It's a good day when you can photograph two bull moose. It's a good day when you get a good opportunity to shoot a grizzly bear. It's a great day when you get a bull moose and a grizzly bear in the same frame. Today, was a great day.
The plan was to shoot sunrise at Schwabachers Landing. When we passed Oxbow Bend and saw tripods everywhere, we were concerned we could be in trouble at Schwabachers Landing. We were right. As we approached Schwabachers Landing, we could see the entire parking lot was packed already. We turned around and returned to Snake River Overlook to shoot sunrise. There were only 4 of us. It was just as well, because sunrise was a dud.
After shooting at Snake River Overlook, we headed back toward camp, when we saw a herd of bison crossing a ridge by the highway. They were backlit by the sun and their breath was creating clouds of vapor. By the time we could get turned around, we missed the main herd, but we did get a chance to photograph the stragglers. Shooting against the sun was a struggle, but the clouds of vapor from their breath was cool.
The next planned stop was Elk Ranch Flats. When we drove past on the way to shoot sunrise, a huge herd of bison was right along the road. We hoped they would cross the road and feed on the side with the Tetons as a background. Instead, the bison moved farther away in the opposite direction. Although there were huge herds of bison and at least three groups of pronghorn, they were too far away and toward the sun. Instead, we shot Canadian Geese feeding in the meadow with the Tetons as a backdrop. It wasn't in the plan, but sometimes you have to take what's given to you.
Our final morning stop was Oxbow Bend.
It was nearing 9:00, but the waters of the Snake were absolutely glassy. The lighting was
still fairly good and the aspens around the river were turning
gold. It was sunny, warming up, and gorgeous. We shot for nearly
2 hours at Oxbow Bend before returning to camp for lunch and
a nap.
When we got up, we were going to do some shopping and then head out to find wildlife again. We bought t-shirts at the Colter Bay store and then drove down to the Visitor Center. To our surprise, we discovered that the Jenny Lake shuttle boat was still running for a few more days. That meant we could finally take the shuttle boat across the lake and then hike up Cascade Canyon. To top off our bit of luck, we found a pika stuffed animal. We've been looking for one to add to our motorhome collection, but had pretty much lost hope in finding one.
From the Visitor Center, we drove to Jackson Lodge to check out the gift stores there. We had seen a show on the lodge on the Travel Channel and checked out the patio in the back that butts up against the willow flats. With Jackson Lake filling the middle area between the willow flats and the towering peaks of the Tetons, this would be a great place to shoot sunrise in the future. As we were leaving, we passed the grill and saw the huge hamburgers being carried to some guests. It was tough to pass up the grill, but we had food defrosted in the refrigerator, and we decided to pass. That turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip.
We were going to drive the Inner Park Road, but at the last minute we drove over to Oxbow Bend first. We parked along the river and noticed quite a few cars parked on the back road that leads to the other side of the bend. We drove over and were told there was no wildlife to see. We decided to shoot the aspen reflections in the lake, anyway. As we walked back to the Explorer, we noticed people running along the road. Then, I saw the bear. We ran back to the Explorer to get our long lenses and only got a couple fleeting shots of the grizzly.
We returned to the car and drove back out to the main highway in hopes of getting in front of the bear and letting her come to us. When we got there, the female grizzly was digging for some kind of food in a clearing among the willows. That was already incredibly cool, but then I looked up and saw a bull moose coming into the area from the other side. With all the photographers, I don't think the moose or bear realized the presence of each other until they came face-to-face. That was one of the most amazing things ever! I got images of the moose and the bear checking each other out. In the end, it was a standoff. Both kept their distance and the moose moved away. A few minutes later, a second moose entered the area and showed off his toughness as he tore up the willows with his antlers. Eventually all three of our stars moved in different directions, but for a few minutes we had a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
|
|
To cap off our day, we even had a decent sunset. We stopped at Willow Flats Turnout to see if anything would materialize. Within a few minutes, the sky began to light up, and we shot a fairly good sunset over the Tetons. We had an amazing two hours to cap our day.
Previous Day
Return to Trip Page