Discoveries…America National Parks: Grand Teton National Park & Other Wyoming Destinations

Another dazzling entry in Jim and Kelly Watts’s HD-filmed Discoveries…America National Parks series, Grand Teton National Park and Other Wyoming Destinations serves up sumptuous visits to Wyoming’s national parks, reserves, and archaeological sites, beginning with Grand Teton National Park, where viewers see long shots of elk wandering through a world of top-to-bottom snow, as well as other protected critters, including wolves, coyote, foxes, swans, etc. (footage of a truck driving slowly in deep snow through a herd of 900 elk—while game officers toss squares of grasses and plants for the animals to consume—is weirdly dreamlike). A handsome exhibit details the origins of the park (through a deal worked out between local community and the federal government in 1923), which is very different in spring, as the elk migrate at will—sometimes blocking roads—and human visitors enjoy the sunlight within a vast green valley. Elsewhere, Fossil Butte National Monument features many remarkable fossils, while the mysterious Devils Tower National Monument automatically calls to mind Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, although here we see another kind of encounter, as climbers shimmy up the steep surface of the iconic butte, holding on for dear life. The Vore Buffalo Jump is a strange monument to historical slaughter, where Native Americans would frighten herds of buffalo into a 40-foot deep sinkhole, where the animals would then be finished off (buffalo bones are on display, illustrating how hunters and their community would find uses for every part of a kill). The sublime Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area boasts a spectacular canyon, pristine river (perfect for fly fishing), and plenty of prairie dogs. And there is a cameo appearance by Yellowstone National Park, the subject of the premiere entry in this fine series aimed at armchair travelers. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)