Teton Reflections from Moran Junction, '76

Top: Moran Junction and the Snake River, Tetons (Burd, 2005)
Middle: Ham and YPSS Employees Embark on Snake Whitewater Trip: June, 1976
Bottom: Moran Junction and the Snake River, Tetons (Luttrell, 1976)

During the summer of 1976, the nation's bicentenniel, I dipped ice cream, slung hotdogs, and made milkshakes as a soda jerk at Ham's Store #3 at West Thumb in Yellowstone. All private concessionaire employees worked hard for six days, but had one day off each week. Most of us resisted the urge to sleep in and took advantage of these rare free days to hike or explore the parks. In mid-June most tourists had not yet descended on the neighboring Grand Teton National Park, so the Whitewater concessionaires offered free trips to park employees. Our group loaded up someone's Falcon station wagon and headed down to the Snake River near Jackson to take advantage.

We had been watching the looming mountains grow taller as we rode south, but when we rounded a curve in the road at Moran Junction,we gasped a collective OH!. The Snake River spread before us; the perfectly calm water beneath the cloudless Montana blue sky mirrored the Tetons exactly. Our driver rolled to the road side for us to take pictures and to enjoy the moment. The picture posted here was taken by a family on a recent vacation, who later posted to their Web page. It's nice, but not nearly as nice as the one I took away in my head all those years ago.