Preparations

This Friday is the start of Spring Break. Here in Jackson we are fortunate enough to get 2 weeks off. So instead of staying around a muddy, and very slushy Jackson, we have decided to take a trip to somewhere that is absolutely not Jackson-like in anyway. Our first thought was Arches National Park, however looking into this park we found it was a bit small for 8 days of adventure. Also there is only one campground and it was pretty much booked. So we shifted a bit to the west and found Canyonlands National Park.

Essentially we will be spending most of the trip at Canyonlands in the Needles district.  If it all works out we will spend our last two nights at Arches National Park. If there is an open campsite. So needless to say I wont be blogging for the next two weeks, and then there will be a flurry of posts from our vacation. We will also be adding our first non-home patch to the kids National Park Hoodies. A brilliant idea Kevin had, that we get hoodies for the kids. Put their names on them and then add patches from all the parks we visit. Of course having our two home parks represented on each sleeve (GTNP and Yellowstone).

Fall Creek Sledding

This weekend was a bit jammed to squeeze in a good hike. Saturday was Emma's Ski Carnival at Snowking, and early Saturday Kevin's presence was needed to help out a few friends. However we did manage to squeeze in a short hike and a few go rounds on the sled. Unfortunately I hadn't charged my camera battery in a while and it died before the hike really began. Oops. We took Highway 89 south of Jackson to Fall Creek road (left side). We parked by the feed grounds, where the road ends and set out.

We didn't hike very far, this path is all up hill. But we promised the kids that the whole trip back they could sled. We stopped by where the trail lead through two posts and had a late lunch. Po' boy sandwiches, Sunchips, bananas, and you guessed it, water! The kids all sat in the sled and filled up. While we were eating lunch a woman and her three dogs came up the path, Sofie a hilarious and shy Scottie, Lulu an adorable small black dog and Snowball aka Charlie that looked like a Pomeranian. Though the Dogs and Children were all introduced us adults forgot to mention our names. The dogs played and ran in the snow awhile with the kids, eventually continuing up the path.

Before we returned to the car, Kevin decided to tramp through the snow to examine the creek. Quickly finding a hill. Once he disappeared behind it the kids went wild and ran over to find him. To their surprise, and mine as well, there was a perfectly small, self sledding hill right here. So for the next 20 minutes the kids hiked up the small embankment and slid down in the most creative ways possible. Some of the more memorable moves were; the reverse lounge chair, the criss-cross-applesauce-close-your-eyes, the diver, and my absolute favorite the swirly. I'm sure the kids would have stayed forever but the ice chunks in the girls hair and the snow smushing through Jack's boots lead me to think it was time to go. Plus it was getting late. As promised the kids sled all the way back to the truck with Kevin running right along beside them. I enjoying the quiet and relaxed pace without them.

Once back to the truck, the kids insisted they have a few more runs in the sled, so we obliged them and sledded from the bend where you loose site of the parking area back to the bottom of this hill a few times. All in all a very short hike, but a ton of fun sledding.

Moose!

Triangle X Ranch

Every hike is my favorite hike. Well, except the really not fun ones. Essentially if I'm out of doors with my family, and its a nice day, and no one is complaining then its a perfect hike. With us that happens often, so every hike is my favorite hike. Until a really spectacular one comes along, then its my super favorite for a while. Last Sunday was that hike.

I finally told Kevin that I had to, just had to go up this Teton Forest Service road. It is on the right hand side of the road just after you pass Triangle X Ranch, heading north on 89.  There is also an adjacent parking area on the left hand side of the road. All he wanted to know was the condition of the path, and said lets do it.  After we picked kids up from Grammy and Grandpa, we headed up, grabbing Mickey D's for lunch on the way. We took the Forest Service Road until it dead ended into a parking area. We parked, got the kids in their snow gear and started to head out. A man that was parked nearby asked us which way we were headed, and then explained what was up the path ahead. He told us that when the road forks, on the left path about 6 miles up is a dry lake bed. The path to the right lead around to some excellent views of the Tetons. We thanked him and decided that 6 miles to a dry lake bed seemed neither exciting, nor possible, so we would be going to the right. He wanted to know as he was going to be target shooting.






Snowball fight. She got my camera.

    

We stopped and looked at the trail head map, for curiosities sake. The trail starts on an up hill slope, and just after you loose sight of the parking area it forks; well really the trail continues and a path connects to it on the right. The path to the right doubles back on the original path, and opens into a valley. Eventually it leads into the Triangle X Ranch development. Its a really nice path that follows the bends and curves of the hills seamlessly as it winds around. Oddly open and sheltered simultaneously as it flows through the trees.

Beware The Dilemma.

As we came upon the Triangle X Ranch development Kevin spotted 3 moose off to the left hand side of the path. Since he was in the lead he headed back towards us. We quietly grouped up and had each child firmly in hand then proceeded on. Two of the moose were laying down, the third was standing and eating. They all looked at us, and then instantly lost interest. One even laying down in boredom. We lingered for a few moments to snap some photos and to make sure the kids all got a good look, then we quietly headed on. In Triangle X we came across a large group of cross country skiers, we warned them about the Moose and headed through town. We followed the snowmobile path through the street and into a Cabin Rental area where the trail looped and dead ended on itself. In the middle of the snowmobile loop was a moose path, so we decided to follow it instead.

Kevin in the lead, the kids between us, myself bringing up the rear. We told all the kids to keep their eyes peeled for animals and to watch the level of their voices. Along the way we saw piles of proof that the trail we were following was indeed that of a moose, perhaps one or more of the moose we just meet. We kept checking the 'proof' to be sure it was left by something long gone, each time positivly reassured. The kids loved it, the moose left a trail of bridges surrounded by empty pits of snow. They made a game of jumping from bridge to bridge, whoever missed and fell in one of the holes lost.

We followed this trail until it was no longer passable, apparently the trail we were on was often used up until this point. Here the animal had taken many different paths after each return trip. Or the multiple animals that had walked it parted ways. Either way it was our end point. We stopped, had some water and oranges, then headed back. We returned through Triangle X to our original path. Right before you leave Triangle X there is a path  that leads up the into the forest. We decided to take it,  as we hadn't traveled nearly as far as we typically would.

Heading up this path we again encountered a moose, a really big and super close moose. About 20 feet away in the woods walking around. We decided to leave this moose alone and just head back to the car. The original three moose remained where we left them. Safly tucked in the woods a good distance from the path.  As we neared the parking area, Kevin and Jack took an abrupt left into the woods. I assumed that they were going to play a trick to see if we noticed, the girls at this point were too intereseted in the scenery to be moving at a speedy pace. However that wasn't the case, Kevin found a short cut to the car, one that started as an animal path and quickly ended. So we carved our way through the thigh deep snow and earned the short cut to the truck.





The National Museum of Wildlife Art

As I have said before Jackson is a great community. It is full of things to do with and without children, and occasionally those things are free. Every first Sunday of the month for example, is free admittance to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. So Sunday March 6th, I again teamed up with the best buddy and her group of kids to take part in such a great opportunity.

Lulu sculpting a snow block.

The 'theme' of this Sunday was snow sculptures. They had an instructor and plenty of volunteers to help the kiddos carve the blocks of snow into masterpieces, even a band to keep the adults entertained. All six of the kids started out on the blocks of snow, but quickly lost interest (its not a task really suitable for toddlers) So we headed inside and left the snow to those more interested in sculpting. Inside the museum they were serving snacks of cookies, gold fish and a snack mix, with Hot Chocolate and Apple Cider to drink. We skipped the refreshments and promised the hoard of complaints that if they all handled themselves well in the museum we would get snacks before we left. Thus encouraged, we set off to explore.

Emma sculpting a start.
(She stood up at the last second)

In order to keep the 6 kids in attendance happy and under control, we had to review a few rules, and to make it as utterly simple as possible we just asked them all to keep their hands in their pockets.

The kids did a great job when walking through the museum, they pointed out what paintings and sculptures they liked the best, took guesses at the odd and unknown animals, and asked a bunch of questions. Adanna and I both did our part to encourage their curiosity, explaining that one person had to sit and paint these images, sometimes taking days and even weeks, just from their imagination.

Jack sculpting the snow, his art was bigger than the block.

In the museum there is a small room where they show wildlife videos. We stopped here and watched a bit of the "predators and prey" video. Again all the kids asked questions and we did the best we could to answer them. We didn't make it through the whole movie, instead we opted to see the rest of the museum. Eventually we came to the 'Bison room" where to our amazement and the kids utter fascination there was one statue that we were allowed to touch, it of course was of a Bison!

We then headed to the Elk refuge viewing room, and helped each kid up to the telescope to see the elk.
Up next is the best thing a museum has to offer kids! A Play Room!

Art at the Art museum
Ethan, Issac, Emma, Alexa

This room is sectioned up into four parts, the art center, the dramatic play area, reading station, and the stage.  The art room is full of art supplies and interesting and fun elements that teach a few things along the way. We set the kids free and gave them about a half hour to explore, the older kids, spent most of their time in the art room drawing, tracing and rubbing images to take home with them. Lulu and Jack bounced in and out of every room, spending most of their time in costume, acting out the animals they represented.

Lucy lounging with Max
(the OTHER Wild Thing)



Issac, Ethan, Alexa, Emma Lucy and Jack






At the end of the day we stopped and had some cookies and coco as promised. All the kids loved it, and asked to come back again! For more information on the National Museum of Wildlife Art visit their site at

http://www.wildlifeart.org/

Guests!



Adanna, Angel, Alexa, Emma, Lucy, Jack

 Our first ever guest hike came this Friday, when we took advantage of a No-School day. Friday March 4th, my best friend and her daughter joined us for a hike in GTNP. We entered the park at the Moran entrance and took the Jackson Lake Junction to the Signal Mountain Parking area , as mentioned in our last hike to Signal Mountain.

This time however we didn't have Kevin, Friday after all is a work day. So it was us ladies leading the way and four kids in tow. Though he was missed, the hike was an overall success. The Dillon's loved having Alexa along and were more than happy to run and play in the snow. The path was fresh, and unmarked due to a recent snow storm and all the kids were overwhelmed with desecrating the fresh powder. The first 20 minutes Adanna and I constantly had to remind them to get up and walk. They were having so much fun making snow angels, snowmen, and snow balls. They were all so overjoyed with the promise of adventure it took a bit for them to get on with it.

Once the playfulness subsided and a rhythm set in they all did an excellent job. We hiked to the Signal Mountain Summit Road, where we once again took a left. We didn't follow the road as far as last time but we did get out of site of the main road. We stopped on trail and had lunch. For the Dillon's was turkey sandwiches, cheese sticks, grapes and homemade granola bars. Adanna and Alexa had bagels and home made banana bread muffins, with Juice box and Fruit snacks for Alexa. Which she kindly shared with the Dillon's. Of course ample water all around.

As we set back to the main trail, we heard a bit of rumbling and came around the bend just in time to see a trail groomer go past. Its not often one gets a fresh path, both ways on a trail. But luck was with us and that was our case. Hiking in, the trail was fresh with powder, on the way back freshly groomed. The children may have preferred the powder to play in but the trail left was much easier to hike through and also provided a nice 'child path' that us adults weren't allowed on. It motivated the munchkins and the hike back was just as calm as the hike in.

I like this impromptu shot Alexa took of us
prepping for the actual photo.

Oops...where did the rest of you go?

Home.

How Could I Forget!

So here I was all happy thinking that I finally caught up and could post some of the new things that we did, but alas. I forgot one. So here is it, late and overdue, but here none the less.

I fell quite guilty forgetting to blog this adventure as it was one of my favorites. Once again to the thoughtfulness of My Mother-In-Law, who lent us two pair of snowshoes.

This time we decided to get out of the National Parks and see what else this large valley has to offer. We headed North once again, this time however we continued on past the Moran entrance. Heading towards Duboise, there is a nice little place called  Buffalo Valley/Turpin Meadows road. It is on the left hand side of the road as you head North. As you could guess there is a trusty old brown sign leading you to the prized destination. The Road leads through many ranches and eventually ends up at Turpin Meadow Ranch.As you near the end of the road there is a trail off to the left, it is marked as Critical Game Area, and has trail restrictions. If you head up the road another 0.3 miles there sits a parking area on the right.

Once we parked and bundled up the kids, Kevin and I strapped on our borrowed snowshoes and then we all headed back up the road. The trail started as a snowmobile path through an open snow field, quickly however the trees closed in. The trail had this sort of ebb and flow to it throughout. Eventually we saw a few signs designating the path we were on as a summer road for homes in the area. Obviously unoccupied this time of year, as convenient and regular access is a problem.

There was another snowshoer on the trail with his two very playful Rhodesian Ridgebacks. The dogs stopped a moment to sniff and lick all the kids and then went on playfully bounding through the snow.  After a small amount of time we stopped and had our lunch under a tree on the side of the path. (The signs said to stay on path) We had a lunch of Ham sandwiches, oranges and water. Since we hadn't been hiking too long Kevin and I decided to continue on for a bit; the snowshoes made it so unbelievably easy,  it was exhilarating to walk in the snow with minimal difficult. We just had to keep on. After another 20 minutes we made it to an open clearing in view of the ranch. Since there were no postings at the trail head we weren't sure if the path looped around or dead-ended at private property. Thus unsure we decided we best turn back and head the way we came. Kevin and I were feeling quite unencumbered, thanks to our lent snowshoes, we still had the kiddos to worry about.

All in all the hike was just over 2 miles (turns out the path does loop and we went back just over the half way point). The hike and lunch took just under two and a half hours. The snow shoes were a splendid treat, and the sunny clear sky day sure didn't hurt.

Until Next Week,
Be safe, Be well

Its about time

Now that I have finally caught up on the last few weeks of our adventures, I can heave a sigh of relief and take a breath before the next go-round. When I started this blog the idea behind it was exploring all the ins and outs of the Valley. Mostly my intention was for the blog to be nature and outdoor oriented as that is what is of most importance to us as a family (besides each other of course). However living in a place where winter seems to last forever, it is nice to ocassionaly go inside for some fun. Since I started this blog we have done eighteen outdoor activities and only one inside. This week we will add to our list of inside activities, although I have a feeling that even inside we wont escape winter. Stay tuned...

Finding a Hidden Gem

Saturday the 19th of February, we as a family drove to Rawlins, Wyoming. The intended point of such a drive was for me to visit my brother. Something that I must do without Kevin and the kids. Which left Kevin alone in a Dingy old Wyoming town, with nothing to do. However for Kevin the explorer, this was not a daunting task. After he dropped me off for my visit he returned to the hotel to ask about local attractions,  unfortunately the Lady at the Front Desk seemed unaware of any fun activities to do in Rawlins. Kevin then did the only thing he could do, he set out with the kids loaded up and drove around town to see what options he had. After he spent some time driving around the town he hit the highway and continued east. Seeing a very familiar brown sign, he took an off ramp and found what could only be described as a gem.  To get to this scenic by-way from I-80 look for a brown Park Service Sign that tells you how to get there. Heading From Rawlins towards Cheyenne it is exit 215.

Kevin took this road and followed it around until it dead ended at a parking area, with a play ground and access to the lake which had quite a few Ice Fishermen in attendance. On the way they saw many Golden Eagles and Antelope just as promised by the information sign. One Golden eagle flew so close to the van it's talons scraped the roof as it flew by.


At the playground, Kevin, the kids and our four legged friend Jazzy poured out of the van for a bit of fresh air and enjoyment. After an hour or so they loaded back up and went to town for lunch.

Out of No Where the Killpecker sand dune emerges,
when heading north
keep an eye to the left side of the road.
pay close attention as it disappears as quickly as it appears.

Kevin was so amazed at this off the beaten path gem, that after my visit was done he absolutely insisted on showing me. The second time, we didn't go all the way to the play ground but we did see the sand dune and quite a bit of antelope, no golden eagles. The drive its self is beautiful and remarkable compared to the bleak landscapes viewable from the highway. We vowed to return this summer and follow the road through to the end!

The Odd and Unique Shoshone Lake

One of the many Golden Eagles that call this gem home.

A few of the many antelope residing in Wyoming.