Grand Tetons 2015

[Jim Colyer]

Grand Tetons 2015 http://jimcolyer.com/papers/entry?id=447;fa=1

I went to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, August 10-14, 2015. It was the missing piece of the Grand Tour of 1980. I toured the Park and the gateway town of Jackson.

The highest peaks in the Teton Range resemble boobs. The word "Teton" derived from the French word for "teat." The peak known as Grand Teton is the tallest tit. The 8 million-year-old range is part of the Rockies and only 50 miles long. There are no foothills. The jagged peaks were sculpted by ice age glaciers and appear to rise out of the lakes. I stood beside Jenny Lake (named for a Shoshone Indian).

I drove up Signal Mountain, the highest point in the Park that can be reached by car. Trees lined both sides of the road.

I passed Mount Moran and saw its Falling Ice and Skillet glaciers.

The town of Jackson, Wyoming, takes its name from Davey Jackson, a mountain man who explored the area in the early 1800's. The town sits in the valley known as Jackson Hole. Mountain men referred to valleys as "holes."

Jackson's population is about 10,000, and the Jackson Hole Airport is actually inside the Park.

There is a National Elk Refuge, and antlers are everywhere. "Antler arches" are on the town square. Bicycles and motorcycles are a nuisance.

I hung out with Loretta Scott of the Jackson Hole Astronomy Club. We entered the Cowboy Bar and saw a few Perseid meteors.

Grand Teton National Park lies south of Yellowstone National Park. The Snake River begins south of Yellowstone and flows 1056 miles before joining the Columbia River.

I have toured 15 of the 59 National Parks:

..1 Death Valley
..2 Denali
..3 Grand Canyon
..4 Grand Teton
..5 Great Smoky Mountains
..6 Kings Canyon
..7 Mammoth Cave
..8 Mesa Verde
..9 Petrified Forest
10 Rocky Mountain
11 Saguaro
12 Sequoia
13 Yellowstone
14 Yosemite
15 Zion