A Big (horn) and Grand (Teton) Day

When I left Cody, WY this morning, I knew it was going to be a beautiful day. I headed west on US Hwy 14 on my way to Grand Teton National Park via Yellowstone National Park. As I drove, I kept my eye out for bighorn sheep. When I traveled the same route last fall, I saw a few bighorn. I lucked out again this time around...a band of nine bighorn were right next to the road. I got a lot of awesome pics, too!

It was the first time I had ever seen a bighorn ram...that's him in the fourth photo with the larger horns. There were two females that kept grazing closer and closer to my parked car. The little one wasn't sure if I was a threat or not, but the other two just ignored me and kept eating. I continued on and had an early picnic lunch in Yellowstone, then kept driving to Grand Teton. I wanted to have enough time to take a nice, leisurely hike. Before going to a visitor center to get some information, I stopped at the Jackson Lake viewpoint to admire the vista.

I chose to hike the 3.3 mile loop trail around Christian Pond, with hopes of maybe seeing a moose.  Well, I didn't see one, but I DID get some nice scenic pictures. I started my walk at the pond, then the trail wove through scrub forest, sagebrush fields and returned to a large marshy area. During my walk, there were glimpses of the Teton range through the trees and I got a nice shot of Mount Moran.

Before leaving the park, I had to get the obligatory photo of the entire Teton range. It was kind of late in the afternoon so the lighting on the peaks wasn't the best, but it still looked majestic.

Tomorrow, the forecast calls for rain where I'm headed. I hope it passes before I get to my sightseeing spots, but I might look for indoor alternatives just in case it doesn't. I've been pretty fortunate so far that the weather has been cooperating with my plans, and I'm looking forward to that continuing.