The Big Trip 9.7.20 - 9.23.20, Part 8 of 9: The Tetons
The drive south out of Yellowstone and along the Tetons to Jackson was gorgeous. Though not at their peak, tons of aspens were turning yellow. Leaves were on the ground and autumn was in the air. Well, it might have been in the air but you wouldn’t know it because of the smoky haze. All I could do was focus on the hope of the best case scenario in the forecast. The night we were arriving it was supposed to rain and with any luck the rain would knock down the smoke and then clear off, leaving me with clearer skies to work with. But as we drove along Highway 191 along the Teton Range, it was hard not to be discouraged. I could see the Tetons but only enough to give them a sense of scale.
The Grand Teton from Snake River Overlook
We stayed at an RV campground that was converting to glamping in tiny houses (cute but pricey) on the south end of the Moose-Wilson Road. It was conveniently located because Dana and Bob had friends who lived just south of there that they planned to spend Saturday with and it wasn’t too far for me to drive to my sunrise locations. Since I was pretty sure it would be raining and/or at least cloudy in the morning, Bridgit and I made other early morning plans. We left the RV at 6:30AM and drove north on the Moose-Wilson Road. This road is particularly known for wildlife sightings and sure enough, we saw a black bear, my first moose ever, elk and pronghorn. It was pretty cloudy and drizzly so we just took our time and drove up to Moose Junction where we took the Teton Park Road past the Taggart Lake Trailhead (and one that I hoped to hike with Bridgit on this trip), around the Jenny Lake area and up to Jackson Lake Junction where we continued north on 191 to Colter Bay. There we got coffee and breakfast before driving back down to our campground. Along the way we drove down a little side road to a place called Schwabacher’s Landing. This was the number one choice where I wanted to shoot sunrise from. At any time of year and especially in the fall with the changing colors, this place can see quite literally hundreds of photographers lined up along the banks of the Snake River and the side channels dammed up by beavers to make perfect reflections of the Tetons. Moose often linger here in the early mornings nibbling on the willows. I got out in the rain and walked up and down the bank. It seemed like the trees across partially blocked the view but I couldn’t really tell because it was too cloudy to see where the Tetons rose. Just up the dirt road a quarter mile was another pullout and it had a trail that led to the bank with what I thought looked like a much broader view of the mountains so I decided that would be my spot.
Tetons in the rain clouds
Just a few feet from our entrance there was a car jam so I hopped out with my camera and there was a huge bull moose sitting in the grass.
Bull moose
Back at the RV, it was time to let Bridgit run wild. We changed into our city duds and drove back into Jackson for an afternoon of shopping and dining. We had a really fun time and a nice meal on a restaurant patio before heading back to the RV for the night.
Town square, Jackson, Wyoming
Bridgit schmoozing Benjamin
By the time we went to bed the forecast for the next day was that it might be clear or clearing up early in the morning. That was enough for me to set my alarm for 3:15AM. My dear wife was having a ball on this entire trip and opted to get up and go with me. We arrived in the black of night at 4AM. Sunrise wasn’t until 7:08AM. There were three cars in the lower lot and I was the first car in the upper lot. I watched over twenty cars come down the road and continue to the lower lot but the first car to come down my way wasn’t until almost 6:30AM. A perky twenty-something woman popped out of her car. She was a pro meeting a couple here for a proposal shoot and she scampered down the trail to get her spot. There was no way I was going to go down into grizzly infested marshes alone but when she went down there I summoned my courageous knight bravery and headed down as well. As it got lighter I could see that heavy clouds still obscured the peaks. We stayed for a couple of hours, taking a lovely walk down along the beaver ponds towards the main river channel. From time to time we would get a glimmer of hope that it was clearing but the mountains never really came out to play.
The beaver ponds
Beaver dam
Maybe?
After a couple of futile hours we decided to drive back up towards Colter Bay to see what there was to see. Now the forecast made it sound like it would clear off by around one o’clock. We got some coffees and drove a little ways back to Oxbow Bend. This was my second choice of where to shoot a sunrise with the classic view of Mount Moran reflected in the still waters of the bend and golden aspens lining the banks. Well for starters, clouds hid any mountains. The aspens along this stretch had barely started turning and were a week or two from peak color. It was getting sunny and warm so we decided to just wait for two or three hours here to see if the clouds would break. They didn’t. It was still a very nice spot and I wandered up and down along the water’s edge to take some photos while we waited.
Oxbow Bend
These will all turn brilliant yellow
Black Cormorant at Oxbow Bend
Mountains starting to show
By one it was still pretty cloudy, so defeated we drove back to the campground. I had been stymied by smoke and weather for five straight days and in what I had expected to be the highlight of the trip, I had yet to see a nice day in Jackson Hole. We had to leave in the morning. I only had one more chance to shoot a sunrise and still get back in time for a long day of driving. Would I get lucky? See the conclusion in Part 9.