Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

12,605-foot Mount Moran dominates the skyline over Oxbow Bend in this panoramic photograph along the Snake River just downstream from Jackson Lake. Though not the highest of the Teton Range’s peaks, Moran’s sheer bulk overshadows all others with the exception of the Grand Teton itself which can been seen at the far left of this image rising about the pine-covered moraine of Signal Mountain. With its headwaters on the Yellowstone Plateau to the north, the Snake River pauses here with barely any current in this nearly-abandoned meander before it continues its long journey to its confluence with the Columbia and finally to the Pacific Ocean west of Portland, Oregon. On these early autumn mornings as moose wade in the shallows, flocks of pelicans and geese gather before making their own long journey south for the winter.