Friends, River and Mountain Goats

Another favorite location of ours is the area between the Hobart Junction south of Jackson, to Alpine which is a nice town about 20 miles from Jackson. The Snake River runs through this valley and it is the location for the white water rafting trip that we take each year. Our plan was to stop first at the KOA Campground just before the junction to visit some friends we made during the spring training season this year. Roxie and Terry Austett worked with us in the stand (as cashiers) and they have been fixtures at this KOA for several years. They have been here at the campground since April 7 this year and have seen lots of snow while preparing their park for the season. Here is a shot of Roxie and Terry:

This KOA has been eliminating RV spaces in favor of cabins for the last several years. They are down to about 22 spaces and have these neat cabins that Terry helps build each year:

We had a nice visit with them and will most likely see them off and on all summer.

One of the main reasons for taking this drive yesterday was to see how much the snow run-off has affected the Snake River so far this year. The water was running high and fast, and there were actually rafters on the water. They are most likely crews taking a training float before the start of the season, but they were certainly challenged. Here are some shots of the River and the "floaters":

As we were traveling along the River toward Alpine, Josie suddenly yelled out "stop, stop, stop" as she spotted a family of mountain goats along the side of the road. We have never seen this particular group, but they were nonchalantly grazing on the side of the road with the traffic just whizzing by:

 

and this one, that was sitting on a boulder about 20 feet off the road:

The one sitting on the boulder looked like he was tagged, but was the only one that had a visible (red) tag.

The drive was definitely worth the time. We have really enjoyed our free time before our work schedule begins today. We start at 3 PM for our first shift of the first day of the new season...