I think Signal Mtn is closer to the middle of GTNP.

I stayed at Signal Mtn and the cabins were a definite upgrade to OF Lodge. Right on the water. Very close to Signal Mtn Road. I would stayed there again for sure.

If you're going this summer and want to stay at Signal Mtn, make the reservation and keep your other one for a while. Call, call, call for cancellations.

We have stayed at Signal Mt. Lodge twice and like it fine. Advice regarding cancellations correct. We are leaving today for Badlands and then to Yellowstone. Only decided to do it in Feb., so there wasn't much in the park and nothing at OF. Booked what I could and kept checking. Was able to cobble together 6 nights since the original bookings, in OF and Canyon, and cancel Grant. We probably had as many as 12 nights reservations (not all at one time) over the months. Also noticed that a lot more cancellations started happening the month before. We held single reservations hoping to get the day before or the day after and it pretty well worked.

Have not stayed in the Colter Bay cabin, but have really enjoyed Signal Mt. Lodge. Keep calling!

Colter Bay cabins are fine, but nothing fancy. They are log cabins and are right at Colter Bay, which is very pretty. You don't say how many are in your party, but the two bedroom cabins are nice if you have children with you.

Signal Mt. Is a little more centrally located and has a decent, reasonably priced restaurant. Unless you can get 2 nights at Signal Mt., I wouldn't bother moving twice. My favorite place to stay is Jackson Lake Lodge.

swtraveler,

I've stayed at Coulter Bay cabins several times and I like the location. There is much to do at Coulter Bay and some great hiking right there. The cabins are quite bsic and rustic, but comfortable. There are LOTS of them.

I just stayed at Signal Mtn Lodge on their opening weekend this year, first time there. I took my dog, so had a lower "Lakeside Retreat" unit. You are paying for the views - fantastic. My unit was comfortable, but I felt overpriced for what you got. It was musty and I had to call to have the bathtub cleaned, as housekeeping had dumped dirty mopwater in it and left it that way. Pretty gross. They did come promptly and cleaned it with bleach.

I had "opening day" discount rate of $20 off and I would NEVER pay their full rate. But then, I strongly feel the lodging in the parks is overpriced. That's what you get when there is no competition.

Again, you are paying for the views and location - if you don't like to camp

I've been watching this thread with interest. Last night we reserved a night at Signal Mtn "Lakeside Retreat" upstairs room for $273!!! We must be nuts. We've read some bad housekeeping reviews that have us a bit scared. Not worried about outdated style because the view will more than make up for that. We just don't want critters or grime, or views blocked by overgrown shrubs.

One of the reasons we're justifying paying so much is because we'll be able to cook a simple dinner there and also have breakfast, saving some money. We're not canceling our 2 rooms at Motel 6 in Jackson just yet though!

We stayed at Signal Mt. Lodge about two years ago and would go back in a heartbeat. One of our favorite park lodging experiences for the location, views, comfort. We had an upper lakeside retreat and could have moved in. It's not fancy but it suit our needs perfectly. Things change, and on occassion things go awry, but our room was spotless and very comfortable. From here, we moved to the seemingly endless buzz at the Old Faithful Inn We missed Signal so much that we left for the airport early so we could stop in one last time.

Thank you all so much. I am still on the same boat, 2 nights at colter bay. Between I blocked one night at Lake hotel yellowstone too to get more confused! Do we need full two days at GTNP or can it be seen in one day? we don't do hiking but love scenery a lot.

There's hiking and then there's hiking.

As I wrote above we stayed at Signal Mtn.

If you're into photography at all then you could duplicate views at different times of the day.

Very often a little bit of work is definitely worth the prize.

On the outside road. Mormon row and Schwabacher Landing early in the morning before the sun gets too high or moves to the west in your face.

Mormon Row is two old barns with the spectacular Tetons behind them. About a quarter mile off the main outside road.

Schwabacher Landing is a little over quarter of a mile off the main road down an open dirt road. Most people just stop at the viewpoints along the main road. However, when you go down this road you can walk a little along the river and get amazing reflections of the Tetons in the water.

Signal Mtn Road. There are a couple of viewpoints with small parking areas up the road. Again, go early before the sun is too high or moving west and in your eyes. Late in the day we saw a bear just off the road.

The day we left for the airport we made some random stops along the way and got great views.

I took some photos early in the morning from the lodge and got clouds running right thru the middle of Mt Moran on the other side of the lake.

You can take the boat across Jenny Lake and join the crowds (weekend) or the smaller crowds (weekdays) doing the relatively short hike to the Falls and beyond. Go as far as you want. I think this is the most popular hike in GTNP.

There are several fairly short hikes that are level and have excellent scenery.

Much more but can't remember.

For lodging. The tours companies book rooms a year ahead and then start to release the unused rooms in the last month.

Call, call, call!!!!!

You can see my photos at:

www.travelwalks.com

Thank you Myer, you have a very good collection of beautiful travel photos. I am going to take lots of photos around GTNP and YNP.

I look at Yellowstone as an event (geysers, wildlife, waterfalls) destination and Grand Tetons as a scenery destination. Beautiful views at every turn.

In my last post I forgot to mention Oxbow Bend in the north part of GTNP where the inside and outside roads meet.

This is a favorite of photographers and not alike. Beaitful views early in the morning and late in the day of Mt Moran with the water in front. Also wildlife hang around there early and late.

Signal Mt. Is a little more centrally located and has a decent, reasonably priced restaurant.

This was our experience, too, and we much preferred our lake and mountain view at Signal Mountain to our view of bushes at our Jackson Lake Lodge cabin.

HTTY

PS The restaurant at Signal Mt doesn't have the "you are so lucky to be here" attitude we've endured several times at the Mural Dining Room.

We had a spectacular view of the Tetons at Jackson Lake Lodge, but we reserved way ahead and requested the view. We really enjoyed talking to the ranger every evening out on the terrace of JLL about the different animals he spotted below. The Mural Room has a good breakfast buffet.

We are staying one day at Signal Mt.
Please let us know if there are any activities around that area
and also what are the important places not to miss in GTNP.

GTNP is so beautiful you'll just want to gawk.

The only place we saw YNP type crowds was at a dock from which shuttle boats come and go.

Here are some ideas: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/grandtetonnationalpark/

HTTY

Thanks.
What is the best float trip or short scenic cruise in GTNP?
Float trip is safe with 6 and 10yr old kids?

@ Myer - could you be more specific as to the location of Mormon Row and Schwabacher Landing? Thanks

@ Myer - beautiful pics. What type camera/lens do you use? What time of year did you go to these parks?

For both Mormon Row and Schwabacher Landing you go north on the outside main road, Rte 89, above the airport..

Don't turn left onto the inside road, Teton Park Rd. Stay on 89. Just less than a mile above the road junction you'll come to Antelope Flats Road. The road only goes right, to the east.

Drive about a mile until you come to a junction that's Mormon Row on the left side and Gros Ventre Road to the right. One barn is in each direction only about a couple of hundred yards. You can't miss them.

Obviously from the road you'll see them with the Tetons behind. You can walk around the area and the barns. The best time for photography is early morning as the sun will be behind you and not directly above or in your face.

If you come really early be careful as there may be wildlife in the area though we didn't see any there.

For Schwabacher Landing go back to the outside road (Rte 89 or 26 or 191 same road) and continue north (towards Yellowstone) only about a mile and a half.

If I remember correctly there's a sign there. It's definitely not a viewpoint or pullout but a dirt road that goes down on the left side for about a half mile. You can park in the parking lot and walk along the river to get views of the river with the Tetons not only in the background but reflecting in the water.

When we went there we saw a few people in each place. Most people just stop at the regular pullouts/viewpoints off the main road.

Also there's Oxbow Bend. Continue up the outside road (or if you're going a different time and are on the inside road) until the two roads join at the top of GTNP. You'll see a sign for Oxbow Bend.

Although it's just a pullout and requires no additional driving, it's still a favorite spot for photographers both early in the morning and late in the afternoon/evening.

You could also see some wildlife there as well.

I forgot to answer your other questions.

I was there in early August.

My current camera is a Canon DSLR. The model is T2i and is now two years old. The models get upgraded about once a year. My previous camera was the same model (xt) but about 4 years old at the time it was retired.

The upgrades from one to the next aren't usually worth upgrading but 4 generations definitely made a difference.

I have an excellent travel lens. Canon 15-85. Costs as much as the camera but is 20% wider than what most people carry and has reasonable length. It's also sharp throughout the range.

Many people believe that when they go on a trip they need a longer lens. The exact opposite is true. When you come back and review your photos you usually find they just don't look like what you saw. That's because they're not wide enough. Especially for landscapes.

The only time you really need long is for wildlife. For that I have a lens (Canon 55-250) that's only marginally long enough. Not really long enough for distant animals.

If you look at my photos of the Yellowstone and Banff trips, the photos of the bears were taken with the 15-85 and not the 55-250. Except the mother and cubs I was way too close to them. I was about 75 yards away from the mother.

I was in Banff last year with my wife so I figured I wouldn't be out looking for wildlife. MISTAKE!!! I won't do that again.

In a few weeks I'm going to Glacier National Park with my daughter. For sure I'll have both lenses. However, I'm not really used to changing lenses on the go. I'm going to do some practicing over the next week.

<It's also sharp throughout the range.>

This sounds like the issue i'm having. Even though I use autofocus, my pics always seem a bit fuzzy, or "soft" never sharp/crisp. I don't know how much is operator error or camera error!

I have the Nikon d50 and Sigma lenses (both 15-85 and 55-250). I tend to use the 55-250 mostly.

I'm sure you have a "crop" camera too. Mine is as well.

I think that's a 6 megapixel camera. Quite old but that doesn't make it get worse. It just means that you can't really crop images much.

In general the cost of a lens determines a lot unrelated to the actual specs of the lenses. Most lenses are sharp but where they are sharp is the issue.

For instance you may have a lens whose aperture (lens opening) goes from f3.5 (wide open) to f22 (closed down). It may not be sharp until you start getting to f6.3 or f7 or f8.

Then you have shutter speed. If you're using your camera in an automatic mode you have little control about the settings.

So if the shutter speed is too slow then you have another issue. I used to use 1/125 sec on my old film camera. However, the crop cameras (those SLR digitals with a smaller sensor such as your camera and mine) magnify the issue more.
Also, I'm not as steady as I used to be. When on a trip I try to keep my shutter speed faster than 1/250 and in bright conditions keep it at 1/320 sec or faster.

So your issue could be caused by too slow shutter speed and/or the lens aperture being in a weak area of the lens.

For simplicity, you want to use as fast a shutter speed as possible and have the lens closed down at least several stops (settings). This is all ignoring special effects, etc.

Of course, this is not possible under dim lighting conditions. So now you have to compromise.

One of the main reasons I upgraded from my older Canon xt to the T2i is the high ISO performance. My old camera went up to ISO1600 but was very noisy there. My newer camera goes up to ISO6400 and it's pretty clean at ISO3200.

That means if the conditions are dim, instead of using a shutter speed that's too slow and get a fuzzy image, I'll up the ISO (sensitivty) to compensate and get my shot. If I have to I'll "push" the camera to ISO12800 and use noise reduction software later.

I'd rather a sharp but noisy image (I can apply noise reduction later) than a clean but fuzzy one.

I don't know where you are in photography but if you let me know if you understand all this stuff we can continue. Otherwise we're wasting our time.

I used to have a Sigma 17-80. Before I bought it I read all the reviews about how great it was. Then when I bought it everything anywhere close to wide open was VERY VERY soft.

Also, I always questioned how it focused. I was just not pleased with it. So when I upgraded my camera I also went with the newer Canon 15-85.

I meant to write one more thing.

If you have a DSLR camera (and you do) it's expected you don't treat it like a point and shoot. That means it's expected you will do some post-processing.

Some sharpening is expected. You can either use Photoshop (or other) or the software that came with the camera.

Yep, been having to do that in IPhoto.

do you shoot in RAW?

No, I don't shoot in RAW but have considered it.

= = = =
As I mentioned, photos that are not sharp can be caused by anything from equipment to user issues.

Also, other things I didn't mention. You photos could be sharp but with the lens wide open the depth of field would be shallow.

And then there's just bad focusing by you camera. Have you tried using manual focus to see if it's better. It's possible autofocus just isn't working properly.

You've got to eliminate each of the things I mentioned and then decide how to resolve the remaining. It may be that your lenses just aren't sharp. Or. . . .

I'll check out manual focus and see if that changes anything. Thanks for your input Myer.

Jill