TetonHikingTrails.com Adds 12 Hikes From Yellowstone National Park

As mentioned a few weeks ago, my wife and I visited both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park last month. In addition to the two hikes from Grand Teton we added to our website, TetonHikingTrails.com, we have also added 12 new hikes from Yellowstone National Park (which reside on our Other Wyoming Hikes directory). They are as follows:

  * North Rim Trail

  * Avalanche Peak

  * Bunsen Peak - Osprey Falls Loop

  * South Rim - Clear Lake Loop

  * Osprey Falls

  * Bunsen Peak

  * Mystic Falls

  * Yellowstone Lake Overlook

  * Trout Lake

  * Lamar River Trail

  * Grand Prismatic Overlook

  * Cascade Lake





Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

Ramble On: A History of Hiking
Exploring Glacier National Park
Exploring Grand Teton National Park

TetonHikingTrails.com Adds Two New Hikes

As mentioned a few weeks ago, my wife and I visited Grand Teton National Park last month. As a result of that trip we were able to add two new hikes to our website, TetonHikingTrails.com. These two highly scenic hikes are:

Surprise Lake: 

  Schwabacher Landing Trail:

Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

Ramble On: A History of Hiking
Exploring Glacier National Park
Exploring Grand Teton National Park

Yellowstone releases trumpeter swans to restore population

On Saturday, September 19, staff from Yellowstone National Park, the Wyoming Wetlands Society, and Ricketts Conservation Fund released eight young trumpeter swans (cygnets) at Alum Creek in Hayden Valley.

This release is part of an ongoing restoration project to increase territorial pairs of swans which have undergone a decades-long decline in the park. From a high of over 60 birds and 17 territorial pairs in the early 1960s, to only four birds in 2009 and 2010, the swan population has declined for a variety of reasons. Researchers are collecting population data such as nest success, number of territorial pairs, and the number of cygnets produced each year. This data may help determine the reasons for the decline.

Recent releases and other restoration efforts have bolstered the population to over 20 birds and five territorial pairs, including natural reproduction in some years.

The effort is a public/private partnership between the National Park Service, Wyoming Wetlands Society, Ricketts Conservation Fund, and Montana State University. Joe Ricketts, founder of Ricketts Conservation Fund, participated in the recent cygnet release. His fund also supports other avian conservation efforts in the region, including common loons and Clark’s nutcrackers.







Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

Ramble On: A History of Hiking
Exploring Glacier National Park
Exploring Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton Breaks Visitation Record for the Month of September

Grand Teton National Park hosted an estimated 603,789 recreation visits in September 2020, a 17% increase compared to September 2019. Park statistics show that September 2020 saw the highest number of recreation visits on record for the month of September. More data on National Park Service visitor-use statistics is available at irma.nps.gov/STATS/.

The list below shows the September trend for recreation visits over the last several years:

2020—603,789
2019—517,265
2018—558,788
2017—482,661
2016—492,451


In general, hiking use in the park increased approximately 54%, camping in concession-operated campgrounds increased 24% and backcountry camping increased 79% in September 2020 compared to September 2019.

These numbers come as no surprise. We were in the park for a week during the middle of the month, and I came away thinking that the crowds were out of control. There were lines to get into the park just after 7 am each morning, and the parking areas at trailheads were filling-up not long afterwards. Almost everyday we drove past the Jenny Lake and Taggart Lake trailheads. Not only were the entire parking areas full, but there were vehicles parked on both sides of the road - for at least a quarter of a mile before and after the turn into those parking areas. After returning from our hike in the Laurence Rockefeller Reserve there was a line of cars waiting for a parking spot - likely a 30 to 60 minute wait for the cars at the back of the line. On our last day Lupine Meadows (the trailhead for Amphitheatre Lake, etc..) was filled with almost a hundred cars after we finished our hike. This was totally unexpected given how hard the hikes are from that trailhead.

Obviously Covid has disrupted travel patterns this year.




Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

Ramble On: A History of Hiking
Exploring Glacier National Park
Exploring Grand Teton National Park

The "Air Ambulance Jet Suit"

A few weeks ago I saw a post on Twitter about an "air ambulance jet suit" being tested in the Lake District of northern England. If this invention is proven to be viable, it could mean that a paramedic could "fly" to an injured hiker or climber in difficult terrain (think Grand Canyon) in a matter of minutes, rather than taking hours or more on foot. If this is the case, it could mean the difference between life and death for some accident victims.

Here's a clip from CBS News showing footage from the test:











Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

Ramble On: A History of Hiking
Exploring Glacier National Park
Exploring Grand Teton National Park