Retirement……LOVE IT!

On July 5th we left Island Park, ID, and drove to Idaho Falls, ID. Our first week here we had hotel reservations in Jackson, WY, so we could spend a couple of days exploring Grand Teton National Park and the town of Jackson.

Many people (including myself) think the town’s name is Jackson Hole. It is not. The valley that the town of Jackson is in is called Jackson Hole. Therein lies the confusion.

We took the “scenic” route to Jackson. It was a beautiful, sunny day which made the drive even prettier. We came into Jackson from the west on state Highway 22. Once we reached the summit of Teton Pass (approx. elevation 8400 ft.), there was a scenic overlook of Jackson Hole valley that was phenomenal!

We stayed at the Elk Country Inn which was just four blocks from the town square. It was a little pricey for us, but they did allow dogs which we MUST have for our little Zoey. It was a very nice, clean place, so it was worth every penny. I’m kind of sorry now that I didn’t take any pictures of the hotel and cabins. 😔

Our two days in Grand Teton National Park were amazing. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife, but the mountains and gorgeous views more than made up for it. I’ll just let the pictures show you how beautiful it truly is.

Like I said, we didn’t see a lot of wildlife at Grand Teton National Park like we did at Yellowstone. That was probably because the weather while we were at Grand Teton was much warmer than normal. We did see a pronghorn which has a deer-like body and weighs 90-120 pounds. They have distinct white fur on their rumps, sides, breast, bellies, and necks. The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere with a top speed of 35 mph for 4 miles up to 55 mph for 0.5 of a mile. It is often cited as the second fastest land animal (second only to the Cheetah).

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of the pronghorn’s face and front of his body.

We also saw these little guys at numerous places. At first we thought they were prairie dogs, however, they were smaller and skinnier. After seeing them, I read something in the park’s newspaper about them. They are really Uinta (you-in-ta) ground squirrels. These squirrels are found in parts of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah. They live in burrows (similar to prairie dogs) and hibernate approximately from mid-August to mid-March. The sounds they make are also similar to prairie dogs except, I think they are a little higher pitched. They are cute, though.

One day we met some people that own a cabin in the park. Their great-grandfather had purchased the property before it was made part of the National Park. Their property was grandfathered in, and as long as a descendant of the original owner has possession of the property the family retains ownership. Anyway … they told us where to go look for a moose, so later that evening, we took off close to dusk. When we arrived at the spot, there were already a lot of people looking down the hill. When I walked over to the group, I asked someone, and they pointed out the moose to me. We were definitely excited! We saw another moose, but he was further down and we couldn’t get very good photos.

The town of Jackson is a great town. They rely on tourism year round: there’s snow skiing visitors in the winter and the visitors to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in the spring, summer, and fall. I asked a lady about how many skiers came in the winter. She said they average around 300,000 skiers a year, however, they average about 4 million visitors a year who are there for Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. I was shocked! 😳 Here are a few pictures of the town.

Those arches in the town square are made from elk antlers. No telling how many hundreds thousands of antlers are in the four arches! “Where do they get that many antlers?” you ask.

Just to the north of the town of Jackson (barely out of town) is the National Elk Refuge. The 24,700 acre refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was created in 1912 to protect the elk habitat and provide a sanctuary for one of the largest elk herds on earth. It is home to an average of 7,500 elk each winter. Elk migrate during the fall to the refuge from as far away as southern Yellowstone National Park. They winter on the grassy plains of Jackson Hole. In the spring, they follow the melting snow and growing grasses back to the region from which they came.

Elk shed their antlers every year during the winter. The Boy Scouts have collected the antlers every year under permit since 1968. They sell them at auction under an agreement that 75% of the proceeds are returned to the refuge to be used for irrigation of the grasses to maintain maximum natural food supply. Ten to eleven thousand pounds of antlers are collected and auctioned off each year!

Since no elk are at the refuge in the summer, I took photos of the beautiful valley that they will return to this fall.

We really enjoyed our time in Jackson, Wyoming, and exploring Grand Teton National Park.

So, for now ….. “On the Road Again!”

Betty