Grand Teton I

8/23/09
I had been greatly looking forward to my first sweeping view of the Grand Teton Range but my dream was undone by a thick haze reducing the peaks to a bare outline. I assumed it was smoke from forest fire but the ranger said no, it was just the air conditions and it would clear. It occurred to me that most of those great photos of the Grand Tetons are taken in crisp autumn or winter weather, not in the hazy summertime.

I got a good campsite at Signal Mountain Campground ($20) and spent the morning staring over Jackson Lake to Mount Moran. A short walk around a looming bluff brought Grand Teton itself into the picture. The campground was adjacent to the marina at Signal Mountain Lodge, creating more of a resort environment than is typical for a National Park campground. The face of Mount Moran tilted slightly to the northeast so it fell into shadow as the sun moved higher in the sky. The lower half of the surviving glaciers were thus shaded at noon in August, which is why they are surviving. The bright hazy sun on the lake made for symphonies in silver and blue.

Mount Moran

Grand Teton

Mount Moran

Jackson Lake

Jackson Lake is a natural lake high up near the headwaters of the Snake River, which rises to the north in the southeast corner of Yellowstone. Jackson Dam was constructed in the early 20th-century, before the national park was established, as part of a Bureau of Reclamation Project seeking to bring agriculture to the dry soil of Idaho. The dam increased the area of Jackson Lake by about one-third, to 25,000 acres, and raised the water level by about 30-feet. The Minidoka Project, as it is known, irrigates over a million acres of Idaho farmland.

Jackson Lake Dam

I went off to see the Snake River, which downstream from Jackson Dam has the appearance of a wild river - meanders, sandbars, large woody debris. It struck me as being somewhat low water here in late August, but how would I know? The park provides a popular turnout overlooking an oxbow in the river, with deeper water, lush vegetation, and hazy views at this time of day back to the Tetons. It’s an attractive area for wildlife, and a moose grazing on the other side of the river had attracted quite a crowd. I also saw a great blue heron and some American Pelicans. The wetland was very enticing and I longed to immerse myself in it, but it was too wet.

Snake River

Snake River

Snake River

I was back to my beach in time to see the sun dip behind Mount Moran, and back the next morning for the early pink glow.

Mount Moran

Grand Teton National Park was one of the places I was absolutely certain I would backpack, but I was not fit for it yet. In a month, I hoped, I would be.  Now it was just a pit stop on the way to Yellowstone. I packed up, kicked a bit around Jackson Dam, went to the oxbow again and saw a beaver and some American Pelicans, stopped at the Visitors Center for a bit, and then headed on up to take my place in line for the caravan through the massive road construction project on the John D. Rockefeller Highway to Yellowstone.