The Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929, and boasts spectacular views of the Teton Range. At the center of the range stands the Grand Teton, a 13,770 foot high granite peak. It is surrounded by 11 other peaks that are also over 12,000 feet high. The range contains a dozen glaciers, and some of North America's oldest rocks. This relief map of the Grand Teton and Yosemite National Parks shows the boundaries and some of the natural mountain and glacier formations in the area.

Taken from the middle of Teton Park Road, the peak on the left is the Grand Teton, and just to it's right is Mount Owen. I believe Mount St. John and Rockchuck are the peaks that are visible behind the tree on the far right. Obviously there was not much traffic in the park this day, because when I saw the range framed by the two trees, we had plenty of time to pull over and stand in the middle of the road while taking the shot. Twice actually, because I remember aiming the camera until I had the perfect shot, then discovered I had forgotten to turn the camera on .

However, most of the people we did see were photographing these moose :-). As we turned into the park at Moose Junction, there were dozens of cars parked along the road on both sides of the Snake River bridge. Beth and I saw one of the main attractions as we crossed the bridge, so the Miata joined the parked cars, and we walked a short distance downstream to where all the exciting action was taking place.

We joined 50 or more people photographing and observing the bull and cow moose lounging along the Snake River. The cow can barely be seen in the image above (far left side), but the bull was much less camera shy. I'm almost convinced the animals were trained to hang around in the area to help draw tourists to the Visitor's Center, but it was still exciting to watch and photograph them with the spectacular view of the Teton Range in the background.

Our main adventure for the day was to try and catch some fish in Bradley Lake. When I stopped to buy a fishing license, they recommended I fish the Snake River because the trout were still too deep in most of the lakes. But the hike to Taggert and Bradley Lakes. looked enjoyable, so I decided to take my chances with the trout there. We chose the longer hike to Taggart Lake along the Beaver Creek Trail. It was 2.6 miles to Taggart, and the final portion of the hike was up one of the morainal ridges that define the lake. The reflection of the Teton Range in the waters of lake show how calm the wind was during the hike. It was a fairly warm day as well, and Beth and I were a little over-dressed for the weather.

The hike from Taggart to the fishing spot we chose at Bradley Lake was another 1.5 miles. The trail leads north along Taggart and we climbed up another moraine before reaching Bradley Lake. So it was finally time for my first fishing of the vacation. And it wasn't long before I had my first strike (although I missed hooking that one), and not much longer before I had landed the beautiful cutthroat trout shown here. And although I caught 2 other cutthroats and 3 rainbow trout in about an hour and a half of fishing, this one's golden color made it the prettiest fish of the day.

The hike from Bradley back to the parking area was 2.5 miles, so round trip mileage was approximately 6.5 miles. Add this hike to the other very enjoyable hikes we've already taken on this vacation. We returned to our cabin in Jackson Hole, and spent the evening walking around the downtown square again.

The sixth day of our vacation began with a return trip through the Grand Teton National Park via Moose Junction and Teton Park Road. The moose were nowhere to be seen, so maybe they weren't trained after all :-). We stopped at several of the turnouts, and drove the Jenny Lake Loop for a short visit to the lake. The reflections in this picture show that it was a little less calm than the day before at Taggart Lake, but we were still top-down and enjoying the incredible weather. We also spotted and pulled over briefly to watch a porcupine along the side of the road. After another short visit to Jackson Lake and the Visitor Information Center at Flagg Ranch, we entered Yellowstone National Park.