Memories of Grand Teton National Park

My first time visiting Jackson, Wyoming was in November 2001. I was participating in the only nature photography seminar I’ve ever been to. It was a week-long event, and I used my time to explore the nearby Grand Teton National Park. I didn’t return to the region until May-2015, when I got invited to join my friend whose sister had a ‘cabin’ in Jackson. Being that this was Jackson, where the billionaires ran off all the millionaires, this ‘cabin’ was more luxury home than quaint cabin, gated community, H.O.A. and all.

On 2015-05-22, my departure from Jackson Wyoming, took me back through the same drive that I took on May 18th. Even before I crossed into Yellowstone Park from Teton National Park, there were some big game encounters that I missed on the previous drive. Just past Moran Junction, where US-89/US-26 meets US-287, the highway goes past Jackson Lake. There, the road crosses the snake river for the last time and begins its climb into Yellowstone National Park. 

I was on this stretch of road when I met a large group of vehicles pulled over to the side of the road. I could see something large a few hundred yards to the east, and when I stopped, I could see a momma Grizzly and three small cubs grazing at the far end of the roadside meadow. The photographer in me wished the subjects were much closer, but another part of me was glad for the distance. I and the entire group stayed for the better part of an hour enjoying the scene.

I visited the region again in May-2022. My friend and fellow nature loving photographer, Joe Ford, invited me to join him for a week-long adventure in the region with our cameras. Especially interesting to Joe was the opportunity to meet and photograph the most famous of all Grizzly Bears (#399), and her four 2-year-old ‘cubs’. And chase them, we did. We were not alone in our quest. Wherever people sighted or heard rumors of the bears’ whereabouts, cars, trucks, and campers congested the roads, hoping to catch a glimpse of the bear family.

My last two days in Jackson Hole weren’t very productive for megafauna, so my friend Joe Ford indulged my propensity for chasing birds. After striking out on bears, we spent Wednesday at Oxbow Bend and Thursday at Jackson Lake Dam. Both locations rate high for birds, and are also potential places to see Bear #399 in her wanderings.

Jackson Lake is forty square-miles, and the largest of the lakes in the valley. The Snake River drains off the Yellowstone Plateau and into a natural lake that is captured by a man-made dam first constructed in 1911, rebuilt in 1916. Then, in 1989, they raised it to 33 feet to deliver water to farmers in Idaho. As ancient glaciers plowed along and gouged out depressions at the foot of the Grand Teton Range, they left behind the ground-up remnants of the rocks they encountered, as piles of debris that geologists call moraine. Several locations at the base of the Tetons capture water running off the slopes of the mountains, but only Jackson Lake carries the Snake River along its long journey to the Columbia River in the Tri-Cities region of Washington state.

When the Snake River leaves Jackson Lake, it meanders through the wide valley below in long, winding curves. They have named the bend nearest the road “Oxbow Bend.” There is a wide parking area between the road and the river, where folks sometimes gather to wait for Bear #399 and her cubs to walk by. I found it was also a pretty good place to watch birds on the sometimes glassy water of the river passing by.

During these last days of my stay, I captured images of American Beaver, American Wigeon, Bald Eagle, Common Loon, Great Blue Heron, Ring-Billed Gull, American White Pelican, Bank Swallow, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser, and Yellow-Rumped Warbler.

I left Joe in camp Friday morning and headed to Yellowstone, where I booked a space at the Madison Campground for the night. There have been reports of observable wolves in the northwest region of the park. I’d hoped Joe would join me on the tour, but he wasn’t feeling well and remained at our Gros Ventre Campsite (pronounced grow-vont). I’ll miss his company and the good humor we shared.