Snake River Overlook sits on a bluff on the right side of the highway, high above a sweep of the Snake with the Teton Range beyond. Ansel Adams photographed the river and the range from roughly this vantage point in 1942, though trees have grown since and the exact location is not known. His picture is among the images carried on the Voyager Golden Record. The terrace stands highest here, about 300 feet above the river, and falls away to the south. A longer talk plays for those who stay, on the ice, gravel and floods that shaped the view. Hazy or smoky air is always possible, so the range may not show clearly every day.
This is the one to stop for. Snake River Overlook is on your right in about a fifth of a mile, so pull in, and turn right when you leave. If I cut out when you shut off the car, tap play, and stay a few minutes after I finish, and I'll show you how that river got down there. If you've stopped, walk over to the overlook and look down. The Snake is about two hundred and eighty-five feet below you, sweeping past the sagebrush flats, with the high peaks of the Teton Range standing over it. Stand there a minute before you reach for the camera. In nineteen forty-two, on a job for the Interior Department, Ansel Adams made his photograph, The Tetons and the Snake River, from roughly here. You can't stand in his footprints. Nobody knows the exact spot, and the trees have grown since, and people come and try anyway. The park's history says that view begs the forests, the river and the peaks be left alone, the way they were a million years ago. If this valley ever made one argument for itself, that's it. If this valley ever made one argument for itself, that's it. This river left Earth on the Voyager Golden Record, one of one hundred and fifteen images. It's a long way from Wyoming, and it's still going.
Photo: Ansel Adams, National Archives 519904 (79-AAG-1), Records of the National Park Service · Public domain (made for the Interior Department; NARA: unrestricted, and not in the 79-G series NARA excludes)