Bullwinkle before breakfast

From the Tetons:

You might think that after a couple of months of “just camping out with nothing to do’ we’d be bored silly. Staring at clouds, or watching the leaves slowly change color. Not so, and to prove it I’ll outline a typical day of “life on the road”. First there’s coffee in bed, that is wraped in a goosedown bag, it’s near freezing out and barely light, a good 

time to tune in NPR and listen to Morning Edition. Once the sun is up there’s breakfast, dishes must be washed and put away (one of Esten’s rules), check around for wildlife, scrounge empty campsites for firewood, prepare lunch, soak up a little warmth from the sun. This takes until midmorning and then it’s time to prepare for the “main event” of the day, which will generally be a hike or a bike ride. Yes there are days to travel or do errands (laundry happens) but I’ll concentrate on the “nothing to do” days. A hike or bike ride will take several hours, include lunch, and bring us back to camp in the late afternoon. Time to relax now? Hardly. It’s time for a shower and get dinner started  ( we do carry canned food as a last resort but so far have resorted to prepared food only once) We get a fire started and usually do enjoy some free time before dinner. Then after eating everything (yes everything) goes back in the car ( in case you don’t have a car, bear boxes are provided). It’s grizzly country and even a water jug can’t be left out. Relax around the fire, then crawl inside with some reading aloud ( Edward Abby is our favorite) and quiet ipod music. No alarm, of course, but generally our eyes are open before or around daybreak to start again.

Oh, about Bullwinkle. ….We’re at Teton Park (dramatic almost painfully beautiful peaks thrust above vast sage plains spotted with forested lakes, streams, and the Snake River, also filled with wildlife) We are in a campground on the Gros Ventre (pronounced Grow Vont) River, near Jackson where we plan to have our car air conditioner revived. We’re told we might find moose in this area. Sure enough, early in the morning we see a group of people watching a pair of bull moose. 

We are walking towards them for a better view, when one of the Bulls becomes very agitated, running eraticly, bucking, swinging his head, heading right in our direction. He is in the stage of loosing the velvet on his antlers which hanga in strands from the antlers which are red with blood... Oh my. We dodge behind a tree. Dart to a convenient mobile home and then, after he passes , over to our vehicle. The bull is about a hundred feet away in the next campsite looking and acting like a crazed moose. He stomps up to a tent (unoccupied, fortunately) and tries to rub his antlers on it. The rain fly shreds, he loses interest, settles down and saunters off.

Each year, more people are killed by moose than bears . They are impressive to watch (the next day we watch these same two lock antlers and spar) but are dangerous, unpredictable and maybe not the sharpest crayons in the box. Best to watch from a distance and try to keep a tree nearby just in case.

Last evening there’s a weather warning on the weather service radio. Severe thunderstorm approaching from south of Jackson. We are just north of Jackson. Storm heading for Gros Ventre Junction. That’s four miles away. We look south. The sky is black. “Prepare for 40 mile and hour winds, half inch hail , frequent lighteningLast evening there’s a weather warning on the weather service radio. Severe thunderstorm approaching from south of Jackson. We are just north of Jackson. Storm heading for Gros Ventre Junction. That’s four miles away. We look south. The sky is black. “Prepare for 40 mile and hour winds, half inch hail , frequent lightening and heavy rain. Take shelter if in the vicinity of this storm” We decide not to cook outside. Warn the tent campers around us. Move everything including ourselves inside. Our little rolling house proves to be a comfortable refuge. We play dominoes and enjoy being dry and warm on the first night we’ve been forced inside so far.

The next day is unsettled with showers and clouds. The beauty is not diminished but enhanced. Clouds dance between the peaks.Rain can be seen over the Gros Ventre Range 20 miles away. We decide not to hike. We explore a dirt road out across the sage plain and find a viewpoint above the wetland of the Snake River. We look for wildlife, find a few pronghorn, then spot a group of Canadian Geese. We note which way they are heading (south). We are going that way tomorrow. Time to move. We’ll be in Utah tomorrow night.

(The post below, First National Park is new too.)