end of June

I can't believe June is nearly over.  It does not seem like 2 months has passed.  The past 2 weeks have been gray, cloudy, and windy with occasional thunderstorms.  No kayaking, no bike rides to report.  When its not raining I have been wandering out into the forest looking at the new flowers popping up. They like the rain.

Tetons in the clouds, the view is never the same.

One evening a friend and I went out to Pilgrim Creek pond looking for a Moose.  Instead we found a field of Lupine and Arrowleaf blooming and glowing in the late evening sun.  This Yellow-bellied Marmot was sitting on a downed Cottonwood tree.

 Last weekend the weather pattern cleared for a few days.  This photo was taken from Jenny Lake looking across Cottonwood Creek.  Saturday of that weekend I was able to take a one day class on Snow and Mountain Safety given by Exum Guides.  We learned to use ice axes and crampons on a fairly steep snowfield.  The melting spring snow was soft and easy to dig into. This is not always the case, the instructor told us.

Yesterday a friend and I drove to a Native American Pow-wow event presented by the Shoshoni tribe.  On the way back we passed a pond with a few Avocets and a large group of Wilson's Phalaropes.  It seems too early for these Phalaropes to have finished nesting and be on their way south again.