June 7, 2022, Tuesday. Grand Teton National Park

Teton Range at sunrise

The day begins with an early morning trek outside to where the mountains of the Teton Range are visible. It is already getting light, but the official sunrise, 5:42 am, is still a half hour away. The hope is to see the sun rise on the mountains, lighting up the peaks first, then move down to the base, perhaps with some sunrise color added. But the sky is overcast, not much hope of a spectacular sunrise.

As time goes on, there is an occasional speck of pink in the sky or on a mountain. The clouds are slowly giving way to a clear sky. Some peaks in the back of the range are now bright white, but not the big ones in front, the Grand Teton, Moran Peak, and others. After about an hour of standing there in the 40+ degree air, the big peaks are reasonably lit up as well.

Even though the sunrise does not meet our hopes, the mountains are still majestic. It is not long until the peaks are bright white against a bright blue sky highlighted by white clouds.

Hidden Falls, Grand Teton NP

We eat breakfast and depart for Jenny’s Lake, where we board a shuttle boat for a ten to fifteen minute ride across the lake to a trail that goes up the mountain to “Hidden Falls,” a waterfall fed by melting snow. It is about one-mile round trip, and soon we are back on the shuttle boat returning to the parking area.

As we drive through the park, we are repeatedly drawn to the beauty of the snow-covered peaks that continue to cast their spell over the park.

Our next destination is Mormon Row. Settlers, many of them members of the Mormon faith, responded to the Homesteading Act of 1862 and at least 27 families moved to area in the 1890’s. The Act promised anyone living on their 160 acres for five years would gain clear title to the land. The soil was fertile, but water remained a problem, and the settlers left the area by the mid-twentieth century. The area has been incorporated into the Grand Teton National Park and the National Park Service chose to preserve the remaining buildings because of their historical value.

We leave the park and begin our drive to Denver, where we will fly out in two days. We are lodged in a small hotel in the town of Dubois (pronounced “dew’-boys”) Wyoming, a town with population 971. It is a sleepy little town with the charm of cowboy culture. It is also the home of the National Big-horn Sheep Interpretive Center, dedicated to provide public information about the life and habitat of native big-horn sheep. We learn that the Dubois area claims to be home to the largest population of big-horn sheep in America. We visit the center and drive into the countryside to see of we can see any of the sheep, but to no avail.