Grand Teton National Park

This is one of the truly great pieces of scenery in the country. A lot of people pass it by in favor of Yellowstone, which is a big mistake; they're very different places. Unfortunately, even though the weather makes late summer a great time of year to see the park, it's probably the worst time of year to photograph it. The skies were completely clear most of the time, but you really want some clouds for the best pictures. It was also very hazy, due either to weather, or the normal summer wildfires in the west. And by August, the only snow on the mountains is found in the permanent glaciers. But here are a few nice ones we came up with.

 

Here's your typical postcard type panorama of the mountains.

This was one of several Bison we found grazing on a ridge above a road.

Carol grabbed this Coyote shot one evening as we watched him hunting. Here, he's finishing off a rodent, probably a Pika or a Marmot.

A fairly decent sized mule deer.

Another view of the mountains, a little on the hazy side.

A small grove of Aspens, with the Tetons behind.

The white patch in the center is a glacier.

Yet another ordinary mountain shot.

This one was taken from the top of Signal Mountain.

This store was built in the 1890's. If the angles look a bit funny, it's the crookedness of the walls.

This room is set up like it may have looked back in the 1890's. Take a look at that amazing chair made of antlers.

This is the view looking north from the east side of Jenny Lake at dawn. Again, some clouds would have been nice, but the weather was pretty comfortable anway.

The view west from the same location at Jenny Lake.

The pattern of lichens on many of the rocks surrounding the lake is quite extraordinary.

We took a trail from String Lake to Leigh Lake one afternoon. Many striking views of the mountains along the way.

I believe this is Leigh Lake. I found the most bizarre cloud of minnows in the water there.

Look how thick the minnows are here.

They move just like the schools of fish you see at a corral reef.

Here's some of the little buggers up close. Does anyone know what species they are?