A day on the boat at Jackson Lake

On Wednesdays, the ranch transports guests up to Jackson Lake for an afternoon of boating, water skiing, sunning and tubing. I finished work early and finally got to tag along, riding up in the truck with the guys and the tubes. It took about an hour, riding north through Grand Teton National Park. The scenery was beautiful. We dropped the tubes and chairs off at the rocky beach at Jackson Lake, then headed up to the marina to get the ranch's boat. A deck hand took us out to the mooring in a john boat, and we had some time to kill before the guests and kids arrived, so I got a tour of the lake. It's huge!

 

Jackson Lake is a natural lake and was enlarged in 1911 when the nearby dam was built. It's one of the largest high elevation lakes in the country, fed by the Snake River and utilized by Idaho farmers for irrigation on the north end. It's around 15 miles long, 7 miles wide and 438 feet deep. The water stays below 60 degrees, even in summer! Many local trout species call the lake home. The western shore is primitive with hiking trails and a few campgrounds. The eastern shore has several marinas.

We cruised around in the boat until the ranch Suburban arrived with the guests. Then I hopped off the boat, floated around in a tube and sunned myself on the rocky shore for a few hours until the sky grew dark. About an hour later, a storm rolled in and we packed up and headed home. What a pristine, beautiful, uncrowded lake! Another great day ;)

 

 

 

On the way home, the guys wanted pizza from a place at Leek's Marina, 10 miles north, so we detoured up there. It was really pretty and reminded me a little of Alaska. On the road up, we saw a wildfire on the hillside. In the days since, it has spread to over 12,000 acres and caused the closing of the south entrance to Yellowstone. Locals say these wildfires won't go away until it snows in November! Yikes...