A Moment of Magic. As the first few days involved some necessary logistics it’s been important to remind myself that I’m about five minutes drive away from something very special. It must be one of the most incredible moments of road travel that the earth has in store for us. The route north out of Jackson takes you past a large butte which is close on the left and is a little like a large rolling green hill. After three miles the road rises and as if to hint at what’s to come, you drive past the last rocky out crop.
The out crop is beautiful and full of different reds and greens and then within seconds of that you’re suddenly looking at heavenly mountains as far as the eye can see. It must be something about the immediate expanse of space and the new skyline that now resembles something dramatically torn. There’s no way a photo or painting can capture the moment of sudden transition(as you can see from my rubbish attempt, it’s one of those things that asks to be photographed as it feels so close but then dissapears into a thin strip, on the device that hasn’t a clue what you’ve just experienced). I’ve concluded that someone needs to write a folk song about it.
It’s strange to think that the Tetons are young, in mountain terms, they are the youngest of the Rockies and even more strange that this whole range was once under a warm sea. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Grand_Teton_area
I’ve taken this journey a few times now, each time the colours and atmosphere of the view is so unique, I can’t imagine a time when I’d get used to it. There’s a number of experiences I’d like to make work from, while I’m here but the Teton range will be the main focus of my attention with the help of repeated trips . There’s a long tradition in artists painting these mountains but that makes the challenge to bring something new to this subject all the more inviting.