South of Moose on the Moose–Wilson Road, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve Center is located on land that was privately owned by Laurance S. Rockefeller and is situated on Phelps Lake. Donated to Grand Teton National Park and opened to the public in 2008, the property was once part of the JY Ranch, the first dude ranch in Jackson Hole. At Jenny Lake, the Jenny Lake Visitor Center is open from mid-May to mid-September.
Early conservation leaders met at the Murie Ranch in support of wilderness preservation. The Wilderness Act of 1964 was conceived and written by those conservationists who gathered at the Murie Ranch in the shadow of the Tetons. As America expanded westward, survey expeditions mapped the landscape, documented natural resources and scouted for future railroad access. Parties led by Captain W.F. Raynolds in 1860, Ferdinand V. Hayden in 1872, and Gustavus C. Doane in 1876 traveled to the Teton region and expanded America’s knowledge of the land and its resources. Above the igneous and metamorphic core are layers of sedimentary rocks that wrap around the Teton Range and are eroding from the eastern side.
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Grand Teton
The scenic highway with the same name passes from the southern boundary of Grand Teton National Park to West Thumb in Yellowstone National Park. Grand Teton National Park covers approximately 310,000 acres , while the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Most of the Jackson Hole valley and virtually all the major mountain peaks of the Teton Range are within the park. The Jedediah Smith Wilderness of Caribou-Targhee National Forest lies along the western boundary and includes the western slopes of the Teton Range.
But whichever route you take, you’re bound to see wildlife—possibly even a moose. Birders can find avian species of all shapes and sizes, from the trumpeter swan to the calliope hummingbird in the park. We drove the loop through GTNP, then returned home by passing through Yellowstone again and crossing the Continental Divide.
Home to some of the most stunning alpine scenery in the United States, the territory in and around Grand Teton National Park also has a colorful human history. The first Anglo-American to see the saw-edged Teton peaks is believed to be John Colter. After traveling with Lewis and Clark to the Pacific, Colter left the expedition during its return trip down the Missouri in 1807 to join two fur trappers headed back into the wilderness. He spent the next three years wandering through the northern Rocky Mountains, eventually finding his way into the valley at the base of the Tetons, which would later be called Jackson Hole.
Grand Teton National Park
Many believe that Native American tribes named the Tetons, but they actually referred to them as “Teewinot,” which means “many pinnacles”—a little more tasteful than what the French explorers called them. After leaving Lewis and Clark, fellow explorer, John Colter, set off on his own expedition through the Rocky Mountains with two other explorers, he stumbled upon present-day Jackson Hole.
The first wordage attributed to these peaks in North America would be “Teewinot”. Anthropologists believe the Shoshone have inhabited the Tetons for at least 10,000 years, and as such – if anyone’s going to be naming these mountains – it should be them. Besides the remarkable scenery showcased by the Grand Teton Mountain Range above, the first thing people generally notice about Grand Teton is the unusual name. While it feels fitting, “Teton” isn’t English, and as such leaves most Americans searching for how the park and mountain range received such a name.
Metamorphic rocks are the most common types found in the northern and southern sections of the Teton Range. 2,545 million years ago, the metamorphic rocks were intruded by igneous granitic rocks, which are now visible in the central Tetons including Grand Teton and the nearby peaks. The light colored granites of the central Teton Range contrast with the darker metamorphic gneiss found on the flanks of Mount Moran to the north. Magma intrusions of diabase rocks 765 million years ago left dikes that can be seen on the east face of Mount Moran and Middle Teton. Granite and pegmatite intrusions also worked their way into fissures in the older gneiss. Precambrian rocks in Jackson Hole are buried deep under comparatively recent Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary deposits, as well as Pleistocene glacial deposits.
Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout is found only in the Snake River and tributaries below the Jackson Lake dam to the Palisades Reservoir in Idaho. Other non-native species of trout such as the rainbow trout and lake trout were introduced by the Wyoming Fish and Game Department or migrated out of Yellowstone. Native species of fish include the mountain whitefish, longnose dace, mountain sucker and non-native species include the Utah chub and Arctic grayling. Of the larger mammals the most common are elk, which exist in the thousands. Their migration route between the National Elk Refuge and Yellowstone National Park is through Grand Teton National Park, so while easily seen anytime of the year, they are most numerous in the spring and fall. Other ungulates in the park include moose, bison, and pronghorn—the fastest land mammal in the western hemisphere.
As of 2010, 110 privately owned property inholdings, many belonging to the state of Wyoming, are located within Grand Teton National Park. Efforts to purchase or trade these inholdings for other federal lands are ongoing and through partnerships with other entities, 10 million dollars is hoped to be raised to acquire private inholdings by 2016. Government sponsored expedition to enter Jackson Hole was the 1859–60 Raynolds Expedition. Army Captain William F. Raynolds and guided by mountain man Jim Bridger, it included naturalist F.
Summers were a time of abundance, and Indian tribes came to harvest bulbs and berries, fish the lakes and streams, and hunt wildlife. With the approach of the harsh winter, indigenous people generally followed their prey out of the valley in search of milder weather. By the late 1940s, however, local opposition to the inclusion of the Rockefeller lands in the park had diminished, in part because of the growing economic importance of tourism.
Regions of the park that have experienced wildfire in historical times have greater species diversity after reestablishment than those regions that have not been influenced by fire. One study conducted 15 years before the 1988 Yellowstone National Park fires concluded that human suppression of wildfire had adversely impacted Aspen tree groves and other forest types. The majority of conifer species in Grand Teton National Park are heavily dependent on wildfire and this is particularly true of the Lodgepole Pine. Though extremely hot canopy or crown fires tend to kill Lodgepole Pine seeds, lower severity surface fires usually result in a higher post wildfire regeneration of this species. The Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout is the only native trout species in Grand Teton National Park. It is also the only subspecies of cutthroat trout that is exclusively native to large streams and rivers.
Some of the rocks in the park are the oldest found in any American national park and have been dated at nearly 2.7 billion years. The range of altitude in Grand Teton National Park impacts the types of plant species found at various elevations. In the alpine zone above the tree line, which in Grand Teton National Park is at approximately 10,000 ft , tundra conditions prevail. In this treeless region, hundreds of species of grass, wildflower, moss and lichen are found.
In 1950, in protest to the designation of Jackson Hole as a national monument, cattle ranchers, led by a movie star named Wallace Berry, drove 500 cattle across the land. In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I’ve come across answering what to see at grand tetons. Here are 31 of the best facts about Grand Tetons Map and Grand Tetons Camping I managed to collect.
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