Red Fish Lake Trip

Greg and I took a relaxing trip to Stanley and Redfish Lake. To get there we took the northern route through Arco and Challis.

As we pulled into Stanley the rain was really coming down and so was the hail! It was sliding off the roofs and making piles of ice! Notice you can't even see the mountains because of all the clouds.

The next day we had planned to take a boat across the lake and do some hiking there, but it rained all day. ALL day without letting up at all! We still had fun just driving to several lakes and enjoying the fresh air. It was cold though. Here is a sitka columbine. It cleared up enough in the evening for us to hike up to the peak behind the Creekside lodge and take a picture of Stanley.


















On Saturday we had planned to hike to Sawtooth lake, but it was very cold and foggy. The forcast was for more rain, and possibly even snow in the mountains!

We decided to stay closer to civilization. We took the shuttle across the lake and did a little hiking there. We hiked around the lake to one of my favorite places where a small waterfall comes down into the lake. The water make a cool spray and it looks like a little fairyland with the moss and little mushrooms and flowers.



Then we hiked up to the lily ponds. Here is some interesting moss we saw with little moss flowers? We saw a tiny frog on one of the lily pads on the pond. There were wildflowers everywhere and huckleberries too! Yum!


A sign said there was a waterfall less than a mile further so we hiked up to it.

It beautiful big waterfall that I had never seen before! All those years of hiking above the lake and I never got up to it!

The falls drops about 10 feet! It doesn't look like it because this picture was taken from a distance. It's a big roaring waterfall!

Later as we waited for the shuttle to take us back, a curious deer gave us several opportunities to take her picture. The shuttle ride back was fun too.

On Sunday, we drove home. We planned on a short walk to another lake above Galena pass. It turned into more of a hike than we had planned. Was that really only 1 1/2 miles? It seemed a lot longer, and was quite steep, unlike what the guidebook claimed!















It was not what we had expected, but we had a great time anyway on our Sawtooth Vacation.

Jackson Trip

This weekend, Greg went to his Optometry Convention in Jackson Hole Wyoming, right outside Grand Teton National Park.













On the way there we stopped along the Snake River at "Big Kahuna" to watch a couple of rafts go over the rapids. A couple of years ago we did the rapids. Watching them reminded us of how much fun that was!


We checked into our motel and Greg headed off to his classes. I took a nap, and I shopped a bit the first day.

The next day while he was in class, I drove to Teton National Park and went on a guided hike with a ranger. The trail, and mountains and flowers were very beautiful. The ranger told a story of when he saw a moose and calf grazing near the river. The adult moose began to cross the deep river. She had no trouble with her long powerful legs, but the calf began to flounder and float down the river. The calf just opened it's mouth, grabbed onto it's mother's tail, and the mother moose towed the baby across!

It was nice and cool during the hike because is was overcast and very lightly sprinkling. I learned a new plant: bear berry. Here is a picture.


After Greg got out of class, we went on a hike around String and Leigh Lakes. We took lots of pictures as you can see!



String Lake is a long thin lake (hence the name) and we very popular with canoers. People from all over the world come to Teton National Park and we heard several different languages there.



The trail went through wildflower meadows above the lake, through shady forests of lodgepole pine, and finally to the shores of Leigh Lake, a tranquil beauty formed by glaciers in the last ice age. It was a delightful hike.









































































































































































































When Greg was finished with his conference on Saturday, we drove to Driggs, then up to the trailhead for Table Rock.



The trail was so beautiful with the Tetons in the distance, covered with glaciers, and the shoulder-high wildflowers all around us!


There was a cooling waterfall almost right at the trailhead.



It was very lush from all the rain we got in June. In fact, the wildflowers were waist high, or even over our heads in some places. I saw lupine, mules ear, monkshood, geranium, lousewort, gentian, columbine, paintbrush, fireweed, bear berry, chokecherry, huckleberry, twinberry, yampa, cow parsnip, flax, and dozens more that I don't know the names for.







We hiked a couple of miles up to a very comfortable rock where we rested and ate a few trail snacks.



The clouds were building up into impressive thunderheads as we hiked down, and about the time we go into the car, the raindrops started. Great timing! It turned into a downpour on the way home. We wondered about the backpackers we saw starting up the trail just as we finished. I hope they had good rain gear!




It was fun trip. I definitely want to go back to both Grand Tetons, and also to the last trail we hiked and hike them again!

My Beautiful Grandchildren

Aren't they adorable! I love each one of them so much!

City Creek

Greg and I went for a hike today! We hiked 5 miles altogether. It was so beautiful and lush from all the rain.

We saw yellow prickly pear flowers, blue penstemen, orange globemallow, sticky geraniums, wild roses, and many other flowers. The wild hollyhock was tall, but not blooming yet.

The stream was flowing fast from all the recent rains, and from the bit of snow still left on the mountains.

It was warm and sunny but not too hot.

Greg's Beard

Greg grew a beard for 2 weeks, here is the result.