"Beach day" at the lake

Glaciers carved most of the lakes in Grand Teton National Park thousands of years ago. As the glaciers moved, they gouged out the valley floor, leaving 1800 feet of smooth river rock sediment behind. It's not good for farming. When the glaciers melted they left behind depressions in the ground that filled with water from melting glacial ice. These became the lakes that we see today. I've been wanting to get off the ranch for a little sunbathing and solitude and finally chose a lake. I had heard that Leigh lake was an easy, fairly flat 3 mile round trip hike and had white sand beaches along the shore! Bingo... off I went. My view from the car on the 18 mile drive north... note bike path in the foreground.

I turned off at Jenny Lake, drove another 1.5 miles and parked in a very crowded lot. I grabbed my folding camp chair, towel, book, bear spray, towel, water bottle, etc and started walking. First I had to walk a mile or so along the eastern shore of String Lake. It was beautiful with clear turquoise water and tons of people on paddle boards, kayaks, tubes, etc. Hmm...

                    
                              Then the dirt path veered off and it got a little quieter.

Truly a beautiful place.... the man in his fishing kayak (below) certainly had a good vantage point.

After crossing a wooden bridge along the trail the crowd started to thin out... ahh.

 

I finally reached a fork in the trail for "portage" between String and Leigh lake, the place where people walk their water craft over land to go from one lake to the other. There was a sign for the String Lake Loop, 3.5 miles, turn left... more on that later. I stayed straight/right, reached Leigh lake and continued along the eastern shore, looking for my beach. My gear was getting heavy since I planned to relax and not hike, so I opted for a private rocky beach instead. I saw the white sand beaches across the water. Oh well. I settled in and took the obligatory selfie, then got out my book and relaxed in solitude for 3 hours listening to the water.

The lake was clear and cool and absolutely pristine. I dipped in 2-3 times and it was very refreshing.

                                   
                                             Ahh... views were pretty amazing too!

                           
At 5pm, I packed up and started the 1.5 mile hike back to the car. This is Buffalo Island in Leigh Lake (below).

A view of the huge lake from a ridge. Leigh Lake is the third largest lake in the Tetons, and with a maximum depth of 250 feet, is one of the deepest. It was named by Ferdinand Hayden during his 1872 expedition for Richard “Beaver Dick” Leigh, an itinerant trapper and early tour guide who helped guide the expedition through the area. Nearby Jenny Lake was named for his wife, a Shoshone Indian who assisted with camp logistics. In 1876 Jenny and their six children died of smallpox.

As I headed back, I passed the String Lake Loop sign again. Despite having all my heavy beach gear, I decided what the hell. I may never pass this way again, and I can probably do the 3.5 mile loop hike in 60-90 minutes and still get back to the ranch in time for the weekly seafood buffet at 7pm. Wow, what a push! I was practically jogging. I took the "detour", crossed a beautiful rocky creek and started around String Lake. So worth it!

The dirt trail started climbing quickly, with an elevation gain of about 300 feet to reach the height of 7,100 feet. Thin air...

 

 Then into a pine forest....

Trails are well marked in the park with plenty to choose from, any distance or degree of difficulty you can imagine...

High up on the first ridge, I looked down and saw String Lake below...

The higher I climbed, the better the views got of the valley and lake below.

I crossed this little bridge that was surrounded by tropical ferns and elephant eared plants... very odd for Wyoming.

Then I passed through a winter avalanche area where the trees had been snapped off about shoulder high or knocked over altogether...

Up to my right, the peaks of the Teton range started to appear...

The broken trees allowed a great view of String Lake below...

To my right, I had outstanding views of the "Cathedral Group," as the sun set. 12,325-foot Teewinot Mountain, 13,770-foot Grand Teton and 12,928-foot Mt. Owen appeared above me.  At 12,605 feet Mt. Moran is the fourth highest mountain in Grand Teton National Park. It's named for artist Thomas Moran whose landscape paintings were critical to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. 

On November 21, 1950, a C-47 cargo plane owned by the New Tribes Mission crashed into the peak during a thunderstorm, killing all 21 missionaries on board. Although a rescue party was able to locate the wreckage several days later, the precarious position of the crash made it impossible to recover the plane or its victims.

The path continued to climb, then finally descended!

 

At long last, I reached the southern end of the lake and looped back around towards civilization.

 

It was 6PM. Another 15 minutes and I was back at my car, but not before crossing another bridge and ridge...

My favorite shot of the day as l crossed one final creek, looked back towards the mountains and headed for my car... 5 1/2-6 miles total, including the Leigh lake portion. Not bad for an impromptu hike.

The drive home.... a typical Wyoming highway. Quite desolate! I made it back just as they rang the dinner bell and enjoyed a huge plate of steaming hot Alaskan crab legs, Halibut, Salmon and more. YUM!

Another week flies by...

I can't believe I didn't get on a horse this week. I planned to go on the Granite Canyon all day ride on Tuesday, but not enough guests signed up, so it was postponed ;( Instead, I finally went on the afternoon nature walk at the ranch. It is lead each week by naturalist Larry Livingood, and he knows everything there is to know about local plants, birds and more. He is also an avalanche forecaster here in the winter! His wife always comes along and is also knowledgeable about birds and plants, and they stay for dinner. At the feeder, Larry pointed out the 3 types of hummingbirds that live on the ranch, the Calliope (smallest breeding bird in N. America), Rufous, and Broad-tailed, and told us when they migrate South... mid-September!

Then we took a short walk back through the guest cabins to a former Aspen forest that had been "snapped off" by a wind burst a few years back. He pointed out the plants that had emerged because of this, including goldenrod and fireweed with its bright red flowers. Musk thistle, the large purple flowers that my horse Diego loves to eat, is also a noxious weed that emerges after fires, oil spills and other ground disturbances. All have medicinal properties. At 4:30 in the afternoon, not much wildlife was out, but Larry and his wife went out to the ranch swimming hole after dinner with chairs and binoculars and spotted some large Great Grey Owls and a pair of moose.

Speaking of moose, I was awakened by a chomping and rustling noise early Wednesday morning and knew something large was nearby. As luck would have it, a pair of moose walked down the road past my cabin window. I hoped they would make a right into the crew area and walk right under the moose Xing sign and sure enough, they did! I got the picture, albeit with my screen door in between us. They were 10 feet away ;)

                                                          And off they go.... so cool!

This is also week 4 of 6 of the Grand Teton Music Festival. I attended the Tuesday night classical performance at Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, as always, riding my bike there. This week's guest host was Barbara Scowcroft from the Utah Symphony Orchestra, and she provided commentary and background on each piece. One of the 6 pieces played was a jazzy number by Bill Douglas and featured a trio including a Steinway piano, oboe and bassoon. That combo was a first for me... great concert.

In Teton Village, there is a touristy trail riding operation, and this week, one of their horses had an adorable little colt. After the concert, I swung by on my bike and took a look. It was 3 days old and frolicking around... so wobbly and cute!

I missed dinner to go to the concert, and when I returned to the ranch, I was happy to see that one of my co-workers had made a plate for me from the Asian buffet (pork, duck, sushi, dumplings and more) , along with some ginger mango panna cotta and a fortune cookie! I'd say my "fortune" has been pretty good this summer!

Thursday night, I hopped on the tractor-pulled hayride. Along with a bunch of teen guests, we rode around the ranch for 45 minutes before being dropped off at the weekly cookout (Ribs!). This week, we saw a fairly large herd of elk and then... a lone coyote! My first sighting. I hear she has some cubs. Here's hoping she stays away from Scout.

Even though the week's events were similar to past weeks, it's always a little bit different. We've had 8 weeks of guests so far, with 8 weeks to go. Wow... time is flying!

Early morning nature walk and my first all day ride

On Tuesdays, the ranch offers a 6:30 AM nature walk with the ranch Manager, as well as an evening walk with a naturalist at 4:30 pm.  I decided to get up early and go on the morning walk last week. It's different from week to week because the flora, fauna and wildlife are unpredictable and ever changing. This week,one of our guests has discovered a family of horned owls with fledglings behind their cabin. Even the ranch owners were excited.

As we made our way towards the back of the ranch and the Snake River, we came across a scene rare for July... a large bull elk with all his antlers, accompanying and bugling to a harem... a herd of cows (females) and young calves. Apparently this doesn't usually happen until fall during the rut or reproductive season. We watched them for a while until they spotted us and started leaping over the buck rail fence. Once all the females were over, the bull followed. Three calves ran up and down the fence line until they figured out how and where to cross. It was super cool to see. I got a blurry photo of the bull.

Elk bugling is heard fairly often around the ranch and I only recently learned what the strange sound was. Click here to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzWmKlZtrU. Our time along the river was cut short due to watching the elk herd, but the sun had just come up and it was still beautiful! There were geese, a red tailed hawk, white pelicans and even trumpeter swans. No bald eagles or great grey owls today. speaking of wildlife, this week some strange "scat" (poop) was discovered about 100 feet from the crew cabins on the path to the stocked pond. There was initial debate whether it belonged to a mountain lion or wolf but the consensus was eventually mountain lion. Now that's a little scary! The maintenance guys said they've been finding little deer legs around the ranch too. Nature takes its toll ;(

Along the way, various wildflowers and plants and were highlighted, including the Common Mullein (below).

Also called bunny's ear and flannel leaf, the leaves of common mullein have been used as lamp wicks as well as toilet paper. A member of the snapdragon family, its leaves were once placed inside of shoes to provided both warmth and softness. The dried leaves on the long stalk have been used since the time of the Romans for torches (once they had been dipped into tallow). Legend states that such torches were used by witches or were used to repel witches, giving rise to one of its many common names of "hag taper." “Quaker rouge” refers to the practice of reddening cheeks by rubbing them with a mullein leaf. And a yellow dye extracted from the flowers has been used since Roman times as a hair rinse as well as to dye cloth. Mullein tea is a traditional treatment for respiratory problems, such as chest colds, bronchitis and asthma. Both the leaves and flowers contain mucilage, which is soothing to irritated membranes, and saponins, which make coughs more productive. Research has shown that the herb has strong anti-inflammatory activity, and lab studies suggest that mullein flower infusions have antiviral properties, as well.

Many of mullein’s traditional medicinal uses were similar throughout the Old and New World, but whether European settlers learned to use the herb from Native Americans or vice versa is open to debate. Besides using mullein leaf and flower teas to treat respiratory problems, some Native Americans also used the plant’s roots. The Creek Indians drank a decoction of the roots for coughs; other tribes smoked the roots or dried leaves to treat asthma.Topical applications were equally varied. The Cherokee rubbed mullein leaves in their armpits to treat “prickly rash.” Leaf poultices were used to treat bruises, tumors, rheumatic pains and hemorrhoids. Mullein flower oil (made by steeping the flowers in warm olive oil) also has been used for treating hemorrhoids, as well as earaches.

Mullein... who knew?! Just one of many interesting plants along our walk. We were also told that wildflowers at our elevation are going to seed now and are on their way out after a brief 2 months long appearance. Glad I got to enjoy them! As we circled back towards the lodge for 7:30 AM breakfast, we were treated to some hot air balloons floating past the Tetons. Lovely ;) Some co-workers of mine are going paragliding this week, taking flight from a mountain peak in the Tetons. At $285, that's a 10-15 minute thrill I can pass up.

Finally, as I walked around the ranch on my own, look who I found! The moose's mate was chomping on tree leaves about 100 yards away, right in the middle of the guest cabins. Never gets old. I frequently forget that moose can be more aggressive and dangerous than bears or bison. They seem so innocuous when eating and minding their own business.

After breakfast, I went on my first all day horseback ride. This one involved trailering the horses (6) about an hour northeast into the park and starting our ride there.

This ride is called "Potholes" because it winds through miles of glacial kettles. These depressions commonly pockmark outwash plains, such as in the Potholes area of the park. Kettles/potholes form when a block of stagnant ice becomes wholly or partially buried in outwash and ultimately melts, leaving behind a pit. They can be a few or hundreds of feet long, but are generally wider or longer than they are deep. In many cases, water eventually fills the depression and forms a kettle pond or lake. Trees take root in some kettles creating forest islands, while water pools in other kettles forming tiny wetland communities. We saw our first one, with water in it, about 15 minutes into the ride.

As we rode, we spotted more, some dry, some wet.

We crossed miles of rolling hills, covered in dry sagebrush. It was a hot, dry day, and we actually cut the ride short a bit so as not to exhaust the horses. 

 

These photos may be my favorites of me on horseback since I arrived in May. As always, the Teton views were beautiful. Our seasoned wrangler eventually found a small group of trees and some logs for us to sit on to eat our lunch, hearty sandwiches prepared for us at the ranch. We tied up the horses in the shade and everyone got a rest before we headed back after eating and some picture taking.

My horse today was Dove. I rode her a few weeks ago for team steer penning... a sweetheart ;) Above, that's us in the middle of the pack.