Winter Adventures in Grand Teton

Most visitors to Grand Teton National Park arrive in the summer and early fall when clear trails draw hikers into deep canyons, and up to colorful wildflower meadows and high passes for close-up views of  craggy peaks. Lakes beckon sweaty hikers to cool off in their sparkling waters. And there is always the possibility of encountering wildlife, from large animals such as bears and moose to adorable and charismatic pica and marmots.

Winter offers a completely different kind of magic: snow everywhere, sparkling fairy tale scenes, and an enveloping quiet.

This year we appreciated winter in the Tetons more than ever by making cross country ski excursions throughout the park. Views of this iconic mountain range never get old!

At the northern end of the park Mount Moran dominates. 

If you are interested in your own trip, the park road from Taggart Lake Trailhead is a good starting point. Grand Teton National Park Foundation generously funds regular grooming of this road for classic and skate skiers all the way up to Signal Mountain. Here is a view from just north of the parking area.

More advanced skiers may want to venture beyond the groomed tracks. Make sure you are well prepared and good at route finding though!

Keep in mind that while bears are hibernating, you may still encounter other wildlife.

You might also come across old cabins, most of which pre-date establishment of the park. As far as I know, they are all closed in the winter, and like wildlife, they should be respected and left undisturbed.

My fascination with log cabins clearly extends to quilting. Log cabin quilts are among my favorites and my most recent quilt top finish is a log cabin.

Making it out of what happened to be available - in this case lots of scraps - seems very appropriate since real log cabins were made the same way - using the wood that was available nearby. In this case the scraps came from other quilts I've made over the years and from bits and pieces in a seemingly bottomless box of vintage fabrics that I acquired years ago at the Austin Area Quilt Guild Show. 

I started out randomly picking fabrics for each block but eventually switched to working with one color family per block so it ended up being a crazy mash up of color. At least the pattern is clear due to consistency in color values. The idea for the peaks and valleys border came from Rachel Hauser at Stitched in Color.

It was very satisfying to use up so many disparate scraps. Now to get it quilted.