Grand Teton National Park is one of the places you say to yourself this is beautiful and I need to come back. The beauty of the mountains is something that is hard to describe. I was fortunate enough to have snow the day I arrived, or maybe not fortunate, but the mountains had plenty of snow at the tops. All this snow enabled some photos that show the beauty of the mountains. Another great thing in the park is bear 399. 399 is 28 years old I am told and this year she and her yearling cub were making their rounds of the Colter Bay – Jackson Lake areas. Being one to not pass up an opportunity to photograph a bear let alone 399, I took to seeking her and her cub out when I arrived. The bear gods were with me and I was able to see her on my drive to my campsite at Colter Bay. She was walking about 100 yards from the road parallel to the road, and about 200 photographers/watchers of her. While walking to the East everyone would shift to get the better “view/shot” of the famous bear. She then decided she wanted to cross the road. Well crossing the road meant that she was coming directly at the group of photographers/viewers. The park has a group of volunteers who help with wildlife management, keep people away from the bears and other animals. These volunteers have a tough job in keeping the public, animals and themselves safe in this crazy environment. Well 399 coming towards the crowd meant that she was within 10 yards of the photographers/viewers and that is WAY WAY close to a bear and they were telling everyone to go to their cars and get away from the bear. Additionally, they had to get some people to move their cars allowing 399 and her cub to cross the road. This is when it got funny for me as a lady with a prime lease, tripod and expensive camera just laid them down in the gravel and took off at a sprint towards to bear taking a camera off her hip. I have to say this is not the first time for this lady to do something like this or she practiced at home. I thought to myself, WTF, the wildlife management team is saying get away and she is dropping thousands of dollars of gear and sprinting towards the bear. Oh well hope she got the shot she wanted.
With a first day as eventful as the one I had to get to the Tetons due to snow the rest of the trip was going to be great. Since the snow was coming down hard on my first day in the park and the Yellowstone South entrance closed, the Teton Pass was the way for me to get to the park. It was snowing and plows were working and I made it to the park. There was a fella who was skiing at the pass and once he got to his stopping point was then hitchhiking back to the top. What some people will do for a good time.
Day two of my journey was in search of the elusive moose. I say elusive as I tried three different places over the course of 5 days and did not see one. The moose gods were not shining fairly on me this trip but Oh well. I did make two different journeys to Mormon Row in search of the perfect photo of the barn with the mountains in the background. I was at one of the two barns for two hours and it seemed there was always a cloud over the tops of the mountains. Clouds did not sway me from taking a few hundred shots to try and get the one that is a Whoa! None of the shots were whoa but there were a few good ones. Good thing I had a few more days to try again.
After a few days of cloudy cold conditions, the weather turned to bright and sunny! I took the opportunity to try and take a reflection of the Teton mountains on lake Jackson. The photo is not bad and not good, I have to get better in my skills to say that it is a great photograph. I also was able to go back to Mormon Row and get some additional photos of the barns with the entire mountains in the background sans clouds covering the top.
Along the way, I did find many cool places to photograph wildlife. In the days at the park, I got two black bears (one black and one cinnamon), three sightings of 399 and her cub, another grizzly, prong horns, elk, swans, fox and various types of ducks. NO moose however was in my photo arsenal this trip. The hunt for the moose and other interesting animals and landscape was something that filled my heart with joy. Did I hike Jenny lake, or any other hike for that matter, no but I did walk around looking for the photos.
They just did another Public TV special about Bear 399, she’s so famous!! ❤️ Your pictures are amazing! Grand Teton is definitely worth a second trip. Thanks for sharing!
Jenny, she is 28 years old and that is very old for a bear. She moves quite well however and it is hard to keep up with her. I have been to the Tetons 3 times and want to go back when there is more snow on the ground.