Elk, Adler, Pelicans & Sun - Dream Day in Grand Teton

10.06. / Friday / Grand Teton National Park

Three weeks of vacation are over today. Time flies. I wake up again at 6:15 am and after yesterday's experience, we sit in the car at 6:30 am unwashed, unkempt, and still in our pajamas, ready for the safari. We drive north on the highway, which is further away from the mountains but allows us to reach the north faster. At Moose, we can drive across the park and get closer to Jenny Lake and the mountains.

What a panorama!

Jenny Lake

Snake River

At Oxbow Bend, there are a larger number of pelicans. An accumulation of cars makes us curious, a ranger is already keeping people in check because an elk cow was sighted somewhere on the slope. When we arrive, she's gone. We drive up to the Signal Mountain Summit, from where we can see the valley of the Snake River.

At the Signal Mountain Lodge located at the foot of the mountain, the large Jackson Lake is now beautifully positioned in front of the majestic backdrop of the mountains, which are covered in a mix of sun and clouds.

Jackson Lake

We continue driving south through the national park and are impressed by the Grand Teton Range. The Mount Moran is clearly visible - it has a blunt summit, while the Grand Teton has a jagged summit.

There are great photos and we are happy about the continued sunshine. We continue on the small Moose-Wilson Road heading south and observe an osprey sitting high on a tree and suddenly taking off, diving into a water surface next to us and pulling out a fish. It spotted the fish from a distance of 30-40 meters and from a height of 20 meters.

A gathering of cars stops us and of course, we get out. We fear that people have stopped because of some deer, but no: Finally an elk, especially an elk cow with a calf!

While the mother apparently has little fear of humans, the calf is quite excited and tries to hide behind its mother. When the mother then crosses the road, heads towards our car, and turns around, the calf is completely exasperated and lies down in the grass on one side of the road, not following the mother, although you can tell that it is very unhappy that the mother is leaving - and the many strange figures are still around it. I once heard that young animals lie down when the mothers leave to be inconspicuous to attackers. Eventually, the mother also realizes that her baby is not so thrilled and returns to it.

A bit further away, we see an adult elk bull. It's hard to say if he's the father. In any case, we are very satisfied with our wildlife sightings in our cameras.

Shortly after 12:00 pm, we're back at the apartment, having breakfast, and leave at 2:30 pm for a walk along the Snake River. The route is described in a travel guide, but something is not quite right. In any case, we have to overcome or crawl under several gates along the riverbank, and there are signs everywhere saying that entry is prohibited. Well, we'll ignore that for now.

Snake River

There are plenty of pelicans drifting along the river's current. We see birds in the bushes and trees that are completely yellow or ones with red-brown bellies, and an elegant blue heron.

A bit creepy are a cow skull and an obviously torn hoofed animal, of which only the skeleton remains. The head and individual bones are lying a few meters away. Another "remnant" is a bundle of fur, which I suspect was once a dog. We walk for over three hours in the sun and then pick up my DVDs from the photo shop in Jackson. I had them archive a memory card, which serves as a kind of backup for the first 1,200 photos.

Now that the inevitably final part of the trip begins, we pack to determine how much space we still have for additional purchases, pack the things we need for the next few days in our respective smaller bags, cook dinner from our leftovers, and enjoy a glass of red wine.