Monday, July 20
Green River Lakes to Tetons

There was frost on the picnic table early this morning and temperature is at 34 degrees at 7:20.  The lake is like glass, with a thin layer of fog.  This is a national campground and the view, picnic table, fire ring and toilets make $6 a steal!

Greg enjoys watching the local ground squirrels eat their breakfast of grass, grass seeds and flower buds as Beth enjoys sleeping in a bit.  Greg nurses last nights fire to life again to ward off the chill.

Greg suggests early morning walk around the lake, so we are off.  The first part of the hike is rocky going and the lake turns out to be bigger than we thought! Lots of pretty wildflowers and nice views  except for two somewhat scattered old deer skeletons which somebody (bodies) feasted upon.  Winter kill or other?  I'll spare you the photos.

We pass a few horseback riders and I secretly wish for a horse myself!  At the far end of the lake we walk quite a while to skirt the river/bog flowing from the lake.  Thankfully someone has provided a couple of bridges.

Resting up on the way back.

 There are some beautiful wildflowers.  I initially thought I'd catalogue them with photos but there are just too many!  Must have seen 50+ varieties already this  trip.  These blue ones below are some of the tiniest - about  1/4"!

3 ½ hours later, we are back at camp and we leave about 1:30.  Back out the dirt road and we turn north toward Jackson where we find gas, groceries, a Kmart for socks, and lots of traffic.   Lots of galleries,  shopping, restaurants, lodging etc.  It is a popular and up-scale ski resort as well.

We head the few miles north and enter Teton National Park.  The imposing Teton range is impressive from miles around.  We turn up Antelope Flats road to a dispersed camping spot we’ve read about, on Shadow Mountain road.  We get the last site at the first location so don’t continue on the crazy rutted road.  Beautiful view of the Tetons from our site.

Colorful thistles near campsite.

Chicken enchiladas and black beans for dinner – compliments of Smith’s deli where we stopped for groceries yesterday. Both of us are tired and ready for a good night’s sleep.  Since we want to be on the roads early for optimal animals and minimal traffic, we go to bed with the sun – after a few photos.