[Part 1 Welcome to the Tetons] 4 [What Gratitude We Owe] 7 [By Margaret E. Murie] [Part 2 Teton Country] 22 [The Mountains] 25 [The Valley] 39 [The Snake River] 49 [Wildlife and Wildflowers] 59 [Part 3 Guide and Adviser] 70 [Approaching Grand Teton] 72 [Map of the Park] 74 [Visitor Centers and Museum] 76 [Ranger-led Activities] 78 [Camping and Accommodations] 79 [Hiking] 81 [Backcountry Basics] 82 [Mountaineering] 85 [Boating and Floating] 86 [Fishing] 89 [Winter Activities] 90 [Management Concerns and Safety] 92 [Nearby Attractions] 93 [Armchair Explorations] 94 [Index] 95
Part 1 Welcome to the Tetons
The Grand Teton, the heart of the range, rises to 13,770 feet in elevation.
The Teton Range’s sharp rise off the valley floor provides spectacular scenery and easy access. A day hike puts you right in the mountains.
What Gratitude We Owe
By Margaret E. Murie
A bronze plaque at the doorway of the Maude Noble Cabin on the banks of the Snake River at Moose, Wyoming, recounts a notable meeting in 1923. It was a meeting at which “... Mr. Struthers Burt, Dr. Horace Carncross, Mr. John L. Eynon, Mr. J. R. Jones and Mr. Richard Winger, all residents of Jackson Hole, presented to Mr. Horace Albright, then Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, a plan for setting aside a portion of Jackson Hole as a National Recreation Area for the use and enjoyment of the people of the United States.”
The plaque commemorates both the beginning and the end of a stormy period—from 1918 on into the 1950s—in Jackson Hole’s history. Those meeting at Miss Noble’s simple log cabin wanted to devise a way to save the valley’s natural beauty from commercial exploitation. They wanted it protected by a public agency. These few people recognized the need for safeguarding a meaningful segment of our country from the uses of commerce. Their idea did not catch on immediately.
In 1926 Horace Albright escorted John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and family into Jackson Hole, and a bright hope for this valley was born. Albright imparted to Rockefeller his vision of the whole valley as a national park. Rockefeller said nothing then but later admitted that Albright’s vision had set his own dreams in motion. A land company was formed to shield Rockefeller’s involvement, and it began to purchase valley parcels. Unaware of this, Congress voted to create a Grand Teton National Park in 1929. The park was only about one-third the size of today’s park, protecting only the immediate mountain range, and very little of the valley floor.