The Grand Tetons

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

It's one of those wonderful places that grow exponentially. Winter sports for half a year and rafting, fishing and horseback riding the other half. It's kind of like Key West that way... not what it was 30 years ago (sleepy and rustic). The traffic is bad and everything is way too expensive... Still...we love it.


Nine million years ago the continental plate split here along a 40 mile line running north and south. The western edge was uplifted and formed the newest and most jagged mountains in the US. They run to about 13,000 feet. The eastern plate sank and formed Jackson Hole, elevation about 6,000 feet. The Jackson Hole valley has a number of large lakes that abut the mountains. The Snake river flows along the valley and there are numerous moraines where glaciers piled up rucks like conveyor belts. Another feature of the valley is kettles or potholes where blocks of ice slowly melted forming ponds.

We did a hike here in the Spring 31 years ago. We walked about a mile and a half around the back side of Jenny Lake and then did a steep climb up a canyon into a lovely meadow filled with wildflowers. Part of the hike was along a ledge about three feet wide with a 300 foot drop to the rocks below. We held tight to our son while traversing that. Tomorrow, we'll do the same hike but cut out three miles of hiking by taking the jetboat across Jenny Lake to the trail head.

The park is heavy on recreation, as it should be. There are numerous campgrounds, lodges, marinas, restaurants and dude ranches as well as many great hiking trails. You can rent canoes, kayaks, and motorboats for reasonable cost. The fishing is good.

The lighting conditions have not been optimal for photography, with continuous overcast, and smog seems to be everywhere in the west these days, dimming far vistas. It would be very cool to come out in January, when the Tetons are coated with snow and ice. You could get up on a clear day at dawn with no wind and see the mountains painted bright orange at sunrise and reflected in the lake. I can see it...yeah...

Maybe we'll rent a canoe one day....Yellowstone is just up the road...we may be here awhile.

Show Me the Ka

Chugwater, Wyoming

We drove over Cameron Pass yesterday. My GPS said the summit was 10,300 feet. The surrounding mountains still went up another half mile or so.


We found a campground on a river in the Roosevelt National Forest. It was on the eastern slope of the Rockies about 30 miles from Fort Collins. The river was rushing downhill and swollen from the above average snowfall. The river noise was conducive to sleeping. No electricity there, so we played Scrabble after dinner. I added an “A” to “jar” going down and placed a “K” in front of the “A” on a triple letter score. Mrs. Phred challenged the “ka”, of course, but I was a gentleman and failed to point out that an unsuccessful challenge normally requires a turn forfeit. It’s rare that I win against her. Ka is the part of a person that leaves the body after death, according to the old Egyptians.


Our last day in Steamboat included tennis, a ride on the alpine slide called “The Howler”, a two hour raft trip on the Colorado, a visit to a bookstore and then dinner in Glenwood Springs with Kim and Randy. Mrs. Phred met Kim online. Randy is an architect who wants to build his own RV. Kim just won a weight lifting competition. She was the only one entered in her class, but I’m impressed anyway. Randy is 6’-5”, a former Army Ranger. They were interesting, I’m glad we went.


Dinner was at a microbrewery in Glenwood Springs about 125 miles from Steamboat. I ordered a sampler tray of eight beers.


Mrs. Phred drives home from Glenwood Springs. She tends to run the Toyota about 30 MPH faster over the mountain curves than I do, constantly running up and down though the five-speed manual gearbox. I try to read and clutch the sissy bar at the same time.


You remember that heel pain I was telling you about? I went to WebMD online and came up with a diagnosis of plantar facilitis. That’s a problem with the tendon in the arch attached to the heel. It happens to older people who are a little overweight and who play tennis, jog or walk a lot. They suggest ice packs, stretching exercises and a change in activities. For example, one could substitute bicycling for hiking and Scrabble for tennis.

We are in Wyoming today. We want to go to South Dakota and see the Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore and the Cave of the Winds National Park tomorrow. Maybe I’ll get the bikes down off the back of the RV where they’ve been hanging for the last two months and gathering gravel road dust.

Fading Pictures

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We crossed the 45 degree latitude line yesterday and now find ourselves midway between the North Pole and the Equator. The morning temperature is just above freezing. The elevation is above 7,000 feet. It should be a cool afternoon.

A herd of about 50 elk moved down from the hills and walked though our campsite as we pulled into camp. They included a large number of nursing calves.

The elk have no fear of humans. They ignored us completely as they moved slowly down the hill. We might have been just ghosts for all the notice we received.

Yellowstone is centered on a gigantic caldera which accounts for the many boiling springs, geysers and steaming fumaroles.

When the Yellowstone supervolcano blows, some estimates are that all human life within a 500 mile radius will be extinguished. I discuss this with Mrs. Phred and we both figure, “What are the odds?” and “It probably wouldn’t hurt much.”

We might spend a few days here before moving south to the Grand Teton National Park. Our last visit to Yellowstone was with our 8 year old son. I keep a picture of him in the wildflowers near Yellowstone Lake on my desk when I have one. It’s faded a little in 30 years.

Tiny Climber

Devil's Tower, Wyoming - 29 May, 2006

You may have seen Devil's Tower in the 1970s movie, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind? Or maybe on the three cent American commemorative stamp that came out in 1953? It's the first American National Monument and was created by president Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.

The tower goes more or less straight up for 1,267 feet. The first shot in this series shows a very tiny climber going straight up the rock face.

The tower is closed to climbers for the month of June by Presidential executive order to show respect for the 22 different Indian tribes who use the tower as part of their spiritual practices. On July 4th, 1893, William Rogers and Willard Ripley made the first known ascent with the aid of a 350 foot ladder. In 1895 Mrs Rogers used the ladder and became the first woman to reach the summit.

The strange part of the day is not the Tower, it is the minds and motivations of the small creatures driven to climb to the top.