The Great Moose Hunt 09/25/20

Today we are on a mission. We have seen buffalo and elk. Now our plans are to find a moose and a wolf. We will also find the T.A. Moulton Barn. The barn is located on Antelope Flat Road just pass Moose Junction. Photographers from around the world and Alabama stop by the barn to capture this iconic historic structure with the Teton range in the background.

The Mormon migrants were sent from Salt Lake City to this area to establish a new community. They arrived here in 1890 and established 27 homesteads. The homes were in close proximity to each other to share labor and community. The original community name was Grovont. It is now known as Mormon Row. The settlers built a number of levees and ditches from the nearby Gros Ventre River. Water from these canals was used for irrigation, and water still flows from some of these ditches today. It was not until 1950 that electricity was brought to this area. By then most of the residents had moved away after selling their property for the expansion of the Teton National Park. The larger Mormon Row district has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mormon Row is about 5 miles from our condo. As we were driving along the Gros Ventre River, we saw 2 moose, an adult female and her calf. We stopped and watched them graze along the riverbank. We took about a dozen pictures and turned on Mormon Row Road. We had gone about 1/2 mile and there was a herd of buffalo to our left. We saw a fascinating sight. Two big bulls were having a knock down drag out fight. They were head to head, butting, and pushing each other back and forth. A third buffalo cow walked up to the fight. I guess she was waiting to see who the winner was. While this was going on, the herd started to stampede. We were trying to watch the fight and the stampede at the same time. It was like watching a National Geographic video. I have never seen anything like it. When the stampede ended and the fight was over, we continued. As I started off, an antelope came out of the bushes to our left and ran in front of our car. (photo op)

The barn was next. After taking our on iconic pictures of the T.A. Moulton Barn, we continued our tour of the National Park.

We had a great ride around Jenny Lake and drove to the top of Signal Mountain. On our way to Signal Mountain, a wolf came out along side the road. (photo op) We then stopped at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, located on Jackson Lake, and had a lakeside picnic prepared by Linda and Amanda. We checked several boxes today. Tomorrow our day will begin at 10:00 A.M. We have the SEC Network and will start with Auburn and finish with Alabama tomorrow night, with Texas Tech in between.