June 27, 2017 Day 10 Tuesday Teton Village WY

The alarm went off early this morning and it was hard to haul out of bed. But we wanted to get over to a wonderful Ranger led hike this morning. The hike was in a special part of the Tetons: The Rockefeller Preserve.  This area was the Rockefeller family’s personal ranch for 75 years, and then 10 years ago was given as a gift to the Teton National Park by Laurance Rockefeller.  It was given with the intent that this would be kept as a very special place, fewer parking spaces, and kept very environmentally sound.  It is a wonderful place.   

We arrived early enough to eat our breakfast in the parking lot.  We had a number of people looking longingly at our choice of eating areas.

We had made reservations to go on a special hike with a limit of ten people, but when we checked in, we found out there would just be the four of us: another couple (originally from India, now living in Baltimore) and us.  And we would be led by a ranger, Meghan who has worked seasonally in the Tetons for 5 years and, during the rest of the year, is a high school teacher in Oakland teaching environmental studies. This was a great crew.  The Indian couple both have Ph.D.’s, and so does Dick, as well as having Master’s Degrees.  I also have two Master’s degrees.  A pretty educated group.  What an educated group for Megan to deal with. But she did A great job! 

Rather than going with a plan to script, because of our small group we were able to have a highly interactive mile and a half hike where we had wide-ranging discussions and questions and answers about many different plants, animals, and history of the area. We were also able to get some behind the scenes information about being a park ranger as well as The current status of the Park service and their response in the current political system and situation. Meghan was a fount of information and we learned so much.

The water was so lovely.  We followed a rushing mountain stream away from the Preserve Center, crossing it, and staying close to it for nearly two hours. 

And the wildflowers were great.  We saw some flowers that we had been seeing a lot of and some new ones that Meghan was able to help identify.

It was a fantastic hike.  At the top of the climb, there was a great lake, Phelps Lake.  Just as we arrived, you could see the dark clouds rolling and in the thunder began.  We quickly finished the formal part of the hike, along with some quick photos of us in front the lake. 

And then the rain began, tiny drops at first, moving to harder rain.  We all dug out our rain gear.  And then it began to hail.  Lightly at first and then it moved to pea sized tiny snowballs.  Luckily, we were close to a bathroom with a small overhang porch area.  Meghan led the run towards it and we found ten hikers had already taken cover.  We squeezed in and watched the storm roar on by.  We were grateful for that cover.

Once it let up, Meghan suggested we quickly start the descent back down to our cars.  We did, and took the time to do a little more talking with our co-hikers about Yellowstone Park which they were headed to next as well as the fun and challenges of long road trips.  We were happy to have shared the morning with them and wished them well. 

We were pleased to head back to our hostel where we ate leftover BBQ from the previous night. And then settled in for an afternoon of napping and reading and working on pictures. Very low-key and relaxing.

For dinner, we took advantage of the communal kitchen area and Dick whipped up a lovely dinner of French toast and bacon on a hot plate. It was a special savory French toast made with stale  Rye Bread. He had a number of people inquiring whether he was so taking orders for the lovely dinner. We also had a chance to watch another family whipping up some very delicious noodle soup to feed their family of 14 who were gathering. The camaraderie of this place has been a real plus.

After dinner, we took advantage of taking the gondola ride up to the top of the ski area for a second time. We enjoyed the ride, including seeing deer sitting down below watching us. At the top we walked around took some more photos. Then had a lovely discussion with her mom in high school son were on vacation from Iowa. We had a quite lovely and far-roaming conversation about the Tetons and Yellowstone where they were headed next in many other topics. We continue to find so many interesting people on our travels periods a big plus.

Back to the hostel for hot cocoa and a time to work on some more photos and get some more blog postings up. Tomorrow we head over to the "quieter side of the Tetons Mountains. This will be the area in far Eastern Idaho where we will be staying in the town of Driggs.