National Parks
Portfolio

Cover

Contents

Foreword

Parks vs Monuments

Acadia

Bryce Canyon

Carlsbad Caverns

Crater Lake

General Grant

Glacier

Grand Canyon

Grand Teton

Hawaii

Hot Springs

Lassen Volcanic

Mesa Verde

Mount McKinley

Mount Rainier

Platt

Rocky Mountain

Seqoia

Wind Cave

Yellowstone

Yosemite

Zion

Monuments

National Parks Portfolio

Grand Teton

THE MAGNIFICENT PANORAMA OF THE TETON MOUNTAINS VIEWED FROM ACROSS JACKSON LAKE
Photograph by J.E. Haynes, St. Paul

GRAND TETON
NATIONAL PARK

WITH its incomparable granite peaks and its historic and romantic past, the Grand Teton National Park is an area of absorbing interest. In it is the most impressive portion of the always impressive Teton Mountain Range. Its central feature, the Grand Teton Mountain group, is the scenic climax of the park and one of the noblest mountain masses in the world. Perhaps it can best be described as cathedral-like. On approaching it from the north, the visitor beholds a vast cathedral, built of granite and shaped by glaciers, of which the remnants are still at work. From the cast and south it strikingly resembles the Matterhorn of the Alps.

To the east, and bordered by the Teton Mountain Range, lies the Jackson Hole, once famous as the rendezvous of the outlaw and the hunted. Now, dotted with peaceful cattle and dude ranches it is still surrounded by an aura of romance, its inheritance from the past.

From the Jackson Hole the Tetons spring abruptly to a height of from nine to fourteen thousand feet. Here they present one of the most precipitous mountain fronts on the continent, if not in the world. The grandeur of the beetling gray crags, sheer precipices, and perennial snowfields is vastly enhanced by the total absence of foothills, and by contrast with the relatively flat floor of Jackson Hole.

Another delightful contrast to the rugged mountains is formed by the lovely, forest-encircled lakes that nestle at their feet and reflect their towering summits. The visitor should climb a few hundred feet up the mountainside near Jenny Lake, and look down upon this superb array of lakes. From this vantage point one sees that each lake lies outside the mouth of a canyon, and occupies a crescent-shaped glacial moraine.

FOREST-ENCIRCLED JENNY LAKE

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Last Modified: Mon, Oct 31, 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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