Across the Country -Day 7- Yellowstone Lake and the West Thumb Geyser Basin

Day 7

We stayed at Canyon village again and started out to explore .

 We found some more Bison along the way. The one below has a couple of tag-along birds on its back, cleaning the bugs out of the fur for him. It is a win/win situation!

 Our first stop was Yellowstone Lake where they have renovated this beautiful old hotel.. In this lake they have the Cut Throat trout invasion and they go deep into the lake.  At the surface there are the Lake Trout which the bears like. So because the bears can get these, they are becoming extinct and the others are taking over. This lake is the largest body of water in the park and is about 400 feet deep and  is 139 feet at the shallow end. It has thermo features and is at a 7700 foot elevation.

 At the other end of Yellowstone Lake we walked around the West Thumb Geyser Basin

If you look carefully you can see down into the water and how deep it goes.

 The story here is the Indians caught the fish in the lake and then put them into the hole to cook them.

                                              Lewis Falls on our way to the Tetons

 Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons...just breath taking.  The Tetons are 40 miles long with no foot hills, They go straight up to 13,775 feet high and are 9 million years old.

We entered the Tetons on the south Entrance. This road was cut by the ice and then the Indian tribe followed the Snake River to Jackson Lake which is 16 miles long.
The Tetons fee is separate this year from Yellowstone.  They had been together since 1872.  Here the water has been regulated since 1900s.

Stopped for a quick picture at Jenny Lake. Here the Cascade Canyon slices through the GrandTetons

Stopped at Menors Ferry Historic District.

This Episcopal church was built in 1925. Prior to that the worshipers had to travel 12 miles to Jackson to church.  It is still used every Sunday.

 The General store is next to the church along with the outhouse.

This was open for business and owned by an old timer who was just sitting there waiting for us.  Priceless..

 Here we are at the Craig Thomas Discovery and  Visitors Center.  The cool thing here was the lines that were on the floor and lined up with the name of the mountain in front of us.

 Riding into Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  You can catch the stage coach or just walk around town.
The antlers

 This arch along with three other corners that form the town square is made of all antlers- about 8,000 that weigh about 28,000 or more pounds. These are collected by the Boy Scouts that man a refuge outside of town for the Elk in the winter  They sell the antler that are shed going for about $2 each to raise money to feed the thousands of Elks that come for the winter.

  Had dinner at the Snake River Brewery,

 Here is the last thing I saw before leaving town.  These plants are in a building and rotate on trays by big belts to expose them to grow lights. A great idea..
So off to the Snake River tomorrow
See you soon......