After our Chuck Wagon dinner and a restful night in our hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming Mrs. LZ and I decided to check out this beautiful National Park. Located in northwestern Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park (just about 60-70 miles south of Yellowstone) preserves a spectacular landscape rich with majestic mountains, pristine lakes and extraordinary wildlife. The abrupt vertical rise of the jagged Teton Range contrasts with the horizontal sage-covered valley (read: desert landscape) and glacial lakes at their base, creating world-renowned scenery that attracts nearly four million visitors per year. Several things about this park (as compared to Yellowstone) were that this park seemed to be static as opposed to the "ALIVE" state of the Yellowstone Park. If we were going to do this trip all over again, we would more than likely spend one less day in Grand Teton and one more day in Yellowstone. Don't get me wrong, I could have enjoyed either park on its own, but having just done Yellowstone, made the Grand Teton less impressive than it would have been just on its own.
There were several things that really struck me as unusual about the park. The first of those would be that there is an organization called the U.S. Alpine Climbing association. I never really thought about being able to climb Alpine Mountains in the United States, but as I looked at those mountains and the glaciers that are on them, I said, "Well... why not?"
Another thing that struck me was the shear size, the breadth and the width of this mountain range was almost too much to comprehend. Yet one more thing was the lush looking land at the bottom of the Tetons, but yet just a mile or two further east, it looked like a desert.
Grand Teton (13,770 ft.) is the highest mountain within Grand Teton National Park, and the second highest in the U.S. state of Wyoming. There is also Middle Teton (12,804 ft.) just south of it and then South Teton just south of that. One of the more formidable peaks is Mt. Moran.
The mountain is named for Thomas Moran, an American western frontier landscape artist. Mount Moran (12,605 ft.) dominates the northern section of the Teton Range rising 6,000 feet (1,830 m) above Jackson Lake. Several active glaciers exist on the mountain with Skillet Glacier plainly visible on the monolithic east face.
In addition to 13,770 high Grand Teton, another eight peaks are over 12,000 ft above sea level. Seven of these peaks between Avalanche and Cascade canyons make up the often-photographed Cathedral Group.
I must say that I had all of my cameras and lenses out to capture all the truly beautiful things I saw in almost every direction. Grand Teton National Park is home to one of the most recognizable mountain landscapes in the world and is often in the national and international spotlight. Many special events and activities happen in this high profile park.
With the Veterans Day Holiday coming up on Sunday the 11th of November, I do want to take some time in this post to say a few words to my fellow Veterans. On August 22, 2007 in a speech given to the VFW, President Bush had these words to say which are much more eloquent than mine would ever be to celebrate this occasion.
"As members of this proud organization, you are advocates for the rights of our military veterans, a model of community service, and a strong and important voice for a strong national defense. I thank you for your service. I thank you for what you've done for the United States of America." ~ George W. Bush
