Tues., May 20, 2008--Hiking Taggart Lake

Tuesday was another beautiful day. We headed out to Taggart Lake Trailhead. Surely by now most of the snow on this trail would be melted! There have been several days with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s!

On our way to Taggart, we drove through Antelope Flats. Monday must have been calving day because this was the first day we saw bison calves! There were about 20 of them with the herd. Some of them still had shaky legs. One calf ran into the road and the cow chased him off the road quickly.

The parking lot at the Taggart Lake Trailhead was full! Everyone was ready for a good day of hiking.

Our first stop was the bridge crossing the creek that takes the overflow from Taggart Lake to the Snake River.

The creek was rushing with all the snow melt from the previous few days!


We crossed the creek and made our way toward Taggart Lake. Several groups we passed said there was still snow on the last quarter mile to the lake, but with our walking sticks we shouldn't have a problem. We did encounter snow on the last portion of the trail before we saw the lake. We also met several people from UCF along the trail! One young lady graduated last year and two in another group are still students!

The lake was beautiful with the Tetons as a backdrop.

As we were walking around the area near the lake, we noticed a very friendly yellow belly marmot. This is the closest one has gotten to us! He must have been fed by someone, because he did not shy away from the crowd of people around the lake!

Bob took pictures of the lake from every vantage point. It was a gorgeous day!


Then we decided to take the path less traveled--of course! We took the loop by Beaver Creek to get back to the trailhead. Well, the path was not too bad after we left the lake, but by the time we got about one half mile away, there was snow! At the peak of the hill, Bob took another picture and I took a phone call from Jennifer! Yes, cell phones work on trails at Grand Teton!

We stopped for a rest before continuing on our way.

The snow on the rest of the trail was deeper than we had encountered on the first part of the trail, but it wasn't over 3-4 feet in any area. As long as we followed the previous hikers' footsteps, we didn't posthole. We saw areas where others had tried to go around and postholed! They must've sunk to their thighs because the holes were deep!

Our hike was a bit over three miles. We returned to the rv to rest and think about dinner. Later that evening we walked by the Gros Ventre River near the campground. A critter was playing in the fast moving water. After a few sightings, we determined it was a beaver.

The weather forecast for Wednesday was not promising. It foretold snow and rain. We packed the rv, left the car in the campsite, and headed to Jackson for gas. We would need a full tank if we had to run the generator. Solar does well as long as there is light, but the weatherman was not promising any of that for a few days!

We got gas at a Loaf 'n' Jug for $3.59 a gallon. We had gotten gas in the car two days earlier in Jackson for $3.44! We are watching gas prices to see if we need to go to Plan B for our trip. We will keep you posted!