GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK
May 24-27, 2006
“Nothing Can Go Wrong”
I think that sometimes planning a trip can be just as much fun as the trip itself. That is, until I’m actually at the destination. Then it takes on a dream like state and before you know it, it’s over and you live in the memories of that place. Or in my case, the photographs.
I take photos to live in that memory. I think that’s why most people take pictures. They want to remember their children at a certain age, or remember a family vacation from long ago. They put scrapbooks together so that when they want to remember that event or time period they get out the books and reminisce. I do the same thing.
The first time (ok, second time; the first time I was just a kid and didn’t know any better) I went driving through Yosemite I was in complete awe of the beauty and grandeur of the place. I was with my brother and his family and because our destination was Mono Lake we were just passing through without taking much time for stops. It was utter agony. I managed to snap a few photos on the quick tour only to be completely disappointed in them when I had them developed. To borrow a concept from Ansel Adams, what I saw in the pictures wasn’t at all what I felt at the time I took it. When I look at a photograph I want to experience the same feelings I had when I took it. And thus began my quest to become a better photographer.
I’m convinced that I have the greatest wife in the world. For the past 4 years I’ve been able to take a 3 or 4 day trip each spring out into the wilderness with just me and my camera. Leaving her and our daughter behind, she’s allowed me to pursue my quest of capturing the beauty of God’s creation using hard-earned vacation time that could be spent with them. With her blessing (and usually a bag of homemade cookies) she sends me out into the wild to bring back something with which to decorate our living room walls.
This spring it was Grand Teton Nation Park in Wyoming. My parents tell me we drove through it once when I was a kid, but I’m convinced I was sleeping in the back seat at the time. I have no recollection of it at all. When people at the park asked me if this was my first visit I said, “yes.”
Four days before departure I decided to check my camera for dust spots on its CCD. Sure enough, there were some pesky dots right there in the middle of the frame. I read about a do-it-yourself cleaning kit and drove an hour and back to a Houston camera shop to buy it. To my horror, after “cleaning” it I discovered that I had made it exponentially worse. I found a local camera repair shop and told them I needed it cleaned by Tuesday, because I was leaving on a photo trip first thing Wednesday morning. I didn’t hear from them on Monday. Tuesday afternoon they said they would work on it. My blood pressure was rising like Old Faithful. To make a long story short, I had to drive over to the shop at 9:30pm Tuesday night to pick up my camera.
Throughout this whole ordeal I kept asking God, “Why now,” and “haven’t you heard my prayers these past six weeks where I’ve been asking that things would go smoothly on this trip?”
“O ye of little faith,” was the answer I would get over the next four days in Wyoming.
The most important thing in landscape photography is weather. Yeah, there is the gear: the right lens, the right filter, the right aperture, etc., but bad weather will ruin any chance of getting a great photograph. When I checked the forecast on Tuesday before I left it was showing scattered thunderstorms for the duration. Yikes.
As the plane banked south to drop into the Jackson valley I looked out the window to see the tiny parking lot of the famous overlook of the Snake River and the Grand Teton. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck as I knew I would be there in an hour, and the sky was dark blue with white puffy clouds - perfect weather for this kind of photography.
Knowing my sister has great taste in music, I had asked her to make me a CD of music that would complement driving around the majestic western landscape. (I had spent much time carefully selecting the music that I would be listening to, knowing that I’d be spending a lot of time in car driving all around this huge park.) Besides listening to the music I had picked out, I thought it would be fun to be surprised by new songs that had been thoughtfully picked out as well. Upon arriving at the Jackson Hole Airport (the most scenic airport in the world, I’m now convinced) I went to the car rental desk to check out a “compact” for the four days. I was told they were out of compacts, and as policy goes, I would choose from something else for the same rate. “Would you like a Minivan or a Nissan Armada?” the man behind the desk asked. “Um, Aramda!” came my reply. So I pulled out onto the Teton Parkway heading north in my vehicle of luxury and style, and put in Julia’s CD and the refrain of the first song said “nothing can go wrong.” I got my first glimpse of the range of mountains to the west and tears welled up in my eyes.
Mid-afternoon is the worst possible time for taking pictures outdoors. The sun, high overhead, is at its brightest, and either washes everything out or creates a high contrast with areas in the shade that a camera can’t record. I knew that, but was a kid in the candy shop as I drove around to all the hot photography spots and took as many pictures as I could. I still wasn’t convinced that this sunshine was going to last.
Having selected a spot for the magic hour of sunset, I had plenty of time to check into my hotel in Jackson before heading back, as the sun didn’t set until 8:45pm. Driving into the town of Jackson (not Jackson Hole, mind you. The incorporated town is simply “Jackson.”) I immediately fell in love with it. It is nestled between green foothills (somewhat reminiscent of the hills on the west side of the San Joaquin valley) and has that recognizable “western” feel to it. Trendy shops, art galleries, little boutiques and 5 star restaurants make up the central area of the town. I drove by the famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and headed to the south end of town to where I was staying, the Snow King Resort.
I had booked this whole trip as a package deal through Travelocity, which is how I ended up at the Snow King. Checking it out online I knew I was in for a treat. But, just as with the car rental, when I checked in I was told the main hotel was full and that I would be staying in a condo (again, for the same price). Picture in your mind those fancy ski condos you see on the travel channel and you’ll get an idea of where I was staying. I couldn’t believe it. “Nothing can go wrong.”
I made a quick trip to the local market (a place called “Foodtown” which made me think low-end grocery shopping, but it may have well been a Whole Foods Market) to buy some things for the fridge back in the condo, and grabbed some McDonalds for dinner. I then climbed up into the Armada, selected some evening music, and headed back up into the park.
If I could do one thing over on this trip it would be to have lodged somewhere in the park itself. It was about 20 miles from the Hotel to the south area of the park, and then 20 more to get to the central area. Over the four days I put 375 miles on that vehicle.
I drove up to Signal Mountain Lookout for pictures of the sun setting behind the Tetons, leaving an afterglow on Jackson Lake in the foreground. I was blessed with a colorful pink sunset. I made it back to my room around 9:30pm, emailed my family that I was here and in heaven, and went to bed.
My alarm went off at 6:30am and I immediately was startled at how bright it was outside. I had mis-judged when sunrise was and was missing it as I was quickly getting dressed. My plan for the “first light” shots was the famous Moulton barn on an old dirt road called Mormon Row. Apparently several families of Mormons had settled here in the late 1800s, and a couple barns are still intact today. (In an effort to save these historical monuments the park restored these barns almost to a point that they look too “nice.” I would have preferred the old, dilapidated look myself.)
Even thought I had missed the first glow of sun on the mountains this morning, I was happy to see that the light stayed very cooperative until around 10am, at which point the sun gets too high and loses it’s nice morning glow. That gave me plenty of time to get some nice shots in at Schwabacher Landing, perhaps one of the most photographed spots in the USA. Driving around the park and stopping at these scenic spots it was neat to see who else was experiencing this beauty. I mostly saw two groups of people: retired couples driving motorhomes, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, college students traveling in groups of 3 or more. Kind of funny when you think about it. I look forward to the day Alicia and I can cruise the National Parks in a motorhome when we are retired.
I then scouted out the spot I would be shooting the next morning (getting up much earlier this time!) and continued on up north through the park to the Grand Teton Lodge. Wow, what a place! As you walk up the stairs into the grand lobby you are overwhelmed with the huge windows on the west side looking out to the majestic view of the mountain range right behind Jackson Lake. The ceiling in that room was probably 30-40 feet high, and the windows were floor to ceiling. I bought a vanilla latte from the espresso cart and sat down on a cozy couch to take in the view. On my way out I stopped in the gift store for some sunblock (I had gotten a nice burn the afternoon before) and found a little stuffed animal for my daughter.
I decided to head back to town and would spend the afternoon walking the streets of downtown Jackson checking out the local photo galleries and whatever else looked interesting. I walked past the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar a couple of times but could never get myself to go in for a drink. You see, in order to sit at the bar you don’t sit on bar stools but rather saddles. Yiippe Ki Yay! I decided that I’d wet my whistle at the Snake River Microbrewery and that ended up being a fine choice. The stout was just perfect.
Walking around town I passed by the office of the main realtor in town: Sotheby’s. I saw this fancy looking catalog by their front door and realized it was the free realty guide book. Where talking glossy, card stock pages with beautiful pictures of the area. I read through it as I was drinking my stout and began thinking about taking up playing the state lotto. Only $6.5 million for that one on the river. The waitress at the brewery told me she is on a waiting list for subsidized housing just to be able to afford a little place there in town. And I thought realty was outrageous in Southern California.
For sunset tonight I thought I’d try the famous overlook of the Snake River, made famous by Ansel Adams about 60 years ago. I got to that location at about 8:15pm and spent the half hour supplying the local mosquitoes with my blood. Once the sun went down behind the mountains the clouds began to glow a soft pink. Again, I was blessed with a colorful sunset.
Ok, this time I knew when I had to get up to capture the morning glow of the sun as it rose in the east. My alarm went off at 5:00am (ooph!) and I made myself some coffee as I got dressed and was on the road by 5:15. It was still fairly dark as I left the sleeping town of Jackson and headed north through the park. It took a good 40 minutes to get to Oxbow Bend, the spot I had found the day before, and I was surprised to find only one other photographer out at this location. At a famous place like this you’d really expect anywhere from 5 to 10 photogs out hoping to capture some beautiful light. So, I had no problem finding a place to set up my tripod, and within about 3 minutes of setting up the sun just started to cast a pink hue on the distant peak of Mt. Moran. Perfect timing! I was happy with the results I got at that location. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a family of moose walking through the scene, but alas, not this time.
I went to the Lodge again for a second cup of coffee and a bagel, and then headed southwest to Leigh lake for a little hike. It was probably a 3 mile round trip hike, and I think I saw 3 other people the whole time on the hike. The seclusion was wonderful, and the hike just perfect for someone as out of shape as myself (especially since you’re already at about 6800 feet in elevation on the valley floor of the park). After snapping a few pictures of the incredibly clear water of this lake I found a rock to sit on and just take it all in. As I type this how I wish I could snap my fingers and sit there at this moment and experience the peace and beauty of that place again. I guess that’s what my pictures are for: to remember how beautiful it was. What the photographs cannot convey is the sense of being in the presence of God at those locations. Seeing his handiwork and being immersed in a surrounding of only nature (nothing manmade to be seen at all) can really draw you close to the creator.
When I got back to my ride (I have to call it a “ride” since it was such a cool vehicle) I was amazed to find that it was only 9am. It felt like it could have been 10 or 11. Amazing how much you can do in a morning when you get up at 5am. I spent the next several hours driving to other spots I hadn’t been yet (Jenny Lake, The Chapel of the Transfiguration, the Visitor Center) and back to Mormon Row to find some more Bison.
I got back to my condo that afternoon and after looking at my pictures on the laptop I felt like I had gotten the pictures that I wanted (a rare thing on these photo trips) and it was a good thing because that evening a storm moved in and I didn’t shoot any more pictures on the trip.
I woke up Saturday morning to dull, overcast skies, so I crawled back into bed. After getting up I took a walk up the ski resort hillside (and got really short of breath. Whew! You could really notice that altitude) and left for the airport around 11am. What a difference it made driving to the airport under grey skies. It seemed like a completely different place. I thanked God several times for the wonderful weather he provided for me while I was there. I can’t imagine how disappointed I’d been if the sun had never come out on my trip.
Nothing did go wrong.
joel
6/2/06