After a good night's sleep, I was up and gone by 5:30 this morning. As I neared Jackson Lake, the sun was coming up and throwing a warm, pink glow on the Tetons. A number of stops for pictures. I made it to Snake River Overlook as the Tetons transitioned from pink to yellow. I took alot of pics from the overlook. I love this spot. Every trip here I try for that amazing Ansel Adams picture from the same place. I have yet to come close, but I love making the attempt. I had hoped to make a new photo location for sunrise, but didn't quite get there in time. I read in a book on National Parks Photography about Schwabacher's Landing in Teton park. It's an area just down from the main road that you wouldn't think anything about, but the pictures from the location are great. By the time I made it to this point, the sun was fully up and my gas gauge was fully down. I figured that rather than make a side trip to the Landing with no gas, I better head towards Jackson to get gas and breakfast.Found a place called The Virginian that was serving breakfast in Jackson. Didn't want a drive through breakfast and was hoping to sit down and enjoy a relaxing breakfast. The cute waitress spilled both my coffee and my water on the table before taking my order. The food wasn't bad. And it was the atmosphere I was looking for to give me a break from a Clif Bar while driving to some early morning location.
After picking up a few supplies in Jackson, I headed north again into Grand Teton. I made time at this point to check out Schwabacher's Landing. The view of the Tetons was amazing. After following a bone-rattling dirt road to the landing, the reflection of the Tetons in the Snake River was simply breathtaking. This would be a great place for sunrise or sunset. I took a few color and a few b/w photos hoping for that one amazing photo on each. We'll see what I get. I will definitely put this spot on the itinerary next year.
After walking around Schwabacher's for a bit, I realized that I was a little tired from the early morning and thought I would head back to camp for a short nap. Just north of Coulter Bay I came across the standard traffic jam seen throughout Teton and Yellowstone parks. With as many cars as were lined up on the shoulder, I figured someone had spotted a bear. Some tourists will stop for elk or bison or a fox, but everyone stops when a grizzly or a moose is spotted. I found a place to park and walked to the main crowd. Sure enough, there was Mr. Grizzly! The Ranger said it weighed in around 300 pounds and was thought to be a new bear to the Park. The grizzly was casually dining on the grass about 150 yards off the main road. Having an audience of 100 visitors didn't seem to bother him any. With the distance, it was tough to get a great picture, but I did snap a few to be sure.
I made it back to camp around Noon. But, instead of napping, I started thinking about tent set up/tear down the next night in Wells, NV and the long drive awaiting the following day. Not wanting to deal with the camp breakdown and a late start towards Yosemite, I searched online and found a Motel 6 listed in Elko, NV, about 50 miles west of Wells. I was able to cancel the RV Park reservation I had in Wells and for only about $20 more switch to a hotel room in Elko. I knew this would make the 2 days driving to Yosemite easier and the overnight turnaround more efficient and quicker in the morning. Plus, it will allow me the chance to get a night's break from the tent and allow an early departure for Yosemite the next morning.
After a lunch of rehydrated chili mac & cheese, I took off back towards the Tetons. That bear was still munching in the same spot with even more people watching. I snapped a few photos as he was a little closer to the road than he had been before. The next destination was Jenny Lake. I love that area just past Mt. Moran turnout as you enter the woods around Jenny Lake. Rain clouds were moving in over the Tetons and the view over the lake was amazing. I just sat and soaked it in for a while. A few short hikes around the Jenny Lake area and it was time to head back towards camp. A little rain this afternoon and a chance for more tonight. The tent seems to be handling the rain just fine. I've not found any leaks. Hopefully it won't be raining when I break down camp in the morning. I'm not sure about a fire tonight. Last night's wood didn't burn as much as it smoked. Must not have been dry enough wood.
Speaking of last night, there was no journal entry as you can see. I was in a bad mood. I knew I should write but decided not to. I guess I needed to hold onto my bad mood for a little longer (makes alot of sense, huh?). I had started thinking about money earlier in the day, or rather the shortage of money and realized funds were going to be very tight getting to Yosemite and reaching payday the next day. I was able to arrange some creative, short-term financing to cover though. I won't say what I did, but let it be known that I am never allowed back in that section of Yellowstone and I swear that grizzly looked 18! I don't like having limited hours and a fixed income. Although I had no life to speak of due to the overtime I worked prior to going Supervisor, I did like that fact that I set my own income. I would put in an extra 20 or 30 hours overtime in a pay period and bring home an extra $600 - $800. It was nice. Now, I have to live on a fixed budget and I'm still not very good at it. It's amazing how fast money can disappear. So that colored my day grey yesterday. As did the smoke pit that I tried to magically turn into a campfire. I tried reading for a bit but couldn't get interested. I remembered that I brought 2 movies Phil had given me and thought that would help. I didn't give a damn about either movie after about 10 minutes each. The second movie got turned off when a new character appeared that reminded me in looks and personality of Pam from CA. Long story on that one, but suffice it to say that Pam was a one-time interested turned annoying, stoned, psychotic bitch. A rememberance of her didn't help the movie or my mood. So, I shut the movie off and sat in the dark until I remembered I had my MP3 player with 2 Ricky Gervais podcasts on it. Ricky would save the day! Within 10 minutes I was stiffling such gut wrenching laughter (so I wouldn't wake up the entire camp with my belly laughs. If you don't know Ricky, you can check out this link. Be aware of some language). I listened to an hour and a half of Ricky, Steve and Carl, had 2 glasses of Merlot and it was time for bed with a smile on my face. A little Mozart and I was asleep in no time. The next thing I know, I'm hearing the birds chirping, it's 5am and time to get up and catch a Teton sunrise.
I have been dealing with one side issue on this trip. I think the real base of my issues yesterday was lonliness. I enjoyed my aloneness the first couple of days on the trip but just really got lonely last night. I'm surrounded by couples camping, families set up with kids, dogs and smores and everybody in the damned park seems to have somebody to camp and share with these last few days but me. And most are set up in a way that I don't feel comfortable going over and saying hi. It all seems so intimate. I feel like I would be intruding. That was probably the primary issue yesterday whether I wanted to admit it or not. But, for me, camping right now means camping alone. When it feels right, I introduce myself and visit with neighboring campers and I really enjoy that. But when the fire has died down, I still come back to my camp and my sleeping bag alone. I would like to change that. I am taking steps to change that, although it doesn't seem as if change is in the foreseeable future. But, I'll continue to take the steps I'm taking for change and will appreciate the opportunity I have for camping and travel and do my best to make the most of each moment. I don't mean to sound whiney in this last paragraph, but that's kinda what's going on in my head. And the purpose of the journal is to extract the thoughts and feelings and express them in a constructive manner which will allow me to isolate and examine them, right?
Good night.
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