Autumn Arrives
We are back in the land of dirty humans and boy does that make us happy. Yellowstone definitely won the award for cleanest humans in a national park, so we are happy to be back amongst our grubby hiking brethren in Grand Teton National Park.
Fall is arriving here in the high country of the northern range. The leaves are turning and the animals are stocking up for winter. Tuesday found us hiking around Jenny Lake up to Inspiration Point. We paused for a long time to watch two fledgling osprey and their mom perching in snags and soaring before settling back in their nest. It’s wonderful to have time to pause and watch and marvel.
When in the Tetons, it’s easy to focus solely on the soaring peaks. The park, though, is so much more than these stunning mountains. Much of the flat land in Grand Teton was donated to the NPS by the Rockefeller family; 35,000 acres in total, including its newest piece, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve. This preserve was the family’s ranch for decades until Mr. Rockefeller donated it to the NPS and oversaw its conversion to an extraordinary place to commune with the land. Like his father before him, Laurance Rockefeller understood the renewal of the spirit that takes place while in nature and the importance of places like GTNP for the public. Sadly, the Minnie isn’t allowed to drive to the preserve, so we were disappointed we would not get to explore it, until fate and our new friend Liz, stepped in. A fellow traveler on her last day in the area before heading home, she offered to drive and we’d explore the preserve as a group.
Our adventure began as we pulled up to an animal jam caused by a momma black bear gorging on black hawthorn berries while her two cubs played up in a tree. She was just a few feet from the road and completely uninterested in the gawking humans, preferring instead to focus on her berries and gaining calories for the coming winter.
Once in the preserve, we hiked the Phelps Lake trail, pausing frequently to stare at the water and the changing views of the mountains. On the far side of the lake we spotted a bull moose browsing in the willows. He was a reasonable enough distance away that we could watch him for a spell before continuing on our way.
The trails in the preserve were designed to be meditative, slowly drawing you through all the varied landscapes of the area. We felt it—this was a place not just to push our bodies but to renew our minds. Each time we paused the silence that enveloped us was remarkable. A brief afternoon thunderstorm capped off our hike. We are incredibly grateful for Liz’s generosity and that we got to spend the day with her, chatting and laughing on this beautiful and serene piece of land. It was truly a highlight of our visit here.
We’ve walked through our hiking boots and are having some struggles in trying to replace them, so as we set off yesterday to hike Paintbrush Canyon we weren’t sure how far we’d go on this glorious morning. The trail had been described to us as flat, but was actually what we’ve taken to calling “Wyoming flat,” climbing 1500+ feet in just a couple miles into a granite canyon. The Tetons are the youngest range in the Rocky Mountains, but are made up of some of the oldest rocks in North America. They are steep, with no foothills, so you go from valley floor to mountainside quickly.
The quartz flecks in the grey and white granite sparkled in the sun, while patches of huckleberry bushes glowed red. The quaking aspens were beginning to turn gold and we shared the trail with backpackers as well as pika caching branches for winter. We reached a boulder-strewn clearing with a waterfall that stretched a few hundred feet above and decided that was enough for the day, and began our descent back into the valley, arriving at the Minnie just as it began to pour.
Today, Saturday, we are giving our bodies a break, especially our feet. We are missing the reflexology so readily available to us in San Francisco! It’s time to catch up on email, read and sit in the sunshine. We hope you all have restorative weekends as well, perhaps finding time for your own walk in the wild, wherever that may be.
