Day Five

We said goodbye to our gracious host and threw our gear in the back of the rent a car. It was already light out this particular morning. I wasn't going to push it. We had driven over 900 miles in the parks and had explored a lot of hidden nooks and crannies. Today we could chill a bit. Leslie and I drove into Jackson and found a great little restaurant to have breakfast at called E.leaven. This little restaurant sitting square in the northern rockies had maybe the best huevos rancheros I have ever tasted. Served on a crispy tortilla, the beans, eggs, green sauce and mexican cheese just nailed it.

We finished our breakfast and drank the excellent coffee. I read the local paper. A lot of people pissed off at antiquated laws that allow an elk hunt in the park and that tip the scales towards game and cows grazing on federal land and away from predators in the animal chain. Lots of rednecks and alpha hunters itching to kill wolves, because they can. Locals pissed off because they leave the elk guts on the side of the road and they attract bears and then bad things happen to the bears. The Moose - Wilson road had been closed down friday because bear 610, a five year old offspring of the famed grizzly bear 399, had a worrisome interaction with some cars, one of her two cubs bluff charging a vehicle. If people didn't do stupid things, there would be far less of these sorts of  encounters.

The weather started to cloud up and get a little funky. We were okay because we had seen everything we came to see and were so happy with our trip. Anything else would be gravy. It started to rain a little bit. We stopped in the Tetons one last time and hiked the trail at the base of the lupine meadows. We both noticed that there were not very many birds in the area the entire trip but saw a few magpies and chickadees. Leslie called to a bird and it flew into her hand like Doctor Doolittle. Neat trick.

We started driving the familiar road up north when Leslie suggested we check out the road to Signal Mountain. This is sort of an anonymous road that winds up a nice peak and affords fantastic views of the entire area. As we started up I noticed a nice marsh on our right, surrounded by tall trees. It really started to come down. We parked at the top, near a satellite tower and I walked a short distance down a hill. Looking south, I saw the most ethereal view of the whole trip, the Tetons shrouded in clouds, a small island in the foreground, the sun trying to break through and illuminate but not quite succeeding. I could not nail the shot. The clouds kept shutting me out. I tried three or four times traversing back to the car, wanting to give it one more shot. Unfortunately, this is the best I could do. But I will be back, I swear...

The view the other direction encompassed a large plain of mauve and red. I started thinking about the lines from the Donovan song, alizarean crimson...We heard sheep bleating nearby and elks bugling in the valley below. We waited and waited until I finally admitted my defeat and we took the steep route down off the mountain. We saw this grouse out of my side window, ruffling up its feathers.

We continued down the hill and I saw that the marshy meadow was now occupied by a moose and her calf, peacefully eating breakfast and cautiously checking the ether for signs of danger. It was so beautiful and secluded in the meadow and both my wife and I were very, very happy, to be so removed from the mundane and in the midst of such unsullied beauty.

We made our way back to Oxbow Bend one last time, hopefully to get shots of a flock of trumpeter swans.

We put the car in low and traversed a large mud puddle, making our way to the backside near Cattleman's Bridge, the old crossing point for livestock. The area was very muddy, the swans a bit out of range for my telephoto lens and my tennis shoes. I stepped down over a soggy shelf to try to get a better vantage when I stepped right into the fresh bear track, twice as big as my own. Now we had already seen three grizzlies, why did the one I could not see send such a chill down my spine? We met a local guide and her boyfriend and showed her the tracks and then quickly left the area.

Our next stop was down the rugged road towards Pilgrim Creek. Very out of the way, we saw some hunters and some huge trees that the bears had overturned.

We continued up through Yellowstone to our night's destination, the Yellowstone Snow Lodge, the only facility still open in the Park. In a few weeks it will only be accessible by snowmobile. We checked in and had a look at the namesake geyser.

The hotel is very nice, no televisions, beautiful rooms. My only complaint is that the walls are paper thin. We met great folks near the fireplaces and at dinner from Florida, Alberta and Michigan. I had duck with a maple glaze that was better than edible. Leslie had an elk burger that was delicious, it was. Before we went to bed we walked back out to the geyser to try to catch the last eruption but it was pitch black and we decided to come back and regroup in the morning. And so ends another day.