Monthly Archives: February 2015

Mount Moran at Sunrise

Mount Moran

The Shot: Mount Moran

Mount Moran, at an elevation of 12605 feet/3842 meters in Grand Teton National Park, is a dominant peak in Wyoming’s Teton Range. The massive peak, often mistaken as being the Grand Teton, has some rather unique features. Perhaps the most striking is Skillet Glacier, seen in the photo as the large area of snow. My impression is that of a giant, broad, dog’s head with a streak of white running from the top of the head down to the nose and muzzle.

Look real close and one can see a vertical band of black off to the left of Skillet Glacier. Geologists call that 150-wide strip of black a “dike”. Then, near the very peak of the summit, one can make out a small light colored area of sandstone sitting up there like a cap.

This shot of Mount Moran was captured with a Nikon D300 with a Nikon 18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens adjusted to 70.0 mm at 4:55AM on a late August morning. I also often record GPS Coordinates and elevation using a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx attached to one or the other of my Nikon’s.

The Spot: Oxbow Bend

The location was suggested to me by a helpful employee of the Jackson Lake Lodge who knew I was taking photos in the area. The spot is well known I discovered, for there were a number of other photographers who also showed up to catch a sunrise photo. This location is a pullout along side US Highway 191 at Oxbow Bend on the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park in Northwest Wyoming.

Oxbow Bend is easily found on a map showing Grand Teton National Park, but in case you don’t have a map handy, here are the GPS coordinates as recorded by the image: 43,51.9667N, 110,32.9068. Elevation: 2062 meters/6765 feet.