The Last Trip of 2024!
January 6, 2025
Happy New Year! This cow moose welcomes the first snow of 2025 near Grand Teton National Park, photographed January 1, 2025
Normally, Don and I take a trip over Christmas up to the Jackson Hole, WY area, but this year we pushed our trip out a week. We haven’t ever spent New Year’s in Jackson, so it seemed like a fine time to check it out! We left on Saturday, December 28, with the goal of making it to Pinedale to spend the night at a Bed & Breakfast. From there, we would make our way to a friend’s house near Alpine, WY and enjoy a day of snowmobiling before making our way back north to Jackson. Once in Jackson, we would take a wildlife tour with our favorite tour company & guide. Then, we would ring in the new year before heading back to Colorado on New Year’s Day!
Well, we might have encountered some drama on the way.
Just about 25 miles outside of Rock Springs, WY, we hit a bit of traffic and the wind was gusting at 55+ mph. We felt something shake the car…but thought it might just be the wind buffering. Not 5 minutes later, the engine temp gauge went crazy and we started losing all our coolant. We pulled over and found out the engine cooling fan had broken apart and hit the radiator, putting gashes in it and making it purge coolant. We were able to fill it with some water and drive a few miles further to get to an off ramp so we had a safe place to look at it. I’ve had AAA for years, and I’m so glad I had it for this, as we did end up needing a tow into Rock Springs. After a couple hour wait, we were towed to an Autozone and proceeded to spend the next several hours pulling the old radiator out and replacing it with a new one. None of the parts stores in Rock Springs had a cooling fan, so I was certain we would have to end our trip before it even really got started. Since we were able to get the radiator replaced and ambient temps were pretty low, Don was determined that we keep going, so we decided we would try to make the trip and keep an eye on the engine temp. I highly recommend visiting the Autozone in Rock Springs, all the staff were so helpful and friendly in our time of need.
Anyway, we continued on to our destination in Pinedale, a bed & breakfast called the Chambers House. We arrived around 11 pm, and Ann, our hostess, had our room all warmed up and lit so we could settle in quick. Ann was also so accommodating and kind. We really enjoyed our stay, waking up to a pancake breakfast Ann had cooked for us the next morning. We had the house all to ourselves after breakfast and took our time checking out before we got on our way to our friend’s house. If you ever make it up to Pinedale, I hope you’ll consider staying at the Chambers House! You should also check out Mountain Mocha for your morning coffee! We stop there every time we go. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go to the Wind River Brewery, but that is another awesome spot to stop if you are in town.
We got our coffees and toured around Pinedale a bit to see if we could find any wildlife before we made our drive west. We didn’t find the town moose that we had hoped to see again (we saw them in 2019) but we did find lots of ravens and an immature bald eagle.
Immature bald eagle in Pinedale, WY
We decided to get going before the next wave of winter weather affected our drive. We only had about 100 miles to go this day. Winter had definitely arrived in Wyoming and the snow was deep. Let’s hope our drive wasn’t going to be too treacherous!
We made it from Pinedale to Hoback unscathed and enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way. If you’ve ever driven through Hoback Canyon, you know just how steep and rugged it is! We made a quick stop up highway 89 at The Bird for a snack and tasty beverage before heading to our friend’s house.
We then headed for Alpine. Our friend lives near the area and we would be renting a snowmobile the next day. We checked out the town and drove out to the trailhead of where we would be riding. There was A LOT of snow! I was a bit anxious for the snowmobiling, but looking forward to exploring the area!
We departed Alpine Adventure Rentals around 10:30 am the next day. We would be traveling up Forest Road 10138 towards the Box Y Lodge and Guest Ranch, about 35 miles up the road. We lucked out with light snow and decent temps as we headed up the road. It took a couple hours to get to the lodge, where we stopped to warm up and enjoy a home cooked lunch. Along the way, we saw several bald eagles, numerous ravens, and lots of elk! It was really cool to see so much wildlife. When we got to the lodge, they had bird feeders out and there were lots of birds enjoying a snack - from mountain chickadees to red-breasted nuthatches, and bigger birds like Canada Jays, Steller’s Jays, and Clark’s Nutcrackers! It was great. The sun even came out for a few minutes! The area is so beautiful, I can’t wait to make another trip up to explore it in the summer.
The next day we headed up to Jackson to enjoy a wildlife tour with our friend, and the BEST tour guide, Laura and Jackson Hole EcoTours. We arrived about an hour before our tour would start, so we decided to scope out the area. We made it to the National Elk Refuge and immediately saw a gathering of bald eagles and ravens on something out in the meadow. It appeared to be a dead elk. There were at least a couple dozen ravens around, and probably up to a dozen eagles, each waiting their turn to get a bite. Further into the refuge, we saw the bighorn sheep and some trumpeter swans.
We ran out of time to explore much more, so we headed back towards our hotel to wait for our tour pickup.
Once on our tour, we made a stop at the National Museum of Wildlife Art to get an overlook view of the National Elk Refuge. From up high, we could see all the horse-drawn sleighs heading out to view the elk herds (which were numbering in the several hundred to thousands) and scan for possible wolf activity. We didn’t see any wolves, but it was really neat to see how many elk had started to gather on the refuge. Every winter, there is an estimated 8000 elk that make their way to the refuge for food, rest, and safety in numbers. You can read more about it at the link for the elk refuge (above).
Moving on from our stop at the museum, we headed to the Jackson Hole airport! We needed a restroom break, and thank goodness we went by the airport, because we saw 4 moose just hanging out! We stopped to watch the moose for awhile and scan the trees for birds and owls. No luck on the birds, but the moose were fun to see. Moving on up highway 89 north through Grand Teton National Park, we saw more and more moose on each side of the roadway. Eventually, we saw two nice bull moose that were somewhat close for photos. We stopped to enjoy the scene, as the Tetons started to come out of the dense fog and the sun was shining. It was beautiful! We also got to meet another EcoTours guide who stopped at the same spot, Sarah! We heard from Sarah that a group of bison were close to the road a few miles north, so we got back into our vehicle to see what we could find. Near sunset, we came upon the herd that she was talking about. We stopped to watch them for a few minutes as they used their powerful necks to move snow to reach the vegetation underneath. A nice way to end out the tour before heading back into town. On the way back to town, we saw more moose along the road, a reminder to drive slower at night so you don’t hit them!
Cow moose by the Jackson Hole airport (video by our guide, Laura, through a spotting scope)
One of those “tiny” bull moose against the Tetons, using his antlers as a back scratcher (video by our guide Laura, through a spotting scope)
A herd of bison using their powerful necks to uncover food. Look at the red dog (baby bison)! Video taken by our guide, Laura, through a spotting scope.
Now that our tour had ended, it was time to find some dinner and a place to celebrate the new year! We love visiting the Snake River Brewery when we go to Jackson, so we thought we would start there. It wasn’t too crowded and the good food and tasty beers were flowing. Around 7 pm, Snow King Resort started their torch light parade, followed by some cool fireworks. We enjoyed the show, then made our way to the town square. It was so festive, all lit up for the holidays! We eventually stopped at the Silver Dollar Bar & Grill inside the historic Wort Hotel, where we were able to find some champagne and enjoy live music. It was great to be in one of our favorite places to ring in a fresh new year full of possibilities.
We had to start our trip home the next day, but before departing, we had to take one more drive up to the park to see if we could find any wildlife. I didn’t have high expectations, as the weather was gloomy and it was starting to snow pretty good. We made a quick stop at an overlook by the elk refuge to look for birds - and there weren’t ANY. The drive north was sparse with critters, a deer or elk here or there, but nothing too close or easy to photograph. Then, we made it to the park and BAM, there was a cow and calf moose close to the road. We pulled in and set up to take a few photos.
What a magical way to start the new year, with my favorite animal, MOOSE!
I hope you’ll join me as adventure our way through 2025!