Heading North

Our last day in the Grand Tetons dawned sunny and warm and we took a morning hike to the top of Blacktail Butte for a wonderful view of the valley. The herds of elk and bison on this visit have been the biggest we’ve ever seen, although many locals believe the elk have been decimated by wolves, newly arrived in the Teton Valley. Wolves are a hot-button topic in Wyoming, where they can be shot on sight. We chatted with the state speaker of the house and gubernatorial candidate, a tall handsome Marlboro man look-alike, at the beer fest immediately following the Memorial Day weekend parade, and “wolf management” came up almost immediately.
The local papers carry impassioned letters from wildlife-loving locals and visiting Californians who point out that living wolves equal money for the local economy. “We have our own mountains,” wrote one couple from Lake Tahoe. “We come here to see the wildlife.” Local outfitters, who make their living taking visitors from around the world into the wilds to shoot a trophy elk, disagree.
Of the Druid pack we watched daily last year in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, none still exist. All of the new pups died, presumably of mange, the pack’s alpha female was killed by another wolf last October and the local paper reported that the pack’s last collared female was recently shot by a rancher 150 miles from the pack’s home. I don’t know what we’ll see in Yellowstone this year.
We’ve struck out on bear this year, although many sightings have been reported. We finally spotted our first predator today, watching a coyoe pounce on a ground squirrel in the elk refuge. Even without bears, the dramatic weather, blessed peacefulness of the nearly-empty campground, and daily sightings of wildlife and birds have made this a special visit. The weather even permitted an outdoor dinner at our campfire and a morning breakfast cookout on the Snake River, where a small herd of elk splashed across the shallows while Terry scrambled eggs.
We ended our last afternoon with a gondola ride up to 10,000’ Rendezvous Peak, where a panoramic view of the valley soon succumbed to pelting snow.
Tomorrow, it’s off to Yellowstone. Two last batches of pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/happytwo.mcwilliams/3Tetonsspring2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCIeYnPCE1uPCiAE&feat=directlink
And:
http://picasaweb.google.com/happytwo.mcwilliams/2Tetonblogspring2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCNm8hLb_iq2JkAE&feat=directlink