The Morman Family Home Page

� July '99

Though it is over a month later, it seems like just yesterday we were walking along clear, blue streams and a fair number of burnt timbers with a heavy load on our backs but a smile in our hearts.� I really enjoyed roughing it with Rick, John, Dan, and Scott.� Here's some of my pictures and words of the trip.

The Town: � Jacksonhole, WY

Jacksonhole was a real cowboy town. � Sidewalks were made of� plankboards and the arch way to the town's park made of hundreds of elk, deer, and moose horn.	Before heading out on the trail we enjoyed great food and a couple pitchers of microbrew beer at the Brewery Inn.� We later took to the Foose ball table--Scott and I don't like to brag so we won't tell you who beat Dan and John.	We had to stop for pictures along the way.� The Tetons were spectacular.� There was talk of� hiking them even skiing them--but that was all talk.� After our trip I am sure we realized how such a climb would be light-years ahead of us.
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The Accommodations: Tents and MRE's���

� We enjoyed nightly games of Euchre.� Rick and John are all smiles as Scott keeps a serious focus on the game.� Though he was new to Euchre, Scott picked it up fast.
	Every morning started with a warm fire, hot drink, and windbreakers.� Topics of discussion usually focused on food--what we had to eat and how much was left.� At the end of the trip we had plenty of Chili Mac MRE's voted least edible by consensus.�

The Fishing: Fun that can not (should not) be measured

� After a short lesson in the finer points of fly fishing, Scott braved the cold water and caught his first fly fish.� It is that sliver of white you see hanging there.

� Dan was the man when it came to fishing.� Though this picture shows one of his smaller catches, he did make it back to camp, skinned, and cooked two tasty trout.�

The Hiking: A countryside with contrast

	This picture was taken at what we thought was the trail head. � Actually it was the trail butt end so we left the car and set out South along the Snake River.� Bad idea--see my boots.� Whose idea was that anyway?
We covered approximately 20 miles of forest near the old faithful geyser area.� Many of the trees were burnt bare of their leaves and branches.� An eerie reminder of the '88 fire.� Check out the new crop of pines that are waist high.		We did see plenty of green and a little white.� Here the guys stopped for a snow ball fight.

The Water: Running , Falling, and Spouting

This is Mystic Falls.� I think it is called mystic because its location is part of a big mystery for us.� We found the falls while looking for our camp site which we never did find.� But that is another whole story.	No pictorial of Yellowstone would be complete without a picture of Old Faithful--which is not as faithful as it once was.� Though the wait was longer than expected, it was worth it!	Dan and Scott pose for a picture by one of the thermal pools we found while hiking.� There was a discussion of warming our aching feet in the water, but we thought better of it.

Views of the North Tetons by the lake were incredible.� The water was crystal clear--but I wouldn't recommend you drink it straight.� That's why Rick and John are using their iodine tablets to make water.� The water filter Dan brought tasted much better.

The Buffalo:� A close encounter���������

� We should have known we would get a chance to meet buffalo up close while hiking when we saw the warning signs.� It was in a meadow valley like this one that we came across a heard of approximately 50 bison.� We sat and snacked about 200 yards away as we watched them graze.�
I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to see any wild life.� Dan snapped this one of a young moose down in a valley.� We needed the telephoto lens to get a good look. Little did we know we would get much closer to a bigger beast.	Dan, John, and I got within 20 feet of this one on the side of the rode on the way out of the park.� We were literally falling over each other trying to get a picture because we were all nervous about being so close.

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