Welcome to October!
Please take a minute and register to sign up to follow this site. I’d love to have another couple hundred new subscribers from the group visiting the site this summer. MJ
Covid-19 Mask Update: The Teton County Commissioners extended the Mask Mandate until the end of 2021. Masks must be worn inside buildings, on public transportation, taxis, and tours.”
Three quarters of 2021 is in our rear view mirror, leaving us with three of the more interesting months. Foliage season, like the current moon, is waning, but it is not over! As the month begins, there are still plenty of brightly colored leaves around the valley. In many areas, the foliage season came four or five days earlier than “normal”. That’s my unscientific take after living here for 35 years. The Moose and Elk are in their rut, along with Deer and Pronghorns. The rut for the Bison is essentially over, but you might still find a bull interested in a late season cow. Grizzlies traditionally are more visible during October. Black Bears will polish off the berries along the valley floor and head back up the hillsides soon. As the leaves drop from the trees, Owls may become more visible. Worth watching!
Important Info for GTNP travelers:
Beginning on October 5th and 6th, the Park Service and crews will be working on the JH Dam.Through traffic over the dam will be “iffy” at best. Expect over an hour delays on days when they are letting vehicles through. Read More Here.
Park Service is in the process of cutting back on the flow of water coming out of the dam. Reflections at Oxbow Bend will be affected. Read More on the JH News & Guide site
New 2021 Foliage Reports Page: Click Here
This page will cover the changes in the foliage from September 11 to around October 11 of 2021. Check it regularly! The page also contains important foliage related links.
Alpenglow at Oxbow Bend:
October 1, 2021 – Friday
Most of my time today was spent trying to capitalize foliage. There will be other days for wildlife, but this time slice of the year is so fleeting. Each year, the anticipation I have as the foliage season is bookended by the sadness I feel as I watch the wind strip the leaves. Luckily, the foliage season doesn’t happen all at one time. It stretches out over several weeks, but we are definitely on the back side of the curve.
Oxbow Bend: As of this morning, the water level was almost at the normal summer height, but expect it to drop rapidly for the next week or two. I would have loved to had at least a few clouds today, but as I write this first of the month post, clouds are rolling in.
Upper Oxbow Bend: This stand of aspens are still looking great.
Oxbow Aspen Stands: Using a telephoto lens, it is possible to isolate small sections of any scene, as I did in this photo.
Country Roads: This is the time of the year to do your own “scavenger hunt”, searching for chunks of color scattered around the valley. This was taken above the Teton Science School.
Cottonwood Leaves: In December, I’ll be photographing frost, ice, and icicles along Ditch Creek, but right now it is loaded with fallen leaves. Of course, they are everywhere now.
TA Moulton Barn: As documented on the New 2021 Foliage Reports Page, the cottonwoods along Mormon Row are turning now. Catch them while you can!
Pronghorn Buck Chase: For the most part, I was set up to photograph landscapes today (ISO 100, F/8 to F/11, and relatively slow shutter speeds). I noticed a buck Pronghorn approaching Antelope Flats Road, so I drove to the area. He crossed and went on before I had a chance of take photos but another one came up that I didn’t see. The bigger buck bolted across the road to chase the smaller buck away. As I mentioned, my camera was set up for landscapes and didn’t have time to adjust the settings. When he ran across, I took a few shots. At only 1/250th second, there was no way I was going to freeze the action of the fast moving buck, but luckily I was panning at the same speed he was running. That gave me a relatively sharp head, yet his legs and have motion blur and the grasses have motion blur streak. Pronghorns, like Moose, drop their ears back on their neck when chasing another buck.
September 2021 Daily Journal:
I posted a ton of photos in September. Check that page out, too!
Help Support the Site?
If your are so inclined, I added a small section in the Navigation Bar to allow readers help me offset the rising costs of gasoline and web site fees. Several readers have made donations over the past few months…thanks to all of them!
Additional Related Links and Pages
- Bands of Light
- Less Common Slices of the Tetons:
- Lesser Seen Regional Waterfalls
- Granite Falls and Granite Creek:
- Pretty In Peach: The Historic Stucco House on Mormon Row
- Abracadabra: Now You See Them—Now You Don’t!
- Cascade Canyon: One of the Teton’s Many Gems
- Outside the Park: Alternative Places to Visit, Hike, Fish, and Photograph
- Bar BC Dude Ranch
- Summer in the Tetons and Jackson Hole
- Where to go and when to be there?
- Wildflowers: Photography Tips, Suggestions & Resources
- When Things Seem Slow in GTNP: Options and Suggestions
- Beating the Summer Crowds in Grand Teton National Park:
I offer year round photo tours in Grand Teton National Park and Winter tours in the National Elk Refuge. Book now! Click the image for additional information.
The post October 2021 Daily Journal For GTNP & JH first appeared on Best of the Tetons, Area Info & Photography.