Grand Tetons... Jenny Lake...
I woke up early, snuck off the bus. Colter Bay campground has showers; I took a shower. It was lovely. Back at camp, Jimmy encouraged us to get our breakfast done "before the rain comes," but there wasn't any obvious rain. I assumed he was just hoping he could trick us slugabeds into hustling a bit.
On the bus, we made our way through Grand Tetons national park. Fields of sage, conifer forests, flat country criss-crossed by mountains. We stopped for photos. Light rain sprinkled the windshield, so that when we stopped at Jenny Lake, I moseyed over to the general store to buy a poncho.
Our day's activity was hiking at Jenny Lake. Folks who wanted scenery caught a boat across the lake. Those of us who wanted some exercise walked to the other side of the lake. I walked with Donald and the Parisians. Fabrice the marathoner set the pace, faster than I'd normally go, but I kind of wanted someone to kick my butt and force me to walk far enough such that I'd get a chance to see some things before it was time to turn around. And that worked. Once we reached the other wide of the lake, I let the speedy people get away and doddered my way uphill.
Along the way, there was a waterfall. Then the trail got serious about heading up the mountainside to inspiration point. Around the corner from inspiration point, there was a river canyon.
I headed back to the bus the way I'd come. I was pretty happy to have seen that moose. As I walked down, a family walked up. A boy ran ahead of them, wearing a moose-antlered hat. I grinned.
I kept walking, got back to inspiration point. There a mother called "Michael! Michael!" and a father asked me if I'd seen a boy go past, a boy wearing a moose hat. Oh... so that boy I'd seen running ahead of a family hadn't been with that family, but actually had been getting a few minutes' running head start on his dad, who was soon running after him.
Back on the bus, I exchanged stories with other travelers. The Australians were, surprisingly to me, excited about having seen chipmunks. Perhaps chipmunks are bigger than any non-poisonous Australian animal or something?
Fabrice and Donald got back a little late and out of breath. Later on, Fabrice told me how impressed he'd been by Donald. Some folks had told them that they were ahead of schedule, so they'd dawdled a bit; but then they realized they were behind schedule. Fabrice got ready to run back to the bus to say "Wait, wait, we're just late, haven't been eaten by bears." He was surprised when Donald wanted to run back, too. Donald was more than 70 years old, but turned out to be strong and tough. He inspired Fabrice.
![[^]](../../../images/next.gif){kind=small}