Too Many Moose, Too Little Time, So On To Colorado

Time for another travel day as we leave the still smoky, hazy Tetons and head towards the Rockies. Rocky Mountain National park was our next spot to visit.

We made an early morning start, even before coffee,in order to make a last pass of the overlooks along the Snake River. We were surprised to find a crowd at Oxbow Bend, where there were still White Pelicans, Blue Herons and Cormorants, but the crowd was for moose, a cow and her nearly grown calf, a young male with stubs for antlers. The crowd was all over, with people walking down to the bank within yards of the animals. When the moose finally moved up the river out of sight, most of the cars disbursed, leaving only the morning bird watchers. I'd made coffee by then.

There weren't any new birds, but we did see a pair of river otter making their way upstream, diving and going back and forth—looking for breakfast, I suppose. While I was standing just above the bank looking at the otters, the moose family decided to come back and passed just below me, paying no attention as they, too, moved upstream.

We made one more stop, at the Blacktail Ponds Overlook, where there was a small flock of Shoveler ducks feeding in one of the small side streams in the wetlands below the overlook.

With all this feeding, it was time for our breakfast and made our way to Jackson Hole, finding Pearl Street Bagels, where they had good bagels and good coffee.

Refueled and wired, it was off to Colorado. We took US 191 out of Jackson, going down the Snake then up the Hoback River through Hoback Canyon and the southern end of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. IT was out of the mountains and into the desert after we passed through Boulder, WY, across the Oregon Trail at Farson and on to Rock Springs. It was then east on I-80, where, if we'd gone on autopilot, we'd have ended up in New York, but we got off some 80 miles later and went south on WY 789, a bit of dry empty two-lane to Baggs, WY. After passing the biker bar in Baggs (dozens of Harleys parked outside on a Saturday afternoon), we crossed into Colorado and stopped when we got to Craig, CO.

This was a slight detour from the most direct route to Rocky Mountain National Park, but a neighbor and friend of ours, a geologist, was working out of Craig for the summer. He knew the area well and took us to the Yampa River State Park, where we left Speedy, hopped in his truck and continued on to Steamboat Springs, where we were treated to a fine dinner at the Cottonwood Grill. The food was excellent, but the menu was an unusual combination of Western and Asian cuisine. Thanks for the treat, Tom.

We then went back to Yampa River and collapsed tired and full.