2010 Summer Vacation, Day 10 and 11

Shabbos was wonderful on Shadow Mountain.  We went for a walk, and got very, very wet on the way back.  By the time we got back to the RV, our shoes were weighed down with several pounds of mud.  There was a good bit of windy weather too.  Being all alone out there was great.

Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to get a photograph of the night sky.  I went to bed early in order to photograph the sunrise.

 

As planned, I got up early to capture the sunrise as seen from our “campsite”.  Even before dawn it was beautiful:

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And then the sun came up.  I was standing there in complete awe of the scene, overwhelmed by the experience of it.

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Looking Southwest at Blacktail Butte:

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Best campsite in Wyoming:

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I rode my bike from the RV to the top of Shadow Mountain, where the kids took their bikes off the SUV.  The three of us rode to the base of Shadow Mountain together:

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B and M accompanied me from the top to mile 4.  B had had enough, so we put her bike on the SUV, and M and I rode together to mile 6.  I continued on towards Cunningham Cabin, but we weren’t sure if we were going the right way (turns out we were), so I packed it in at mile 7.5.

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We drove on to Cunningham Cabin:

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From there, we visited the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, then hiked the String Lake Trail:

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Fox in the bushes:

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There were lots of “wow, I can’t believe we’re here!” moments on the hike:

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From there, we went into Jackson, where we visited the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center, rode the Alpine Slide, and picked up some groceries.

The sun was setting on the way back:

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We stopped at Mormon Row:

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At home, we own a print of Ansel Adam’s The Tetons and the Snake River.  Looking at a map, I found a likely location from which the photograph was captured.  We drove out there and it was indeed the spot!  Here’s Adams’ photograph from 1942:

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The trees are a good bit taller 68 years later, but it’s definitely the same spot.  This was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  Here’s my photograph:

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What a great day!