On Thursday, our plan had been to get up and out the door by 6 a.m. so that we could take photos of the Teton mountain range at sunrise from Oxbow Bend Overlook, which was about an hour away.
But when Greg’s alarm went off at 5:30, he admitted that he would rather go back to bed instead. The hike around Jenny Lake had wiped us both out. Consequently, we decided to relax for the morning. There was nothing in the park that we felt a strong need to see by this point.
In the afternoon, we headed to Signal Mountain Lodge because we had tickets for a rafting trip down the Snake River.
On the way, we stopped to take a few more photos of the Teton mountains.
More plein air painters! These weren’t even the last ones we saw. So jealous!
Signal Mountain Lodge is beautiful. The lobby area has a huge picture window overlooking the Teton mountain range and Jackson Lake.
The rafting trip didn’t start until 4:30, so I knew that we would not be getting great photos of the Teton mountains. It is simply impossible to get good photos of them in the afternoon because of the direction of the sun.
But I love any opportunity to get on the water, so off we went.
It did not disappoint.
Our guide, Joe, reminded me a lot of Scott. He was incredibly knowledgeable.
Some of the wildlife we saw on our rafting trip included deer, a red fox, a hawk, a beaver, lots of merganser ducks, and eagles.
Those two dots in the tall tree on the left are a pair of bald eagles.This was the third bald eagle we saw on our boat trip.Sunset over the Teton MountainsThe silhouette of the mountains as we were driving back to the campground
The Night Sky
Since the park gets very dark at night, and it was a crescent moon, we decided to go back out and see if we could get some photos of the Milky Way.
This is the best I was able to accomplish with my cell phone.
On our way into the park on Wednesday, we encountered another gaggle of cars, which we instantly knew meant there was wildlife to see.
It turned out to be a bull moose, who was feeling trapped by all the tourists. He kept darting one way and then another, trying to find some way past all the people. He finally managed to dash across the street into a field.
Our first stop of the day was Schwabacher Landing, which is a popular location for taking photographs of the Teton mountains.
Maybe we got there too late in the morning, but I did not like any of the photos I took. The mountains looked like cardboard cutouts, and they were overshadowed by the foreground.
Jenny Lake
Next, we headed to Jenny Lake. We purchased tickets for the ferry ride across the lake, where we hiked to Hidden Falls.
My photos of the falls turned out terribly, but I managed to capture a photo of this artist painting the falls en plein air. He was painting in oils and was quite good. I was kind of jealous, to be honest.
After Hidden Falls, we continued our hike up to Inspiration Point.
Yes, I actually climbed up the side of that rock cliff!
Coming down was another story. At one point, I sat down because I was so terrified. Some gentleman at the bottom offered to come up and assist me, but I managed to complete it by myself. Yay!
The size of the ferry boat on the lake in the photo below should give you an idea of how high up we were. The sign Greg is standing behind says Inspiration Point el. 7200 ft.
After climbing down from Inspiration Point, we chose to hike around the lake rather than take the ferry boat back.
Another hiker asked if she could join us on the hike back since she was worried about encountering a bear on her own.
On the hike back to the Jenny Lake visitor center, we got to see another moose. Unfortunately, he was shy and didn’t want to have his picture taken.
Shortly after that, someone else we encountered on the trail told us that they had seen a moose at Moose Pond, so we took a short detour to check that out.
It was a beautiful day for a hike, but by the time we finally got back to the Jenny Lake visitor center, we were beat. Greg said he was more tired from that hike than he had been from any other hike we’ve ever taken.
Scenic Boat Tour
Back at the car, we inhaled our lunch (it was 3:00 p.m. by this point). Then we decided to head over to Jackson Lake Lodge to see whether we could buy tickets for a scenic boat tour.
The girl at the concierge desk told us that the very last scenic boat tour for the season was leaving at 5:15. We booked our tickets and then headed to the bar to relax until it was time to head to the marina.
Five-fifteen is a terrible time to take a scenic boat tour if the goal is to get lovely photos of the Teton mountains rising over the water. The first 45 minutes of the tour involved traveling directly into the sun, which made taking photos of the mountains impossible. By the time the boat captain finally turned around to head back to the marina, the sun was setting behind the mountains, leaving them in shadow.
Despite that, I did enjoy the tour, and I learned a lot. Our tour guide was delightful.
Sunset
Since the sun was setting when we arrived back at the marina, Greg and I quickly hopped in the car and headed to another popular spot for taking photos of the mountains.
It was a beautiful sunset, but I don’t feel like I got very good photos of it.
I love all of the beautiful fall colors in the foreground of this photo. Fall has definitely come to the Tetons!
We encountered another traffic jam on the way back to the campground. This time it was a herd of bison on the side of the road.
When we finally arrived back at the campground at 9:00 p.m., we promptly collapsed into bed.
I had a rough start to the morning. When I woke at 4:30 a.m., it was 57° in the camper, which might explain why I had been freezing for the previous two hours. We had run out of propane in the middle of the night.
Anyway…
We were on the road to the national park at 6:45 a.m. to see if we could catch the sunrise.
We didn’t quite make it, but we came close.
We decided to drive the loop road around the park to see if we could get our bearings. We were finding the park maps difficult to understand, and the ranger at the visitor center last night was not terribly helpful either.
We figured a lap around the park would give us a better idea of what we would like to go back and spend more time on.
The Loop Road
Grand Teton National Park is a very different park from Yellowstone. As far as I can tell after one day’s experience, the loop road is all about scenic overlooks of the Teton Mountains.
Beyond that, there are many hiking trails, opportunities for float tours down the Snake River, horseback riding, and a multi-use trail for biking or walking.
Mormon Row
One of the most popular things to do at sunrise in Grand Teton National Park is to take a photo of the barn on Mormon Row.
Yes, I really did take that photo! Even I’m surprised.
We were lucky enough to get there just after sunrise.
We would have spent more time there, but it was absolutely freezing! I hope to go back and explore a little more another day.
Since most of what we did today was take pictures of the Teton Mountains from various overlooks along the loop road, I will post a few of my favorite pictures without giving a blow-by-blow of every stop we made.
What says “Western USA” better than bison and mountains?Jackson Lake Reservoir.Driving down the loop roadGreg, standing out in a field.The sun came and went all day. Mostly, it went.Photo taken from Jenny Lake Overlook.Chapel of the Transfiguration. There is a picture window in this chapel, right behind the pulpit. It looks out on a beautiful view of the Teton Mountains. Unfortunately, it was hard to photograph.Jackson Lake Lodge. The view of the Teton Mountains from the windows was spectacular. Greg and I relaxed with muffins and coffee while enjoying the view.
Greg was a man on a mission today, and that mission was to get to our campground in Jackson as quickly as possible.
As a result, any photos I wanted to take had to be done from the car’s windows, because he was not stopping, despite the breathtaking views and ample pullouts for just that purpose.
I can tell you that the Snake River is a beautiful river. I just can’t prove it with pictures.
However…
I did manage to snap a few photos of the Palisades Reservoir, which is fed by the Snake River. So here are those:
I finally realized why so many of my car photos look underdeveloped. It’s the tinted windows. See those weird ridges in the soil (rock?) below the line of vegetation? I have no idea why it’s like that, but I think it’s cool.More weird ridges The water level seemed to be really low.
After we arrived at the campground, we headed into Grand Teton National Park to pick up some information at the visitor center.
Meanderings & Mind Munchies 