One of the reasons I'm a little scared to canter on my horse is that the valley floor is littered with big smooth rocks... easy for horses to trip on. I've heard them explained as the glacier sediment that washed down from the Yellowstone area over the centuries. When I first got here in May, I asked if there was ever a time during summer when all the snow would be melted on the mountain peeks. I was told that it would remain "only on the glaciers" in July and August. The Tetons contain 10 of Wyoming's 38 named glaciers, the largest of which is Teton Glacier. Hmm....
I forgot that we crossed a wide creek yesterday on horseback, so today, I just took my shoes off and waded across the rocky bottom which was only about a foot deep and 15-20 feet wide where I crossed. The water was refreshing.
To further explain the unique landscape here:
"The Grand Teton area consists of some of the oldest rocks and one of the youngest mountain ranges in North America. 100 million years ago, "Grand Teton National Park" was a sea depositing layers of sediment on top of 2.5 billion-year-old granite and 2.7 billion-year-old gneiss. 30 million years later, those seas have retreated, and the collision of tectonic plates begins to up-lift the Rocky Mountains. Another 60 million years pass before a different type of geologic force creates the Teton Range.The Teton fault extends 40 miles along the base of the Teton Range. About ten million years ago, this region began to stretch and the Earth's crust cracked forming faults. Each time the crust broke; an earthquake up to magnitude 7.5 shook the land tilting the mountains skyward and dropping the valley floor. These sporadic bursts of energy created the abrupt front of the Teton Range as it towers above Jackson Hole. At 13,770 feet, the summit of the Grand Teton rises 7,000 feet above the valley floor. Total vertical displacement across this fault may be up to 30,000 feet. The floor of Jackson Hole may have dropped over 20,000 feet, roughly three times as much as the mountains rose.
Around 2 million years ago, glaciers repeatedly scoured and sculpted the Teton landscape. Large masses of ice flowed from the Yellowstone Plateau down across the valley of Jackson Hole numerous times leveling the valley floor. At the same time, alpine glaciers flowed down from the high peaks carving U-shaped canyons and gouging out valley lakes. Grand Teton National Park contains many features created during the ice age such as piedmont lakes, U-shaped canyons, knife-like ridges, kettles, and moraines. The geologic story that is by no means complete. Forces such as erosion and glaciation still sculpt the landscape and a major earthquake will occur in the future..."
A very unique place indeed.... another force of nature here is the micro-bursts. When you encounter a smashed-up forest with no obvious cause that's probably what happened. This is the main reason I retraced my steps from yesterday... to photograph the debris we rode through on horses. Our poor wranglers had to come out with chainsaws and clear all the trails at the beginning of the season. Elk like to hide in here with their calves in the Spring. Bears return in the Fall for the abundant berries.
Sometimes called vertical hurricanes, microbursts develop within minutes and strike the ground with the force
of a runaway freight train. They demolish forests, wreck houses, kill
wildlife and have also been responsible for plane crashes.
Until 1981, meteorologists
didn’t even have a name for them. Microbursts are turbulent
weather conditions that transform a mass of rapidly cooling air into a
high-speed downdraft up to 2.5 miles in diameter. We have definitely had some crazy, sudden violent wind storms since I arrived. The crew area is surrounded by tall Aspen trees and I'm a little concerned for my car. I'm told crew members have had their cars totaled by snapping trees in years past!
I also wanted to get a closeup look at the "bear tree" the 
wrangler pointed out yesterday. He said it's a favorite scratching post for bears in the area. Kind of cool... fortunately it was unattended when I got there because I forgot to bring my bear spray.
As I circled back towards the ranch walking through the Grand Teton National Park, I encountered this remote cabin in the woods. Apparently, it's a little piece of property retained by the Rockefellers when they donated thousands of surrounding acres to the park in 1949. As we rode by yesterday on horseback, there were people there.... Rockefellers? Who knows ;)
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