A Beautiful Morning

Shortly after pulling out into the river to begin the trip

The first bald eagle we saw 

This one was standing right on the bank!

Elk with a nice head of antlers in velvet

The view of the Teton Range from the Snake River was amazing

            It’s been a really awesome, much-needed day off! As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’d reserved a spot for myself on the nine o’clock scenic raft trip this morning. It turned out to be a perfect way to begin my weekend! I decided to bring my camera along for this trip, and I’m glad I did. The range looks amazing from the Snake River, and I took pictures of some bald eagles and elk that we saw beside the river. We also saw an osprey, a beaver, and a river otter, which unfortunately I wasn’t able to get pictures of. It was still really great though!

            My first raft trip I went on earlier this season I’d had a guide named Jess who’d been doing this for eight years. He was awesome- definitely seemed to know what he was doing and was a lot of fun to listen to. Today my guide was a guy named Tony who’d been doing this for three years, and was also really knowledgeable and fun. There were eight people total in the raft for this trip; Tony, a family of four from Indiana, a couple from Michigan, and me. We were on the Snake River for a little over two hours, and the weather was just about perfect. It was sunny and cool, with that constant breeze rolling off the water. We saw about six bald eagles total, which is insane! One of them was standing right on the bank of the river, really close to us. They’re such amazing animals to see in the wild; I think a lot of people don’t really understand how big and majestic looking they are.

            We eventually came to the end of the trip, getting out of the raft across the river from Dornan’s. We all got picked up by Jeff, one of the drivers (who actually used to be Tanner’s roommate), and returned to the lodge at about 12:30. It was an amazing “Saturday” morning.

            After going up to the EDR for lunch I came back to the dorm and relaxed on the back porch for a while, enjoying the beautiful day and looking back over the pictures I’d taken on the trip. I’m definitely glad I decided to bring my camera along for this ride, since I did get some nice pictures of the bald eagles, elk, and the beautiful view of the Teton Range from the Snake River. Tanner dropped by my room this afternoon and said that he’s planning on going into Jackson tomorrow to do a few things. I told him to let me know so I could join him; I’ve been meaning to go into town to get a few things, and it’ll also just be a fun way to spend our mutual day off.

            Well, there’s not much other news to report on today. It’s definitely been a really great day off, and tomorrow should be fun as well. Of course, I have to include some pictures of my amazing morning on the Snake River!