Welcome to Paradise

Some of these bison got really close to us!

Me in front of the huge and beautiful Jackson Lake

Jenny Lake, still frozen over

            I think I’ve said the word “wow” more in the past two days than I did last year. This morning we were out exploring the park by 8:00. First we returned to the same spot that we stopped yesterday, so we could take some pictures with the sun in a better spot. Then we headed up to Jackson Lake! The temperature dropped a little as we got closer to the lake, and by the time we parked by one of the overlooks, it was less than 30 degrees. Jackson Lake is absolutely huge! Part of it is still frozen over, but a lot of it is melted by now. From where we were, we couldn’t even see the entire lake; it just kept on going.

            After admiring and taking pictures of the lake for a while, we returned to our warm car and drove back down the road, looking for another interesting spot to stop and walk around. On that drive we saw a small group of bison and even a moose beside the road!

            We pulled into a small parking lot near the head of a hiking trail and decided to walk down one of the shorter hikes. While out on the trail, we passed the horse stables they have here, saw a family of chipmunks and ground squirrels, and then sat by a creek to relax. We’re at an altitude of nearly two miles here, and the elevation made us tire out faster.

            After getting back to the car and stopping at a small restaurant in the park for lunch, we went to look for Jenny Lake. The hike over to it wasn’t very long, but was a little tricky since most of that path still had a lot of snow on it. Jenny Lake, which is smaller than Jackson Lake but still pretty big, was still mostly frozen over. There were a few open patches of water near the middle, but most of it still had a layer of ice over the top. We wanted to see some more wildlife, so I suggested we go back into the town of Jackson for a while to relax and do a few things, then head back into the park in the evening, when a lot of the animals are more active.

            Following that plan, we went back to the hotel for a while, then headed back into the park at about 5:30. We turned onto a small road that I’d heard was in a good spot to view wildlife. We drove slowly, looking around, and parked for a while near an overlook of a river where a few other cars were parked. There were a few Canada geese and trumpeter swans by the water that I got a few pictures of, but nothing else that we could see from that point. After going a little farther with no luck, we turned around and headed back. About halfway back to the main road I saw something and quickly told my dad to stop the car. He pulled over and we got out to see a moose mostly hidden in a thicket about 25 yards off the road. We stayed there a while and watched the moose, who eventually moved out of the thicket and gave us a better view of it. It was my favorite moment of the day, especially since we almost missed seeing it.

            On the way out of the park we saw several cars pulled over in front of us. As we came up to them we saw that a lone bison was grazing just about twenty feet from the road. Needless to say, we stopped again to admire it and take pictures before coming back into Jackson.