We have taken several trips on the upper Snake River in past years but have never traveled on the lower Snake River starting in the town of Wilson west of Jackson. So we scheduled our trip on that portion of the river, a 13 mile trip, on a warm and sunny day with the temperature in the mid 70's.
There were three rafts in our flotilla. Our pilot was Alex, who has been a river guide for 6 years. We were the lead raft and could sometimes look back and see the other two rafts behind us.
Our trip took us south past the most southern peak of the Tetons, Prospector's Mountain. The Grand Teton is shown below from a different angle than we have seen previously.
One of the best parts about a scenic float trip is watching for wildlife. Evidence of beaver activity is shown in the photo below. This tree is over a foot in diameter. Imagine how long a beaver has been chewing on this tree trunk.
Beavers are nocturnal animals and were most likely asleep in their den when we floated by.
We saw many species of birds including a large squadron of white pelicans,
an osprey,
about a dozen bald eagles, including this one,
a second one,
an eagle's nest with two chicks.
Our journey came to an end near Hoback Junction as the rafts were steered towards shore and then pulled up on the "beach" so we could climb out safely.
Even though we have taken other float trips in our previous visits to GTNP, this trip offered the most wildlife sightings.
There were three rafts in our flotilla. Our pilot was Alex, who has been a river guide for 6 years. We were the lead raft and could sometimes look back and see the other two rafts behind us.
Our trip took us south past the most southern peak of the Tetons, Prospector's Mountain. The Grand Teton is shown below from a different angle than we have seen previously.
One of the best parts about a scenic float trip is watching for wildlife. Evidence of beaver activity is shown in the photo below. This tree is over a foot in diameter. Imagine how long a beaver has been chewing on this tree trunk.
Beavers are nocturnal animals and were most likely asleep in their den when we floated by.
We saw many species of birds including a large squadron of white pelicans,
an osprey,
about a dozen bald eagles, including this one,
a second one,
an eagle's nest with two chicks.
Even though we have taken other float trips in our previous visits to GTNP, this trip offered the most wildlife sightings.
Probably more animal life around the river early in the season. When I made the trip we saw little except for a few birds.
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