Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

2011. Our next destination was Antelope Flats Road so we could see Mormon Row. Some of the most famous and picturesque wooden cabins and farm buildings lay north of Antelope Flats Road, but Mormon Row proper, which lay to the south, also had structures of architectural note. All the best structures lay west of the road on the floor of the flat Snake River Valley. When we looked at them from the road, the Tetons were in the middle distance, thereby providing the perfect backdrop. In the valley itself, the Mormons had dug irrigation ditches about a century ago to carry water from the Snake River tributaries to the crops in their fields. The ditches still carried water.

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Visibility was outstanding. Puffs of white cloud progressed slowly across the blue sky. Wild flowers and butterflies were almost everywhere.

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Because Mormon Row was strung along a dirt and gravel road, it was quite easy to imagine what Snake River Valley looked like when pioneers, Mormon or otherwise, settled in the area in the 19th century. The road beside Mormon Row led to an asphalt road to the south, and the asphalt road led to the small settlement of Kelly. We drove north from Kelly and, after a few miles, rejoined Antelope Flats Road. Our circuit took us across gently undulating prairie where the grass fed elk, pronghorn deer and bison. One herd of bison comprised of about 50 bulls, females and calves. In all, we saw three herds of pronghorn deer. One herd of pronghorns had about 40 adults and fawns. A smaller herd of about 20 jumped a fence and, between passing cars, crossed the road in small groups.

2014. We next drove to Mormon Row. Mormon Row comprised of old buildings, most of which were wooden. They lay just to the west of a dirt and gravel road. When we stood on the road and faced west with the buildings in the foreground, the Tetons looked their very best. Thus positioned, we secured the views that were the most popular ones with people passing through the area.

We had visited Mormon Row three years earlier, but, because of the early morning light and experimenting with angles, a lot of new views opened up, although it was impossible to resist taking photos of the large old wooden barn that must feature in every collection of shots of the Tetons from Mormon Row.

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row was on Antelope Flats. When the Mormons first settled to farm the land, they dug irrigation ditches to carry water from the nearby creeks to their fields. Some of the irrigation ditches survived, one being in the vicinity of the buildings themselves.

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

We could not resist driving east and then south, thereby making our way back to the main highway through the national park via Kelly and the very pretty Gros Ventre River. It was while we were in the vicinity of Kelly that we saw a large herd of bison.

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Nine Mile Canyon near Price, Utah

We drove the few miles to Price where we took a room in the excellent Legacy Inn, which was beside the railroad and only a ten minute walk from downtown.

After a rest of about half an hour, we drove south-east along Highway 191 to Nine Mile Canyon, an excursion that exceeded our expectations in terms of the scenery (the scenery included desert mountains and dunes littered with cacti and scrub). We also had encounters with archaic, Fremont and Ute rock art (the canyon had the largest concentration of rock art in the US. In some publications, the canyon is described as the longest art gallery in the world) and engaged with a rapidly vanishing rural way of life. Short hikes took us to cliffs covered with rock art or old buildings once lived in by settlers and ranchers. The canyon was much longer than nine miles and the whole journey from Highway 191 was a delight. We were also thrilled to find that the road to the canyon was paved all the way from the south end.

Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

One of the afternoon’s highlights was Cottonwood Glen.

Cottonwood Glen, Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

However, even better was Great Hunt petroglyph panel about 46 miles from the Highway 191 junction east of Wellington.

The Great Hunt panel is one of the most recognisable petroglyph panels in the US. It has featured in numerous publications and is the best-known example of Fremont rock art. Scholars believe it may represent an actual bighorn sheep hunt. Biologists believe it depicts a scene in late November or early December when herds meet for the autumn mating season. It is the only time of the year when the rams, ewes and lambs are together in the same place, as depicted on the panel.

Great Hunt petroglyph, Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

Great Hunt petroglyph, Nine Mile Canyon, Utah