A Memorable Memorial Day

The night of the previous post we managed yet another Holy City Brewing encounter with Adrian and Corey, two engineers from Utah.  It’s been so fun sharing the Holy City story and their beer…we find very few people unwilling to take us up on our offer…(wink)!  Along with the beer experience, we also have an opportunity to meet great people from all walks of life and circumstances that have so much to share in return. 

But I want to get onto what’s fun to report!  The next morning we got up early and headed for Grand Teton National Forest.  The guide books talk about the majesty of seeing the Teton Peaks for the first time and they aren’t lying!  We stopped at the park entrance sign as is our custom and took the obligatory photo which may just be the best shot we’ve gotten so far!

Enjoying the view all the way, we drove from the entrance visitor center to Jenny Lake where some hiking was the order of the day.  We parked and picked our path and headed out along the lake with spectacular vistas at every step.  Being Memorial Day weekend, the trails were busy but the soft forest ground, the surrounding snow-topped mountains and the lake buffered the sound and made for a peaceful, gorgeous hike the whole way. 

Unafraid mule deer

A marmot mid "flight"

Without much in the way of elevation change, it was an easy hike and we went over 3 miles before stopping for lunch and remembering that the only way back was the way we came and we best not get carried away!  We stopped streamside for lunch and spotted several mule deer and I got a mid-flight shot of a fleeing marmot before we got back on the trail.

The next stop was our campsite for the night and we got ourselves settled and enjoyed wandering the area.  Poised on yet another foot-of-the-mountain lake, there was plenty to wander, watch and experience.  We made an early night of it after a rousing game of Scrabble where Rob won when I ended up with a Z and a J leftover!  Man, so close!

The big story of the park was to be made this morning, however.  Being that it’s moving toward the solstice and we’re pretty far north at this point, the sun woke me up some time after 4 and I laid there thinking it would be a great time to get out to see some wildlife (that’s what they say anyway!).  So at 6 I finally chanced waking Rob and started getting dressed.  Of course he wasn’t about to let me wander the wilderness alone (it IS bear country!) and he got ready too.

We were on the trail by 630 and poised for viewing.  Little did we know that Mr. Grizzly was doing the same!  Within the first mile or so, we ran into said bear right in our path at the turn!  Man, I wanted to see wildlife but it got “real” quick!  We followed protocol and quietly backed off the trail keeping our eyes locked.  He – well, apparently it was a momma, so SHE – sized us up and came our way.  We peaked around the path and so did she.  We did this for a while (quick movements are not the best move they say) and she finally decided there were better fish to fry and headed the other way on the trail.  That’s about when I regained my composure enough to snap a shaky “bear butt” photo!

We waited a while and for some reason didn’t have the sense to leave the trail altogether and slowly worked our way around her path and onward.  Of course it wasn’t long before we both realized that we weren’t exactly comfortable being the only people we’d seen all morning on this trail with a bear between us and our origin. 

Solving that problem, 4 young park employees who had spent the entire night hiking in the area happened on the path.  We warned them of the bear.  They thanked us and headed on their way … and it wasn’t but minutes later when they were making a BIG ruckus!  Rule one, back away.  Rule two, make a LOT of noise … which is what they were doing!  We stopped in our tracks and listened for signs of serious trouble.  Everything went quiet for a couple minutes and then it started again.  Rob and I were spellbound, holding our collective breath wondering how bad it was going to be.

Minutes later our four friends quickly were headed back in our direction!  Apparently, our initial encounter had Mr/Mrs bear in a dither and she was NOT happy to have this second group interrupt her morning foraging!  She was clearly agitated and was acting aggressive and the four guys were wide eyed and full of stories when they arrived.  They told of #399, the code used in the park for the momma grizzly who was the biggest, oldest and most established in the area.  Apparently, she was our girl.

Very long story short, we had 4 new hiking partners which turned to 7 within the next mile as others changed their direction after hearing what lie ahead.  We had a great albeit alert hike around the back side of the trail with many eyes out for our nemesis.  Arriving back at the hike origin, several folks peeled off and we said our goodbyes.  Realizing, however, that they had missed the employee meal time for breakfast because of their detour, the park staffers decided that beer for breakfast was in order!

Ends up Ben, Rob, Chris, Eamen and Ariana joined us at Moonshadow for beer and breakfast.  I managed some pancakes while Rob handled beer entertainment with the 20 somethings.  I can’t say we’ve had quite as appreciative or enthusiastic a test market before!  With such an amazing experience to share, there was no shortage of tales to tell.

I’ve already far exceeded my post length allowance but none of you is surprised when I get long winded, are you?!  Well, to sum up quickly then, the rest of the day certainly couldn’t live up to the start but we did enjoy a spectacular 12 mile bike ride, picnic included, to another area of the park (all the while still looking for OUR bear), time in the gorgeous afternoon sunshine and another 2 mile hike through the amazing scenery later in the day.  

We finished the day with sunset Holy City encounters and another amazing dinner ala ME!  The blog is written and waiting for posting and we can put another park and another day behind us with no regrets.  Memorial Day or not, this was one MEMORABLE day!