31 January 2016 - Jackson Hole Ski Trip

This week Phil and I took a short trip to ski at Jackson Hole. Here is a view of the mountain from the parking lot.

Our first trip up the mountain was more than 4,000 vertical feet up the tram.

Packed inside the tram like sardines.

At the top, at nearly 10,500 feet, the wind was whipping icy cold and visibility was very low. We made our way down patiently, but spent most of the rest of the day skiing below 9,000 feet.

Cutting up a little snow.

On the way home from Jackson, we encountered two large herds of elk. The dark line across the middle of this photo is made up completely of elk. Click on it to zoom in. There were some spectacular elk in these herds.

The roads were snow packed through Wyoming on the drive back. The scenery was fabulous, so we didn't mind the low speeds heading home.

In Afton, WY, a new temple is under construction. This is the Star Valley temple. I'm guessing it should be finished later this year.

Star Valley is where my mom grew up. Her parents owned a ranch at the south end of the valley in Smoot. Although my grandparents eventually retired to Provo, Star Valley was always their home. When they died, we took them back to Smoot Cemetery for burial. This was as close as we could get to visiting their graves after heavy snows fell during our trip.

Here is the Lancaster home on the south side of Smoot. The house has been abandoned for many years -- as long as I can remember. But I always like to watch for it each time I visit Star Valley. This time, with deep snow blanketing the valley, it conjured visions of my grandpa hitching his sleigh team and driving through the drifts to check on his cows, or to fulfill one of the callings he held in the church over many years, including serving as bishop of the Smoot Ward and High Councilor in the Star Valley Stake.

As we continued on home, we took the road through Logan Canyon, a place I've loved since I lived in Logan during my freshman year of college. The canyon was beautiful, teeming with the freshly falling snow. Logan had received over a foot of new snow, and the temple stood out in sharp contrast to the blanket of white.

It was a brilliant, if short, trip into the mountains and back.