A Fox, A Moose & A Bear, Oh My! -- Grand Teton National Park & Jackson, Wyoming

Visited June 19-24, 2021

By Janell

The drive from Thermopolis to Moran, WY (which is where our RV park was, just outside of Grand Teton National Park) was a pretty one. During a lunch stop along the side of the road we popped out for some photos. The red rock reminded us of our time in Arizona and Utah.

It almost looks as if the Beast is transparent

What's really happening in this shot is that the red rocks from the right side of the highway are reflected in the Beast, but it appears to be a continuation of the red rocks from the left side of the highway.

And then a fun house mirror shot - just for fun! Wow, I'm really short, and Marty sure has a big head!

 

 

Our first glimpse of the Tetons!

You could see the Tetons from our RV park! Marty was up on top of the Beast for this shot.

 

 

 

 

We did three hikes while in Grand Teton National Park. Knowing that the days were going to be warm and the trails in GTNP crowded, we started all of our hiking days very early. 

On our first morning driving into the park we were treated to the sight above: a fox crossing the road in front of us with his/her breakfast, or perhaps breakfast for the kits. We couldn't see "breakfast" well enough to tell what it was, but it appeared to be some kind of small rodent. 

 

We took the 7:30am ferry across Jenny Lake to start our first hike in GTNP: 11 miles on the Jenny Lake Trail through Cascade Canyon.

Cascade Creek

Marty & Mary at Jenny Lake

Marty’s sister Mary Hronicek, who lives in Boston, met up with us and will travel with us (more or less) for about three weeks. I say “more or less”, because Mary has a converted camper van, and she often goes off on adventures of her own. Mary is an avid hiker and has hiked all over New England.

Something about Mary: You may/may not know that Mary was my college roommate, and that’s how Marty and I met. We were in Sacramento at the time. Mary and her family moved to Boston in 2000.

It was a spectacular day for a hike!

 

We were treated to a moose sighting! Moose can be dangerous, but he was far enough away from the trail and seemingly unconcerned with us.

Here are a couple of shots on our way into GTNP for our second hike. The cloud layer was so interesting.

Jackson Lake

 Notice the artist in the lower left - I'll talk more about him shortly.

 

 

 

Our second hike was 7 miles on the String Lake and Leigh Lake trail.

Got balance? This is especially impressive, as this stump was wobbly!

 

We were walking single file, as it was often a narrow trail. Mary, who was in front stopped short: there was a bear crossing the trail about 30 yards ahead of us! Mary and I were each carrying bear spray, and we immediately pulled them out of the holsters and released the safety latches. Marty got out the camera.

The bear had come from the lake side of the trail on our right and headed up the hill on our left. He stopped and looked back at us three separate times on his way up the hill. I think he wondered about our intentions . . . just as we did about his. We stayed frozen in place on the trail, and he continued back in the direction from which we’d come but uphill from us.

THE BEAR! (in the center of the photo)

Grizzly vs. Black Bear? This was a black bear . . . yes, I know he isn’t black. Trust me, we three had a lot of discussion about it; we consulted the web, the GTNP handouts, photos and lastly two taxidermy bears in a western home decor store (although those two bears didn’t have much to say on the subject).

Apparently, the coat color is the least reliable way to tell the two bears apart, as both bears come in a variety of colors including black and brown.

From bearsmart.com: The best indicators are the size of the shoulders, the profile of the face and the length of the claws. The grizzly bear has a pronounced shoulder hump, which the black bear lacks. Grizzlies have a concave or “dished” facial profile, smaller ears and much larger claws than the black bear. Black bears have a flatter, “Roman-nose” profile, larger ears, no visible shoulder hump and smaller claws. 

"Our" bear definitely did not have a shoulder hump, and he had the straight face profile. So, although not black in color, he was a Black Bear.

After hike #2 we thought we’d check out the Jackson Lake Lodge. It was very nice with an awesome Teton view, so we got drinks at the bar and sat outside on the balcony to enjoy the scenery.

 

From the balcony we looked down onto the deck below where an artist was busy painting and chatting with anyone who approached him. Seriously, so many people stopped to talk with him that we wondered how he got anything done. Mary noticed that it was the same artist from 7:30 that morning; the tattoo on his calf being the defining feature.

After our drinks we went down to the deck level, walked around a bit and then decided we’d ask the artist if we could take his picture. (The 7:30am photo I took from the middle of the road, and I didn’t ask his permission.) Obviously, the answer was “yes”, and we ended up chatting with him too! His name is Jonathan Luczycki, and he has made it his personal mission to paint each national park! I don’t remember how many he has already done and how many he has left to do, but a lot in both categories. What an amazing guy!

Jonathan Luczycki

Here’s his website if you’re interested: https://www.luczycki.com/

I thought his FAQ tab was very interesting.

He used to have a bunch of cards to hand out, but they were gone in a matter of days. Now he offers that you can take a picture of this one. Smart!

 

 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: 

This was our bucolic windshield view in the RV park

Almost every evening several horses would come trotting through the pasture without stopping (as in the above photo) -- it must've been dinner time.

Except this one time when two horses stopped to hear what this dog had to say

We took a break from hiking and headed to Jackson for the day; on our way to Jackson we stopped to see the Mormon Row Historic District. Mormon Row, located in the southeast corner of Grand Teton National Park, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Mormon homesteaders began to arrive in the 1890's from Idaho.

The barn in the photo below was built by Thomas Alma (T.A.) Moulton. Amazingly he took over 30 years to build this "gable-with-shed style" barn, and photographers from around the world come to capture this iconic barn with the Teton Range in the background.

T.A. Moulton Barn in Mormon Row

These two horses were in the Mormon Row Historic District - we have no idea why the one on the left had green splotches all over her back

 

 

 

We started our visit at the Jackson Visitors Center.

Jackson vs Jackson Hole: We were confused as to the distinction, so we asked at the Visitors Center. “Jackson” is just one town, while “Jackson Hole” refers to the entire valley (including Jackson). Both are named for Davey Jackson, a nineteenth-century fur trapper who was one of the first Europeans to spend a winter in the valley. He considered it one of his favorite trapping spots, and the flat valley floor completely surrounded by mountains became known as Jackson’s Hole. Eventually, the “s” was dropped.

No animals were killed to produce this chandelier that hangs in the Jackson Visitors Center

Something else we learned at the Visitors Center: Bull elk grow a set of antlers each year. The growth takes approximately six months from March through August. Local Boy Scouts and refuge employees collect the shed antlers in the spring, and an annual elk antler auction takes place in May each year. Antlers are also used for furniture, jewelry, trinkets, and medicinal supplements.

Each year approximately 5,000-7,000 elk winter on the National Elk Refuge, which is nearly 25,000 acres near the Visitor Center. (That’s a lot of antlers!) Despite all the talk about elk, we didn’t see a single one. Apparently, one crossed the trail on our second hike – another couple told us about it, and they thought we had seen it, but we did not.

 

 

 

Downtown Jackson:

Jackson Town Square - Each of the square's four corners has an arch like this, made entirely of elk antlers

Many famous country western entertainers have been on stage here at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, Hank Williams Jr., and Glen Campbell, to name a few.

 

 

 

An employee at the Jackson Visitors Center suggested we check out The Wort Hotel. The inspiration for The Wort Hotel originated with Charles J. Wort, a homesteader who came to Jackson Hole from Nebraska in 1893. Charles and his wife Luella gave birth to two sons: John in 1900 and Jess in 1903. In 1917 Charles bought four lots in the heart of town for $25 each (the site of The Wort Hotel). In 1941 John and Jess Wort fulfilled their father’s dream of creating a luxury lodging experience and opened The Wort Hotel.

We thought we’d take a quick spin through The Wort, but we ended up spending quite a bit of time there looking at the western furnishings, the hand carved doors and many old photos. It was so full of interesting things that it was almost like visiting a museum.

In 1950 The Silver Dollar Bar opened inside The Wort Hotel. One of the performers who graced the stage at The Silver Dollar at the start of his career was Willie Nelson; there's a photo in a hallway of The Wort of a guy in a white shirt with a skinny black tie and short hair, and it's Willie! Short hair?? That was a long time ago!

We've seen plenty of buffalo and pronghorn antelope in several states

Yup, you're looking at real silver dollars at the Silver Dollar Bar

Wikipedia says that more than 4,000 1921 uncirculated Morgan silver dollars can be found throughout the Wort Hotel. The best display of these silver dollars are inlaid in the original Silver Dollar Bar and in The Showroom bar.

The silver dollar coins were inlaid using a technique that would make it impossible to remove: each hole was drilled a fraction smaller than the dollar. The dollars were shrunk with dry ice, pressed and cemented into the wood underneath the black Formica counter to ensure each Silver Dollar would be there forever.

Hundreds of additional silver dollars are embedded in countless hotel elements including stained glass, black walnut surfaces and custom furniture throughout the building.

 

 

For our third and last hike in GTNP we chose the Taggart Lake-Bradley Lake Loop, which was eight miles long. It was another gorgeous day! Sorry, no wildlife sightings on this one other than squirrels, birds and insects.

Did you know that "Grand Teton" means "large teat" in French?

Well, there’s also another version of how the Tetons got their name. (There's always an alternate story, right?) The less entertaining version is that the name “Teton” comes from a tribe of Native Americans called the Teton Sioux, one of several related Sioux tribes.

However, the story that everyone tells is that early French fur trappers, starved for female company, looked out at the pointy mountains rising above them and immediately thought of certain anatomical features they hadn’t glimpsed in a while.