1/2 mile this time before running into more snow than I wanted. At the Ranger Station in Pinedale they told me this was pretty much normal with trails in the 9000-10000 foot range not opening till the first of July. I backpacked in mid-June last year but that was a drought year with less snow.
The Green River Trailhead is around 7000 feet so here I am. No snow at the tailhead and I don't plan on going any higher. I dunno if I'm gonna paddle Lower Green River Lake or tackle one of the trails first. Stay tuned.