A boy enjoys the view at Inspiration Point, which overlooks Jenny Lake and Jackson Valley in Grand Teton National Park. Photo by Reed Parsell/Special to the Review-Journal. Adam Spring handles the oars during a "float trip" down the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park. The Teton mountains are in the background. Photo by Reed Parsell/Special to the Review-Journal.

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. --

You know you are in a special place when bald eagle sightings are so frequent you don't pay much attention to them anymore.

That was the case as we floated down the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park, northwest Wyoming's "other" fabulous attraction. Although neighboring Yellowstone is more famous and more visited, Grand Teton has a more immediately striking visual impact, with its magnificent rocky peaks. It also can be explored suitably in one day, which is all my wife, Kari, and I had on the sunny Monday that we visited in late August.

Covering 485 square miles, Grand Teton is less than one-seventh the size of Yellowstone. The park's signature attraction is in its southern portion, but visible for many miles around -- including in the upscale mountain resort town of Jackson. Grand Teton peak reaches 13,770 feet above sea level and stands in the middle of a five-peak cluster that surely has awed anyone lucky enough to have seen it.

From south to north, South Teton, Middle Teton, Grand Teton, Mount Owen and Teewinot all top 12,300 feet. Their gray peaks are spotted with a dozen glaciers. The shape of those peaks was suggestive to lonely (I imagine) French trappers in the early 19th century, who nicknamed the South, Middle and Grand Tetons "Les Trois Tetons," meaning the three breasts. I imagine there is an acceptable joke to be made here, but all I can think of is to reference the protagonist in an old James Bond film, "The Man With the Golden Gun." If you've seen the film, you know what I mean.

The Teton Range includes at least eight other mountains, four on each side of the main cluster, most of whose summits exceed 11,000 feet. Floating down the Snake River is one of the best ways to admire the range. That was our morning activity, and although we both thought the nearly three-hour commitment cut too much into our plans for the rest of the day, we enjoyed the experience and would recommend it. You must understand, however, that it does not represent whitewater rafting; these are called "float trips" because all the rafts do is amble along with a tame current.

Our laid-back and seasoned guide, a young Midwesterner named Adam Spring, maintained a nice balance of talking with the nine passengers in his raft and staying mum to let us soak in the sights and sounds of nature. We saw at least five bald eagles perched on high branches and another predatory bird that swooped directly over us with a big fish in its mouth. Binoculars would have enhanced the trip's bird watching, but we needed no magnification to see the hundreds of fish that sped by in the cool, clear and shallow Snake waters below us.

In Spring's opinion, there is no guaranteed best time of day to see wildlife from the river. Bears, coyotes, elk, moose, mule deer and weasels make their homes in the mountains and huge Jackson Valley, but not often are spotted near people pathways such as roads and the river. Spring suggested that visitors take float trips in the morning and avoid evenings, when the summer sun's angle creates the need for a lot of squinting. Also, Kari and I noticed that in the late afternoon of a till-then cloudless day, the skies suddenly thickened with a smoky haze that greatly reduced the distances we could see.

Our guide also talked about Jackson, a few miles south of Grand Teton along the park's main road, Highway 191. The town has two main drags, West Broadway and Cache Street, that pass by Western-themed businesses that are patronized by Jackson's 8,700 residents and its legions of tourists, many of whom come for extended stays to learn mountain climbing in the summer or to go skiing in the winter. Dick Cheney spends quite a lot of time in Jackson, Spring said, although the comparatively high concentration of Wyoming Democrats there must make him snarl.

Jackson was "discovered" as a ski resort in the 1980s and remains a hot spot today. According to Spring, the median price for a home in town was $90,000 in 1979; now, that figure exceeds $550,000. "The saying around here is that the millionaires have been replaced by the billionaires," he said.

After our raft excursion, which cost $43 apiece, we spent a few minutes exploring the Moose Visitor Center. About 15 miles north of Jackson, Moose is the only park facility that's open year-round. Facilities there include a small museum and post office. From there, we drove about 10 miles up the park's interior road (closed during the winter) to Jenny Lake.

Aside from staring at the Teton Range, our early afternoon at Jenny Lake was our day's highlight. After taking a shuttle boat ($9 round trip) from the southeastern to western shore, we walked up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, the latter allowing us sweeping views of the lake and valley below. The hike took about 90 minutes and was not especially easy; we encountered several switchbacks along the way. Many other people in worse shape than we were in, however, conquered the trail and appeared to enjoy doing so.

Time was running out so we settled for one last activity: a trip up and down Signal Mountain. In the park's central section near Signal Mountain Lodge (which has several shops, restaurants and a grand lobby), the five-mile uphill drive tops off with views of the Teton Range and valley, although as I alluded to above the late-afternoon haze prevented us from seeing anything we had not seen more clearly before, first on the river and later from Inspiration Point.

From now through April, Highway 191 (which also includes portions of Highways 26 and 89) is open and allows visitors some satisfying ogle time with the Teton Range. Winter activities there include cross-country skiing, ice fishing, photography and snowshoeing.

For updated road information, call (307) 739-3682.

Entrance to Grand Teton National Park is $25 per vehicle, and includes admission to Yellowstone National Park as long as you visit there within a week. Temperatures in the valley range from an average high of 79 degrees in July to an average low of 1 in January; annual snowfall is in the 175-inch range.

For more information: (307) 739-3300 or www.nps.gov/grte.