Grand Teton hike: Swan Lake

Yesterday I shared with you the haunting sound we heard before we got to the lake. Now, here's Swan Lake:

Actually this is just a small sliver of the view we were greeted with when we stepped out of the trees. If you look closely toward the right-middle of the photo you can see a couple of the sandhill cranes that were the source of the eerie forest sounds.

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So why is this called "Swan Lake" when the cranes were the most noticeable inhabitants?

Ah, I see.

There's a nest out there too! The white blob is one of the parents:

I circled the chicks, as that image an enlargement that lacks much detail. I didn't get good shots with the still camera of these little guys, but I believe I got some nice video -- but I haven't started plowing through the videos yet. So much editing to do...

So where's this expansive view I mentioned earlier? Here it is in two parts:

(If you don't click to enlarge these, you're really missing out.) The north end of the lake is water lily filled:

The south side seems to be more marshy, and that's where the cranes were hanging out.

As wonderful as it was to sit here and enjoy the sounds of the cranes who would call every once in a while, groups of hikers kept arriving and leaving, dispelling the magic of this place. (Hey, I understand the importance of chatter while moving through the forest to make the bears aware, but when you reach a destination there's no need to keep talking -- let yourself and others enjoy Nature, okay?)

We were also eager to get back to camp as we were tired and dirty, so we reluctantly left this spot.

Soon we came to more hot, dry areas:

My favorite thing about this hike is that there was so much to see, such variety!

I took lots of photos of the plants in the dry parts of this hike with the idea of posting about the colors, but I'm not really happy with the way most of the shots came out -- the lighting was so harsh! So this is probably the last post from Grand Teton National Park -- in the morning we headed out for a long day of driving across Wyoming to our next destination...

...which I won't even hint at. (wink, wink)

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