Fall in the Tetons

I know I say this every year, but Fall in the Tetons is my very favorite time. This year, we got wintery weather way early. The past week has been wet, snowy, and pretty dang cold. This is harder in the RV, because we aren’t insulated like a house. But we have a pretty good RV that has better than average insulation, and we just run the heater to stay cozy. I am still out searching for wild life though, and the little bit of snow actually made it different, and beautiful.

It’s best to conserve your heat. Personally this would freeze me.

This cow moose was trying to reach something tasty.

The leaves are surprisingly late in changing color this year. I think it’s because it stayed so warm, late into the summer. But I do like the contrast in this photo.

The story behind this next photo is a crazy one. On this same day of the snowy morning, I went to the place I had seen the brown black bear. As I was walking on the trail, there were about 8 people in front of me. They kept pointing to a particular spot, they must have known exactly were to look. Off the edge, and completely hidden under a tree they said there was a bear taking a nap. They, stupidly, walked right up to the tree were the bear was supposed to be. I stayed way back. Almost right away I heard one of the volunteer bear brigade people yell at them from further down the trail. “100 yards” he yelled. They all scurried back to were I was standing. The volunteer guy walked to were the bear was, and stayed there. Their job is to keep everyone in the park safe, including and especially the wildlife. It was sleeting, and cold but I thought maybe the bear would get up at some point. Then the craziest thing happened. The volunteer asked if anyone wanted pictures of the bear. My hand shot up. He said two people could walk to were he was. I had 10 seconds to get photos, then he sent us on our way.

Not the best quality, but I thanked him, and went on my way, happy to have had the opportunity.

The cold weather certainly gets the wildlife more active. This bunch of does, and fawns was on the river the other night.

I could see they were going to cross, so I ran up river through the thick brush, so I could get them in the river.

This little fawn was the last to cross and was trying to keep up. She did a lot of splashing. They all made it safely, and continued looking for dinner.

Yesterday morning we got up at the butt crack of dawn and drove to Schwabachers landing. The snow on the Tetons is amazingly gorgeous, and I wanted to be there for the alpen glow.

Alpen glow is the very short time in the early morning before the sun is fully up in the sky. The mountains to the west just glow with vibrant color, and yesterday was especially beautiful.

We then hiked down the river looking for wildlife. Again, we could hear the elk bugling, but only saw this small bull.

I stitched together a couple of short videos I took with my phone. I wanted to share what it’s like to hike in this area.

Later in the afternoon we saw these two very nice buck deer hanging out together. They were grazing, relaxed, and just being buddies. I love that they can live their life without worry of being hunted down.

I think by next week the leaves should be really, really pretty. The aspens are oddly behind this year and hopefully this cold weather will help, rather than harm their color.

I do have some nice fall moose shots to share tomorrow. If you’re not tired of moose that is.

What’s fall like in your part of the country?