First Month in Grand Teton National Park

After a 28 hour drive and traveling through Yellowstone, I arrived in Grand Teton National Park, where I’ll be living and working through at least October. These are photos through the month of May, and I will have several more posts to catch up to the current date!

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Almost every moment of the day reveals a spectacular scene. From dawn to dusk, the light plays with the mountains in a colorful and powerful way.

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While working here, I’m living in a dorm village with hundreds of other employees. We have little frequent visitors roaming all around, everything from this red fox, to whistle pigs (ground squirrels), and even a grizzly with two cubs that wondered down dorm street early one morning.

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Jackson Lake Lodge sits up on a plateau, overlooking a large expanse around Jackson Lake, called the Willow Flats. Looking out over the grasslands and shrubbery, one can see plenty of animal activity out here, including bears, elk, moose, and bison.

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As an employee inside the park, I’m privileged to have access to many free activities. On this ten mile scenic float trip down the Snake River, we saw elk, many different birds, and this bald eagle.

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One of the most interesting things I’ve seen is a grouping of cabins and barns on “Mormon Row”. These buildings include the most photographed barn in the world, the John Moulton Barn.

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Here’s another spectacular light show just before sunset.

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I was able to do a little bit of fishing before all the snow began to melt, causing rivers and streams to flood. Here’s one of my biggest, and definitely not my last cutthroat trout from the Snake River tailwater.

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Jackson Lake offers a place for visitors to take their boat out with a view like none other. I got to take out a kayak on the lake for a couple hours from the marina at Colter Bay.

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The Chapel of the Transfiguration is another unique building inside the park. A sign near the chapel tells the story of Jesus climbing the mountain with the apostles, and becoming radiant with light, a pivotal moment when Heaven meets Earth.

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When the first direct sunlight of the day reveals itself, a beautiful warm color is cast upon the mountain tops.

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These photos are through May 27, so I still have plenty more to share from both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks!

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First Visit to Yellowstone National Park

I’ve now been living and working in Grand Teton National Park for a full month, so I thought I’d share some of my experiences so far. After this post, I’d like to post something every few days. Now that the weather is warming up, and the rivers are clearing up, I’ll be able to get out and do a lot more! Sometimes, however, words just aren’t enough, so make sure you’re following Trent Sizemore Photography on Facebook to see all my best photos.

The drive to get here from North Carolina took three full days, and was pretty uneventful. It was cool to see other parts of the country, but it just didn’t compare to arriving in Yellowstone National Park. The views are like nothing else and almost immediately upon getting over the first mountain pass, I got to see my first grizzly bear, bison, and thermal features all in the same spot.

Yellowstone Day 1 – May 13

River just outside of Yellowstone east entrance
River just outside of Yellowstone east entrance

I saw these between Cody, Wyoming and the entrance to Yellowstone. I’m thinking they may be female bighorn sheep, but they may just be mountain goats.

Mountain goats or Bighorn Sheep?
Mountain goats or Bighorn Sheep?

Back in May, everything was still covered in feet of snow. This was one of my first sights inside the park.

Inside Yellowstone National Park
Inside Yellowstone National Park

Driving through Yellowstone was something else, because the snow was piled up higher than the car in most spots around the mountains.

Driving over the mountain pass
Driving over the mountain pass

This huge grizzly was eating on something between the road and part of the lake. On the other side of the road was a bison munching grass on the hillside.

Grizzly in Yellowstone
Grizzly in Yellowstone
Grizzly in Yellowstone with frozen lake in the background
Grizzly in Yellowstone with frozen lake in the background

Before driving down to Grand Teton National Park, where I’m living now, I camped one night in Yellowstone. I didn’t even scrape the surface of seeing the entire park, but I was able to see quite a lot before and after the night of camping in Madison campground.

The smell of sulfur gases from this boiling mud pit below was nearly overwhelming.

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The two photos below are the view of the lower falls of the Yellowstone River from Artist Point. This is an excellent spot to get a perspective of the size of the entire Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

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The walls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone are covered in these bright yellowish rocks, called Rhyolite, a type of volcanic rock.

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This is looking up close at a little stream that carries water from thermal feature down to the river. The colors come from bacteria that is able to grow in these extreme conditions. Different colors represent different temperatures, with blues being the hottest. This particular one was probably between 125-150 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also extremely acidic, and you definitely shouldn’t be touching it. Many tourists get serious injured because of their curiosity.

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This “waterfall” of boiling water is coming out of Excelsior Geyser crater and in to the Firehole River. This once active geyser still expels 4,000-4,500 gallons of 199 degree water every minute.

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This is the huge crater left by the last violent eruption of Excelsior Geyser.

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Here, the still snow covered mountains reflect in the many colors of the edge of Grand Prismatic Spring.

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An up close view of the outside of the hot spring called Grand Prismatic Spring.

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Here’s another look at the outflow from Excelsior Geyser Crater with a dramatic sunset.

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The steam, the smells, the colors, and the sounds all add together to create an out of this world experience in each of the many geyser basin areas.

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This small, but very active feature is Shell Spring, which would boil up every few minutes, then all the water would sink back down in to the unknown before rising up once again.

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A single geyser steaming up with a great sunset.

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Last photo of the day, showing a large field of geysers all steaming up in to the cold air.

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Yellowstone Day 2 -May 14

After waking up VERY early to the freezing cold, howling wolves, and elk grazing outside my tent, I went out to the see the park in a way most people will never see it, completely alone. For hours, I never saw more than one or two other visitors, even in the most popular areas.

These two bison were munching some grass with a steaming thermal feature behind them. They seek refuge from the cold in these warmer areas.

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Only the Gibbon River separated me from this frost covered bison. These animals are very large, and much more dangerous than most people assume.

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The early morning cold makes the steam from the hot springs much thicker and travel much farther, creating an awesome landscape. During the summer, the warm temperatures don’t allow for as much steam because the temperature is closer to that of the hot features.

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Another photographer exploring the area by himself. It’s scary to walk through that steam, not being able to see what’s beyond, and the screaming geysers beside you throwing up boiling water.

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A far off view of Excelsior Geyser Crater shows just how big it really is.

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This deep blue pool seemed to go on forever.

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Up close and personal with another bison. (No, I wasn’t too close)

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After exploring Yellowstone, I drove south to Grand Teton National Park to get settled in my dorm and get orientated with the area and the lodge that I’m working at. I’ll have a separate blog post with some pictures from this park.

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