Two Ocean Lake

We finally got our hike in at Two Ocean Lake.  We'd been trying to get to this lake for a month - especially before the bugs became bad, but Two Ocean Drive was closed.  We found the gate open on Monday and drove on in to the trail head.

The walk is a 6.4 mile loop and considered moderate only due to its length.  There were a few elevation climbs toward the north west end of the lake.  Insects were out, but it was windy and that helped keep them at bay.   A little insect repellent for the wooded sections took care of the more persistent ones.

Nice walk if you get the chance to take it.  We found it surprisingly busy given it's distance, and it's still a little early in the visiting season.  It's know for wild flowers.  Unfortunately, the wildflowers seemed past their peak.  It is bear habitat, and we saw the scat.  Didn't see any bears, though.  Saw coyote scat, too, but no coyotes, either.  Oh, well. 

 As for a weekly status, we're fine.  The cutthroat have had their adipose fin clipped.  A bus full of volunteers from Idaho finished that effort today.  The new fry seem to be doing well.  The year olds are getting big.  An additional raceway was brought online today to give them a little more room.  Visitors continue to come in clumps.  The highway department is working on US 191 between here and the south entrance to Yellowstone NP.  We do get visitors complaining about the delays

due to that.   We've had a couple of days where you can see the north bound traffic backed up past the Nation Wildlife Museum.  You can also hear the car horns blow from time-to-time as some gets irritated about the whole deal.  Yep, good time to just pull into the hatchery and take a break.

Oh,  I almost forgot.  Pictures here are from our walk around Two Ocean Lake.  Hope you enjoy them.

Lastly, company is coming Sunday, so we'll be out with the crowds showing them some of the sites this coming week.  We hope they have a good time.

I think that gets you up to date.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Weekly Update

Jackson, WY as seen from the Teton Natl Forest looking west toward Idaho

We've had an interesting week.  We worked (volunteered) on Friday & Saturday  On Sunday we helped Jenny (more like provide moral support) as she moved her & Craig's trailer from Dubois, WY to Moran, WY for their month stay in Moran.  Unfortunately, Craig has an eye issue that required laser surgery, and he's currently having to stay in Idaho while recovering.  Hopefully, he'll be cleared to travel the mountain passes by next week, and they can get back to their planned hikes in the Teton area.

Monday was our grocery shopping and walk the town of Jackson day.  Tuesday was rehang another of our MCD shades that had fallen down on Sunday, fill a propane tank and clean some in the trailer.  Wednesday was hike in the Bridger-Teton Natl Forest and take a ride over to Victor, ID for a burger day.  Today was work (volunteer) day.

Wednesday and today were exciting days for the fish as this was fish "marking" days where the adipose fin is cut so researchers can tell where the fish came from when river and lake census are taken.

So that gets you up to day.  It's amazing how fast the first month here has passed.  The weather is definitely different than what we experienced last year.  We had light snow flurries this afternoon and the weather channel  app is calling for light snow by 9 PM tonight.  We greet tomorrow - the first day of summer - with a hard freeze warning.  Ahhh, summer in Teton County!  Reminds us of Mark Twain's comment where he stated something about the coldest winter he'd ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco.

Back on topic:  You're now up to date on us.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

June 13th Update

They always walk away when I point a camera.

Teton Pass as seen from Teton Natl Forest above Jackson, WY

Our 200,000 fish eggs have become sack fry quickly and will soon need to be fed.  The year old ones are growing, and the hatchery is bringing on additional tanks to handle them.  Visitation has gotten steady quickly.  This must be family week.  Families are out in force.  We're getting large families, too.  12-15 people at a time and traveling in multiple vehicles. 

View of the Tetons behind the Moose Visitor Center

We've gotten out some, but it's been a week where we worked around the trailer.  We managed to walk down to the Wildlife Museum for lunch one day.  And while waiting on a leaky tire to be repaired (always the passenger-side, rear inner dual tire, too...3 times in the last 46,000 miles), we walked to one of the trail heads for the Bridger-Teton Nat'l Forest.

View along the trail to Murie's Ranch

We walked by a young moose on the way back. They always walk away when I try to take a picture, though.

We also got out to Grand Teton, too.  We took a short walk from the Moose Visitor Center to Murie's Ranch.  The walk there and back was spectacular.  Kinda hard to get good pictures of the buildings as they're in amongst the trees, though.

So that's been our week.  We're doing well & staying busy while watching the snow on the mountains melt.  The highway near the hatchery is being "repaved".  What they're really doing is repairing cracks and weak sections in the road, then pouring oil and gravel over the sections they've repaired.  After that they put up a sign warning you of loose gravel, put another sign telling you not to pass, then turn traffic loose.  Just like Alabama.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by.  Until next week, David

Weekly Update

Sting Lake outflow into Jenny Lake, GTNP

Lewis Falls, YNP

We've had really nice weather this past week, and we took advantage of it.  On Sunday we took a walk around Moose Ponds area and visit Colter Bay.  Mt Moran under snow was impressive.

On Sunday we took a day trip to the Old Faithful Geyser Basin for a walk and let Donna shop for a sweatshirt.  We were in no way prepared for the amount of snow that was still in southern Yellowstone.  Lewis Lake still had ice in it.  Made Lewis Falls pretty, though.

Lewis Lake, YNP

Old Faithful Geyser Basin was its normal self.  Stinky.  Wasn't crowded in the morning.  Open seating for lunch.  Tour buses arrived after lunch, and the geyser basin became packed.  Donna was successful in finding a sweatshirt.

Monday was an "off" day as we shopped for groceries and cleaned the roof of the trailer.

Bison, Old Faithful Geyser Basin, YNP

Tuesday was back in Grand Teton for a walk along Jenny Lake from String Lake parking area to Lower Inspiration Point, Hidden Falls and back.  It was a good walk, but got hot as we worked our way back to the String Lake parking area.

Overall, we had a good four days off.  At the hatchery, some eggs have hatched to sack fry and the year-old cutthroat are getting bigger.  Additional raceways are being cleaned as they need to move the year old fish and give them more room.

Fire Hole River. Old Faithful Geyser Basin, YNP

That brings you up to date.  A new cold front is coming through over the next day or so.  Lows go below freezing each night beginning Friday night and those lows continue through Monday night.  Idaho Falls TV says snow at 5,000 ft elevation and higher.  Guess we get more snow. 

Lower Inspiration Point, GTNP

That's it from us.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

GTNP = Grand Teton Nat'l Park
YNP = Yellowstone Nat'l Park

Hidden Falls, GTNP

Back to Normal Weather

As the title says, we're back to what we call normal weather.  With that said, we've gotten out more and started hiking & walking some of Grand Teton.  First trip out was a planned walk around Two Ocean Lake.  Unfortunately,  Two Ocean Drive was closed.  Guess the bugs weren't bad enough to open the road to the public, yet.  One ranger told us the road would be open when the weather improved.  Some people opinioned that it was closed due to bear activity.  Whatever.  The result is the bugs will be bad when the road opens.

On a whim, we decided to take a dirt road/forest road just north of Jackson Lake Lodge that - through Google Earth - looked like there might be a parking area near Two Ocean Trail.  Turns out this was a jackpot find.  Without any signage, we found a nice parking lot that's very active.  A lot of people know about this parking lot.  It gets you close to Emma Matilda Lake Trail and Grand View Trailhead. 

The Grand View Trail is rated hard by AllTrails app.  We decided to go as far as we dared and ended up having a nice hike uphill for a long while before reaching the Grand View Point.  Best part - return trip is all down hill!  Top photo is one of the many views you get as you approach Grand View Point.  We came across the black bear on the way down.

We took a day off for local shopping in Jackson.  The next outing was a walk along String Lake trail.  We walked up to Leigh Lake and returned.  Decided to try to make it to Jenny Lake, but turned around at one of the snow banks that we just weren't comfortable trying to cross.

That finished our days off for this week and we were back playing tour guide at the hatchery.  Eggs arrived Wednesday - all 210,000 of them.  Not that many by large hatchery standards, but it's a lot for the Jackson hatchery.  This picture to the right shows them sitting in about an inch of  50 degree (F) water.  Roughly 5,500 eggs per tray.  Sack fry are expected to start showing themselves over the weekend.

This picture to the right is Donna giving a talk to a local class of 4th graders.  I think they're reciting a poem they've just learned.  Donna's "salute" is her covering her eyes from the sun. 

So that's it for this week.  We're still doing well.  We're either in better shape than last year or we've learned to pace ourselves.  Most likely we've learned to pace ourselves.

Oh, just a side note:  Donna got a pic of Bear 399 on Sunday.  As soon as we get it moved to a drive I can reach, we'll post it on the blog.

Thanks for dropping in and checking up on us.  Until next week, David 

Weekly Update

Our first week back at the hatchery is history, and we've experienced a little weather that's unusual for us.  We also visited Schwabacker's Landing - known for it's beaver dams - on Tuesday.

We're basically stuck in a weather rut where the highs are in the 40s and the lows are at or below freezing.  Being high elevation and vulnerable to the Wyoming winds, the weather can seem extreme if you're not use to it.  For example, after eating lunch at Signal

Mountain Lodge Monday, we experienced rain, sleet, snow and sunshine - all within an hour of us finishing our lunch.  Kinda unusual for us!

We're staying warm, though.  The hatchery remains busy as it prepares for it's next 200,000 fish eggs to arrive.  We get a few visitors from time to time.  Suppose to have a couple of tours drop by tomorrow (Friday).  The summer parking lot isn't open, yet.  The cooler

weather makes walking from it to the hatchery a little uncomfortable for visitors, so the hatchery is allowing people to continue to park next to the hatchery.  I think the plan is to continue to do this through the Memorial Holiday.

Otherwise, we're doing fine.  We fell into our routine rather quickly which

was somewhat surprising to us.  Within a few days, it was almost like we hadn't left. 

Anyway, that's the week we've had.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David



Pictures:

Top - a view of the snow that fell early Monday morning.

2nd from top - a warbler drops by

Middle - a Golden-eye at Schwabacker's Landing

Last two - views of the Tetons from Schwabacker's Landing Trail.

Back at the hatchery

We finally made it!  There's was a point when it didn't seem we would, though.  Got in yesterday.  Not raining, so backing the trailer into our spot didn't take nearly as long as last year.

We had a not-so-eventful trip out.  We ended up only having to fully reinstall two of the MCD shades.  They're too heavy and if Paul & Kay don't have a way to reinforce the fasteners for the

MCD brackets, we'll have to go back to the original type shades.

We also had one of the hot water fittings to the washer came apart while we were in Cabela's campground.  This always results in a good "washout" of the storage area and one of our storage bins.   That's where this one fitting drains when it comes apart.  Donna put the 

fitting back together.  We had the RV tech from Albany RV come out and put a new fitting in while we were in Laramie.  All seems to be working fine.  It'll break again in a few years, but we learned how to get more slack in the lines so it's easier to work on next time.  Wish we'd known this three years ago!

Today was official check in, fill out the 

volunteer forms, pick out the uniform shirts, sweater, and wind breaker day.  We also put the volunteers' names on the mailbox and updated the site number labeling so delivery people will know what box goes to which RV when making their deliveries.

Once that was over, we headed out to Signal Mountain Lodge for lunch.  Wanted to ensure the Tetons were still

there.  Significantly more snow than when we arrived last year.  Rivers and streams are high, but not overflowing like last year.  There's still snow on top of the Wind River and Gros Ventre ranges, too.  There's still snow on the ground in parts of the "hole", as well.  And, new for this year, Jenny Lake Visitor Center area construction is finished.  We didn't stop and visit, but it looks great from the outside as we drove through the parking lot.  And still not enough parking!

So that gets you up to date.  We start work Saturday.  We'll be here until September 9th or 10th unless we really upset the hatchery staff.  There's no plan to do that!

Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  As the blog no longer supports location links, I'll post that and titles of the pictures after I sign off.  Until next week, David 

Location:  Jackson National Fish Hatchery, Jackson, WY

Top photo:  our view south across the Natl Elk Refuge toward Jackson, WY

Second photo from top:  the hatchery as seen from our site

Third photo from top:  Sleeping Indian Pond

Fourth photo from top:  our site

Next to last photo:  Grand Tetons as seen from the south entrance of the park

Last photo:  that's Cascade Canyon on the other side Jenny Lake