ANOTHER DAY IN THE GRAND TETONS

We continued north on the scenic road and came to another church. This one was Catholic, "The Chapel of the Sacred Heart."  It was built to serve the farmers and dude ranch guests when the horse and buggy journey to Jackson was a grueling trip.

It is used for Mass during the summer.

The clouds never did lift completely. But Carol had a few minutes to catch the peaks.

After all of the truly obnoxious people in Yellowstone, we decided we'd rather depend on the kindness of strangers than ever buy a selfie stick.

And then the clouds came back. Blue sky everywhere. Just one big cloud sitting on top of the peaks.

A closer shot of the glacier.

 We had planned to take a 6 mile round trip hike up this canyon. 1000' rise in elevation in 3 miles.  We decided not to do that. 

Instead we took a 3 mile hike on fairly level around Heron Pond and Swan Lake. Didn't see Heron. Didn't see swans. Saw three beaver lodges. Here are two of them.  The one on the right is probably not in use right now because the water in very low.

We didn't see any beaver either. BUT a kind group of birdwatchers stopped us and said, "Look. Look up there." And there was a Great Grey Owl. He really didn't respond to the crowd moving around and taking pictures except to stare us down. 

When he wasn't ignoring us completely that is.

Then one of the group whispered, "Come here."  A tiny squirrel was sitting motionless on a branch not 6' in the air. We figured he was either sound asleep. OR he was simply hiding from the owl and was afraid to move.

One of the rangers told us that a drive up Signal Mountain was well worth the time. Since it was on our way back to camp we went up it.  There are several of these relatively high "hills" in the Jackson Hole area.  Since they're out in the middle of the valley, they offer amazing views of the Snake River AND the Tetons

 But that pesky peak was still hidden.

.

Aspens starting to turn gold.

 Still hiding. The tourist brochures all have pictures of the Tetons reflected like a mirror in Jackson Lake.
Every day we've been here it was too windy and the lake was choppy. I asked a Ranger to please fix it so we could get at least ONE reflected picture. She said, "OK. Give me about 20 minutes."  I'm still waiting. And she seemed so sincere.

 Tomorrow will be our last full day in Jackson Hole.

It can't get much better, but we'll look forward to the surprises that we know are in store for us.