Wildlife
Jackson Hole Wildlife, Part 6: Moose
Welcome back to our Wildlife of Jackson Hole series! This is the sixth installment, which basically makes it a very antler-heavy Return of the Jedi.* Today: moose! A bull moose surveys his dominion. Latin name: Alces alces How big are they? Moose are the largest members of the deer family, weighing up to 1200 pounds. To sustain their bulk, they have to eat about 75 pounds of plants a day in the summer and 35 in the winter. So how big are those antlers, th...
Read More
Jackson Hole Wildlife, Part 5: Elk
Welcome to the next installment of our wildly (get it?) popular series Wildlife of Jackson Hole! This week’s entry has a special place in our Flat Creek hearts, since they live in a giant refuge right across the street from us: the elk! The mighty elk. LATIN NAME: Cervus elaphus What’s an elk’s social life like? Elk are social animals and live in large herds, as we in Jackson can attest. Herds can range up to 200 or even 400 members—or, if they’re the Jackson...
Read More
Jackson Hole Wildlife, Part 4: Pronghorn
One of our most popular blog series from last year, Jackson Hole Wildlife, returns this week with one Jackson’s most common animals: the antelope! You may see them out on the elk refuge, or you might be planning to hunt them later this year. However you’ve encountered them, let’s find out more about the antelope. "When we die, our bodies become the grass. And the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life." —Mufasa Latin name: Ant...
Read More
Calling All Elk Enthusiasts!
The Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City has a special exhibit going on right now called Yellowstone: Invisible Boundaries. This exhibit is all about elk, and it will run until September 15th, 2019. We, here at the Flat Creek Inn, have a special interest in elk because our motel is right across the street from a National Elk Refuge! So we happen to see a lot of elk during some parts of the year. A few of us went to the Yellowstone Exhibit and we were really impressed. T...
Read More
My Yellowstone WOW Moments
Yellowstone is one of the most otherworldly places I’ve ever been to. I don’t know of any place that has such a high concentration of contrasting and breathtaking features. When I see a feature that really takes my breath away, I call it a "WOW" moment. Visiting a different year or a different season might provide completely different WOW moments. This year, we visited Yellowstone in October and my WOW moments included: the wildlife, the Canyon and waterfalls, and the paintpots. In this...
Read More