John called me out of the motorhome to see who was hanging out in our "front yard". Just across the street was this beautiful female moose. We kept a safe distance from her and watched her wandering slowly in and out of the yard eating grasses and plants. She was a beauty. An average moose weighs about 750 pounds and can eat about 70 pounds of food a day. Our campground has a lot of moose and they are delightful to watch. In fact, there is alot of wildlife in this campground including buffalo, elk, and recently two grizzly bears. You need to be cautious when exiting the motorhome or car. This campground is very wild and natural.
We had heard from friends there were also lupins blooming in large numbers just a little ways past the moose. A few of us wandered out and came upon this lovely lupine meadow extravaganza. There was lots of snow last winter and the wildflowers are in abundance. There are not any campsites in the area across from us so we have this special place all to ourselves (GTA employees). One of the few things I miss since becoming a full timer is planting flowers in the spring. Seeing this beautiful "front yard" was a delight and no weeding or labor was involved. :)
If you look carefully in the picture below you can see the moose laying down in the background enjoying the flowers too.
Another pretty wildflower called Arrowleaf Balsam Root is blooming everywhere. It is so cheerful and pretty. The roads leading to work are lined with this wildflower and it just starts my morning off right.
The Gros Ventre river runs in front of the campground. It is in flood stage right now and the water is raging down. At night you can hear it from our site.
We saw two new birds (lifers) for us pecking around our neighbors site. The first one is a Cassin's Finch and the second is a Black-headed Grosbeak.
What a great place to call home.
It certainly is!
ReplyDeleteYes sireee, that is one of my very favorite campgrounds. Moose in your yard. Hearing the river run. Sure wish I was there right now. What sorts of volunteer jobs are there other than camp host? I think I'd better apply for next year. Your posts are just making me long to go back to that place. The lupins are beautiful but I thought they were an invasive species that was taking over all over the country. There a little less beautiful if that's true there as well.
ReplyDeleteThere are several volunteer positions with GTA. You work three days in exchange for your site. These are the current options: 1) collecting trail box money and doing general errands 2) entering GTA membership information into the data base and sending out thank you's to new members, 3) helping the bookeeper with accounting, data entry, and billing information, and 4) working in the warehouse. Personally I think collecting mosey from the trial boxes position is awesome opportunity. If you are interested for next summer please contact me and I'll give you more information and contact phone numbers.
DeleteI wasn't aware the lupins were invasive but I'll check with the park and post a reply soon.
I love the spot your in. We used to walk our pups along the dirt road - Tetons in full view. Great pictures. Great Post.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Sherry has the lupine confused with the water hyacinth? I didn't think lupines were invasives, but I don't know for sure.
ReplyDeleteProbably that same moose had twins there last summer. What a treat to see the trio.
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