July 1, 2004 - Moscow, ID (Arches & off to Grand Teton)

Our last day at the Arches, and we decided to do an evening hike.  It's been in the 90's-100's every day, and that makes for uncomfortable hiking for us senior citizens.  The goal is to take that longer hike up to the other side of the Delicate Arch and watch the sun set.  But of course, on the way we had to stop and take a better look at these "sand dunes" we'd been driving past.  These are actually petrified sand dunes, i.e., sand dunes turned to solid rock.

Well, not the first we'd seen of balanced rocks, now is it.  Bigger than the one I had, but still.........  Isn't this fun.

Now, the guide pamphlet said that this was an easy-to-moderate hike, with an elevation of only 480 feet.  Liars!  Well, I suppose actually that's not fair.  What's strenuous to one person might be moderate to another.  I do know the easy part was about the first 100 yards. The rest of the 3 miles (round trip) was a bit more "interesting" as you'll see.  Oh, yeah, the trail was marked more by people going up and down than anything else.  There were the ubiquitous cairns, however, here and there, which were helpful.  Later, Barb found another trail guide pamphlet that indicated that this was a strenuous hike.

Honestly, this would have been an enjoyable hike for us if my knee hadn't been bothering me so much.  The view looking back down to the cars (the bottom of the green patch) was really quite pleasant.  It was in the cool of the evening, there was a gentle breeze, and we knew what was at the end (or the turnaround, depending on how you look at it).

Interesting rock formation makes me wonder why the water chose there to dig a hole.  And as you can see, Barb's a little ahead of me on that little natural shelf that provides us with a trail.

Here the trail was steep enough that somebody was kind enough to chip stairs in the rock for us.  And then back onto the shelf we go.

And we made it.  And as you can see, we're not the only ones.  We were pleased by the age of the group.  While we weren't the oldest ones up there, most the group was either young couples or young families.  Mostly there, apparently, for the same reason we were.  Cameras at the ready, patiently waiting for sunset.

Another unidentified arch over there, and some threatening weather heading our direction.  We've had 30 or 40 raindrops on the rig since we've been here, and I suspect we're getting a few more tonight.

Just goofing off waiting for the sunset, and enjoying each other and the views.

Barb's got the camera and wandering around a little.  My walking stick has a knob on the top that I can unscrew, and use the stick as a monopod for the camera.  Pretty handy at times like this.  Sunset was somewhat impaired by clouds, but we greatly enjoyed the whole thing nevertheless--loved the cool evening air.

The sunset has happened, more or less, and we wait a bit for that fellow getting a shot of the last rays before we head down the trail to the Jeep.

So that's the end of Arches National Park--for now.  Next day we left for the Grand Teton National Park in WY.  And watched some rafters getting their money's worth of soaking wet.  Even if this was a slow spot, there were plenty of rapids for them to soak themselves in.  And there's the business end of John's coach as we follow the pilot car through a construction site.  Any time of year we can find construction, but in the summers up here (over 6,000 feet of elevation), you can count on it.  The slower pace gives us a chance to enjoy the views even more--back to green stuff now, all the red stuff mostly behind us.

More wet rafters.  I tend to put that into the same category as skydiving.  If you can avoid it, you should.  You know, like why jump out of a perfectly good airplane?  Well, why take a ride guaranteed to get you soaking wet and cold if you don't have to?  Well, that same philosophy is not held by the bride.  She's anxious to go on a "real" rafting trip.  And I suppose I'll go too, even if I do hate getting wet and cold.

There's John, expressing gratitude for finally getting parked.  These spaces in Gros Ventre (big belly for those who don't understand French) campground in Grand Teton NP are a bit smallish for our 40' coaches, and it took a second space before John was all comfy.  Sort of.  Not enough room for his Jeep, and ours was painfully close to the roadway or sitting on a bush, neither of which particularly pleased the volunteer rangers that came by in their little golf carts.  So, we went to the office and pleaded with the ranger there, and because of all the empty spaces, we got assigned one for the Jeeps.  Then we went for a very short walk to the Gros Ventre River, and saw lots of beaver activity like this tree stump.

And there we are (John on left, us on right), all set waiting for Dean and Bettye to show up.  That's the Grand Teton poking its head up over the hills between us.  Since we had a day to kill, we thought we'd drive around a bit, and we went to the Jenny Lake boat dock to check it out.  We think it might be fun to take a tour of the lake some evening, and there is a shuttle to the other side of the lake where there are some enticing trails we might like to hike if my knee gets better.  John's not hiding from us, he's just taking my picture, and I can't resist taking the picture of someone who's taking my picture.

Signal Hill is a fun drive off "the loop" we're taking.  Gives us a great perspective of Jackson Hole.  A marmot was messing around on the trail to the top and didn't seem to mind posing for his picture.

Pretty view, pretty flowers, and finally I caught a flutter-by on a flower.

There was a class of some sort, and the parking lot had 3 vans these "kids" came in.  John and I swapping some kind of story, I'm sure.

Too bad I didn't bring the phone.  We'd have had great reception this close to the cell tower, eh?  No wonder they call this Signal Hill.  These little caterpillars were here and there, but not a lot of them.  Not sure if they're friend or foe.  Lots of dead trees because of bugs.

Barb found some flowers, big surprise.  And we'd better be careful, because she's bought herself a wildflower identification book!  And if we never see another moose while we're here, we've at least seen these wonderful andirons.  There was another set in a duplicate fireplace in another corner of the Jackson Lake lodge.

The view outside the lodge and then inside the lodge.  Comfortable sort of place.  Impeccability maintained, nicely furnished, but not ostentatious.

In the parking lot of the lodge, we spotted those bikes on top of the car.  Notice anything unusual about them?  Dual tandems!  And then a couple of shots of the barn that helped make Ansel Adams (photographer of the National Parks) famous.  That barn is a part of a settlement now owned by the park.

While some of the barns are still in use, the Bison pretty much have the run of the place.

These guys aren't much afraid (or even aware, it seems) of us in vehicles.  Fun to watch the little guys, and then a cow with a radio collar on.  Funny story about the calves.  Seems a woman (and I won't make reference to hair color here - might have been white, for all I know) was taking a tour of a bison ranch, and wanted to know why all those little red dogs were running along side of so many of the bison.

AHA!  We're off for a ride on the river.  I've been promised that there will be no rough water, cameras invited, and no wetsuits required.  Barb's ready, and John is, well, almost ready.  Slightly apprehensive about his first float trip, but being a good companion and going along with us anyway.

Big grins from the both of them and we're off.  Supposed to be a two hour fast but smooth ride.  And from the looks of the water, I'd have to agree.  About a dozen of us in here, and it's a nice sturdy raft.

Andy has been running the river for 4 years now, seemed to be highly skilled, and was real friendly.  Chatted about the surrounding area, told stories about mountain climbers, and asked us to help by keeping an eye out for wildlife.  As soon as we saw this Merganser, I took its picture.  No telling about wildlife, even if this is an evening ride.  One thing in particular I appreciated was the way Andy would occasionally turn the raft around so sometimes we'd be facing the direction we were going, sometimes we'd be facing the direction we'd come from.  No stiff necks for this crowd!  Not sure if it was intentional or accidental, but I appreciated it anyway.

Hummm.  Some group got fed, looks to me like, and then what's this?  Rough water?  Naw, just a few riffles.  Nary a drop came aboard.

Most the time the river was quite smooth, with fantastic views like this.  Once in a while we'd see some tiny standing waves, but Andy managed to miss them all.  Dang.

The river was high (aren't these views grand?) and once in a while Andy would have to take evasive action to miss a fallen tree.  The river averages about 4 feet deep, and often we could see bottom.

Evidence of next year's trees that are going to have to be avoided were all over the place.  Seems the lakes are low here because the Idaho farmers have the rights to the water, and need it pretty badly because this is the 5th year of drought for this area.  The floods that are plaguing Texas about now would be welcome up here.

More wildlife!  This time a couple of bald eagle fledglings have climbed out of the nest, while a watchful parent sits nearby.

Flowers, of course, and then a couple of beaver were seen.  Been a while since we'd seen beaver in the wild, so this was fun.

A merganser mamma and her brood on that little pile of rocks, and a silver-bellied red-tailed eagle.  Andy said they were real popular here, and we believed him.

A couple of Canada geese and their babies, and then, what's this?  A funny looking awkward baby moose?  Yup, sure enough.  John's day is made.  First time he's seen one outside a zoo.  A very young one, maybe a couple of weeks.

And there's mama moose keeping an eye on us and her baby.  Dornan's is a popular spot, for obvious reasons.  We ate there once, and the food was good and reasonably priced too.

A quick look at the historic ferry being rebuilt, and then on the way home in the Jeep a couple of mule deer bucks sort of rounded off a wonderful day of sightseeing and wildlife viewing.  Is this a great lifestyle or what????!!!