There are practically no animals this year.
It’s snowed nearly every day, except for a few hours of sunshine at Wild West days that must mean the Jackson Chamber of Commerce has a direct line to the weather gods. Most days the mountains aren’t visible, so you wouldn’t even know you’re in one of the most visually spectacular places in the country.
We’re having a great time.
Our camp hosts tell us 80-degree weather in April drove most of the wildlife to the upper meadows near Yellowstone. Our beloved bison were missing from Antelope Flats. Still, we managed an exciting spotting of a moose in the willows on the Gros Ventre river, white-rumped elk in a frosty meadow, a few skittish pronghorn antelope and mostly faraway bison, dots in the distance.
At the peak of spring, we’ve seen no young of any kind, except for six goslings waddling behind behind their parent across the highway near the visitor center and squealing kids in cowboy hats grabbing candy tossed from floats in Saturday’s Wild West parade.
But a chorus of robins greets first light, the beers were stellar at the brewfest, and who can complain about the truffle fries with a view at the Jackson Lake Lodge? Each evening has brought cozy shared meals with bountiful wine and camping camaraderie, and we all seem well-adapted to adapting.
When we awoke to four inches of snow on the morning of our planned breakfast cookout on the Snake River, we all sat down to homemade hash, eggs, bacon and a steaming pot of grits in Happy, watching fat snowflakes swirl past the window.
Thus fortified and ready for adventure, we packed up bubbly and orange juice after breakfast, for frosty mimosas on the banks of the snowmelt-swollen river.
Terry built a campfire in driving snow on our last evening before we left for Yellowstone, determined to make Dutch oven potatoes with onions and bacon. The snow morphed from flakes to pellets to sleet and back again, while the pork loin sizzled on a grill protected by our awning.
Campground manager Shannon, who’s become a friend over the years, joined us for dinner and we happily learned Happy can accommodate at least 7 for dining.
As conversation and wine flowed, darkness began to close in and Terry yelled “Look!” Out of the shadows and within yards of our big view window, two bison bulls appeared, strolling by in a fitting farewell to Gros Ventre campground.
We’re happy campers.
Copy and paste for photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/happytwo.mcwilliams/GrosVentre1Tetons2012Album?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCO7o--KO6LfjwQE&feat=directlink
