GRAND TETON National Park, Wyoming, USA

While the discussions about creation of Yellowstone N.P. took only a couple of years before its approval, Grand Teton had to wait decades for the final stamp. 

The first ideas about setting  the area adjacent to Yellowstone as another National Park surfaced 25 years after opening of Yellowstone in 1872 . It seemed only natural to join the two since they are naturally connected anyway.

The park was to include the Teton Range plus some areas of fertile land in the valleys between Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. Teton Range would have been OK - fertile areas were not. The settlers wanted to use that land for ranching and farming, not for entertaining tourists from all over the globe.

So the project yo-yoed up and down until the 1940's when John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (then the richest man in the world) bought some 35,000 acres of land between Yellowstone and Jackson Hole  to offer it to the US government as a gift. For political and other reasons it took additional 15 years to create the Grand Teton park as we know it today. The year was 1950.

The entire story is well presented in CREATION OF GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK.

By the way: the meaning of Teton according to the free dictionary 

Teton or Te·tons In both senses also called Lakota, Teton Dakota, Teton Sioux.

1. The largest and westernmost of the Sioux peoples, made up of seven groups including the Oglala, Hunkpapa, Brulé, and Miniconjou. The Teton became nomadic buffalo hunters after migrating westward in the 18th century and figured prominently in the resistance to white encroachment on the northern Great Plains.

2. A member of this people

The highest mountain in Teton range is Grand Teton at 4,199m.
It is the second highest mountain in Wyoming.

The ranges on the horizon are known as the Cathedral Group.

Grand Teton range is part of the Rocky Mountain system that extends from Alaska to new Mexico.

Here are the information signs about the Teton range and the valley below. 
We learn about the the movements of the earth crust. The mountains are rising up and the valley is dropping down. The fault line is visible in this area.

One of the information signs in the park.

June meadows are bursting with colour wildflowers (balsamroot, larkspur, lupins and phlox) and sagebrush in the flat valley and a vertical backdrop of the magnificent mountain range provide great opportunity for landscape photography. If only one could stop the wind.

Snow from the Teton range turns into creeks that feed Snake River.

Beautiful Snake River starts in Yellowstone and winds its 1735 km to join the largest North American river:
the mighty Columbia.

The silvery-green Big Sagebrush, one of many sagebrush species, grows up to 1.5 m tall and covers most of the valley.

It provides food, shelter and cover to many animals: moose, deer, antelopes, coyotes, foxes and a host to smaller creatures and birds. 

There are many recreational opportunities  in the park including trails, waterways and aerial trips.                                                  

A young moose, Alces alces decided to take a stroll on a cycling trail.

Ooops!                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Animals in national parks have a right of way and they seem to know it. Most people, be it hikers, bikers or drivers know it too.  Most respect it, those who don't should stay somewhere else. 
After all - wouldn't it be nice if we took care and stopped for other creatures everywhere?                    
What a statement to human intelligence that would make!

Grand Teton includes beautiful glacial lakes; the best known are probably Jackson and Jenny lakes. For our 2 day visit we chose to rent a log cabin in Colter Bay Village - again a rustic log structure - comfortable and beautifully set in the natural surroundings. No TV or other modern-day distractions - one came here to experience Nature, not to kill time by watching .... fill in your show. A highly commandable decision.

We had an entire afternoon to spend and gladly heeded advice of people in the info centre to take 
a trip to Antelope Flats Road. It is a small secondary road winding through some flat country overgrown by sagebrush. 





It did not take long before we noticed the ...well ... "antelopes", or rather pronghorn, Antilocapra americana. 
Not a deer, not a sheep, not a goat and NOT an antelope either!
This is a genus in their own right  - they are antilocapridae (Capra means goat ). They are the only antilocaprid species surviving today - there used to be 12.
Their proper common name is Pronghorn, that because of the shape of the males' horns. 
So, bison is not a buffalo and pronghorn is not an antelope .... but!!!! Everyone has a nickname.

There was a small group of females and their offspring - probably from the past season. The males are solitary 
Pronghorn are the fastest mammals on the continent. They are also the ones with the longest migration routes. We used to see them in the prairies of Saskatchewan and Alberta, their range extending from there southwards. Just like the bison they roamed the grasslands in large numbers until .... we all know what ....

The evening found the three of us on the shore of Jackson Lake. Of course we were taking hundreds of photos trying to record the flowers and the lake and alpenglow caused by the setting sun. 

This park is very close to Yellowstone but one might as well be on the other side of the world - that's how different they are. How wonderful that they are side by side.