I just want to get out of here alive.

As I take photos 30 feet away from a black mumma bear and her three cubs.

We woke to 6 degrees Celsius, the coldest morning we have experienced so far, and thought a walk into beautiful Jackson – or Jackson Hole as they call it – might be in order. Jackson Hole is a pretty full on cowboy town, between that and the fact the radio stations selection around here are confined to country or religious, I may have to swallow my words and turn to country. The Johnny Cash song ‘Jackson’, kept ringing in my head, even if he does mean Jackson Tennessee and not Wyoming. 

Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger except bears. Bears will kill you. Lucky this bear is dead. 

In the town square we came upon the 9/11 Service where they spoke of the continuing death toll from the effects of that day. Where they spoke of disunity on 10 September and unity, regardless of race, colour, education or religious beliefs, on 11 September. Where they spoke of the sacrifices that were made and of the courage of the emergency services, running into danger, when everyone else was running away.

Upon returning to our cabin, we hit the gym, the hot spa and pool. It was a tough gig. To be fair. 

Checking out about 11.30 we hit the road to the Grand Tetons. 

I remember the reaction from my youngest son when we first took him to Queenstown, or specifically when we got just past Lake Tekapo.

Today, we came around the corner to my first view of the Teton Mountain Range and I mirrored his reaction. ‘WTF! This is insane!’

I took 74 photos. Breath easy, I won’t torture you with them all here, but…….

Pulling into the Jenny Lake Visitor Centre we hopped out of the car to walk the bridge and view the lake, only to have a Park Ranger hold her hand to say STOP and a like… ‘Where do you think you are going? There are bears here, go across the other side of the road’. …..like, we are supposed to know that???? 

Naturally this required further investigation, and looking right we noticed a crowd. 

Yep, there were bears in there. Mumma and her three babies, feasting on the trees. They say to keep a safe distance of 90 feet. We were about 30. However, all was good, the bears were surrounded by park rangers, ensuring the public was safe. Or perhaps to keep the bears safe. Potentially we were safe whatever way we looked at, we appeared to be the most mobile people there, the bears could eat everyone else while we ran for our lives. Anyway, it was pretty cool to see the little family, one ‘baby’ scooted up a tree. The ‘baby’ probably weighed 80kg. Of course at this time of year, bears are bulking up, trying to add at least 40% to their weight. They eat dirt to bind them and anything else really. Leaves, stones, people. 

 

Frequently on the drive, cars were stopped at ‘bear’ sightings. MOD thought it might be funny to randomly stop and point the iPhone at the bushes. See how many people took our lead. Tempting, but we didn’t have time. We needed to get to Yellowstone!

Big queue to pay the $35 entry fee to the park. Whilst it was obviously amazing, Yellowstone was a tad terrifying. For me. Winding narrow roads, deep canyons below.  At one point, at about 8500 feet, we had a deep car dive on both sides of the road. Busy roads, consistent traffic. And then of course the wildlife and the constant cautions. The day before some guy had been attacked by a grizzly. When hiking you need to carry mace at all times. Given that the last bear we had seen was in the car park, I figured when walking anywhere, you should carry mace at all times.

Regardless of my terror, Yellowstone is pretty cool and very rugged. We saw elk, bison, trumpeter swans (white swans), birds, bears, (no grizzlies) canadian geese, coyote, sulphur springs, geysers (“a spring aracterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam“).

The place is set up with huge, (and expensive) lodges, general stores, information, activities, food halls, but alas no half strength soy lattes…..😪

 

And yes today was going to be a phlog, but as usual, I had a lot to say.