12th May:

Good evening from the Grand Tetons!

First of all, I told you yesterday that Si had gone to take sunset shots at the Snake River Overlook to try and emulate the famous one taken by Ansel Adams in 1942. Well, I’m pleased to report that he did manage to get a couple.

You can see how the trees have grown up since 1942. How do you think he did?

Today has been another lovely warm day. 🌞

We had to change our plan of going to Schwbacher Landing early to catch the sunrise as we realised late last night that we hadn’t purchased any bear spray! 😔 Not advisable to go too far without bear spray around here! So we drove to the area known as Gros Ventre (pronounced Grow Vont) instead.

The French are the ones responsible for naming both the Grand Tetons mountain range (Grand Tetons meaning big breasts) and Gros Ventre (meaning big belly)! Oh my! 😂

Gros Ventre was so named because the Indians who inhabited the area were large, well-fed people.

Elk move from the Elk Refuge, where we visited yesterday, through Gros Ventre and return to the upper peaks from late May as they feel safer from predators.

The most common animal in the Gros Ventre area are the moose. They remain here from late May until the beginning of September when the rut season begins. Cow moose go up into the Gros Ventre campground, followed by the bull moose, to carry on the rut as they feel safe from predators because humans are there, but it makes it precarious for humans as large moose are there cavorting but usually there’s no problem.

There is a natural warm spring at an area called Kelly Warm Springs, that was founded by a man called William Kelly when he built a sawmill in1907. It is a natural warm spring but a brain eating bacteria has been found there so it is advisable not to going swimming or soak in it! 😱

We also saw two Sandhill Cranes, albeit a long way away but Si still managed to get a photograph.

We had another cloud inversion over the Grand Tetons this morning. Until yesterday, we had never seen that before.

As we drove around the Gros Ventre area we came across this old cabin and outbuildings. There wasn’t any indication as to what these buildings had been but after some investigation we discovered the are was called the Luther Taylor homestead. You could still see the axe marks on the logs. Someone had spent a lot of time building the cabin. It turns out it was used in the making of the film Shane back in 1953.

Our next stop was the Visitor’s Centre to purchase the necessary bear spray and to have a refresher on how to use it! 🐻Still quite a lot of snow here! ❄️

We then decided to take a quick drive to Schwbacher Landing to check it out ready for our early trip for sunrise tomorrow. On the drive down to the landing there’s some snow but not enough to cause any problems.

While we were there we saw something we have not seen before on our visits and that was a Canada Goose sitting on a nest in the middle of a beaver pond! Who knows, by the time we return tomorrow there may be some chicks to see. 🤞

We decided we needed a few more spring clothes as it’s been so warm and that was our mission after having some lunch. We are now all set for whatever nature throws at us! 😂🌞❄️🌧️

On the way back to our cabin we saw two moose that were causing quite the traffic jam but we decided not to stop on this occasion.

When we arrived back at the cabin we found we had a little lodger!

So, we need an early night tonight as we have to leave here at 5.30 a.m. for the sunrise photos. Fingers crossed for a clear morning and sun! 😴🌞

Thanks for reading. Comments always welcome.

See you tomorrow!