Grand Teton National Park

by Chris · August 1, 2024

Located in the northwest corner of Wyoming bordering Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929 and encompasses some 310,000 acres of wilderness, rugged mountains, and pristine lakes. I visited Grand Teton National Park back in 2000, but this time was special because my son, Jack, flew out to join me while he was on summer break at Penn State. I picked him up at the Jackson Hole Airport and he joined me camping for ten days at both Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

The Teton Range rises dramatically out of the Jackson Hole valley for forty miles with virtually no foothills to obstruct your view. The rocks at the core of these jagged mountains are some 2.7 billion years old making them some of the oldest rocks in North America, yet the Teton Range is one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world. About 100 million years ago before the mountains took shape, the tectonic plates along North America’s west coast collided and this forced a huge block of sedimentary rock formed by the ancient inland sea to bow upwards. Beginning 10 million years ago, massive earthquakes along the Teton fault caused the mountains to rise and the valley floor to sink. While movement along the fault created the Teton Range, erosion caused by glaciers to the north sculpted the landscape creating the valleys, jagged skyline, and lakes we see today.

One of the first Americans to explore the Jackson Hole valley and Teton Range was John Colter. In 1804 as a young Army private, he volunteered to join Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery and made the historic round-trip journey from St. Louis to the Oregon coast. Upon their successful return to St. Louis in 1806, Colter set-off on his own to explore the Yellowstone and trap furs. Colter Bay on Jackson Lake is named after this famed explorer and that is the campground we stayed at during our visit to Grand Teton National Park.

Another man who was influential in preserving the Teton Range and Jackson Hole valley was John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who visited the Jackson Hole valley in the 1920s and was disturbed with the development he saw in this pristine wilderness. Rockefeller took action by anonymously purchasing some 35,000 acres through his Snake River Land Company. He later gifted that land to the national park service and in appreciation for his numerous contributions to the nation’s national parks, Congress designated the highway between Grand Teton and Yellowstone the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway in 1972.

There are many spectacular peaks in the Teton Range, but none is more stunning than Grand Teton. At 13,775 feet, it is the tallest mountain in the range and on its eastern slope is Teton Glacier which is clearly visible from the valley below. At the base of Grand Teton is Jenny Lake which is a pristine alpine lake that on a clear day you can see the breathtaking reflection of the mountains. Another notable peak in the range is Mount Moran which stands 12,610 feet and has three active glaciers on it today. The Snake River has its tributaries in the Jackson Hole valley and winds over 2,000 miles west to flow into the Columbia River. The largest lake in the valley is Jackson Lake and our campground was on the shores of this popular boating lake. It is a natural lake but was dammed in 1916 to provided water for irrigation in neighboring Idaho.

Jenny Lake is perhaps the number one sight to see at Grand Teton National Park. Jack and I got an early start one day and made our way out to Jenny Lake where we got a primo parking spot. First thing we did in the morning was to hike around the lake from the Visitor Center to Hidden Falls which was a beautiful hike, but we were a little disappointed not to see any bears in the morning. The falls were quite tall and beautiful hidden in Cascade Canyon. We elected to take the boat shuttle back across Jenny Lake to the visitor center, and then continued our hike around the east side of the lake after lunch. We were rewarded with our first bear encounter: a young black bear right along our trail! Another spectacular hike that we found was out to Taggart Lake which was a gorgeous alpine lake with crystal clear waters and a quick foot soak sure felt good in the summer heat.