The "black sheep" of the National Park family

I keep wanting to make posts about how wonderful Grand Teton national park (GTNP) is, and how no one should forget going there when heading out west on a trip- GTNP seems to be the black sheep of the family no one really talks about, his big sister Yellowstone really gets all the attention when it comes to wildlife viewing and everything in between.

Well, let me help to prove you wrong- on nearly all my trips, not only has GTNP offered me quite a bit in terms of photography, this trip it gave me even MORE in terms of diverse wildlife than Yellowstone. Less crowded, too- there are still a few people to stand next to you while you're photographing, but no where NEAR the crowd fighting you're going to end up with in Yellowstone.

Now, let me start out by saying that I am *not* really in that good of a shape. Without my camera equipment or anything extra, I can walk anywhere from 4-5 miles and be okay. However, put my camera backpack on my back- and i'm a disaster. I can't even make it up a small hill. Add in my tripod, which I need for stability, and it's even worse. There were a few stupid moves I made that could be proven to be fatal had some good Samaritan not come along, and given me a ride back up the hill to my car.

With that said-everything I photographed in, and around, GTNP as well as in my mentioned areas of Yellowstone, I found from the roadside. No crazy hiking or camping out at 5am required- just drive. Yes, there were good days when I found everything, and bad days when I didn't see anything at all, but that was just because I wasn't looking hard enough.

It all really comes down to what you're looking for in your trip, and the reason you're there in the first place. For a photographer who's looking for wildlife, I would recommend not only GTNP- but the other long forgotten section of Yellowstone, Mammoth Hot Springs (no matter what they tell you, the hot springs are not boring! They may not be as active as they once were, but they can still offer a lot to see!).

Mammoth will give you access to the corridor between there and Lamar valley. IN BETWEEN these two sections of the park will give you the best variations of wildlife possible. Yes, Lamar valley is famous for it's wolves and it's bears- but everything is more far away- you have to have fancy lenses or scopes to even be able to see any of the wildlife. As a photographer, I must have driven through the area and had SO many bear jams, where I couldn't even see the bear.

If you're looking for tourist attractions, like the Old Faithful Geyser area, etc. then GTNP (with the exception of the Jackson and Jenny Lake areas- both offer plenty to do in GTNP) and the Mammoth area might be good visits, but won't really give you what you want in terms of excitement, and things to go.

I'll probably post more as I go, but these were the first few thoughts I wanted to get out there. There's a whole, big, beautiful park out there on the other side of the mountains that everyone seems to forget about! Go during the late fall, or early spring. It's quite well worth it!