Oxbow Bend

I don't think that there is anyone out there who will deny the many disadvantages of winter. Those of us in Jackson tend to see past the mountains of snow, the constant sub zero temperatures and the obvious downsides of the 8 months of cold, and instead focus our gaze on the positive aspects of winter. For example, rivers freeze over and provide access to places typically "off-limits" in the spring and summer. This past weekend we took advantage of such an opportunity to explore the islands of Oxbow Bend.

For those of you unfamiliar with Oxbow Bend, its an amazing place where the snake river floods around islands and is a magnificent gathering place for wildlife.. In the summer it isn't rare to find birds and beasts refreshing themselves along this wide mellow stretch of the Snake River. In winter it freezes, not all of it of course but a huge part of it, which makes crossing over to the islands super duper easy.

Oxbow Bend lies just inside the North Entrance (Moran) to Grand Teton National Park. From this entrance it is on the left hand side of the road and there is a pull off area where you can park. One of the best parts of Oxbow bend is that its just off to the side of the main road so you cannot miss it.

Once we got all the kids out of the car and bundled up in their winter gear we set out. This first obstacle was just getting down to the path. the kids felt the simplest way down was just to sit and slide, of course for us adults that's not such a simple thing, so we just walked down carefully. The path we followed this time was made by snowshoers and much more difficult to follow, though much easier than making our own. We followed the path as it traced the banks of the river and up and through a willow patch. Here it became much more difficult, as the snow was webbed through by willow branches and bushes. Kevin and I often found ourselves hip-deep in snow and that became very frustrating very fast.

After the path we were on crossed over the first small island it continued to edge along the bank instead of crossing over onto the more well established islands, the ones that are forested with trees and not just shrubs. We of course wanted to go into the trees, and as the path we were on seemed to follow the bank and didn't cross over to the islands, we figured we would make our own path.

Which was the most exhausting decision of the day. Emma and Lulu took the lead with Kevin hot on their heels and Jack drifted somewhere in between Kevin and I. Typically we wouldn't have the girls going first over a frozen river, but the elk path we were following lead us to believe if a minimum 600 pound beast could cross our 30-something pound kids would be OK. After all Kevin was less than an arms reach away, and it would be easier for them to make a trail then to try and walk in our four-foot-deep footprints.  With much difficulty for the adults and minimum exertion required of the children we crossed the ice and made it to a wooded island. Where we stopped and rested, while the inexhaustible Kevin went tramping through the snow to determine our next move.

Near the end of the hike, We made it into the trees.

Shortly however we discovered that snow-hiking isn't super popular for good reasons. Snow melts, and even snow that looks solid might just crumble away at the notion of a boot heel. Exasperated and exhausted we convinced the kids to trek back to the car and we would find a better place to hike. So we set ourselves on the way back to the van.

The total hike took about 45 minutes. As a rough guess I would say we covered just under a mile in distance.
When we arrived back at the van Emma asked us if she could play on the giant pile of snow we had to climb down to get to the trail. We were in no rush and since the hike wasn't an epic success we figured we would have a bit of fun before the day ended. Since it was unbelievably warm we ditched the coats (but kept the gloves and snow pants) and hung out in the warm (22*) winter sun.

The "Mountain"



Emma Sliding down "The Mountain"



Jack's turn

Lulu near the bottom.

The kids found a path down the "mountain" and turned it into their snow slide. I, in the heat of the moment, threw a snowball at Emma as she was perched at the top, and thus started an all out snowball war. She promptly took advantage of the opportunity, hiding behind the burms and lobbing down chunks of snow at Kevin and I. Lucy and Jack set their minds on making "snow beds" and let Kevin, Emma and I battle it out on our own. We hung out on the "mountain" for about 45 minutes and then headed on our way home, as we had other fun adventures in store!