The Moose-Wilson Road is the park's densest wildlife corridor, running through willow and berry patches where moose feed morning and evening and where black bears — and sometimes grizzlies — work the chokecherries in late summer. It is narrow, slow and often congested, which is exactly why it produces.

Oxbow Bend and Willow Flats, near Jackson Lake Junction, are the classic dawn stops: moose in the shallows, beaver, otter, trumpeter swans and the reflected mountain if the water is still. Grizzlies with cubs are regularly seen along the Pilgrim Creek area nearby.

Antelope Flats and Mormon Row hold the open-country species — bison herds, pronghorn that migrate here from the south each summer, and coyotes hunting the sage. This is also the best area for the classic barn-and-mountain photograph at sunrise.

The National Elk Refuge just south of the park is a winter destination in its own right, holding thousands of elk from roughly December to March, with sleigh rides among them and wolves and bighorn sheep nearby.

Dawn and the last hour of light are decisive here, particularly for moose and bears. May and June bring newborn animals and green valley floors; September brings the elk rut and its bugling.

Practicalities

Jackson Hole airport is inside the park boundary, which makes this one of the easiest wildlife destinations in North America to reach. Grand Teton and Yellowstone connect directly via the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, and most itineraries combine them.

This is bear country: carry spray, know how to use it, and keep the legally required distances — 100 yards from bears and wolves, 25 from everything else. Roadside crowds form fast at sightings, and rangers move them along.