Click on the map to enlarge it. About This Site Planning Your Trip -- Detailed Expanations Old Faithful & the Geothermal Areas Yellowstone Lake Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Mammoth Hot Springs Wildlife Safari in the Lamar Valley Grand Teton National Park Float Down The Snake River The Grand Teton Wildlife Safari The Eagle Chases An Osprey Wild Flowers, Berries and Trees This travelogue is one family's experience in Yellowstone. To see a photo in a 1024 x 681 size, just click on it. We hope you enjoy the record of our journey, and that you get to experience your own. Note: Stock photos of these and many other images with reproduction rights are available in their original 3008 x 2000 size. We also have a screen saver. Click here for more information. The Snake River runs for 1,040 miles through Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and is considered a major trubutary to the Columbia River. The Snake originates in the south of Yellowstone National Park and winds its way south through the Grand Teton National Park down through Jackson and then turns west through Idaho and north through Oregon and Washington. One of the absolute must-dos when you visit the park is to take a float trip down the Snake either as part of a fishing trip or as a nature-viewing trip. Numerous companies run tours, including a few that run combined float and white-water rapids trips. These, however, take place south of Jackson outside of the park. We took one in the park offered at the Jackson Lake Lodge. Here's the intrepid vessel that we floated in, along with one of our guides. Because the Snake flows so quickly, we needed to wear flotation cushions even though it is only a few feet deep. Our guide said that it would knock us off our feet if we fell in, so we needed something to help us float on our backs as we maneuvered to the shore or for our fellow passengers to grab onto to haul us back into the pontoon boat, which, incidentally, was modeled after the pontoons used by the Army Corp of Engineers in World War II to build bridges that floated on rivers to allow troops and materials to cross. You can see how the Snake River twists as it winds through Grand Teton National Park. The beautiful scenic river with the Grand Tetons in the background made for a fabulous afternoon. The Snake River got its name because it does exactly that. It is not a river that runs straight and deep. At this part of the river, which is near its beginning point, it's shallow and twists and turns swiftly through the countryside. It's fast enough to let us float about 10 miles in a couple of hours as we see the flora and fauna that we pass by. Since we took an afternoon float, we didn't get to see any of the large mammals, but we did see a few birds here and there, including this osprey sitting in a tree. Our guide explained to us that the osprey is known as the "fishing hawk" because it has polarized eyes that reduce glare, and can dive several feet below the surface to catch a fish. It also has talons that rotate to allow it to orient the fish so that it is parallel to its line of flight. The osprey is so efficient, said our guide, that it catches a fish about 70 percent of the time it dives. The story of the osprey continues with its natural enemy, the bald eagle. Ironically, it turns out that our national symbol of freedom is actually something of a lazy thief. In fact, Ben Franklin didn't want us to lionize the bald eagle because of its wastrel ways. The bald eagle is a comparatively poor fisher, so instead of trying harder, it will wait for an osprey to catch a fish and then try to steal it from the osprey. While we didn't see this during our float trip, Teresa and I were at a small adjacent river two days later on a wildlife safari, and I looked up and saw an eagle chasing an osprey. While multiple shots of the chase are on the safari page, this shot is the best one that shows the eagle chasing the osprey. If you look closely, you can even see the fish in its talons. The banks of the Snake are not very compacted and are subject to substantial erosion. Quite literally, trees will fall over and can grow sideways or also fall into the river. This shot is of a pine tree growing sideways. It's a common site as you float down the river. Another common site on the Snake River are trees that fall into the river and get lodged at its various twists and turns, which can often create a hazard for the guides operating to pontoon boats. This series of trees all fell from the banks of the Snake River in the Spring run-off and now have formed a phalanx of barriers on the river. Fortunately, we were able to maneuver around them in a small channel to their left. One of the river's more interesting inhabitants in the summer are tiny swallows that build their nests by borrowing into the sides of the river bank. The little holes that you see in the bank are swallow nests. What would a river be without ducks? Here's a momma duck and her newly-born brood marching in step near the shore. Click here for the wildlife safari.>

© 2009 by Stephen Caswell. All Rights Reserved.