In 2013 NPS Ranger Matt Holly had some down time during the federal government shutdown.  He had been frustrated at how much effort it often took to find all the free maps out there for our public lands, so he took his down time and started consolidating them onto npmaps.com.  He’s still in the process of compiling maps for many locations, but you’ll currently find most major locations.  Matt often cleans the maps up so they are less cluttered and add information such as pet friendly areas.  Take a look at npmaps.com for an easy place to grab maps for planning your next trip.

Snow King Mountain is located on the South side of Jackson and is the mountain that contains the ski area visible from downtown Jackson.  The mountain has numerous trails on it with several trail heads right in town.  If you are looking for a quick hike with great views from town, I would head for Snow King.  In a little less than 2 miles (depending on route) you’ll be on the top of the mountain with great views of town and an obscured view of the Teton Range running to the North.  Located at the top of the mountain are several facilities that support the ski area operations in the winter, and provide fabulous overlooks in the summer.  If you are looking for an overview photo of Town of Jackson or an overview of the Teton Range this is a great spot to catch a photograph.  It’s likely one of the best locations (if not the most accessible) to see the entire Teton Range running to the North.

Timing

This can really be hiked at any time of the day and will provide plenty of photo opportunities, however I would recommend early evening first, followed by morning.  I hiked it middle of the day in June and the sun was high enough that there was little shade that resulted in a hot hike.  Heading up before sunset will give you good shade on the way up and provide a good spot to photograph the sunset behind the Tetons (remember a flashlight for the walk down).  Morning will also be nice, you’ll just have the Tetons lit on the front from the morning sun.

Location

Snow King Mountain is adjacent to the entire South side of Jackson.  There are 7 designated trail heads in Jackson to access the mountain, but I would recommend access it from the base of the ski area at Phil Baux Park off Snow King Ave.  This location has a nice big parking lot and starts you off with a good orientation of the mountain.  The trails aren’t heavily labeled, so when you start at the base pick a trail and veer to your left.  When you come to junctions, stay with the main trail (really a road in most places) and switch back up.  For most of the hike you will be on switch backs in and out of trees and eventually will pop out at the top and you will see the building.  The farthest West building has a great deck that offers great photo opportunities and good shape to a quick break.

Details

Most parks (and other land management agencies) have personnel, or dedicated offices, assigned the responsibility to manage commercial filming and photography.  If you have any questions, it is always a good idea to check with the land management agency well in advance.  If you do need a permit, the process may very well take a while (1+ month) and is not a last minute or on site activity.

Here are some contacts for the Yellowstone area.

• Yellowstone National Park
  • https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/management/filmpermit.htm
• Grand Teton National Park
  • https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/filming.htm
• Glacier National Park
  • https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/permitsandreservations.htm
• National Elk Refuge
  • http://www.fws.gov/refuge/National_Elk_Refuge/visit/permits.html
• Bridger-Teton National Forest
  • http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/btnf/passes-permits/event-commercial/?cid=fsbdev3_063624
• Caribou-Targhee National Forest
  • http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/ctnf/passes-permits
• Custer Gallatin National Forest
  • http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/custergallatin/passes-permits/event-commercial
• Shoshone National Forest
  • http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/shoshone/passes-permits/event-commercial

If you are just learning about this event, you are likely behind the curve for making travel arrangements (the word on the street is that most places are already booked).  The timing of the eclipse in Jackson is 11:42 am on Monday, August 21, 2017, so you can make a day trip from a little way out.  Perhaps you can find a nice place to stay in Idaho Falls or Rexburg areas.  Of course, you can always find another spot along the path, but you must admit that the Tetons would be a great setting.

A great source of information on the eclipse is Eclipse2017.org.  The site contains state specific information about everything you need to know about the 2017 eclipse.  If you think this would be neat, then start your planning now and get your plans locked in.  Wyoming specific information is available at http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/states/WY.htm.

Aperature Academy

Yellowstone Association

Rocky Mountain School of Photography

Aperature Academy

timeanddate.com

Time and Date AS is a private company based in Norway that maintains websites in English, German, and Norwegian that first began operation in 1997.  In addition, they also make several apps.  This site is perhaps the largest website providing this type of information providing the user graphical tools for identifying sun status related information.

SunCalc.net

SunCalc.net is produced by Vladimir Agafonkin out of the Ukraine.  It provides a lot less data than other sources, but provides a great graphical display of the sun relative to your location.

NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory

NOAA’s Solar Calculator provides the basic information that most photographers will want.  It is a little tricky to set the location with the map interface, but the nice part is that you can directly enter a lat/ long.