Wednesday, June 27
We get up early to say goodbye to Paul and Sandy and leave about 6:30 as Paul is leaving too. Parker is up and Ky is roused to say good-bye. They sure did grow up fast!
We head west from Cody through beautiful canyon land
to the East entrance to Yellowstone, which is still unmanned at this hour. We will repeat one stretch of road and then go south, exiting Yellowstone and entering Grand Tetons National Park. More outstanding beauty!
These folks getting wedding photos are at a couple of the same stops.
This is Lewis River Falls
Still in Yellowstone. These canoers are on Yellowstone Lake.
We pass a few small lakes and they are like glass this calm morning. Beth has fun with reflections.
I love reflections!
This lone bull buffalo seems far from the herds, but is nonchalantly chewing as he watches cars come and go at a pullout. He looks kind of old and gray, but I suspect the gray is from rolling in the dirt. They do that to keep insects from bothering them. Look at that massive head!
The Tetons are clear this morning as we approach.
Some fire damaged areas still look beautiful. Many small trees are making their appearance but it will take a long time to replace all that wood. Much shorter growing season here than in Texas.
This area, around Coulter Bay, has lots of bike riders, and bike lanes on some of the roads. We stop for a few photos and then stop and walk a bit at fantastic Jenny Lake.
This is a photo at the Snake River Overlook - Ansel Adams did a famous photo from this location but it was in Winter and much more of the river was visible.
Instead of continuing south through Jackson, we opt to turn east through the Wind River Indian Reservation, cutting a diagonal path across Wyoming toward the Snowy Range in southeast Wyoming. Lots of red rock soon gives way to flat sagebrush country. Pretty inhospitable looking.
Apparently they are doing a study on thinning the sagebrush to see the effect on antelope and sage grouse.
Lots of long, large snow fences along this road, as I'm sure the wide open spaces and winds make for huge drifts. Greg is fighting strong crosswinds much of the way.
The antelope seem to like it here. That's a snow fence behind them.
This one runs alongside us for a while, then cuts and crosses the road right in front of us. Greg was watching, so had no problem but oncoming traffic made it a little closer than we'd like! Speedy fellow.
We are looking for a place to boondock tonight and come up with Teton Reservoir, a BLM property about 14 miles south of Rawlins. The last four miles are gravel, but not bad, and we are the only ones there till a young man arrives an hour or so later. The sites are very far apart, though, so no problems.
It is very windy for the first few hours, but then, as the sun gets low in the sky, everything seems to calm. There are a few white pelicans on the reservoir, a duck and some noisy red-winged blackbirds - and us. We can see a few antelope on the surrounding hills, but none nearby.
That "golden hour" just before the sun vanishes gives some fantastic lighting.
And then the full moon begins to rise.
Unfortunately, it rises into a cloud bank, so no fantastic night sky tonight!
The last remnants of sunset are brilliant.
Pulled pork and cole slaw for dinner is pretty tasty and it is finally warm enough to enjoy ice cream sandwiches we've been toting around for a while!
