July 25 - Chair lift at the Grand Targhee

This last Monday we returned to the Grand Targhee (pronounced Tar-gee by the real natives, not Tar-hee, like so many seem to think!) Resort.  We had planned on riding their chair lift a previous day but were dissuaded by the $10 parking fee (because of the Music Fest)!  We decided to try again and were sure glad we did!  What a view from up there!!

 Billy having a great time.  He loved the incredible views and the fast, quiet, smooth ride.

 Not too good a picture (with just my point & shoot), but there's the Teton Valley yawning in front of us.

 Me and the B with the Tetons behind us.

 Yup, time to go!  We went up a little late, not realizing the last chair down was at 4pm (seemed very early in a place that gets dark at 9pm!).  So only had a few minutes at top.

 Ride over.

 The GTR.

 Back in the town of Driggs, down the hill from the resort.  This guy looks to be one of the landmarks.

And we had to try a huckleberry shake at the Driggs soda fountain.  Hmm, mistake.  Should've driven back to Victor's soda fountain shop!  Victor's claim to the world's best and most famous huckleberry shakes is now undisputed in our experience!  We can vouch for the veracity!  Not even comparable.  Bill knew we were in trouble when he saw them scooping out huckleberry ice cream instead of just adding huckleberries to vanilla ice cream and milk!  Let's see,..it's now about a 2 or 3-hr drive back to Victor...but we're here for several days yet so could still make the trip a few times!!!  

July 24 - Let's ride!

 I've been wanting to go horseback riding for forever!!  It's been a million years since me and my Sundance  haunted the hills and hung out together, and I've been missing that sweaty horsey smell and back-in-the-saddle feeling (although I almost never used to ride with a saddle!).  So, after researching the various outfitters in the area, I finally settled on one...

 The Beard Outfitters.  Their family was one of the very first homesteaders in the Teton Valley!  Joe, and equally bashful dog, Dody (couldn't get either one to look directly at the camera!), help represent the current generation of Beards and work their tails off to keep the ranch running.  I was very happy to have my little bit of tourism mula go to such a long-lived family presence, they are the real deal.  These folks have stuck it out over the decades, successfully adapting and overcoming.  And if anyone can truly appreciate the land here, its beauty and durability, it's people like the Beards.  It was an honor to ride with someone who has a mountain named after his family!  For more of their history, or to sign up for a ride (better yet!), go here:  http://www.beardmountainranch.com/index.htm  Otherwise, saddle up, and let's ride!

 Joe and "Blue" lead the way...

 What views, eh?!

 Blue waits patiently, while Joe takes a break and I try to get my legs to work again!  So many things were easier when I was a kid - and riding was one of them!  And after so many years of not riding, my knees had no idea what I was trying to do to them, but they weren't too keen on it!  (happily, they were right back to normal the next day)

And here's my buddy for the day, "Kelly." 

 Blue and Kelly wait, busy using fir branches to brush away the ever-present, ever-ready-to-bite flies that plague every red-blooded creature in the outdoors here.

 Dody Dog.

 OK, c'mon, this is the quintessential cowboy in the mountains scene, ain't it?!  But honestly, Joe was such a good guy and so good about putting up with me and my camera!  I even dropped a rein at one point while messing with photo ops - oops!  But Kelly was pretty gracious about it all too, and I had a great time clicking and clip-clopping!

 Kelly tries to get into one of the pictures...

 What a place, huh?  Lucky me.

After the ride, I had to ask Joe to stop so I could get a shot of Beard Mountain.  It's the green mountain in the front, kind of to the right a bit.



July 23 - Mesa Falls

Saturday, Bill and I drove up north a ways to see the Mesa Falls.

 Pretty farmland colors.  Not sure what kind of crop this one is with the tiny blue flowers...??

 Along the way, we stopped at the Warm River, where there was a fish-feeding stand!  I thought the food was for birds, but no!  It was to keep these giant trout (circled things) happy!  And yes, there were people tossing in their own bread scraps, and these fish were going for it!

I tried to take pictures of them, but really, you had to be there!

Next stop was the lower falls.  Here is a picture showing the overall view of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River with the lower falls on the right.  The primary source of water is the Big Springs (one of the largest freshwater springs in N. America, gushing out 120 million gallons - or much more, depending on what you read! - of water per day!!!), so this river flows constantly, not freezing in winter.  It is also considered prime trout territory and is very popular with fly fishermen.

The lower falls (sorry, not a very good photo - would've been better with a cloudy day, I think).

 Here is the Big Falls Inn.  Originally built by a company planning to harness the river for power, its ownership passed to various entities when that energy dream never materialized, with the building being used in every which way (lodging, restaurant, dancehall, etc.).  Now owned by the forest service, it serves as an interpretive center above the upper falls.

 After investigating the falls (accomplished a lot faster when done without a camera!), Bill rests in the shade of the inn's wonderful porch.  Unfortunately, he's not alone - tons of giant flies (horse flies?  moose flies?!  bear flies?!!!) keep him company (and me too when I joined him).  They extracted their pound of flesh, literally, but the ground around us was also littered with their black, lifeless bodies!  Ah, sweet revenge!

 The upper falls.  Sorry, no rainbow.  Darn.  I think maybe it was just the wrong time of day...? 

 The great walkway that allows you to get right out there to REALLY see and experience the falls!

 Henry's Fork of the Snake.

 A quick stop at Island Park, which claims to have the longest main street (33 miles or so).  Personally, I wasn't impressed.  Just looked like bits and pieces of tourism to me!

 The view of our sweet valley spreads out before us at an overlook stop, with the whole Teton range in view.

Beautiful, isn't it?!!

July 22 - Hiking to the Wind Cave

On Thursday, I did a hike out of the Teton Valley, up along South Darby Creek/Canyon to a wind cave.  A waterfall pours out of the mouth of the cave, and I guess if you hike farther up, you will find ice caves too (I didn't - this almost 2000ft. gain, 5 mile hike was plenty for this out of shape hiker!)!  The innards of this cave are often explored by intrepid, flashlight-carrying folks, but there was too much water for comfortable spelunking this time.  Plus, there was a notice posted on a trail-side tree about "white nose syndrome," requesting that people not enter the cave.  Very sadly, this disease has apparently killed off more than a million bats so far.  If you're a caver (Mark, Tim, Andrew, et. al.,...), PLEASE read here and be careful, for their (and ultimately, our) sake:  http://valleycitizen.com/stories_news_detail.php?pkStories=253

The trailhead at South Darby Creek.

This is a popular, well-known trail in this area, so I was not really surprised by all the people I found there - but I WAS surprised to find out that the group in this photo is just ONE extended family!  They had a lot of little kids with them, and I don't think they made it that far up the trail, as there were a few tricky creek crossings...  But I give them full credit for attempting it!

The view back down the canyon after I'd come a little over halfway.

Here, you can see the wind cave from across the valley.

Pretty waterfalls on a cliff below the wind cave.

A big ol' flower stalk that I thought I knew but don't.

This bee thought it was a pretty cool flower too.

 I know this one though!!  (and I know you do too, Patty!)  Not as colorful as Colorado's state flower (blue & white), these columbines are still beautiful!

 Wild geraniums have to be the most abundant flower in this whole area.

 I'm not sure what this flower is either.  Haven't seen it before.

 One of my favorites - gorgeous bluish-purple penstemon!

 And another favorite - larkspur. 

 A small waterfall enroute.

Someone got "cute" (hmm...maybe not so much...?!) and put a cairn/duck in the flow... 

 The view from the other side of the canyon/valley now - I'm nearly there!  Yay!  The trail I ws just on runs along the top of that cliff.

 Looking up at the waterfall coming out of the wind cave.

 And then looking out at the valley and opposite mountains.

 Somebody reciprocating after I offered to take their picture in front of the falls.

 I did NOT go in the cave at all, but I did go to the base of the falls.  Too bad I didn't have a flash on this camera, but it was still a cool look.

 OK, before anyone freaks out - this is a harmless, innocent, non-venomous little snake.  I was completely taken by surprise when I saw this in the road on the way out.  I wasn't sure but thought it might be a snake - even if it did look a lot more like a twig!  But I braked hard, thank goodness, got out and checked to see if I'd spared a living being or a dead tree branch.   I was very grateful to have stopped in time when I discovered it was indeed a reptile of sorts.  But I wasn't sure what it was exactly!  It looked mostly like a snake, but...  Both ends were pretty rounded, not tapered or very differentiated.  It had tiny eyes and was VERY slow.  I'm sure I could've picked it up but didn't (unlike some friends we have...umm, will Mr. Polley please stand up!).  In fact, it took a long time googling when I got home (and calling on pal Chris P. for his expertise) to get an ID on this guy.  A rubber boa!  Kin to our San Diego rosy boa.  What a fantastic, exciting, and unexpected find this was!!

Again, to see larger versions of any of these photos, just click on them (I am trying a new tool to show slightly bigger images on the blog).  That way, you can see this guy's little eyeball a little better!  And maybe he can see you too...?!