September 11, 2009 Grand Teton NP

Another beautiful day here in Paradise! Sunny, warm, dry -- real comfortable.

MMG and I actually got out and hiked three miles this morning. We did the Heron Pond/Swan Lake trail. We saw neither Swans (here, more later) nor Herons, but it was a sometimes beautiful hike nonetheless.

On the way to the trailhead, we stopped by the Oxbow Bend and saw a Moose up to her shoulders in the Snake River feeding on aquatic vegetation. While she was quite visible in the binoculars, she was just too far away to allow us to get a clear picture.

On to the hike. Not everything has to be awesome or bigger than life to grab your attention. Here are some examples from the hike:

Pinecone sitting on dead branch.

Butterfly!

Reflections over the Waterlilies on Swan Lake

But big works, too:

Teton across Jackson Lake with forest fire smoke on foot.

There are 2 waterfalls here. Click to enlarge and see if you can spot them.

Sun setting on a Teton.

Same, from afar.

And animals are good, too:

Trumpeter Swan

Young Moose Calf

More Young Moose Calf

Pronghorn

More Pronghorn

And sometimes it's not the animal, but the form. None of the following three pictures of an Osprey hunting over the Jackson Lake Dam is a good Osprey picture, but DDG found these very interesting:

Floating

Looking

Not sure what the Osprey is doing here. I just liked the geometry of the Osprey and the juxtaposition of the bird and the mountaintop.

And sometimes a little humor may be in order:

THE END

Hope you liked this little departure from the norm. We did take all theses pictures today!

Love to you all.

MMG and DDG