Day Seven

For our seventh full day of the workshop, we offered the students an option. John would take a group over the Teton Pass and into Idaho, while I would take a group south to Granite Hot Springs. We both departed at 9:00 AM. I had seven students with me and John had five. My group headed south along the Snake River until it intersects with the Hoback River, then turned left and followed the Hoback River through the Hoback Canyon. The steep rock walls of the canyon are a great place to spot bighorn sheep. We slowed down to gaze up at the cliff walls hoping to spot some movement, but the sheep eluded us.

Our biggest adventure of the day would be the 10 mile dirt road along Granite Creek to reach the hot springs. It had rained pretty hard the night before and the road was very soft and muddy. The first couple miles seemed fine. In fact, I was relieved that there wasn't as much dust being kicked up. However, at about the 4 mile marker the road entered a stand of trees. The shade had prevented the mud from drying and our back end started fishtailing. We eventually made it through, but the tires were caked in mud and we proceeded to struggle for the next mile or so. I almost turned around at the 6 mile marker after spinning and sliding at full throttle, but the students encouraged me to keep on. Fortunately, the road got better and we were able to make it the last 4 miles to the springs. Along the way, we spotted a mother elk and her baby crossing the fast-moving creek. The baby struggled a little in the strong current, but eventually made it to the concerned mother pacing the bank. We also spotted a mother moose and her calf crossing the road ahead of us. They stopped and looked at us for a few seconds then quickly disappeared into a thick stand of pines.

We were the only vehicle in the hot springs parking lot and had the whole place to ourselves. The eight of us soaked for over an hour letting the warm therapeutic water relax our aching muscles. The temperamental weather kept shifting from sunny skies to threatening clouds. Fortunately, it never did rain. On the way out, the road had dried out some and we were able to cruise a little easier.

John's group headed over the Teton Pass and into Idaho. They stopped at the small town of Driggs and wandered the streets. They also visited a couple of less-touristy towns like Ashton and Tetonia. The landscape on the west side of the Tetons is much more rural and subtle. It's a nice contrast to the dramatic landscape of the Jackson Hole area. The group discovered a long band of sand dunes north of the town of Rexburg and came back with some stunning images. We were also told of some secretive caves carved by lava flows just north of the dunes. Both places offer excellent challenges and opportunities and will definitely be on future workshop agendas.

We all reconvened at the Center for the Arts at 4:30 PM for presentations by two invited artists. Darren Clark and Scott Wheeler are both professors of photography in the Art Department at BYU-Idaho. Collectively, their work deals with issues of landscape and culture. Darren has been photographing the rural Idaho landscape close to his home, while Scott's recent work explores landscapes after dark lit by surreal artificial light. They each gave 30-40 minute slideshows on their recent work and then shared a collection of prints. The students had lots of questions about their photographic techniques and varied approaches to the medium.

After the lectures, we took a break for dinner and then met up at the van for a group sunset shoot with the visiting artists. Photographing with the visiting artists is a great opportunity for students to witness how other professional photographers work in the field. We packed into two vehicles and headed up to Schwabacher's Landing in Grand Teton National Park. A popular place for sunrise, Schwabacher's is also a great place to watch the sunset. The sky was partially covered with wispy clouds that gathered color as the sun dropped behind the Tetons.