Day 1: Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot: The Arrival

Oxbow Bend June 2011 sunset, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Jared and I flew from Cleveland to Salt Lake City, UT (with a change in planes in Chicago) then rented a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and made the scenic 5.5 hr. drive to Jackson, WY (Grand Teton National Park). All flights were smooth and pleasant. We arrived in the GTNP around 8:12 pm MST(local time).  I posted several updates with some pics on Facebook as we travelled along the scenic route.


The mountains are BEAUTIFULLY snow covered! Better than last year! The trees have early leaves, looks very nice and spring-y!  We timed this Groupshoot perfectly. ALL major roads are open in both Parks AND the Beartooth Highway from Cooke City to Red Lodge opened TODAY!!!


We saw a Mule deer along the side of the road in the Targhee National Forest. We saw numerous cow elk in the park and we  spotted a cow elk and her cute, young calf! We had a bison herd cross the road in front of us (we had to wait for them to cross) on the way to Oxbow Bend.


We decided to go directly to Oxbow Bend (see pic above) vs to hotel as we were running out of light.


We arrived at Oxbow Bend around 8:57pm (sunset was 9:03pm). There were only 2 other photogs there. The cloud coverage in the west was too thick and sadly no significant sunset color BUT I couldn't resist and took a P&S pic to post here. The place is down right too pretty to pass up any photo op. 


At Oxbow Bend (it was very low light) but we saw two osprey fly overhead and several river otters playing in the water close by. No pics as the long lens was still packed.


After giving up on sunset, we drove to Jackson Lake Lodge and had some late chow at the Pioneer Grill then headed back to the hotel to check in, etc. On the way to the hotel, we saw MANY (20+ elk along the side of the very dark road back to the hotel - even bright headlights didnt help much). One elk crossed in the front of us. Good thing I was going the speed limit. ;-)


We plan to hit it bright and early in about 5 hours, head back to Oxbow Bend for a sunrise (hopefully), then scout out several new areas for the MPEG members who are all arriving tomorrow evening. 


We will kick off the Groupshoot with a private 7:00pm dinner Saturday and discuss safety rules and go over the agenda for the week.


Over half of the 12 MPEG members are Yellowstone/GTNP newbies so I am excited to give them this opportunity.


Stay tuned for Day 2!


Mark