The Grand Teton National Park is located in western Wyoming south of Yellowstone National Park. It takes its name from the Teton chain, which runs in a north / south direction through the park. East of the mountains lies the vast plain called Jackson Hole and the large mountain lake Jackson Lake, as well as the smaller lakes Leigh Lake and Jenny Lake.
As the first white man John Colter probably get by 1808 this area has to face. The name of the mountain comes from the French word for breast and refers to their shape. The area was declared on February 26, 1929 National Park.
Geography and Geology
The rugged profile of the Teton Mountain Range rises without promontory two thousand meters from the plane. The highest peak, Grand Teton lies 4,198 meters above sea level. In the mountains there are 12 glaciers.
Plate tectonics was the cause of mountain building. As part of the development of the Basin and Range Province, the extensional tectonics also had an impact on today's Teton region. At a time, which is dated before 13 to 9 million years ago, a fault developed due to the elongation of the rock in north-south direction on the east flank of the mountain today. There was a deportation, in which the block dropped to the east side, so that the level of Jackson Hole was formed. The western block was pushed up in this movement on the fault, so that the Tetons have a steep eastern and a gentle west flank.
Over the past 300,000 years ago during the Ice Age glaciers have largely shaped the landscape. Starting east of Yellowstone National Park was created by the Absaroka Range at least three times a large-scale plateau glacier that covered almost the entire area of both national parks. The Tetons were completely glaciated up to the highest peaks. A large glacier tongue stretching from the Yellowstone area to the south. The penultimate ice age, referred to in the region as Bull Lake Stage, achieved the largest expansion. She left behind moraines in Jackson Hole. All glacial deposits south of Jackson Lake date from this era. In the last Ice Age in North America Wisconsin glaciation and called in the Rocky Mountains Pinedale stage, the glacier tongue not quite enough so far. It ended with the tongue basin in which the Jackson Lake was formed as Zungenbeckensee. Your terminal moraine at the south end of the lake caused the Snake River to the melting of the glaciers to find a new outlet in the southeast. Smaller glaciers emerged from the Tetons and dug the trough valleys in the eastern flank of. Your terminal moraine dam the smaller lakes below the mountains, such as the Jenny Lake, on. The plane of the Jackson Hole is covered with glacial gravels in these are a variety of small kettle holes.
At the foot of the mountains are wide meadows with smaller, partly wooded hills and several lakes that are fed by natural inflow from the mountains. The largest lake, the Jackson Lake, was artificially enlarged by a dam before the national park was established.
In the deeper incisions below the meadows, the water collects in streams. The riverside with the name Snake River leaves the highlands through a narrow valley in the south.
South of the National Park, near the village of Jackson, lies the National Elk Refuge. In this retreat hiking in winter Wapiti deer to escape the cold of the higher regions.
All pronghorn and mule deer most of the national park and the surrounding mountain ranges migrate in the winter on the Gros Ventre Range to the south in the valley at the headwaters of the Green River. These are up to 260 km, the furthest known migration of two species. The local winter home is threatened by an incipient since the turn of the millennium boom in the use of natural gas reserves. In addition, the designation of building areas and new road surveying. The development threatened the existence of the two species in the National Park. 2003 awarded by the Bureau of Land Management by mistake two oil concessions in a section of the valley, which is known to be a bottleneck of the trails, have to pull through the almost all pronghorn and many mule deer. The award was withdrawn after protests. Beginning of 2010, the conservation organization, "The Conservation Fund " conclude an agreement with landowners, after the critical section of the trail is permanently secured.
In winter there are, among others, the possibilities for cross-country skiing and trips to the sled dog.
Most visitors use the Grand Teton National Park as a way station on the John D Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway to Yellowstone National Park.
Some companies also offer rides on mules or sure-footed mountain horses down into the valley.