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Park: Grand Tetons National Park
Section: Photos
| Preview | Name | Overall | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Park Entrance Sign |  | |
 | Tetons Behind Entrance Sign | | |
 | Evolution of a Park Dream Sign | | Evolution of a Park Dream Preservation of this remarkable mountain landscape for the benefit of all people required decades of effort. The original Grand Teton National Park, established in 1929, protected only the Teton Range and six small lakes at its base. The small park failed to safeguard other valuable resources such as Jackson Lake, the Snake River, and Jackson Hole's sagebrush flats. President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed Jackson Hole National Monument in 1943 to protect these important valley resources. On September 14, 1950, President Harry Truman signed a bill uniting the 1924 park with the 1943 monument, enlarging the park to its present 310,000 acres. With the stroke of his pen, Truman ended a lengthy battle to protect Jackson Hole from future development. Today's Grand Teton National Park reflects a conservation dream that prevailed through years of debate and compromise. [Image Captions in Upper Right] Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, Horace Albright (far left), and philanthropist, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (left), kept the park idea alive and helped make it become a reality in the face of opposition. Imagine this view today with commercial buildings, private homes, billboards, and streetlights. The establishment of Grand Teton National Park protected Jackson Hole from unrestrained development. [Image caption Below] This alpine mountain range inspired the dream for creating Grand Teton National Park. "...in seeking permanence in a universe of change, we turn to mountains such as these for a symbol of everlastingness." Quote by Fritiof Fryxell, first park naturalist |
 | Teton View | | |
 | Teton View | | |
 | Glacial Landscape Sign | | A Glacial Landscape A glacier 3,00 feet thick once filled this valley. Repeatedly, enormous glaciers transported cobbles, gravel, and coarse sand as they advanced. As the glaciers retreated, torrential meltwaters washed and spread the rocky material throughout the valley. Rain and snow percolate rapidly through the cobbles, leaving little moisture for overlying soil. Sagebrush identifies this dry outwash plain. Glacial Moraines Mountain glaciers also acted as conveyor belts, forming glacial moraines by depositing rock material at their snouts and sides. Moraines contain cobbly silts and loams which hold moisture, making it available to the overlying soil. Lodgepole pine forests identify these nutrient-rich moraines. [Caption for top image] Computer generated model of the Teton Range as viewed from 3500 ft. above you. [Labels for top image - left to right] Static Peak Buck Mtn. Mt. Wister South Teton Middle Teton Grand Teton Mt. Owen Teewinot Mtn. [Labels for middle image - left to right] Lateral moraine Terminal moraine [Labels for bottom image - left to right] Sagebrush Cobbles Lodgepole pine forest Glacial moraine Outwash plain |
 | The Teton Glacier Sign | | The Teton Glacier More than any other erosional force, great Ice Age glaciers sculpted this mountain skyline. Today, a dozen glaciers flow from cirques cut by Ice Age giants. Teton Glacier, the largest in the park, lies below and northeast of the Grand Teton. Teton glacier acts like a huge conveyor belt. Below the glacier, note the former terminal moraine, a wall of rocks of all sizes transported by moving ice and deposited at the edge of Teton Glacier's melting snout. For a glacier to remain a constant size, snowfall at the top must equal melting at the bottom. More snowfall causes a glacier to advance, meaning to grow larger. Less snowfall results in retreat. At any size, to be called a glacier, snowfall compacted into ice must flow under the pull of gravity. [Bottom caption] Teton Glacier flows at an average rate of 30 feet per year. |
 | Teton Glacier View | | |
 | Cascade Canyon Informational Sign | | Cascade Canyon Gateway to the Alpine Region Pristine lakes surrounded by mountain peaks and meadows filled with wildflowers await the visitor to the alpine region. Trails into the mouth of Cascade Canyon lead to rocky, windswept slopes above. Above Treeline Alpine plants adapt to the high elevation and extreme weather conditions. Cushion plants grow in low, dense mounds to survive drought, sub-zero temperatures, and continuous winds that gust to 200 mph. But this hardy vegetation is vulnerable - a single footstep can crush or dislodge a plant that took years to grow. Visitors to the alpine region must stay on trails to protect this unique plant community. [Caption for upper right image] At the head of Cascade Canyon, Lake Solitude lies in a cirque carved by the mountain glacier that shaped the canyon. [Labels for lower right image - left to right] Pika Yellow-bellied marmot [Caption for images in lower left] In summer, the colors of blooming cushion plants dot alpine slopes. These miniature plants grow slowly, and some store nutrients for years before they are able to flower. [Labels for images in lower left - clockwise, starting at top left image of the set] Hymenoxys Alpine phlox Alpine forget-me-not Alpine sweetvetch |
 | Cathedral Group Informational Sign | | The Cathedral Group Viewed from this perspective, Teewinot Mountain, the Grand Teton, and Mount Owen comprise the Cathedral Group. "These peaks have been called the Cathedral Group ... more evident here than in many of the great cathedrals of men is the Gothic note. It is seen in the profiles of the countless firs and spruces congregated like worshippers on the lower slopes; it reappears higher in the converging lines of spire rising beyond spire; it attains supreme expression in the figures of the peaks themselves that, towering above all else, with pointed summits direct one's vision and thoughts yet higher." Fritiof Fryxell (1938) The Tetons - Interpretations of a Mountain Landscape Fritiof Fryxell served as Grand Teton National Park's first ranger naturalist. As geologist, teacher, and mountaineer, he developed public education programs, trail maps, and safety rules for climbers. Fryxell's publications stand as classics of explanation and eloquence. In 1929, Congress established Grand Teton National Park to protect the heart of the Teton Range. In 1950, the park was expanded through the addition of most of this valley called Jackson Hole. |
 | Cathedral Group | | |
 | Jenny Lake Informational Sign | | Jenny Lake Running water initially cut V-shaped canyons throughout the range. Mountain glaciers later filled these canyons. Rocks of all sizes, falling onto and plucked by these glaciers, enhanced their grinding power. The broad U-shape of Cascade Canyon typifies the reshaping force of masses of flowing ice. [Caption for lower left image] Jenny Lake was named for Jenny, the Shoshone wife of Beaver Dick [cropped], a trapper who served as a guide for the U.S. Territorial Survey Expedition which explored and mapped the area in 1872. [Caption for the right image was cropped a bit too much, sorry 'bout that] |
 | Jenny Lake | | |
 | Mountain View | | |
 | Mt. Moran Turnout Informational Sign | | Mt. Moran Distinctive features on Mt. Moran tell of the powerful forces that created and shaped the Teton Range. [Labels in upper left diagram - clockwise] Mt. Moran Sandstone cap Valley floor Sandstone Drop-down Uplift The Sandstone Cap Nine million years ago, the earth's crust broke into two rectangular blocks along the Teton fault, a 40-mile-long zone of weakness. Through sporadic movements, the western block hinged skyward to become the Teton Range, while the eastern block tilted downward to form the valley called Jackson Hole. The sandstone remnant atop Mt. Moran, 6,000 feet above the valley, once connected to a layer of the same sandstone now an estimated 24,000 feet below the valley floor, indicating that the valley dropped four times more than the mountains rose. The Black Dike Long before the rise of the Teton Range, the black dike formed when magma was forced upward into a large crack. This molten rock solidified, becoming the dark igneous rock, diabase. Erosion of the surrounding rock makes this vertical, 150-foot-thick dike clearly visible. Today's Glaciers Mt. Moran supports five of the dozen glaciers in the Teton Range. These glaciers flow from cavities carved by larger Ice Age mountain glaciers. Named for the chunks of ice that break off it snout, Falling Ice Glacier lies just below the black dike. |
 | Mountains from Potholes | |
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