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Schwabacher Landing, copyright QT Luong, www.terragalleria.com/parks
QT Luong is a full-time freelance nature and travel photographer from San Jose, California.
Born to Vietnamese parents in France, he was trained as a scientist (PhD U. Paris). The revelation of the high Alps led him to become a mountain climber and wilderness guide. When he came to the US to conduct research in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, he fell in love with the National Parks. After he became the first to photograph all of them in large format, Ken Burns featured him in The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009).
For more of Tuan's national park images, visit www.terragalleria.com/parks
Swift, powerful strokes carry the osprey and its meal away from the river. Winging through the trees that line the Snake River, the raptor carries a fat, protein-rich fish -- a trout, maybe a sucker -- that its talons moments ago had plucked from the swirling river.
Somewhere the bird will find a roost where it can enjoy its meal in peace. Now it simply is determined to flee the river and the other ospreys and eagles that might want to steal the catch.
The backdrop to this scene is that sky-scraping national park that holds up western Wyoming's border, Grand Teton. Soaring to nearly 14,000 feet (4,267 m) atop the granitic tip of its namesake peak, the park’s jagged crags and their snowfields quickly catch your eye -- and hold it -- from anywhere in the Jackson Hole Valley.
The abruptness with which the Tetons climb out of the valley, their easy access, and the countless climbing opportunities, combine to define the range as one of mountaineering's classics.
But there’s much more to do in this wondrous park than grab a rope and ice axe and climb to the roof. There's the Snake River for angling and paddling, a string of shimmering lakes nestled at the base of the Tetons for exploring by canoe or sea kayak, hiking trails that allow you to escape the crush of humanity, and rich wildlife resources to spot.
Campers have hundreds of sites to choose from in the front-country, while backpackers have hundreds of miles of trails to follow high into, and across, the mountains. Easy trails cater to families with young children as well as folks just looking to savor the scenery and build an appetite for dinner.
A Western classic, Grand Teton lures most of its visitors in summer and fall. While winters can be harsh, they also reveal other elements of this majestic park.
Traveler's Choice For: Hiking, paddling, wildlife viewing, climbing, families, photography
As with its northern neighbor, Yellowstone, the prime tourist season in Grand Teton is July and August, thanks mainly to school schedules, but the gorgeous Rocky Mountain weather is a great draw, too. Warm, sunny days followed by cool, starry nights are as much an invitation to the park as is its iconic mountain range.
Hundreds and hundreds of campsites are scattered about Grand Teton's front country, from sprawling campgrounds dotted with cottonwood trees to lake-front sites. RVers also are accommodated, though sites catering to them are not as plentiful in the park.
The question of "what" to at Grand Teton National Park is relatively easily to answer. The more difficult question is "when" to do it. Here are some thoughts on both those questions from the Traveler.
The thunderstorm was scored brilliantly. Pelting sleet drummed the roof of the climbers' hut while echoing thunderclaps underscored the sky-cracking lightning bolts. The mid-summer fury surely would have awakened me ... if I had been asleep.
Hiking can't be ignored in Grand Teton National Park. Miles of trails, from short, easy hikes such as the loop around Jenny Lake, to the 30-to-40-mile-long (48-64 km) Teton Crest Trail, practically beg your legs to enter this gorgeous setting.
This is where you can find things such as websites, helpful phone numbers, friends groups and cooperating associations, and, sometimes, interesting books related to the park
If you've got some extra time in your schedule, there are a few side trips in the area worth your time.
Dotting the base of the Teton Range like pearls on a necklace is a series of lakes -- some large, some small -- that offer great paddling opportunities. And then, of course, there's the Snake River, a powerful stream that offers a watery adventure with the craggy Tetons always looming overhead.
Though Grand Teton National Park's scenery is the first thing that overwhelms you about the park, look a little closer and you'll find an incredible wildlife menagerie. There are bears -- black and grizzly --, wolves, bison, moose, elk, pronghorn antelope, and so much more.
The Jackson Lake Lodge was Gilbert Stanley Underwood's last project, but was it his best?
Stand at 13,770 feet atop the “Grand” and spread before you is one of the world's great geologic classrooms. Although the Tetons are one of the youngest ranges in the Rocky Mountains, their geology is one of the most varied among the world's mountainous regions.
Finding a room in Grand Teton is not terribly hard, if you plan far enough ahead. And even if you wait until the last minute and find the park sold-out, the town of Jackson is closeby with its somewhat plentiful possibilities.
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Here’s the definitive guide to National Park System campgrounds where RVers can park their rigs.
Our app is packed with RVing- specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 national parks.
You’ll also find stories about RVing in the parks, tips helpful if you’ve just recently become an RVer, and useful planning suggestions.
