Winter Sunrise in the Tetons

For my spring break instead of going to someplace warm, I decided to head to the Tetons for a few days. Photographing the tetons in winter is a totally different experience than photographing them any other season. The bitter cold and snow brings a whole new dimension to the environment, and seeing all the animal tracks in the snow really reminds you that life in the winter in this place is a much different story than the busy tourist season you may be used to.  Seeing all the animal tracks allows you to see exactly where the coyote cross the frozen rivers, and make you wonder about what a disorganized mess of tracks and imprints meant for perhaps an animals last minutes of life as prey.

Photographing sunrise on the tetons in the winter is more spectacular than summer. The Snake River is still frozen, but the fog and mist that accumulates over the snow makes you feel as if you are truly in a winter wonderland. All the bare trees are coated in hoar frost and there are no other photographers or tourists out; it is just you and the mountains and the howling coyotes. My non-photography friend sat in the warm car to appreciate the sunrise while I stood outside in the bitter wind chill and watched the sunrise progress (unaware that my fingers were frozen.. I had more important things to worry about!).  To anyone afraid of the cold: go get some excessive warm gloves and hats, and brave the wind chill and frozen mornings, because it is 100% worth it! By 1pm that day, we were walking around in t-shirts along the snowy trails.

The tetons still bring me such peace, and the tetons in winter seem to have a whole new level of peacefulness and silence.

Even us people who live in wyoming enjoy a break from the cold though. A few days later I did escape the wyoming cold a by rock climbing in Sinks Canyon State Park: another place in Wyoming worth exploring, and a story for another day!