Road Trip To The West; Part VI; Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park.  I find this place one of the most beautiful I've ever visited.  This is an
iPhone 14 PRO Max image made from the rear seat of a vehicle moving about 45mph.  I saw this
view and just had to make a photo or two. (click any image to enlarge)

This is a continuation post of my 2024 road trip out to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks primarily to photograph grizzly bears and other large mammals.  However, along the way out and back, I planned my adventure to be able to stop at various places and photograph.  You can find Part I here, Part II here, Part III here, Part IV here, Part V here and a post about what gear I took and why here.

After three and a half days in Yellowstone National Park, which I will deem as a very successful wildlife photography adventure, we drove south to Grand Teton National Park (GTNP).  Our plan was to stay in Jackson, Wyoming and drive north into the park early each morning.  We stayed at another Super 8 but this one was better than the last.  Although I typically stay in a Hampton Inn or a Holiday Inn or such, those hotels were prohibitively expensive.  As it was, the Super 8 cost almost $1000 US for four nights!  Last winter when I was making reservations, the Hampton Inn quoted me $2700 for four nights.  You get my point.  Sometimes you just have to compromise.

Each morning we left the hotel very early and drove the hour north first to the Pilgrim River Flats area.  That is where famous grizzly bear #399 frequents.  One of my two goals for this trip was to see her.  Making some photographs of her would be a huge bonus for me.  If you are not familiar with #399, The U.S. Public Broadcasting System (PBS) program Nature made television program about this bear.  The name of the program is Grizzly 399: Queen of the Tetons.  Also,  here is the Wikipedia page detailing just how famous and unusual she is.  She has her own Facebook, Instagram and X pages!  People come from all over the globe to see her.  I met a woman from Germany and a man from Israel who came to the park to see her.  Amazing!

Typically, I'm told, a grizzly's life span averages about 25 years.  Bear #399 is now 28 years old and still having cubs.  The cub that is with her this year was born last year.  A grizzly mother will keep a cub two summers then 'kick it out,' so to speak, to fend for itself.  She will then mate and have more cubs the following spring.  It is a wonder that #399 is not only still alive but still breeding.  It is really unheard of.

On the second morning in GTNP, we arrived at Pilgrim Flats.  There were at least 30 vehicles and a hundred photographers and non-photographers milling around.  When we  inquired, we missed #399 and her cub by abut 10-15 minutes.  Darn.  We then spent the day roaming around looking for other wildlife.  We did see mule deer, a moose and some black bears.  We returned to Pilgrim Flats about three in the afternoon to see if she returned through the nearby meadow on her way back to her den.  No luck.  Oh Well.  That's the way it goes sometimes.  We'll try again tomorrow.

The next morning we arrived at Pilgrim Flats even earlier than the day before.  There were already a number of vehicles sitting by the side of the road, about 10 or so, with their owners waiting to see if the two bears showed themselves.  As we drove past the line of cars, SUVs, trucks and campers, we looked for a place to park.  We ended up a good eighth mile beyond where we thought we wanted to be.  However, this turned out to be fortunate as my fellow photographer, Bill, scanning the meadow to our left (I was looking to our right), saw two grizzlies far off in the distance foraging.  He shouted 'GRIZZLIES! TWO OF THEM!"  Immediately we stopped.  We knew exactly who the two bears were.  I exited the right rear seat, ran across the roadway and set up my large tripod and gimbal head that already had my Z8 with the 180-600mm lens attached.  I could feel the adrenaline flowing throughout my body.  I was thrilled!

I started photographing immediately.  Since the two of them were some distance apart, I photographed one, then the other.  I checked my camera's histogram frequently as the bears were generally backlit by full morning sun.  Tricky exposure.  As the two foraged and moved closer and closer, I periodically lifted my eye from the viewfinder to see just how close they actually were getting.  Safety was paramount and these were two ferocious wild animals.  My adrenaline was flowing freely and (I don't like to use hyperbole but...) I was super excited!

This was an once-in-a-lifetime and extraordinary experience for me for a few reasons.  First, seeing and being able to photograph the two bears together.  Second, the bears were foraging and coming directly toward us—closer and closer and closer—and three, keeping a cool head and thinking to continuously adjust my camera settings as the conditions changed.  

I had the Z8 set up in Manual Mode with Auto ISO.  I want to always have the option of choosing the shutter speed and aperture according to the situation.  Auto ISO allows me to do that and keep proper exposure.  

For wildlife I normally keep the lens wide open (f/6.3) and have the shutter set somewhere between 1/1600th second and 1/2000th second, just in case, at a moment's notice, I have to handhold the camera and lens (as I was with the grizzly bear Jam at the top of the ridge in my last post).  For photographing #399 and her cub my lens' aperture set for f/6.3 was working well as long as I was photographing one or the other of the two bears.  However, at first they were about 25 ft. apart, but then they moved closer to each other and I quickly thought that there is no way I can capture both of them together and in sharp focus, which was my goal, at that aperture.  I quickly adjusted my aperture to f/10 to increase my depth of field.  I wasn't worried about a high ISO and the associated noise as that can be easily remedied during the editing process.  If I had been in shutter priority, which is how I used to have my camera set for these situations, I couldn't have changed the aperture quickly and would potentially missed some of my best images.  Just food for thought.

WE continued to photograph the two bears until they crossed the road between two vehicles.  Then we moved to the other side of the road and continued to photograph the two as they slowly foraged and moved away.  What a great experience for me!

Photographing grizzly #399 was the highlight of my road trip.  It was one of my two goals and I achieved it.  Did I do anything besides being at the right place at the right time and luck come our way?  Not really.  But that is a lot of what wildlife photography is about.

Here are some of my images of #399 and her two-year old cub.

Grizzly #399 and her current cub Spirit.  These images were made just after 7 a.m.  Nature provided
the backlight at no extra charge!

Another view of the two of them.

Grizzly #399 after she had crossed the highway and was bathed in sidelight.

Spirit with breakfast, fresh vegetation, in its mouth.

Notice the photographers along the top edge of the image.  This is where we wanted to be.  They
are about 1/8 mile from my location.  This is the uncropped image and was made at 350mm.  The
bears were not that far away from my position.

Continuing to follow the two bears toward the roadway, you can no longer see the line of photographers.
This group of photographers stopped when they saw us out photographing the bears.  This uncropped
image was made at 180mm.  The bears were, I would estimate, no more than 50 ft. from me.  Notice
the two closest photographers, the one with the white beard and the one standing in front of the 
pickup truck with camper are not photographing but watching the two bears.  I would have retreated.
The bears came within 20 ft. of the nearest photographer.  I spoke with him afterwards and got the
impression that his 'fear' and 'full alert' antennas were fully extended.

Once the bears picked their crossing spot, the two photographers let down their guard.  That would
have been a little too close for my comfort.  Fifty feet had my full attention.

This is a 'not so technically great' image but I wanted to include it as it shows a 'tender' moment of
play between mother and cub.  After the two of them crossed the road, they wandered back behind
the foliage and out of sight.  They then emerged but very far away out in the meadow.  I was 
tracking them with my camera and lens when I saw Spirit start to engage in some play.  I made
some exposures not expecting anything that could be posted.  But, as I said, I included the image
anyway.  This was made at 1260mm equivalent.

Grizzly #399 is well known for tolerating humans.  The wildlife biologists and experts believe that she 'hangs around' near where humans are so her cubs aren't attacked and killed by a boar who is not the cub(s)'s parent.  Boars will kill any cub in which they encounter that is not their offspring.  But boars don't like to be where people are.  So, the assumption is that #399 has developed a habit of being near people to protect her cubs.  As far as I was told, she has never been aggressive around humans, even with her cubs nearby.

The Tetons are full of moose.  That is where one goes to photograph moose.  However, this young
bull moose is the only one we saw, sadly.

I didn't get many opportunities to do any landscape photography in GTNP.  However, I did manage a couple of images.

This is an image from Schwabacher's Landing.  It is too late in the day for the early morning light
and not the best spot.  Not only is the light gone but the wind had kicked up to ripple the water.
But, as I said, I wasn't driving and had not control over where and when we could do some 
landscape photography.  But that is okay.  The YNP and GTNP part of my trip was about wildlife.

The view from Leek's Marina of Jackson Lake and the Tetons in the background.

I thought I would include this image of some bighorn sheep.  Should I call them "zombie" sheep?  They look terrible.  I'll deduce that they are in process of losing their winter coat but, nonetheless, they look like the walking dead!  Not elegant at all as they normally would look high up on a mountain slope.

Nature's "Zombie" flock of bighorn sheep.  Not looking good at all.  These were in the National
Elk Refuge right outside of Jackson, WY.

After four days of photographing in the Tetons, the three of us returned to Bozeman to go our separate ways.  This ends the second phase of my trip—the portion specifically to photograph wildlife.  The seven days were a thrill, very fruitful and very satisfying.  Now onto part three of my road trip.

At my invitation, a lifelong friend was flying out to meet me in Bozeman.  From there the two of us planned to drive north in Montana, almost to the Canadian border, pick up U.S. Route 2, also known as "The High Line" and head east on this two lane road just south of the U.S./Canadian border.  More on that in my next post.

Just a note.  After spending seven days in the Yellowstone and Teton ecosystem, I came away with a greater appreciation of what, as Americans, we have in the way of National Parks.  I've been to all of the largest ones and many of the smaller ones.  I appreciated us having these great places to connect with nature but now even more so.  All are a treasure where we can see nature in its best form, enjoy the grandeur and be amazed by the wildlife.  If you haven't visited our major national parks, I advise you do so.  Plan your trip carefully, however.  For the most popular ones, I suggest late May and September through early October when the crowds and traffic are not so annoying.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook  

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