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Moose, WY → Grand Teton NP → Jackson, WY 57.1 mi (91.9 km) |
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It was all yellow, everyone!
I’m close to Yellowstone, but more focused on yellow leaves today, because it’s the edge of autumn and time for Lastleaf! After yesterday’s immersive hike, this morning would be focused on finding beautiful views of the iconic Teton range and some fall colors to boot! So I set off early with my friends, Ross and Terri, to see what we could see before my 3PM flight back to LA!
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Our first stop was the nationally registered Cunningham cabin, a double pen log house built by homesteader, J.P. Cunningham in 1888! It’s peaceful now, but it was the site of some major drama back in 1899. While the Cunninghams were away, there was a shootout in this barn between horse thieves, Mike Burnett and George Spencer, and the posse sent to bring them in! It’s unclear whether Mr. Cunningham had given them permission to be there or alerted the posse that they were hiding out on his property. Regardless, the posse prevailed, and the bodies were buried in a nearby creek!
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Ranching out here was tough business, though, and Mr. Cunningham was more than happy to sell his holdings to the federal government in 1928 when Grand Teton National Park was being set up! Nowadays, his old cabin is one of the many historic buildings adding character to the foreground in lots of Grand Teton photos for obvious reasons. From here, this autumn vista was just spectacular!
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I mean, how can you ask for more than this sea of golden grass and willows and aspens, all backed by those magnificent mountains?! Between here and Cascade Canyon, right above my head in the photo, there could be untold numbers of moose, elk, and bears fattening up for the oncoming winter! We didn’t see any on this particular day, but since these ranches all became part of the national park, they’ve been far more accommodating for wildlife since no one is hunting them or building new fences! All that was missing from a Lastleaf celebration was a good body of water…
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And Oxbow Bend on the Snake River was just the place for it! The parking lot was very full, and both lookie-lous and photo takers were lined up along both sides of Highway 287, but we stopped long enough to enjoy the amazing autumn colors bordering this languid river. It was also a place to peek a new peak with Mount Moran replacing Grand Teton as the central mountain in the landscape!
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But true Lastleaf frolic requires being down on the water, and there was no good access from Oxbow Bend. Instead, we rounded the apex of the road loop and made for the Signal Mountain Campground on the shore of Jackson Lake, one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the USA! Terri said she used to come up here and go camping on the island just offshore! That would have been fun, had any of us packed tents! I guess hindsight really is 20/20!
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But we had a swell time with what we had brought. The campground had plenty of picnic tables for day use, and we set up snacks galore, plus a special frozen peach pie driven all the way here from Utah! We had a good half an hour to soak up the sun while eating Lastleaf sweets and taking in both the fresh air and the amazing mountain views. This is probably my final trip for the year, so like the local grizzlies and traditional celebrants of Lastleaf, I’m feeling the call to hibernate for a spell.
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With the celebration of Lastleaf complete, it was time once again to return to my home and make plans for the upcoming winter. There’s Halloween and Solstice to look forward to, but I’m also coming up on the end of my adventures soon enough. That means I have to make extra plans: What will I do with myself when the last national park is crossed off the list? Like those autumn leaves, I’ll have to wrap up spectacularly!
It’s gonna be golden!
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Total Ground Covered: 190.5 mi (306.6 km) |
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