Jackson (Grand Teton National Park)

This morning I set out to explore Grand Teton National Park . I spent the first hour or so just figuring out what was accessible to me. All of the visitor centers are closed, so there was not even the usual paper map available. I finally figured out that, although the interior roads are all closed about 3 miles in, I could access many viewpoints from highway 89. And because of the late winter, antelope flats road is still open.

As I was driving up Hwy 89, I also saw a nameless dirt road open on the park side. I took it to find out where it would lead and found Dave photographing a pair of bald eagles on the banks of the snake river. Dave is local and very familiar with the park and surrounding areas. We got to talking and I told him that I was seeking moose, as I had not yet had a chance to photograph them on this trip (really ever). He allowed that he was also heading over to find moose and invited me to come with him. We drove out to Antelope flats road as apparently this is where the moose like to hang out. We looked out in the fields, we hikes along the banks of the creek and all we found was moose footprints, no actual moose. It was midday, so I decided to table it for the interim and come back later in the day. Dave has a website with many beautiful images of Wyoming and has published several books, one focusing his home county, Sublette.

In the meantime, I decided to drive up as far as I could go, to the road closure at the southern boundary of Yellowstone NP. At the pull-out, I met Frank and his hunting buddies. They were having a frustrating day as well. They were hoping to hunt elk and had seen nary a one. They believed that because of the late snow, many of the herbivores were still up in the mountains and had not yet been forced down to the flatlands to feed. That made sense to me. However, one of they guys spotted a black bear across the river. He seemed to be digging for roots in a grass field. (I think it was a he, but did not have clear independent evidence) The brown grass was not the most aesthetic of backgrounds, but at that point, I was willing to take any mammal I found. He was obviously successful in his foraging as he was huge!

I returned at last light to look for moose and again found none. I will try again tomorrow.