Grand Teton National Park

Jasper collecting blue lupine seeds to take home and plant.

We've been on vacation, on a week long western road trip.  We stopped to take in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.  Taking pictures of mountains is kind of ridiculous, because the scale of things just doesn't translate.  And Mother Nature definitely wants you to know just how tiny you are, and show her some respect.  I can't say that the grandeur was lost on Jasper, but he must feel rather tiny anyway.  He loved the mountains, but he couldn't help being fascinated with the little things all around him.  He kept calling to us to see another unusual flower, moss, lichen, slime mold, or rock.  The Teton range was formed on a fault line, and the rocks are a fascinating mixture of types and colors.  He came home with a dazzling handful.

Fall has definitely arrived at Grand Teton.  Startlingly yellow aspens and red elderberry shrubs festoon the landscape.  It was a feast for the eye even without gazing skyward.

One difficulty with the park is that most of the hiking trails are very long and very vertical.  We didn't have time enough for a truly ambitious hike.  We couldn't resist taking a shuttle boat ride across Jenny Lake, which leads to a trail to Hidden Falls.  Because this is one of the more accessible trails, it's terribly popular, even as the season closes.  But it is also genuinely breathtaking.  

Driving through Wyoming as the moon rose.