Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park was established as a
National Park in 1929. The park includes
a large portion of the
Teton Range, 50 miles of the
Snake River, and many
lakes. Encompassing
roughly 310,000 acres, the park is home to some of the most rugged terrain in the country.
Location
Grand Teton National Park is located in the northwestern corner of
Wyoming, near
Jackson Hole.
There is actually a road designated leading from
Yellowstone National Park to
Grand Teton.
Activities
Including one of the most rugged mountain ranges in the
United States, seven
morainal lakes,
over 100 alpine lakes, 100 miles of paved roads, and 200 miles of hiking trails, the park has a
multitude of
activities for
visitors. These include:
The
Jackson Hole area is also home to the
National Elk Refuge. While not inside the national
park, the
elk herd is an amazing sight. The town of
Jackson has a lot of character, and while
fairly
touristy, it is a fun place to wander around.
Fees
All
National Park System passes are valid at
Grand Teton National Park. Single entry passes,
providing access to the park for seven days, are $20 per vehicle, $10 per single hiker or bicyclist,
and $15 per motorcycle.
Climate
Extreme high temperature: 93 degrees F (34 C)
Extreme low temperature: -46 degrees F (-43 C)
Average annual snowfall: 191 inches (490 cm)
Average annual rainfall: 10 inches (26 cm)
Plants and Animals
Animals indigenous to the area include:
No poisonous reptiles or spiders are known to inhabit the park
The Grand Tetons are host to many plants, including an abundance of
wildflowers after snowmelt.
Many of these plants are adapted to life above the 10,000 foot
treeline. Most trees in the park are
coniferous, such as
pines,
firs, and
spruces, although aspen and cottonwoods can be found at
lower elevations.
Geology
We'll start off the
history of the park pretty early, roughly 2.5 billion years ago. The primary
rocks which make up the
Teton range, mainly
igneous and
metamorphic rocks including
gneiss and
granite,
were formed around this time. Other geologic formations in the park include
precambrian intrusions, sedimentary
layers, and deposits of younger rocks.
The
mountains themselves were produced by uplift along the
Teton Fault roughly 9 million years
ago. While this may seem like a long time, geologically this makes them one of the youngest
portions of the Rocky Mountains. Due to this the
Tetons are a very
rugged range, since they haven't
undergone much of the
weathering and
erosion older ranges have experienced. An interesting fact
learned in the research of this is that the uplift which produced the
Tetons has averaged something
like 4.5 inches per hundred years during formation.
The
peaks which are located in Grand Teton National Park are as follows, with their elevations above
sea level:
History (A little more recent)
While Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929, humans have left evidence of existence as early as 11,000 years ago.
Early usage of the area seems to be
seasonal, with more permanent
occupancy beginning sometime in the
1820s. This was mainly by fur traders, who trapped beaver in the greater
Jackson Hole area. While
Jackson Hole is
not part of the National Park itself, it is the closest area of
human habitation, and shares much of
the history of the park. Due to a decline in the fur trade, interest in the area waned in the
1830s, but national surveys in the 1860s and 1870s named many features. Settlement began in the late 1800s,
consisting primarily of valley ranching.
The
precursors to
Grand Teton National Park began with the establishment of the
Teton Forest
Reserve by President
Grover Cleveland in 1897. In 1908, the
Teton National Forest was created.
Between these two forests most of
Jackson Hole is considered some sort of public land. As stated
earlier, the national park was established by
Congress in 1929. At this time, the park was
roughly 96,000 acres, including the main portion of the
Teton Range and most of the glacial lakes
at the base of the range. Interest by
John D. Rockefeller beginning in 1926 led to the formation
of the
Snake River Land Company which purchased 35,000 acres of land in the area in 20 years.
Unfortunately, there were accusations of illegal practices in the procurement of the land, and
addition of this land to the park was delayed until 1943. At this time, President
Franklin
Delano Roosevelt declared a 210,000 acre
Jackson Hole National Monument through the
Antiquities
Act of 1906. This sparked state rights controversies, but the
monument and
national park were
merged (along with most of the
Rockefeller lands) in 1950.
Personal Experience
I have never actually been inside the
national park itself, but I did spend
spring break of my freshman year of college in Jackson Hole skiing. The
hole is very interesting terrain, as five separate mountain ranges meet there, and there is a relatively flat valley between them. The mountains also seem very abrupt. For instance,
Rendezvous Peak, the highest peak of the
Jackson Hole ski resort, is less than a mile from the flat of the valley floor. It also happens to have the largest vertical rise of any ski resort in the United States.
I believe my parents spent some time in
Grand Teton National Park during their honeymoon, but that's enough information for me. One of the former
geology professors at
Augustana College in
Rock Island (where my parents went to college),
Fritiof Fryxell, actually did a good bit of the surveying and
first ascents of the
Teton range. Add to that the fact that my
father took a good number of
geology classes in college, and I guess I have a bit of a connection to the area.
References:
Travels with Geology - Grand Teton National Park http://www.winona.msus.edu/geology/travels/tetons/travel.html . April 15, 2002
The Teton Range. http://classic.mountainzone.com/climbing/facts/tetons.html . April 15, 2002
Grand Teton National Park Information Page http://www.grand.teton.national-park.com/info.htm . April 15, 2002
Grand Teton National Park http://www.nps.gov/grte/ .
National Park Service. April 15, 2002
Written for the U.S. national Parks and Monuments quest