July 2020 - Grand Tetons
Our Yellowstone trip continued into the Grand Tetons. We stayed at Colter Bay, which had a stunning view of the mountains across the lake. We did a lot of hiking. One lightly raining morning we hiked up past Bradley Lake, and were the only people on the trail probably thanks to the weather. As we hiked along, we suddenly noticed a little head peaking out from behind a tree, just five or ten feet off the trail. It was a black bear cub! There was a bunch of noise and the tree shook as the cubs scurried up with incredible speed. We began backing up, and then saw the mother at the bottom of the tree, eating in a field. She got a good luck at us, and continued eating, without seeming bothered. We nevertheless decided it prudent to turn around there, and so ended our hike a little early. It was our first bear encounter while hiking.
See here for the next gallery of pictures from the Grand Tetons.
Our Yellowstone trip continued into the Grand Tetons. We stayed at Colter Bay, which had a stunning view of the mountains across the lake. We did a lot of hiking. One lightly raining morning we hiked up past Bradley Lake, and were the only people on the trail probably thanks to the weather. As we hiked along, we suddenly noticed a little head peaking out from behind a tree, just five or ten feet off the trail. It was a black bear cub! There was a bunch of noise and the tree shook as the cubs scurried up with incredible speed. We began backing up, and then saw the mother at the bottom of the tree, eating in a field. She got a good luck at us, and continued eating, without seeming bothered. We nevertheless decided it prudent to turn around there, and so ended our hike a little early. It was our first bear encounter while hiking.
See here for the next gallery of pictures from the Grand Tetons.
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| Our first view of the Grand Tetons! | The view from Colter Bay | |
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| We pulled up for dinner at Colter Bay just as a storm was moving out | The sun shines again! | |
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| An incredible view over the bay | What a place to eat dinner! And campfire hot dogs at that! | |
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| Sunrise on the Tetons | ||
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| A meal stop | The beautiful view at Bradley Lake | |
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| The trail up into the mountains | ||
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| As we hiked along we came across a black bear with 3 cubs right off the side of the trail. We backed up, and the bear headed down to an opening surrounded by trees. | We've got bear spray and we (think we) know how to use it! | A marmot doing what marmots do |
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| A Green-tailed Towhee | Rain coming in to the Mountains | |
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| Reproducing Ansel Adam's famous shot of the Tetons and the Snake River | Beautiful marshes and ponds on the way out to heron pond | |
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| The marshes were full of Canada geese that would poke their heads up as we hiked past | The trail passes through beautiful woods | |
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| Woods that were full of wildflowers! | The incredible view of the tetons from heron pond | |
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| A reminder that it's 2020 | ||
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| Pelicans hanging out at the lake | The hills alive with geese | |
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| Wildflowers and mountains! What a great combo! | Jenny Lake! | The pass up from the lake |
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| More mountains surrounding the lake | It was fascinating to see the storm twist around the peak of the mountain | Wildflowers and mountains! |
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| A beautiful rainbow as the storm moved through | The view from the top of Signal Mountain | |
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| The Snake river really snakes through the valley | Colter Bay from the top of Signal Mountain | |
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| Another incredible view for dinner | ||
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| Breakfast down by a bend in the river, looking for wildlife | The water slowly drifts by at this stretch of river | |
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| Cute! |