Mood:  energetic

With a full day in Jackson Hole, there were several things that I wanted to accomplish.  After breakfast, I wanted to go to the Teton National Park Visitor's Center.  Andy, the night before, suggested it as a good place to understand the many physical aspects of the area.  On the way into town yesterday, I had passed a very interesting building that housed the National Museum of Wildlife Art.  That definitely was on my list.  Then I wanted to visit the Jackson Hole Museum and wander around town.

One of Jim Walton's notes suggested that I stop by the meadow below the house because a fox and five kits can be seen.  After breakfast, I was returning on my bicycle, when I noticed a number of photographers, with cameras on tripods, lined up by the meadow.  I stopped.  The kits were down an embankment, 30-40 feet off the road, playing rough and tumble with each other.  I heard the screech of a bird nearby, and saw a magpie, several hundred feet away, chasing the mother fox away from its territory.  Mama soon joined the kits.  Photographs were being snapped like crazy, hoping for that one picture that would be special.  Being an amateur photographer myself, I took stock of the equipment being used.  Between the 8-10 photographers, there was well over $100,000 of gear in use, not including whatever else was in their bags.  Some had huge lenses that retail for over $15,000 each.  One photographer went out into the street and stopped traffic when mama decided to cross it.   I guess wildlife and photographers have a symbiotic relationship, at least when in town.

The Teton Mountain Range is a very rugged set of pinnacles that are hard to match in beauty.  Part of the reason for their ruggedness is because this mountain chain is fairly new, geologically speaking, and hasn't endured the smoothing effects of erosion to the degree that most other mountain chains have.  Nine million years ago, one tectonic plate slipped under another, pushing up the one on top and collapsing the portion beside it, forming the valley that trappers called a "Hole".   The Ice Age started the formation of the present day mountains.  It is pretty spectacular.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art is my kind of art gallery.  I've never been able to see the depth in art that art critics see, especially in modern art.  But here, in Jackson Hole, the art is exactly what you see.  Every imaginable wild animal native to this area is displayed on canvas or in bronze casting.  With the assist of an audio player, I was mesmerized by the exhibits.  Wow.

After lunch, came the museum downtown, full to the brim of photos, displays and artifacts.  Stories of homestead families, old trappers and Indians permeate one exhibit after another.  The museum  is celebrating its 50th year, and it is something that I would recommend to anyone visiting the area.

If I am so lucky to return to this area, there are a number of activities that I would undertake.  One just can't imagine the plethora of wildlife here.  Certainly wildlife viewing and hiking would be on the list of things to do.  The National Park Service has all sorts of activities that they sponsor.  I watched some large rafts navigate the Snake River.  The water was not rough, and it looked like a wonderful way to spend a peaceful afternoon.  Fishing, boating, you-name-it:  if it has to do with the outdoors, you have it in spades in this area.

Tomorrow, Friday, I'll be back in the saddle again (Can you hear Gene Autry?).  Togwotee Pass awaits me on Saturday.  It is 9,658' in elevation.  I will stop tomorrow night near its base, so that I can ascend it the next morning.  Then it is a journey through the middle of Wyoming.  I anticipate a fairly bleak landscape for several days, with possible headwinds.  We'll see.  At any rate I will update this blog as soon as I get the chance.  It will likely be 2-4 days down the road.  At that time I will recount each day.

My special thanks, again, to Jim and Betty Walton, whose largesse has made this portion of my trip a very comfortable one.

God bless you all.

Will McMahan