Island Park

This may be the last "trip" post for a while. We have the week off for potato harvest, but instead of the lovely weather we've been having (70s and low 80s), there is a huge storm front coming in that's supposed to plunge the temperatures to below normal. Uh, yay. So this weekend (when everyone was vomiting), it was 81. Today's high was around 70. And tomorrow is to be in the 60s, on down until Friday night, when there's a chance of rain and SNOW. My boys, BTW, are supposed to go camping that night. Fun, huh?

Anyway, this was the one day to go anywhere if we wanted to, so we went up to Island Park, which is on the way to Yellowstone. There are a couple of state parks up there that we haven't seen yet, and I hoped to do a little hiking at Harriman, but there was a large storm once we got there. I don't mind rain, but I'm sorry, there IS no appropriate clothing for lightning.* So the one thing we did get to do was check out the Johnny Sack cabin, which is a little cabin and water mill built by a little German immigrant who, for reasons unknown, decided to settle in this place that is serious winter 3/4 of the year. It's also on the site where an underground spring starts Henry's Fork of the Snake River, so that was interesting to see. Above is the river, where we were mobbed by ducks (below) and where we saw some seriously huge trout! (also below)





Here's the house and mill Herr Sack built. I'm assuming he was good at surviving on his own, because this place is pretty remote, even when it's not covered in snow!







We had a nice time, and went home via the loop by Mesa Falls (where we went Friday). Again, too much rain and lightning to stop, but we did outrun the storm long enough to get out at Warm River at the bottom and peer over the bridge. And, we saw a muskrat! I'd never seen one before.



Cute, isn't he? I wonder if people stop and feed him or something, because he was just as curious about us as we were about him.

Happy fall, everyone! I hope yours lasts longer than ours...


*The Germans have a saying that claims, "There is no such thing as inappropriate weather--only inappropriate clothing." But I notice that Germany is not prone to tornadoes, hurricanes, -20 F weather, and Santa Ana winds. I'm thinking that statement needs just a little modification when it comes to North America.