Calling all Campers!
It's been days since I've had an
internet connection at night. Now I have a barely passable one at the
campsite and there is guest WiFi in the area where the shops and
restaurants are about ½ mile from here. That should let me get
caught up on both Blogger and Flickr with pics. Look for a special
photo edition of the blog tomorrow (Thursday). When you see that the photos will be on
Flickr soon.
So... where are we? The geographic
answer is at Colter Bay RV park in Grand Teton National Park.
Now, before you get all high and mighty with me and call me on my
hypocrisy after the slams I've made about KOA's, let me say that the
Colter Bay RV Park is not a KOA. This is a park set up on Federal
land within the Grand Teton National Park and run by a Federal
concessionaire (contractor).
We got here today by waking in one of
the most beautiful places I've ever been. Then after a leisurely
morning routine heading north on state highways and US routes for
about 4 ½ hours.
That route took us from what is
basically high desert at Firehole Canyon in Southwest Wyoming, up
through high plains. As we headed north we began to see snow capped
mountains. First to our right (east) which were the Wind River Range
then to the left (west) which were the Wyoming Range along the
Wyoming/Utah then Wyoming/Idaho border. The two ranges got closer and
eventually we hit a ridge at 8,000 feet. As we crested the ridge,
everything changed. We went from plains with sage and other scrubby
plants to a forest of tall pine trees. We descended in that
environment and streams then rivers appeared next to and then crossed
the roadway. The largest of these was the Snake River. Soon mountains
literally loomed above us. Rock faces (none too secure looking I'm
sad to say) towered above the truck and road by 1,000 to 1,500 feet
at times. At one point I said to Mrs. C' “All I'm asking for is
that the rock overhang up there (pointing 500' above us perhaps)
stays where it is for another 90 seconds while we pass underneath”.
Nature is beautiful at rest. Stunningly beautiful. In this case with
a constant, silent reminder of her power.
The steep descent gave way to the
valley floor. Sadly, at the north end of that valley sits Jackson,
Wyoming. Holy crap. If you took the worst of Key West, Disney World
and Ron Jon's Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach and put them in a blender with
some “good ole' genuine fake westernizing pixie dust” and
sprinkled them on the plains of Wyoming you'd have Jackson...
provided you sprinkled it with some genuine Bison and Elk dung for
that simulated aged authenticity reminiscent of the old west,
Pardner! Even the K-Mart had a fake wood sign on the main street. It
was icky. If we decide we need a tee shirt that says “I'm the
luckiest kid in the world because someone I know visited the real
JACKSON HOLE WYOMING and brought me this tee shirt” I guess we'll
have to go back. Otherwise we will stay in the Grand Teton region
here 20 miles north of Jackson (I'm pretty sure I can't smell Jackson
anymore from this distance). Speaking of Jackson Hole, Mrs. C' and I
were confused about why some references are to Jackson and others to
Jackson Hole. She looked it up (back when the internet was a part of
our daily lives...) and learned that the fake town is “Jackson”
while the valley it sits in is known as “Jackson Hole”. I know
that you know where I'm headed, but let me say it anyway since it's
my blog and my joke.. as far as I could tell the whole thing is a
hole. Ta Da!
As for wildlife, we are just starting
to spot some interesting types. There were plenty of pronghorn along
the route today. We were watching and watching for Bison and finally
spotted a herd between Jackson and here. They were distant but
unmistakable. Mrs. C' took a picture from the fast moving Tundra with
a dog on her lap excited by being awakened by the sudden opening of
the window. When we looked at the pic we agreed that people who were
not there to have the memory restored by the photo might ask “how
close did you have to get to those ants to get this picture”. Let's
hold off on the bison photos. We also crossed through the National
Elk Preserve just north of Jackson. Guess what... no visible elk.
Why, you ask? Maybe it's because the center of Jackson is a nice open
park and that park has a beautiful entrance arch 15' tall and 15'
wide at each corner made of... can you see this coming?.... ELK
HORNS! I'm serious. They must have used the horns of 100,000 elk to
make these arches. They're huge! If I was an elk I wouldn't get
within 50 mile of Jackson for fear they'd use my pelvis as a toilet
seat or my right front hoof for an ash tray and sell it in a fake
western dry goods store to Japanese tourists. Give me a break.
Although, being Jackson (where even the cheap metal buildings have
fake 1870's western facades!) the antler arches could have been made
from resin cast elk antler mockups... they give the same authentic
feel as a real antler but at a fraction of the cost and the tourists
can't tell the difference.
Oh yes... wildlife... so we were warned
about bears here in the campground. They appear often and the rules
are strict about cooking, garbage, food storage, etc. We are spic and
span and ready for the night.
So let's talk local geography... the
campsite and the entire campground for that matter are on the east
side of Jackson Lake. I'm not sure how big Jackson Lake is. My
impression is 30-40 miles north to south and 2-5 miles east to west.
However big it is, many people have gone to the trouble to move very
large boats here. There are 50 footers in the marina nearby. I'm
thinking “What are boats that we see in Florida and people use to
go to the Keys, the Bahamas and beyond doing on Jackson Lake? Then it
hit me. There are enough people with enough money to burn who would
send their boat (or just buy another one that's here already... why
not, two boats is better than one!) from California (where there is
no water anyway) to Wyoming, 7,000 feet up and nearly 1,000 miles
over so they can sail past the Tetons. What a country! At least it
makes jobs for truckers, people who drive cars that say “wide load
behind”, crane operators, marina tenders and others.
On the west side of Jackson Lake is
what all the fuss is about... the Tetons themselves. These are rough,
rocky peaks that are snow capped... in fact, glacier covered in
spots... that resemble the most impressive peaks in the alps. If you
can't wait until I have an internet connection to show you the real
pics, go to your pantry and rummage around until you find a package
of Swiss Miss. Take a look at that and you'll see something like the
Tetons. Ok, that's the Matterhorn (as I recall... I can't confirm
that without the internet an as you know, I don't have that... much)
and there are multiple peaks to the Tetons but Swiss Miss will give
you a general idea of what you're missing if you have not been here
to Grand Teton park.
As we drove north from Jackson with
still 20 mile to our turn off the Tetons loomed over us to the left.
I could see them fading behind us with still 10 miles to go. I said
to myself “I think this campground isn't what I thought it would
be... the Tetons will be well off to the south, not right across the
lake as I expected”. Turns out, I was wrong... again... a feeling I
should be quite familiar with by now according to my wife. When the
Feds (or most states for that matter) build a park, especially a
National Park, they choose the best land with the best views for
themselves and the people they serve (that would be us... the camping
US Citizen in this case). Bravo National Park Service! This site is
spectacular. The peaks are to the south, but from here the tallest of
them line up in a row. It makes photographing them very nice since
they sit in a single frame. Had the park been placed to the South,
more directly across Jackson Lake from the peaks themselves they
would cover a span from well south to well north of the viewer.
You'll see when I finally post the pics. Anyway, the campsites are
all in the woods about ¼ mile from the lake. That's actually smart
since there are trees, shade and a certain egalitarianism since no
section of the camp has a better view than any other. Actually, we
hate that since we tend to plan well in advance, have the flexibility
as retired folk to come at the best times, are blessed with pensions
that allow us to say “sure... I'll pay that” and generally land
those coveted spots where we can park the Airstrem and look smug as
people from lesser spots walk by. We'll have to be less smug this
time (although it looks like we have the only Airstream in the park
right now and there are 120 spots...). And you know what? In a
National Park for the people of the US of A this is the way it should
be. Everyone has a similar space to enjoy this amazing place and we
can all do so as US Citizens together. The lake front and best views
are unobstructed by Airstreams or Prevost motor homes the size of
Greyhound buses and open to all.
More tomorrow gang... and pictures I
promise.
SC
PS. I'm going to press my luck with one Grand Teton pic...
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