Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately 310,000 acres, the park includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton National Park is only 10 miles (16 km) south of Yellowstone National Park, to which it is connected by the National Park Service-managed John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. Along with surrounding national forests, these three protected areas constitute the almost 18,000,000-acre (7,300,000 ha) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world's largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems.
Jackson is a small city in the Jackson Hole valley of Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 9,577 at the 2010 census, up from 8,647 in 2000. It is the largest town in Teton County and its county seat. Jackson is the principal town of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Teton County in Wyoming and Teton County in Idaho. The city, often mistakenly called Jackson Hole, derives its name from the valley in which it is located. Jackson is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to the ski resorts Jackson Hole Mountain, Snow King Mountain, and Grand Targhee, as well as Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
Jackson Lake is in Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. This natural lake was enlarged by the construction of the Jackson Lake Dam, which was originally built in 1911, enlarged in 1916 and rebuilt by 1989. As part of the Minidoka Project the top 33 ft (10 m) of the lake is used by farmers in Idaho for irrigation purposes under water rights legislation that was enacted prior to the establishment of Grand Teton National Park. The lake is the remnant of large glacial gouging from the neighboring Teton Range to the west and the Yellowstone Plateau to the north. The lake is primarily fed by the Snake River, which flows in from the north, and empties at Jackson Lake Dam. Jackson Lake is one of the largest high altitude lakes in the United States, at an elevation of 6,772 ft (2,064 m) above sea level. The lake is up to 15 mi (24 km) long, 7 mi (11 km) wide and 438 ft (134 m) deep. The water of the lake averages below 60 °F (16 °C), even during the summer.
The geology of the Grand Teton area consists of some of the oldest rocks and one of the youngest mountain ranges in North America. The Teton Range, partly located in Grand Teton National Park, started to grow some 9 million years ago. An older feature, Jackson Hole, is a basin that sits aside the range.
Mount Moran is a mountain in Grand Teton National Park of western Wyoming, USA. The mountain is named for Thomas Moran, an American western frontier landscape artist. Mount Moran dominates the northern section of the Teton Range rising 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above Jackson Lake. Several active glaciers exist on the mountain with Skillet Glacier plainly visible on the monolithic east face. Like the Middle Teton in the same range, Mount Moran's face is marked by a distinctive basalt intrusion known as the Black Dike.
Bridger–Teton National Forest is located in western Wyoming, United States. The forest consists of 3.4 million acres (14,000 km2), making it the third largest National Forest outside Alaska. The forest stretches from Yellowstone National Park, along the eastern boundary of Grand Teton National Park and from there rides along the western slope of the Continental Divide to the southern end of the Wind River Range. The forest also extends southward encompassing the Salt River Range and Wyoming Range mountains near the Idaho border.
Caribou–Targhee National Forest is located in the states of Idaho and Wyoming, with a small section in Utah in the United States. The forest is broken into several separate sections and extends over 2.63 million acres (10,600 km2). To the east the forest borders Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Bridger–Teton National Forest. Most of the forest is a part of the 20-million-acre (81,000 km2) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Jenny Lake is located in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The lake was formed approximately 12,000 years ago by glaciers pushing rock debris which carved Cascade Canyon during the last glacial maximum, forming a terminal moraine which now impounds the lake. The lake is estimated to be 256 feet (78 m) deep and encompasses 1,191 acres (482 ha). Jenny Lake is considered to be a major focal point in Grand Teton National Park, with many hiking trails, scenic boat rides, and quick access to the major climbing routes onto the tallest peaks of the Teton Range.
Jackson Lake Lodge is located near Moran in Grand Teton National Park, in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The lodge has 385 rooms, a restaurant, conference rooms, and offers numerous recreational opportunities. The lodge is owned by the National Park Service, and operated under contract by the Grand Teton Lodge Company. The Grand Teton Lodge Company also manages the Jenny Lake Lodge, as well as cabins, restaurants and other services at Colter Bay Village. The lodge is located east of Jackson Lake adjacent to prime moose habitat below the Jackson Lake Dam.
Signal Mountain is an isolated summit standing 7,720 feet (2,350 m) above sea level. The mountain is located in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The next closest higher summit is more than 10 miles (16 km) distant, and this isolation provides sweeping views of the Teton Range, much of the northern Jackson Hole area as well as the Snake River. Though located adjacent to the Tetons, Signal Mountain was not formed in the same manner or period. The mountain originally was formed by volcanic ashfall from one of the eruptions of the Yellowstone hotspot. The peak is also partially a glacial moraine formed by a receding glacier that came south out of the Yellowstone icecap. This same glacier also created neighboring Jackson Lake.
Phelps Lake is located in Grand Teton National Park, in the U. S. state of Wyoming. The natural lake is located at the entrance to Death Canyon in the southern section of the park. A number of hiking trails can be found near the lake, the most popular being a 1.8 mile (2.9 km) roundtrip hike to the Phelps Lake overlook.
Taggart Lake is located in Grand Teton National Park, in the U. S. state of Wyoming. The natural lake is located at the terminus of Avalanche Canyon. A number of hiking trails can be found near the lake including a 3 miles (4.8 km) roundtrip hike commencing from the Taggart Lake Trailhead parking area. The lake is approximately one mile south of Bradley Lake reckoned by trail distance. A 2005 study of the water quality of the lakes in Grand Teton National Park indicated that the lakes in the park were still considered pristine and that they had not been impacted by air or water pollution.
Leigh Lake Ranger Patrol Cabin was designed and built by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1920s. The cabin is located northwest of Leigh Lake in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The cabin was built to a standardized design, similar to that used for the Moran Bay Patrol Cabin. The cabin was acquired by the National Park Service upon the designation of Grand Teton National Park on February 26, 1929 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 1990. The cabin is still in use by the National Park Service.
Jackson Lake Dam is a concrete and earth-fill dam in the western United States, at the outlet of Jackson Lake in northwestern Wyoming. The lake and dam are situated within Grand Teton National Park in Teton County. The Snake River emerges from the dam and flows about eight hundred miles (1,300 km) through Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to its mouth on the Columbia River in eastern Washington.
The Jackson Lake Ranger Station is the last Depression-era U.S. Forest Service ranger station in its original location in Grand Teton National Park. When first established, the park comprised only the mountainous terrain above Jackson Hole, while the remainder of what would eventually become the park was administered by the Forest Service as part of Teton National Forest. The Jackson Lake Station was built in 1933 as close as possible to Park Service property as possible as a kind of resistance to the park's expansion. The station was one of five Forest Service stations in the area, and was taken over by the National Park Service when Jackson Hole National Monument was established in 1943, later becoming an enlarged Grand Teton National Park. It is the only such station not to have been moved or altered by the Park Service.
The White Grass Dude Ranch is located in the White Grass Valley of Grand Teton National Park. The rustic log lodge, dining hall service building and ten cabins were built when a working ranch was converted to a dude ranch, and represented one of the first dude ranch operations in Jackson Hole. The White Grass was established in 1913 by Harold Hammond and George Tucker Bispham, who combined two adjacent ranches or 160 acres (65 ha) each, and was converted to a dude ranch in 1919. Bispham had worked at the Bar B C before moving out on his own. The dude ranch operation continued to 1985, when the ranch was acquired by the National Park Service.
CCC Camp NP-4, also known as the Horse Concessioner Dormitory and the Climbing Concession Office, at Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park was the largest Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Grand Teton. Located at the South end of Jenny Lake, the camp housed young men from 1934 to 1942, who worked on improvements to trails, campsites, employee housing, utilities and timber salvage at Jackson Lake. The surviving structures include a messhall and a bathhouse.
Colter Bay Village is a developed area of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA. Located on the northeast side of Jackson Lake, it was built starting in the 1950s as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 program to expand park visitor services and to adapt them to the requirements of automobile tourism. Hiking trails in the area include the Colter Bay Lakeshore Trail and the Heron Pond Swan Lake Trail.
The Heron Pond Swan Lake Trail is a 5.5-mile (8.9 km) long hiking trail in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. From the Hermitage Point trailhead, a number of trails include short loop hikes around Heron Pond and Swan Lake and a longer hike of 5.5 miles (8.9 km) one-way connects Colter Bay Village with Jackson Lake Lodge. The trails are over easy terrain and provide excellent wildlife viewing opportunities.
