Home»All Photographs»16.07.28.Grand Tetons

Our experience with the Grand Tetons was one of the highlights of our trip. Before going there I had seen a beautiful photographic mural of the Grand Tetons with a barn in the foreground. When in Jackson, WY I had asked where that barn might be and no one knew what I was describing. Leaving Jackson at midnight eastern time, we knew that all motels and campsites were full for miles around. We decided to find a place in Teton National Park to spend the night in the car. Around 1:00 AM we pulled into a parking area that had a portapotty. Since it was pitch dark we kept the car running with the lights on the path. I went first with Pam staying in the car. As I was walking a woman limped out of the darkness and wanted to know what we were doing there (think of a witch as they are portrayed in Hollywood movies). I indicated that we hoped to spend the night in the car. She then said that it is illegal and that patrolling wardens would make us move. She suggested we leave the park, take a left, then a right, drive 3 miles on a paved road, continue on a dirt road until we would encounter several pull outs that would be acceptable for sleeping in a car. When I asked her what she was doing, she said that she and her friends came here to watch the stars because it was so dark. The problem is, I didn't see any signs of her friends. When I returned to the car Pam asked me whether I had seen the man behind the sign--someone she was sure had a gun. When I looked there was a man who was standing motionless behind the sign. We could see him from the waist down, his torso being hidden by the sign. We left the area without incident and Pam commented that she had never been in such a "CREEPY" situation (I had never heard her use that word before). We left the park and decided to check out the dirt road described by the woman. We both wondered whether we were being "set up" but were so tired we kept driving anyway. We went up the dirt road but found all the pullouts occupied. We turned around and decided to take a chance on one of the pullouts along the paved part of the road. By then it was around 2AM and we were exhausted. I fell asleep almost instantly upon find a parking area, but Pam was up a bit longer with creepy people going through her head. In the morning I woke before Pam and went out of car to find that we were parked exactly where the photographer stood to take the picture I wanted to take. What are the chances of that? The scene had a much different feel to it than the one I had admired. The air was thick with the smell of forest fire smoke and the mountains were somewhat obscured by the smoke. It still made for a great picture with an entirely different mood. While snapping pictures, I heard some snorting sounds. I turned around again and there was a herd of Buffalo working its way to our car. What a treat, we were told that we wouldn't see any Buffalo because they would be deeper in the wilderness. Later we encountered a nonchalant fox who put on a show for us. Several hours later we stopped to take pictures in Tetons National Park. As we were standing behind a Forest Fire educational exhibit I heard a familiar voice. I went around to the other side and there was the woman I had met in the middle of the night (see image 126). She was just finishing up a lecture on forest fires and I said, "I know you". She immediately knew who I was and started laughing. Apparently she was a forest ranger and we had interrupted her and her partner while on a secret surveillance mission. The man behind the sign was indeed armed and was hiding so as to avoid identification. After we left they were laughing with each other expecting us to call the Park Service reporting something "very CREEPY" going on. We laughed because "CREEPY" was the very word that Pam kept using to describe our encounter. Also note (refer to Image #127) that our Park Ranger friend had recently injured her foot, a detail that explained her unusual gait when I came upon her in the dark.