Our stay at the National Elk Refuge seems to be flying by as each stint at the visitors center and historic Miller House goes by; as maintenance projects are completed; and as each bike ride, hike, and fun event or happening winds up. 
The Elk migrate from as far away as southern Yellowstone National Park. Historically, the Elk migrated south of the present location of the Refuge into southwestern Wyoming during the fall, wintering on grassy Plains that were usually snow free most of the winter. During the spring, the herd would follow the retreating snows back into the Yellowstone National Park region. The original size of the Elk herd was estimated to have been in excess of 25,000. In the early settlement years, the expansion of the town of Jackson blocked off the migration route of the Elk, so by the end of the 19th century the Elk herd was severely reduced in size due to the rather nasty climate and lack of food supply.
So a movement was started up by the early settlers to protect and enlarge the remaining herd in the early 1900s, resulting in the creation of the National Elk Refuge. The Elk herd is kept alive during the hard winters of the Jackson Hole area through feeding and culling of the herd, which consists of a lottery based hunting permit program each year which is highly regulated (and watched over very carefully by the rather wealthy and financially involved residents). Each year the Elk shed their antlers (which is normal) and the Boy Scouts of America, along with a host of helpers, collect the antlers under a permit granted in the 1950s and sells them at auction under the same agreement where 75% of the proceeds are returned to the Refuge for feed, research and the management of the herd to assure its survival (and the money flow to the Jackson area). Ten to eleven thousand pounds of antlers are auctioned each year. The increase in value and desirability of these antlers has resulted in a significant rise in antler poaching throughout the area. We have seen some antlers sell for as much as 60 to 
The Refuge also provides horse drawn sleigh rides to the public during the winter months so that tourists have the opportunity to see portions of the herd up close. We have a close friend who does some of the feeding in the winter time and the look on his face as he describes the experience of being in the middle of the huge Elk and Bison herds during the season is rather inspiring. The furthest consistent migration of Elk to the Refuge is currently from the southern portion of Yellowstone National Park, making it the second longest ungulate migration in the lower 48 states. (The migration of pronghorn between the Green River Basin and Jackson Hole in Wyoming is longer.)
The Refuge is 24,700 acres of meadows and marshes along the valley floor, sagebrush and rock outcroppings along the mountain foothills. Bighorn Sheep can be found here, along with Pronghorn, Mule Deer and even a few Trumpeter Swans along Flat Creek, which flows out of the Refuge south into the town of Jackson. We have gone looking for the rather rare sightings of Wolves and Grizzly in the area but have not had any luck as of yet. A total of 47 mammal species and 147 bird species have been documented on the Refuge. It is quite the diverse and beautiful ecosystem!
To give you a bit of history of the town of "Jackson" - it was named by Margaret Simpson in late 1893, who was having trouble receiving mail at her home at the time since there was no post office. She named the town so that her friends in the east would be able to send her mail to her place out west. The town became incorporated in 1914. Jackson was named after David Edward "Davey" Jackson who trapped beaver in the area in the early nineteenth century, where he was co-owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Davy Jackson was the first white man to spend an entire winter in the Valley of the Teton Mountains in the late 1870’s – so Margaret decided that it was appropriate to name the town after him. The valley was first described in the journals of John Colter, who had been a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Very few people believed him regarding his descriptions of the Tetons and the Yellowstone area with its mountains, geysers, hot springs, and waterfalls. We still find it hard to believe even though we are standing right in front of these absolute wonders with our jaws dropping to our knees.
The first people to settle the region were Native Americans, then fur trappers, and then homesteaders. Because the soil is extremely rocky and the growing season is very short, it is not an ideal place for raising crops, so the valley was used for rearing cattle. Tourism quickly became popular with the establishment of dude ranches, lots of dude ranches! It has progressed since then to huge influxes of tourists from around the world with high end flashing cameras, hero-cams, and forests of “selfie” sticks pointing all directions trying to get that “epic photo”!
The nearby areas hold a lot of entertainment for us as you can see above. Linda went on a hike with some friends on Josie’s Ridge Trail overlooking Jackson and the Refuge. Then one afternoon we were invited to drive and ride off-road vehicles to explore the Refuge and pick up any unfound Elk sheds (antlers) we ran across. We were able to go out with two of the volunteer couples that have been doing this for years. The overlooks and views were spectacular, the riding fun, lots of dust, (I felt like I needed four or five showers to clean it all off) but we brought back no antlers other than the ones I used as an example (from the shop garage).
This is a section of the “Putt – Putt” mountain bike trail I ride on a regular basis. There are some rather tiring up-hills and some nasty, rock laden down-hills swerving through the trees on this one. The scenery is fabulous though and can honestly be called “Mountain Biking”.
This is a small section of the Hagen mountain biking trail on the side of Snow King (a mountain in Jackson). It’s actually a lot steeper than it appears – to a point that I have to take my bike for a walk once and awhile. Coming down is exciting though! (Linda doesn’t come with me on these types of trails.)
This particular day it was wet and rainy, the rocks and roots were slippery and I did take a tumble. But as with all things, you just pick yourself up – check yourself for any operational deficiencies – adjust your attitude and continue on! I do love this!
We do take an occasional casual ride through Jackson and up one of the paved bike paths toward the airport and into the Grand Teton National Park. It is a beautiful ride and the coyote you will see in the following pics was one we ran into on this ride. This ride ended up being over 25 miles at 6500+ feet altitude. I like to think we are doing pretty good - for a couple of old farts! (Speak for yourself, says Linda, referring to “old farts”!)
There were quite a few Sandhill Cranes that nested in and around the Refuge. Their little ones are called colts – yep, just like a horse. I suppose that one of the early fur trappers that came into Jackson Hole for a “Rendezvous” might have made it to the bottom of his jug one afternoon and decided that the baby Sandhills looked like, or ran like, a colt and the name stuck. I really have no idea how they got the name “colts” but stranger things have happened.
I ran into this young lady one day as I was riding the Game Creek Trail. She is a Mule Deer or Black-Tailed Deer that has a form of bouncing gait called “pronking”. No, I did not make that up! It’s a way of getting over obstacles that require the deer to bound up and land on all four legs simultaneously. I was amazed the first time I saw that many years ago when I saw a couple of Mule Deer bucks “pronking” their way across a field and up over a hill. I’m originally from the White Tail Deer country and normal deer just did not do that.
Here is quite a handsome young Bull Moose cooling off in the Snake River near the junction known as – you guessed it – Moose Junction. It’s just up the road about 10 miles from Jackson. Their diet consists mostly of wood, twigs, buds and bark of the local trees such as Willow, Aspen and Poplars. They can weigh up to 1200 pounds, be as tall as 7 feet at the shoulders, run up to 35 mph, dive in water down to 20 feet and carry as many as 200,000 ticks. Some even die from loss of blood from the ticks sucking on them. Enough of the gross stuff! Linda had been hoping that we would come across a bull like this and one day as we were coming back from the Grand Teton park we couldn't help but notice the hundreds of tourists with big lens cameras pointed at this guy lining the road. He posed quite well don’t you think?
This is my favorite wildlife pic so far this summer. Linda and I were riding our bikes back from Moose Junction when out of the corner of our eyes we saw old Wiley Coyote coming right at us. He wasn’t interested in us at all – he had his eyes on one of the local ground squirrels for a before lunch snack. He came within 15 feet of me before he realized he should back off a bit. I got back on my bike and let him have his snack which he did with a bit of enthusiasm.
We were invited to attend the Green River Mountain Man Rendezvous Pageant by Joe and Margaret, a couple of our friends here at the Refuge. What is the Green River Rendezvous Pageant you ask? The Pageant is a way to relive the history of the mountain man and the Rocky Mountain fur trade as it occurred in the Upper Green River Valley of Wyoming. It is held every year in the little town of Pinedale on the second full weekend in July.
Since 1936, residents of 
The first Green River Rendezvous in the area was held in 1833 near where the town of Daniel stands today. During the fur trade era of the 1820s-1840s, six of these summer gatherings were held near this locale. The cry "Meet me on the Green!" was a reminder and a reassurance to trappers, who spent isolated winters gathering Beaver pelts, and to traders, who traveled many miles on hazardous trails. Mountain men, explorers and Indians all gathered "below the Green" to barter, sell, and swap items such as skins, pelts, guns, trinkets and necessary provisions for the coming winter. The Rendezvous lasted anywhere from a few days to several months and was a time for trappers to cash in hard-earned furs, renew acquaintances with old friends, tell tall tales, and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate another year of survival with plenty of rowdy fun. Something like full-time RVer’s at their winter homes.
The favorite part of the Rendezvous for me was a presentation by an American Indian named Michael “Bad Hand” Taylor (actually I attended two of them). Bad Hand has devoted his life to learning about and reliving, as closely as possible, the early Native American culture. Through his various works and activities, he tries to dispel a huge number of misconceptions, stereotypes and historical inaccuracies while sharing in a positive, upbeat way what he has learned from his studies and experiences. When I first saw him as he walked into the presentation area my perception was that we were going to get a deep voice, slow talking, serious presentation – boy was I wrong!
He had a fast talking, laughing all the time, surfer dude style, totally animated with gestures and filled with phrases such as “Whoa – dude” and “like really” while at the same time interacting with his dog, Oden. He was easily one of the most engaging speakers I have ever heard and he kept us entertained long past the planned presentation time. He is from the southern California area (which explains the surfer dude thing) and works as a Native American historian, lecturer, stuntman, replica maker and artist, and has been involved with his organization (Warriors Plus) in the making of 44 different films and TV documentaries. He is one interesting man!
One weekend we took the time to head up to Livingston, Montana to visit one of Linda’s long lost cousins. On our way we had to cross through the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
Just after getting into the south end of the Grand Teton park we were slowed down for a while as we waited for the herd of Bison to pass by us and clear the road.
We made our way north towards Yellowstone but stopped along the way to take the below photo of the Grand Tetons and Jackson Lake.
On our way we also stopped at the Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone to walk around the geysers and pools. We did see Old Faithful spew right on cue but the geyser pic below is actually the Lion Group geyser. Old Faithful just wasn’t as impressive that day.
As we were exiting the park on the north side we ran into a group of Elk cows relaxing and munching on the lawns of the North Visitor Center.
After our visit with Linda’s cousin and breakfast with friends, Steve and Pat, we decided that we wanted to attempt the entrance to Yellowstone known as the Beartooth Pass. This road is closed for a good part of the fall, winter and spring because of really, really deep snow - so when we had thought about going over this one in the past it was always closed. We made it this time (without the rig!). It is one twisty, steep drop-off drive with incredible views. The motorcycle guys were loving it – other than it was rather cold at just 40 degrees on top.
Going back down through Yellowstone we took the east route and stopped along the way at a few of the waterfalls to rest and just enjoy the view.
One of the big guys along the road in Yellowstone National Park – American Bison-Bull.
The Wisdom of OREO
In my old age (I’m 17 years old) I’ve come to the conclusion that people are the weirdest mammals/animals of all. Except my pride members – they’re part cat so they are OK. (Besides that they bring me my food and clean my box.) There is a version of people around here they call “tourists” and they are not only in a hurry, they are rude, crude, and funny looking as they try to look different from everyone else and/or cool, (they all look the same to me!) and they all carry cameras - taking pictures of anything that moves, or in some cases, just parking lots. Then to top it all off a lot of them have dogs! - Ugh! They all seem interested in the “herds” of Bison and Elk when they themselves form a bigger herd than any animal in the area. All the tourists herd up in town and move north in their little wheeled things, up into the parks to watch – guess what? – herds! Then they all herd up every afternoon and move back into town. Up they go – down they come – every morning – every afternoon. I just cannot understand that at all. The people tourists are indeed peculiar. I’m happy to just watch out my window, and if I need to see something different, I just get on the internet and do a bit of surfing, then get back on my blanky and take a nap.
OREO
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
