Editing Grand Teton National Park

{{Short description|National park in Wyoming, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Grand Teton National Park
| photo = Barns grand tetons.jpg
| photo_caption = The [[Mormon Row Historic District|John Moulton Barn]] and the [[Teton Range]]
| iucn_category = II
| map = Wyoming#USA
| relief = 1
| map_caption = Location in Wyoming##Location in the United States
| location = [[Teton County, Wyoming]], United States
| nearest_city = [[Jackson, Wyoming|Jackson]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|43|50|00|N|110|42|03|W|region:US-WY_source:GNIS_type:landmark|notes=<ref name=gnis>{{cite gnis|id=1597571|name=Grand Teton National Park|access-date=January 8, 2012}}</ref>|display=inline, title}}
| area_acre = 310000
| area_ref = <ref name=area>{{cite web|title=Park Statistics|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/statistics.htm|access-date=January 22, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108182043/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/statistics.htm|archive-date=November 8, 2012}}</ref>
| established = February 26, 1929
| visitation_num = 2,806,223
| visitation_year = 2022
| visitation_ref = <ref>{{cite web |title=Annual Visitation Highlights |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/annual-visitation-highlights.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=July 23, 2023}}</ref>
| governing_body = [[National Park Service]]
| website = {{official URL}}
}}

'''Grand Teton National Park''' is a [[List of national parks of the United States|national park of the United States]] in northwestern [[Wyoming]]. At approximately {{convert|310000|acre|km2}}, the park includes the major peaks of the {{convert|40|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} [[Teton Range]] as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as [[Jackson Hole]]. Grand Teton National Park is {{convert|10|mi}} south of [[Yellowstone National Park]], to which it is connected by the [[John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway]] which is managed by the [[National Park Service]]. Along with surrounding [[United States National Forest|national forests]], these three protected areas constitute the almost {{convert|22|e6acre|km2|adj=on|abbr=off|sp=us}} [[Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem]], one of the world's largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems.

The human history of the Grand Teton region dates back at least 11,000 years when the first [[Paleo-Indians]] began migrating into the region during warmer months to pursue food and supplies. In the early 19th&nbsp;century, the first explorers encountered the eastern [[Shoshone people]]. Between 1810 and 1840, the region attracted fur trading companies that vied for control of the lucrative beaver pelt trade. U.S. government expeditions to the region commenced in the mid-19th&nbsp;century as an offshoot of exploration in Yellowstone, with the first permanent white settlers in Jackson Hole arriving in the 1880s.

Efforts to preserve the region as a national park began in the late 19th&nbsp;century, and in 1929 Grand Teton National Park was established, protecting the Teton Range's major peaks. The valley of Jackson Hole remained in private ownership until the 1930s when conservationists led by [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] began purchasing land in Jackson Hole to be added to the existing national park. Against public opinion and with repeated [[United States Congress|Congressional]] efforts to repeal the measures, much of Jackson Hole was set aside for protection as [[Jackson Hole National Monument]] in 1943. The monument was abolished in 1950 and most of the monument land was added to Grand Teton National Park.

Grand Teton National Park is named for [[Grand Teton]], the tallest mountain in the Teton Range. The [[Grand Teton#Name|naming of the mountains]] is attributed to early 19th-century [[French language|French]]-speaking trappers—{{Lang|fr|les trois tétons}} (the three teats) was later anglicized and shortened to ''Tetons''. At {{convert|13775|ft}}, Grand Teton abruptly rises more than {{convert|7000|ft}} above Jackson Hole, almost {{convert|850|ft}} higher than [[Mount Owen (Wyoming)|Mount Owen]], the second-highest summit in the range. The park has numerous lakes, including {{convert|15|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} [[Jackson Lake (Wyoming)|Jackson Lake]] as well as streams of varying length and the upper [[main stem]] of the [[Snake River]]. Though in a state of recession, a dozen small glaciers persist at the higher elevations near the highest peaks in the range. Some of the rocks in the park are the oldest found in any American national park and have been dated at nearly 2.7&nbsp;billion years.

Grand Teton National Park is an almost pristine ecosystem and the same species of flora and fauna that have existed since prehistoric times can still be found there. More than 1,000&nbsp;species of [[vascular plants]], dozens of species of mammals, 300 species of birds, more than a dozen fish species, and a few species of reptiles and amphibians inhabit the park. Due to various changes in the ecosystem, some of them human-induced, efforts have been made to provide enhanced protection to some species of native fish and the increasingly threatened [[whitebark pine]].

Grand Teton National Park is a popular destination for mountaineering, hiking, fishing, and other forms of recreation. There are more than 1,000&nbsp;drive-in campsites and over {{convert|200|mi}} of hiking trails that provide access to [[backcountry]] camping areas. Noted for world-renowned trout fishing, the park is one of the few places to catch [[Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout]]. Grand Teton has several National Park Service–run visitor centers and privately operated [[concession (contract)|concessions]] for motels, lodges, gas stations, and marinas.

==Human history==

===Paleo-Indians and Native Americans===
[[Image:Shoshoni tipis.jpg|right|thumb|A [[Shoshone]] encampment in Wyoming in 1870, photographed by W. H. Jackson]]
Paleo-Indian presence in what is now Grand Teton National Park dates back more than 11,000 years.<ref name=crockett1>{{cite web|last=Crockett |first=Stephanie |title=The Prehistoric Peoples of Jackson Hole |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs2.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 8, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112094314/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs2.htm |archive-date=November 12, 2012 }}</ref> Jackson Hole valley climate at that time was colder and more alpine than the [[semi-arid climate]] found today, and the first humans were migratory hunter-gatherers spending summer months in Jackson Hole and wintering in the valleys west of the Teton Range. Along the shores of [[Jackson Lake (Wyoming)|Jackson Lake]], fire pits, tools, and what are thought to have been fishing weights have been discovered. One of the tools found is of a type associated with the [[Clovis culture]], and tools from this cultural period date back at least 11,500&nbsp;years. Some of the tools are made of [[obsidian]] which chemical analysis indicates came from sources near present-day [[Teton Pass]], south of Grand Teton National Park.<ref name=crockett1/> Though obsidian was also available north of Jackson Hole, virtually all the obsidian spear points found are from a source to the south, indicating that the main seasonal migratory route for the Paleo-Indian was from this direction.<ref name=crockett2>{{cite web|last=Crockett |first=Stephanie |title=The Early Archaic (8,000 to 5,000&nbsp;BCE) |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs2a.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 8, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110130085737/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs2a.htm |archive-date=January 30, 2011 }}</ref> [[Elk]], which winter on the [[National Elk Refuge]] at the southern end of Jackson Hole and northwest  into higher altitudes during spring and summer, follow a similar migratory pattern to this day.<ref name=refuge>{{cite web|last=Smith |first=Bruce |title=Migratory Behavior of the Jackson Elk Herd |url=http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/ys4(3)part2.pdf |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 22, 2013 |year=1996 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123015743/http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/ys4%283%29part2.pdf |archive-date=January 23, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> From 11,000 to about 500&nbsp;years ago, there is little evidence of change in the migratory patterns amongst the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] groups in the region and no evidence that indicates any permanent human settlement.<ref name=crockett2/>

When white American colonists first entered the region in the first decade of the 19th century, they encountered the eastern tribes of the Shoshone people.<ref name=crockett3>{{cite web|last=Crockett|first=Stephanie|title=Protohistoric Period (A.D. 1700 to 1850)|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs2b.htm|work=A Place Called Jackson Hole|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|access-date=January 8, 2012|date=July 24, 2004|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029222829/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs2b.htm|archive-date=October 29, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Most of the Shoshone that lived in the mountain vastness of the greater Yellowstone region continued to be pedestrian while other groups of Shoshone that resided in lower elevations had limited use of horses. The mountain-dwelling Shoshone were known as "[[Sheep-eaters]]" or "''[[Tukudika]]''" as they referred to themselves, since a staple of their diet was the [[Bighorn Sheep]].<ref name=crockett3/><ref>{{cite book|last=Hurlbut|first=Brian|title=Insiders' Guide to Yellowstone & Grand Teton|publisher=Insiders' Guide|isbn=978-0-7627-6477-8|page=13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlSIjH8IjI0C&pg=PA13|edition=8th|access-date=January 8, 2012|date=April 1, 2011}}</ref> The Shoshones continued to follow the same migratory pattern as their predecessors and have been documented as having a close spiritual relationship with the Teton Range. Several stone enclosures on some of the peaks, including on the upper slopes of Grand Teton (known simply as ''The Enclosure'') are thought to have been used by Shoshone during [[vision quest]]s.<ref name=jackson>{{cite web|last=Jackson |first=Reynold G. |title=Park of the Matterhorns |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs16.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 8, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112094218/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs16.htm |archive-date=November 12, 2012 }}</ref> The Teton and Yellowstone region Shoshone were relocated to the [[Wind River Indian Reservation]] after it was established in 1868.<ref name=crockett3/> The reservation is situated {{convert|100|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of Jackson Hole on land that was selected by [[Washakie|Chief Washakie]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Chiefs|url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chiefs/rez.html|publisher=PBS|access-date=June 4, 2012|date=March 21, 2003|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228091722/http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chiefs/rez.html|archive-date=February 28, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===Fur trade exploration===
The [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] (1804–1806) passed well north of the Grand Teton region. During their return trip from the [[Pacific Ocean]], expedition member [[John Colter]] was given an early discharge so he could join two [[fur]] trappers who were heading west in search of beaver pelts. Colter was later hired by [[Manuel Lisa]] to lead fur trappers and explore the region around the [[Yellowstone River]]. During the winter of 1807/08, Colter passed through Jackson Hole and was the first Caucasian to see the Teton Range.<ref name=harris>{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Burton|title=John Colter, His Years in the Rockies|date=March 1, 1993|publisher=Bison Books|isbn=978-0-8032-7264-4|pages=73–113}}</ref> Lewis and Clark expedition co-leader [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]] produced a map based on the previous expedition and included the explorations of John Colter in 1807, apparently based on discussions between Clark and Colter when the two met in [[St. Louis, Missouri]] in 1810.<ref name=mattes>{{cite web|last=Mattes |first=Merrrill |title=John Colter, the Phantom Explorer—1807–1808 |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte1/chap3.htm |work=Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=March 5, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208215929/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte1/chap3.htm |archive-date=February 8, 2009 }}</ref> Another map attributed to William Clark indicates John Colter entered Jackson Hole from the northeast, crossing the [[Continental Divide of the Americas|Continental Divide]] at either [[Togwotee Pass]] or [[Union Pass]] and left the region after crossing Teton Pass, following the well established Native American trails.<ref name=daugherty>{{cite web|last=Daugherty |first=John |title=The Fur Trappers |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs3.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108182117/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs3.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref> In 1931, the [[Colter Stone]], a rock carved in the shape of a head with the inscription "John Colter" on one side and the year "1808" on the other, was discovered in a field in [[Tetonia, Idaho]], which is west of Teton Pass. The Colter Stone has not been authenticated to have been created by John Colter and may have been the work of later expeditions to the region.<ref name=daugherty/>
[[File:Colter Stone.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The enigmatic Colter Stone, with the inscription "John Colter", was found in a field in eastern Idaho in 1931.]]

John Colter is widely considered the first [[mountain man]] and, like those that came to the Jackson Hole region over the next 30&nbsp;years, he was there primarily for the profitable fur trapping; the region was rich with the highly sought after pelts of [[beaver]] and other fur-bearing animals. Between 1810 and 1812, the [[Astorians]] traveled through Jackson Hole and crossed Teton Pass as they headed east in 1812.<ref name=kelsey>{{cite book|last=Kelsey|first=Joe|title=Climbing and hiking in the Wind River Mountains|date=January 1994|publisher=Pequot Press|isbn=978-0-934641-70-8|page=56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fEz0T7HOJZsC&pg=PA56|access-date=January 14, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> After 1810, American and British fur trading companies were in competition for control of the [[North American fur trade]], and American sovereignty over the region was not secured until the signing of the [[Oregon Treaty]] in 1846. One party employed by the British [[North West Company]] and led by explorer [[Donald Mackenzie (explorer)|Donald Mackenzie]] entered Jackson Hole from the west in 1818 or 1819. The Tetons, as well as the valley west of the Teton Range known today as [[Pierre's Hole]], may have been named by French-speaking [[Iroquois]] or [[French Canadian]] trappers that were part of Mackenzie's party.<ref name=mattes2>{{cite web|last=Mattes |first=Merrrill |title=Le Trois Tetons: The Golden Age of Discovery, 1810–1824 |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte1/chap5.htm |work=Colter's Hell and Jackson's Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=March 5, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219152859/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte1/chap5.htm |archive-date=December 19, 2013 }}</ref> Earlier parties had referred to the most prominent peaks of the Teton Range as the Pilot Knobs. The French trappers' {{Lang|fr|les trois tétons}} (the three breasts) was later shortened to the Tetons.<ref name="moulton">{{cite book|last=Moulton|first=Candy Vyvey|title=Legacy of the Tetons: Homesteading in Jackson Hole|date=January 16, 2007|publisher=La Frontera Publishing|isbn=978-0-9785634-0-0|page=15|edition=2nd}}</ref>

Formed in the mid-1820s, the [[Rocky Mountain Fur Company]] partnership included [[Jedediah Smith]], [[William Sublette]], and [[David Edward Jackson]] or "Davey Jackson". Jackson oversaw the trapping operations in the Teton region between 1826 and 1830. Sublette named the valley east of the Teton Range "Jackson's Hole" (later simply Jackson Hole) for Davey Jackson.<ref name="daugherty"/><ref name="hafen">{{cite book|last=Hafen|first=LeRoy R.|title=Trappers of the Far West: Sixteen Biographical Sketches|date=October 1, 1983|publisher=Bison Books|isbn=978-0-8032-7218-7|page=85}}</ref> As the demand for beaver fur declined and the various regions of the American West became depleted of beaver due to [[Animal trapping|over trapping]], American fur trading companies folded; however, individual mountain men continued to trap beaver in the region until about 1840.<ref name=daugherty/> From the mid-1840s until 1860, Jackson Hole and the Teton Range were generally devoid of all but the small populations of Native American tribes that had already been there. Most overland human migration routes such as the [[Oregon Trail|Oregon]] and [[Mormon Trail]]s crossed over [[South Pass (Wyoming)|South Pass]], well to the south of the Teton Range, and Caucasian influence in the Teton region was minimal until the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. Government]] commenced organized explorations.<ref name=daugherty/>

===Organized exploration and settlement===
[[File:Teton Range from the west 1872.jpg|thumb|right|upright|"The Three Tetons" as seen from west of the Teton Range by members of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1872. One of the earliest photographs of the Teton Range taken by William Henry Jackson in 1872.]]
{{Main|Historical buildings and structures of Grand Teton National Park}}

The first U.S. Government-sponsored expedition to enter Jackson Hole was the 1859–60 [[Raynolds Expedition]]. Led by U.S. Army Captain [[William F. Raynolds]] and guided by mountain man [[Jim Bridger]], it included naturalist [[Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden|F. V. Hayden]], who later led other expeditions to the region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chittenden|first=Hiram Martin|title=The Yellowstone National Park Historical and Descriptive|date=April 1, 2005|publisher=Kessinger Publishing, LLC|isbn=978-1-4179-0456-3|page=56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=My54IVh_QpMC&pg=PA56|access-date=January 14, 2012}}</ref> The expedition had been charged with exploring the Yellowstone region, but encountered difficulties crossing mountain passes due to snow. Bridger ended up guiding the expedition south over Union Pass then following the [[Gros Ventre River]] drainage to the Snake River and leaving the region over Teton Pass.<ref name=baldwin>{{cite web|last=Baldwin |first=Kenneth H. |title=Terra Incognita: The Raynolds Expedition of 1860 |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/baldwin/chap2.htm |work=Enchanted Enclosure The Army Engineers and Yellowstone National Park |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=November 15, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091203014123/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/baldwin/chap2.htm |archive-date=December 3, 2009 }}</ref> Organized exploration of the region was halted during the American Civil War but resumed when F. V. Hayden led the well-funded [[Hayden Geological Survey of 1871]]. In 1872, Hayden oversaw explorations in Yellowstone, while a branch of his expedition known as the Snake River Division was led by James Stevenson and explored the Teton region. Along with Stevenson was photographer [[William Henry Jackson]] who took the first photographs of the Teton Range.<ref name=jackson/> The Hayden Geological Survey named many of the mountains and lakes in the region.<ref name=daugherty2>{{cite web|last=Daugherty |first=John |title=Explorers and Scientists |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs4a.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323062532/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs4a.htm |archive-date=March 23, 2010 }}</ref> The explorations by early mountain men and subsequent expeditions failed to identify any sources of economically viable mineral wealth. Nevertheless, small groups of prospectors set up claims and mining operations on several of the creeks and rivers. By 1900 all organized efforts to retrieve minerals had been abandoned.<ref name=daugherty3>{{cite web|last=Daugherty |first=John |title=Prospectors and Miners |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs5.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108013651/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs5.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref>
Though the Teton Range was never permanently inhabited, pioneers began settling in the Jackson Hole valley to the east of the range in 1884.<ref name=pitcher>{{cite book|last=Pitcher|first=Don|title=Yellowstone and Grand Teton: Including Jackson Hole|date=May 5, 2009|publisher=Avalon Travel Publishing|isbn=978-1-59880-160-6|page=157|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPKRLRQ2lYkC&pg=PA157|access-date=January 14, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> These earliest [[Homestead Act|homesteaders]] were mostly single men who endured long winters, short growing seasons and rocky soils that were hard to cultivate. The region was most suited for the cultivation of hay and cattle ranching. By 1890, Jackson Hole had an estimated permanent population of 60.<ref name=daugherty4>{{cite web|last=Daugherty |first=John |title=The Pioneers: Homesteading in Jackson Role, 1884–1900 |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs6.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407063918/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs6.htm |archive-date=April 7, 2012 }}</ref> [[Menor's Ferry]] was built in 1892 near present-day [[Moose, Wyoming]] to provide access for wagons to the west side of the Snake River.<ref name=judge>{{cite web|last=Judge |first=Frances |title=Mountain River Men |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte/chap7.htm |work=Campfire Tales of Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=March 27, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108014552/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte/chap7.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref> Ranching increased significantly from 1900 to 1920, but a series of agricultural related economic downturns in the early 1920s left many ranchers destitute.<ref name=daugherty5>{{cite web|last=Daugherty |first=John |title=Cattle Ranchers |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs10a.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108201356/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs10a.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref> Beginning in the 1920s, the automobile provided faster and easier access to areas of natural beauty and old military roads into Jackson Hole over Teton and Togwotee Passes were improved to accommodate the increased vehicle traffic. In response to the increased tourism, [[Guest ranch|dude ranches]] were established, some new and some from existing cattle ranches, so urbanized travelers could experience the life of a cowboy.<ref name=daugherty6>{{cite web|last=Daugherty |first=John |title=The Dude Wranglers |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs14.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417003645/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs14.htm |archive-date=April 17, 2009 }}</ref>

===Establishment of the park===
[[File:Park Dedication in 1929 in Grand Teton NP-NPS.jpg|thumb|right|Grand Teton National Park Dedication in 1929]]
To the north of Jackson Hole, Yellowstone National Park had been established in 1872, and by the close of the 19th century, conservationists wanted to expand the boundaries of that park to include at least the Teton Range.<ref>{{cite web|title=Yellowstone Fact Sheet |url=http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/factsheet.htm |work=Plan Your Visit |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=January 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111215937/http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/factsheet.htm |archive-date=January 11, 2012 }}</ref><ref name=daugherty7>{{cite web|last=Daugherty |first=John |title=Conservationists |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs17.htm |work=A Place Called Jackson Hole |publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=July 24, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103071756/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte2/hrs17.htm |archive-date=November 3, 2012 }}</ref> By 1907, in an effort to regulate water flow for irrigation purposes, the [[United States Bureau of Reclamation]] had constructed a log crib dam at the Snake River outlet of Jackson Lake. This dam failed in 1910 and a new concrete [[Jackson Lake Dam]] replaced it by 1911. The dam was further enlarged in 1916, raising lake waters {{convert|39|ft|abbr=on}} as part of the [[Minidoka Project]], designed to provide irrigation for agriculture in the state of Idaho.<ref name=reclamation>{{cite web|title=Jackson Lake Dam|url=http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Facility.jsp?fac_Name=Jackson+Lake+Dam|publisher=U.S. Bureau of Reclamation|access-date=January 14, 2012|date=July 13, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006103614/http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Facility.jsp?fac_Name=Jackson+Lake+Dam|archive-date=October 6, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=reclamation2>{{cite web|title=The Minidoka Project |url=http://www.usbr.gov/projects/ImageServer?imgName=Doc_1245093434100.pdf |publisher=U.S. Bureau of Reclamation |access-date=January 14, 2012 |year=1997 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005083935/http://www.usbr.gov/projects//ImageServer?imgName=Doc_1245093434100.pdf |archive-date=October 5, 2012 }}</ref> Further dam construction plans for other lakes in the Teton Range alarmed Yellowstone National Park superintendent [[Horace Albright]], who sought to block such efforts.<ref name=creation>{{cite web|last=Skaggs|first=Jackie|title=Creation of Grand Teton National Park|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/creation.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 14, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107144552/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/creation.pdf|archive-date=November 7, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Jackson Hole residents were opposed to an expansion of Yellowstone, but were more in favor of the establishment of a separate national park which would include the Teton Range and six lakes at the base of the mountains. After congressional approval, President [[Calvin Coolidge]] signed the executive order establishing the {{convert|96000|acre|adj=on}} Grand Teton National Park on February 26, 1929.<ref name="besser">{{cite book|last=Besser|first=Brook|title=Wyoming Road Trip by the Mile Marker|date=March 23, 2010|publisher=NightBlaze Books|isbn=978-0-9844093-0-3|page=35}}</ref>

The valley of Jackson Hole remained primarily in private ownership when [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] and his wife visited the region in the late 1920s.<ref name=daugherty7/> Horace Albright and Rockefeller discussed ways to preserve Jackson Hole from commercial exploitation, and in consequence, Rockefeller started buying Jackson Hole properties through the [[Snake River Land Company]] to later turn them over to the National Park Service. In 1930, this plan was revealed to the residents of the region and was met with strong disapproval.<ref name=daugherty7/> Congressional efforts to prevent the expansion of Grand Teton National Park ended up putting the Snake River Land Company's holdings in limbo. By 1942 Rockefeller had become increasingly impatient that his purchased property might never be added to the park, and wrote to the [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] [[Harold L. Ickes]] that he was considering selling the land to another party.<ref name="righter">{{cite book|last=Righter|first=Robert|title=Crucible for Conservation: The Struggle for Grand Teton National Park|date=June 1982|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-54-8|pages=105–106}}</ref> Secretary Ickes recommended to President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] that the [[Antiquities Act]], which permitted presidents to set aside land for protection without the approval of Congress, be used to establish a [[National monument (United States)|national monument]] in Jackson Hole. Roosevelt created the {{convert|221000|acre|adj=on}} [[Jackson Hole National Monument]] in 1943, using the land donated from the Snake River Land Company and adding additional property from Teton National Forest.<ref name=record>{{Cite book|title=Congressional Record|publisher=U.S. Congress |volume=148, Pt. 13|edition=September 20, 2002 to October 1, 2002|date=August 16, 2006|page=17710|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pY5e3AMIdn0C&pg=PA17710|isbn=978-0-16-076774-6}}</ref> The monument and park were adjacent to each other and both were administered by the National Park Service, but the monument designation ensured no funding allotment, nor provided a level of resource protection equal to the park. Members of Congress repeatedly attempted to have the new national monument abolished.<ref name=righter2>{{cite book|last=Righter|first=Robert|title=Crucible for Conservation: The Struggle for Grand Teton National Park|date=June 1982|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-54-8|pages=114–115}}</ref>

After the end of [[World War II]], national public sentiment was in favor of adding the monument to the park, and though there was still much local opposition, the monument and park were combined in 1950.<ref name=creation/> In recognition of John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s efforts to establish and then expand Grand Teton National Park, a {{convert|24000|acre|adj=on}} parcel of land between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks was added to the National Park Service in 1972. This land and the road from the southern boundary of the park to [[West Thumb Geyser Basin|West Thumb]] in Yellowstone National Park was named the [[John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway]].<ref name=jodr>{{cite web|title=John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/jodr.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 14, 2012 |date=November 25, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126163036/http://www.nps.gov/grte/jodr.htm |archive-date=January 26, 2012 }}</ref> The Rockefeller family owned the [[JY Ranch]], which bordered Grand Teton National Park to the southwest. In November 2007, the Rockefeller family transferred ownership of the ranch to the park for the establishment of the [[Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve]], which was dedicated on June 21, 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve FAQs|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/lsrpfaqs.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=June 24, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802085104/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/lsrpfaqs.htm|archive-date=August 2, 2014|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Skaggs|first=Jackie|title=Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve Center Opens to the Public|url=http://gtnpnews.blogspot.com/2008/06/laurance-s-rockefeller-preserve-center.html|publisher=Grand Teton National Park News Releases|access-date=January 14, 2012|date=June 21, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213154251/http://gtnpnews.blogspot.com/2008/06/laurance-s-rockefeller-preserve-center.html|archive-date=February 13, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===History of mountaineering===
[[File:Shive Spalding and Petersen on top of Grand Teton 1898.jpg|thumb|right|In this image taken by William O. Owen in 1898, his climbing partners John Shive, Franklin Spalding, and Frank Petersen are depicted on top of Grand Teton.]]
During the last 25&nbsp;years of the 19th century, the mountains of the Teton Range became a focal point for explorers wanting to claim the first ascents of the peaks. However, white explorers may not have been the first to climb many of the peaks and the earliest first ascent of even the formidable Grand Teton itself might have been achieved long before written history documented it. Native American relics remain including ''The Enclosure'', a human-made structure that is located about {{convert|530|ft|abbr=on}} below the summit of Grand Teton at a point near the Upper Saddle ({{convert|13160|ft|abbr=on}}).<ref name="rossiter2">{{cite book|last=Rossiter|first=Richard|title=Teton Classics: 50 Selected Climbs in Grand Teton National Park|date=January 1, 1994|publisher=Falcon Guides|isbn=978-0-934641-71-5|edition=2nd|page=30}}</ref><ref name="bonney">{{cite book|last=Bonney|first=Orrin H.|title=The Grand Controversy|date=May 2000|publisher=American Alpine Club|isbn=978-0-930410-45-2|author2=Lorraine G. Bonney|page=11}}</ref> [[Nathaniel P. Langford]] and James Stevenson, both members of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1872, found The Enclosure during their early attempt to summit Grand Teton. Langford claimed that he and Stevenson climbed Grand Teton, but were vague as to whether they had made it to the summit. Their reported obstacles and sightings were never corroborated by later parties. Langford and Stevenson likely did not get much further than The Enclosure.<ref name=jackson/> The first ascent of Grand Teton that is substantiated was made by [[William O. Owen]], Frank Petersen, John Shive and [[Franklin Spencer Spalding]] on August 11, 1898.<ref name=rossiter2/> Owen had made two previous attempts on the peak and after publishing several accounts of this first ascent, discredited any claim that Langford and Stevenson had ever reached beyond The Enclosure in 1872. The disagreement over which party first reached the top of Grand Teton may be the greatest controversy in the history of American mountaineering.<ref name=jackson/> After 1898 no other ascents of Grand Teton were recorded until 1923.<ref name="ortenburger">{{cite book|last=Ortenburger|first=Leigh N.|title=A climber's guide to the Teton Range|date=Nov 1, 1996|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-0-89886-480-9|page=30|author2=Reynold G. Jackson}}</ref>

By the mid-1930s, more than a dozen different climbing routes had been established on Grand Teton including the northeast ridge in 1931 by [[Glenn Exum]]. Glenn Exum teamed up with another noted climber named [[Paul Petzoldt]] to found the [[Exum Mountain Guides]] in 1931.<ref>{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Bruce|title=Outdoor leadership: theory and practice|date=January 10, 2006|publisher=Human Kinetics|isbn=978-0-7360-5731-8|page=16}}</ref> Of the other major peaks on the Teton Range, all were climbed by the late 1930s including Mount Moran in 1922 and Mount Owen in 1930 by [[Fritiof Fryxell]] and others after numerous previous attempts had failed.<ref name=ortenburger/> Both [[Middle Teton|Middle]] and [[South Teton]] were first climbed on the same day, August 29, 1923, by a group of climbers led by [[Albert R. Ellingwood]].<ref name=ortenburger/> New routes on the peaks were explored as safety equipment and skills improved and eventually climbs rated at above 5.9 on the [[Yosemite Decimal System]] difficulty scale were established on Grand Teton. The classic climb following the route first pioneered by Owen, known as the [[Owen-Spalding route]], is rated at 5.4 due to a combination of concerns beyond the gradient alone.<ref name=jackson/> [[Rock climbing]] and [[bouldering]] had become popular in the park by the mid 20th century. In the late 1950s, gymnast [[John Gill (climber)|John Gill]] came to the park and started climbing large boulders near [[Jenny Lake]]. Gill approached climbing from a gymnastics perspective and while in the Tetons became the first known climber in history to use gymnastic chalk to improve handholds and to keep hands dry while climbing.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sherman|first=John|title=Stone Crusade: A Historical Guide to Bouldering in America|year=1994|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-0-930410-62-9|page=3}}</ref> During the latter decades of the 20th century, extremely difficult cliffs were explored including some in Death Canyon, and by the mid-1990s, 800 different climbing routes had been documented for the various peaks and canyon cliffs.<ref name="jackson" /><ref name="routes">{{cite book|last=Ortenburger|first=Leigh N.|title=A climber's guide to the Teton Range|date=Nov 1, 1996|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-0-89886-480-9|pages=18 and 418|author2=Reynold G. Jackson}}</ref>

==Park management==
[[File:Sunset over the Grand Tetons 2.JPG|thumb|Sunset over the Tetons]]
Grand Teton National Park is one of the ten most visited national parks in the U.S.,<ref name=visitation>{{cite web|title=Park Visitation Figures |url=http://www.npca.org/exploring-our-parks/visitation.html |publisher=National Parks Conservation Association |access-date=January 22, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118224102/http://www.npca.org/exploring-our-parks/visitation.html |archive-date=January 18, 2012 }}</ref> with an annual average of 2.75&nbsp;million visitors in the period from 2007 to 2016, with 3.27 million visiting in 2016.<ref name=visits>{{NPS Visitation|access-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref> The National Park Service is a federal agency of the [[United States Department of the Interior]] and manages both Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Grand Teton National Park has an average of 100 permanent and 180 seasonal employees.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stingray |first=River |date=2025-02-10 |title=How Trump’s hiring freeze could impact Grand Teton National Park |url=https://buckrail.com/how-trumps-hiring-freeze-could-impact-grand-teton-national-park/ |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=Buckrail - Jackson Hole, news |language=en-US}}</ref> The park also manages 27 concession contracts that provide services such as lodging, restaurants, mountaineering guides, dude ranching, fishing and a boat shuttle on Jenny Lake.<ref name=concession>{{cite web|title=Business Resources |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/bus.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 22, 2012 |date=December 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201185330/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/bus.htm |archive-date=February 1, 2012 }}</ref> The National Park Service works closely with other federal agencies such as the [[U.S. Forest Service]], the [[U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]], the [[Bureau of Reclamation]], and also, in consequence of [[Jackson Hole Airport]]'s presence in the park, the [[Federal Aviation Administration]]. Initial construction of the airstrip north of the town of Jackson was completed in the 1930s.<ref name=airport>{{cite web|title=Jackson Hole Airport |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/bus.htm |publisher=Jackson Hole Airport |access-date=January 22, 2012 |year=2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201185330/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/bus.htm |archive-date=February 1, 2012 }}</ref> When Jackson Hole National Monument was designated, the airport was inside it. After the monument and park were combined, the Jackson Hole Airport became the only commercial airport within an American national park. Jackson Hole Airport has some of the strictest [[Noise mitigation|noise abatement]] regulations of any airport in the U.S.<ref name=airport/> The airport has night flight curfews and overflight restrictions, with pilots being expected to approach and depart the airport along the east, south or southwest flight corridors.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jackson Hole Airport |url=http://www.boeing.com/commercial/noise/jackson_hole.html |work=Airport Noise and Emissions Regulations |publisher=Boeing |access-date=June 12, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508040012/http://www.boeing.com/commercial/noise/jackson_hole.html |archive-date=May 8, 2012 }}</ref>

===Expansion===
{{As of |2010}}, 110 privately owned property [[inholding]]s, many belonging to the state of Wyoming, are located within Grand Teton National Park.{{Update inline|date=February 2024|reason=Wyoming is selling its last inholding parcel}} Efforts to purchase or trade these inholdings for other federal lands are ongoing and through partnerships with other entities, $10&nbsp;million is hoped to be raised to acquire private inholdings by 2016.<ref name="plan">{{cite web|title=First Annual Centennial Strategy for Grand Teton National Park|url=http://home.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/upload/gtnp_centennial_report.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 22, 2012|date=August 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813224142/http://home.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/upload/gtnp_centennial_report.pdf|archive-date=August 13, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Huelsmann|first1=Kevin|title=Budget battles hinder swap|url=http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/top_stories/budget-battles-hinder-swap/article_81af279b-0879-53f1-8bc7-83a4f30c06e2.html|access-date=April 23, 2012|newspaper=Jackson Hole News and Guide|date=January 4, 2012|first2=Cory |last2=Hatch}}</ref>

In December 2016 the Antelope Flats Parcel consisting of {{convert|640|acre}} (owned by the State of Wyoming as part of state school trust lands) was purchased and transferred to Grand Teton National Park. The purchase price amounted to $46&nbsp;million ($23&nbsp;million allocated from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the last $23&nbsp;million was raised in private funds from 5,421 donors).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gtnpf.org/achievements/state-lands/ |title=Public-Private Effort Secured High-Stakes Land in Grand Teton |work=Grand Teton National Park Foundation &#124; Jackson, WY |publisher=Grand Teton National Park Foundation |access-date=September 28, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.nationalparks.org/about-foundation/newsroom/important-habitat-grand-teton-national-park-preserved |title=Important Habitat in Grand Teton National Park Preserved |publisher=National Parks Foundation |date=December 12, 2016 |access-date=September 28, 2021 |archive-date=August 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823125407/https://www.nationalparks.org/about-foundation/newsroom/important-habitat-grand-teton-national-park-preserved |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wyofile.com/5421-donors-saved-grand-teton-parcel/amp/ |title=5,421 donors saved Grand Teton parcel |last=Thuermer |first=Angus M. Jr. |work=WyoFile |date=December 20, 2016 |access-date=September 28, 2021 |archive-date=August 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823122856/https://www.wyofile.com/5421-donors-saved-grand-teton-parcel/amp/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Moulton Ranch Cabins, a {{convert|1|acre|adj=on|spell=in}} inholding along the historic Mormon Row was sold to the Grand Teton National Park Foundation in 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gtnpf.org/achievements/mormon-row-shell/ |title=Private Inholding on Mormon Row Now Part of Grand Teton |work=Grand Teton National Park Foundation &#124; Jackson, WY |publisher=Grand Teton National Park Foundation |access-date=September 28, 2021 }}</ref> 

In 2020 the National Park Service in partnership with the Conservation Fund acquired a {{convert|35|acre|adj=on}} parcel located within Grand Teton National Park. This parcel is located near the Granite Canyon Entrance Station.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.conservationfund.org/news/press-releases/2173-grand-teton-national-park-adds-35-acres |title=Grand Teton National Park Acquires Parcel of Land in Collaboration with The Conservation Fund |publisher=The Conservation Fund |date=January 21, 2020 |access-date=September 28, 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 

The {{convert|640|acre||adj=mid| Kelly Parcel}} was offered by the state of Wyoming in order to fund schools.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Baker |first=Mike |date=December 30, 2024 |title=$100 Million for One Square Mile: Deal to Protect Land in Grand Tetons |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/us/grand-teton-park-wyoming-sale.html |work=New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rossi |first=Andrew |date=2023-12-03 |title=Everyone Wants To Preserve The Kelly Parcel, So What's The Hang-Up? |url=https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/12/03/everyone-wants-to-preserve-the-kelly-parcel-so-whats-the-hang-up/ |access-date=2023-12-03 |work=Cowboy State Daily |language=en}}</ref> Located on a migration route for pronghorn, mule deer, elk and other species, the parcel is at the mouth of the Gros Ventre River Valley.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thuermer Jr |first=Angus M. |date=2024-12-30 |title=After decades of political maneuvering, Grand Teton buys Wyoming's Kelly Parcel |url=https://wyofile.com/after-decades-of-political-maneuvering-grand-teton-buys-wyomings-kelly-parcel-today/ |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=WyoFile |language=en-US}}</ref> The National Park Service could only acquire the land at its appraised value, leaving charitable organizations to cover the higher sale price demanded by Wyoming legislators.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Clements |first=Chris |date=2024-02-23 |title=Wyoming is getting closer to selling the Kelly Parcel to Grand Teton National Park for $100 million |url=https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/open-spaces/2024-02-23/wyoming-is-getting-closer-to-selling-the-kelly-parcel-to-grand-teton-national-park-for-100-million |access-date=2024-02-27 |work=Wyoming Public Media |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Leigh Reagan |date=2024-02-26 |title=Wyo set to sell Kelly Parcel to the feds, with two major conditions |url=http://buckrail.com/wyo-set-to-sell-kelly-parcel-to-the-feds-with-two-major-conditions/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=Buckrail - Jackson Hole |language=en-US}}</ref> The Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners approved the sale which was completed at the end of 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruver |first=Mead |date=2024-12-28 |title=Wyoming governor approves $100 million sale of state land to join Grand Teton National Park |url=https://apnews.com/article/wyoming-grand-teton-land-sale-gordon-66bd29f553d1f87cb9781c646764e339 |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>

==Geography==
[[File:Map of Grand Teton National Park.jpg|thumb|Map of Grand Teton National Park Also see [https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/collection-item.htm?pg=7347320&cid=305fb7af-a71b-469b-941e-a98b439c882f&id=9f35789f-3f7d-447b-9fe7-cb4914e0b6e1&sid=c6bd20d3-825d-4783-a5a0-cf528fc4d3fe&p=1&sort=relevance resolution adjustable pdf map]]]
Grand Teton National Park is located in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Wyoming.<ref>{{cite web|title=Grand Teton|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/index.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 22, 2012|date=January 4, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619112157/http://www.nps.gov/grte/index.htm|archive-date=June 19, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> To the north the park is bordered by the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, which is administered by Grand Teton National Park. The scenic highway with the same name passes from the southern boundary of Grand Teton National Park to West Thumb in Yellowstone National Park.<ref name=jodr/> Grand Teton National Park covers approximately {{convert|310000|acre}}, while the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway includes {{convert|23700|acre}}.<ref name=stats1>{{cite web|title=Park Statistics|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/statistics.htm|work=Park Management|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 8, 2012|date=December 20, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108182043/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/statistics.htm|archive-date=November 8, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>  Most of the Jackson Hole valley and virtually all the major mountain peaks of the Teton Range are within the park. The [[Jedediah Smith Wilderness]] of [[Caribou–Targhee National Forest|Caribou-Targhee National Forest]] lies along the western boundary and includes the western slopes of the Teton Range. To the northeast and east lie the [[Teton Wilderness]] and [[Gros Ventre Wilderness]] of [[Bridger-Teton National Forest]].<ref name=mohlenbrock>{{cite book|last=Mohlenbrock|first=Robert H.|title=This Land|date=March 15, 2005|publisher=University of California|isbn=978-0-520-23982-1|page=330|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JLChpl7sU_sC&pg=PA330|access-date=January 22, 2012}}</ref> The National Elk Refuge is to the southeast, and migrating herds of elk winter there. Privately owned land borders the park to the south and southwest. Grand Teton National Park, along with Yellowstone National Park, surrounding National Forests and related protected areas constitute the {{convert|18|e6acre|km2|adj=on|abbr=off|sp=us}} [[Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem]]. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem spans portions of three states and is one of the largest intact [[Middle latitudes|mid-latitude]] ecosystems remaining on Earth.<ref name=gye>{{cite web|title=Animals|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/animals.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=June 2, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111130940/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/animals.htm|archive-date=November 11, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> By road, Grand Teton National Park is {{convert|290|mi|abbr=on}} from [[Salt Lake City]], [[Utah]] and {{convert|550|mi|abbr=on}} from [[Denver]], [[Colorado]].<ref name=directions>{{cite web|title=Directions|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/directions.htm|work=Plan Your Visit|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 22, 2012|date=January 17, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012230810/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/directions.htm|archive-date=October 12, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===Teton Range===
{{Main|Teton Range|Canyons of the Teton Range}}
The youngest mountain range in the [[Rocky Mountains]], the Teton Range began forming between 6 and 9&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name=geology>{{cite web|title=Park Geology|url=http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/grte/index.cfm|work=Geology Fieldnotes|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 3, 2012|date=January 4, 2005|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921015620/http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/grte/index.cfm|archive-date=September 21, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It runs roughly north to south and rises from the floor of Jackson Hole without any [[foothill]]s along a {{convert|40|mi|km|-long|adj=mid}} by {{convert|7|to|9|mile|abbr=}} wide active [[fault-block mountain]] front.<ref name="stats1" /> The range tilts westward, rising abruptly above Jackson Hole valley which lies to the east but more gradually into [[Pierre's Hole|Teton Valley]] to the west. A series of [[earthquake]]s along the [[Teton Fault]] slowly displaced the western side of the fault upward and the eastern side of the fault downward at an average of {{convert|1|ft|cm}} of displacement every 300–400&nbsp;years.<ref name="geology" /> Most of the displacement of the fault occurred in the last 2&nbsp;million years.<ref name="byrd">{{cite journal|last=Byrd|first=John|author2=Robert Smith |author3=John Geissman |title=The Teton fault, Wyoming: Topographic signature, neotectonics, and mechanisms of deformation|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research|date=January 28, 1994|volume=99|issue=B10|series=B10|pages=20,095–20,122|doi=10.1029/94JB00281|bibcode=1994JGR....9920095B}}</ref> While the fault has experienced up to 7.5-[[Mercalli intensity scale|earthquake magnitude]] events since it formed, it has been relatively quiescent during historical periods, with only a few 5.0-magnitude or greater earthquakes known to have occurred since 1850.<ref name="smithr">{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Robert|title=The Teton fault, Wyoming: seismotectonics, Quaternary history, and earthquake hazards|url=http://www.uusatrg.utah.edu/PAPERS/The_Teton_fault.pdf|publisher=University of Utah, USGS|access-date=February 3, 2012|author2=John Byrd|author3=David Susong|year=1993|work=Geology of Wyoming: Geological Survey of Wyoming Memoir|volume=5|pages=628–667|editor1-last=Snoke|editor1-first=A. W.|editor2-last=Steidtmann|editor2-first=J. R.|editor3-last=Roberts|editor3-first=S. M.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803195000/http://www.uusatrg.utah.edu/PAPERS/The_Teton_fault.pdf|archive-date=August 3, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
[[File:Teton fault block.jpg|thumb|right|Fault-block mountain formation of the Teton Range and Jackson Hole]]
In addition to {{convert|13775|ft|m|-high|adj=mid}} Grand Teton, another nine peaks are over {{convert|12000|ft|abbr=on}} above [[sea level]].<ref name=peakbagger>{{cite web|title=Teton Range|url=http://www.peakbagger.com/range.aspx?rid=14405|publisher=Peakbagger|access-date=February 3, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008172541/http://www.peakbagger.com/range.aspx?rid=14405|archive-date=October 8, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Eight of these peaks between [[Avalanche Canyon|Avalanche]] and [[Cascade Canyon]]s make up the often-photographed [[Cathedral Group]].<ref name=fryxell>{{cite book|last=Fryxell|first=Fritiof|title=The Tetons: interpretations of a mountain landscape|date=April 1996|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-05-0|page=11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wbKiGxuADLIC&pg=PA11|access-date=February 3, 2012}}</ref> The most prominent peak north of Cascade Canyon is the monolithic [[Mount Moran]] ({{convert|12605|ft|0|abbr=on}}) which rises {{convert|5728|ft|0|abbr=on}} above Jackson Lake.<ref name=rossiter>{{cite book|last=Rossiter|first=Richard|title=Teton Classics: 50 Selected Climbs in Grand Teton National Park|date=January 1, 1994|publisher=Falcon|isbn=978-0-934641-71-5|page=105|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c4dGLjU6DEwC&pg=PA105|edition=2nd|access-date=February 3, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> To the north of Mount Moran, the range eventually merges into the high altitude [[Yellowstone Plateau]]. South of the central Cathedral Group the Teton Range tapers off near Teton Pass and blends into the [[Snake River Range]].<ref name=love>{{cite book|last=Love|first=David|title=Creation of the Teton Landscape|year=1997|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-08-1|at=The Story Begins|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec1.htm|access-date=February 3, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419054617/http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec1.htm|archive-date=April 19, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

West to east trending canyons provides easier access by foot into the heart of the range as no vehicular roads traverse the range except at Teton Pass, which is south of the park. Carved by a combination of glacier activity as well as numerous streams, the canyons are at their lowest point along the eastern margin of the range at Jackson Hole.<ref name=smith>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Robert|title=Windows into the earth: the geologic story of Yellowstone and Grand Teton|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-510597-1|pages=94–107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTHZfDcxXHAC&pg=PA94|access-date=February 3, 2012}}</ref> Flowing from higher to lower elevations, the glaciers created more than a dozen [[U-shaped valley]]s throughout the range.<ref name=past>{{cite web|title=Glaciation|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/geology12.pdf|work=Journey Through the Past: A Geologic Tour|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 8, 2012|date=February 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621223908/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/geology12.pdf|archive-date=June 21, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Cascade Canyon is sandwiched between Mount Owen and [[Teewinot Mountain]] to the south and [[Symmetry Spire]] to the north and is situated immediately west of Jenny Lake. North to south, [[Webb Canyon|Webb]], [[Moran Canyon (Wyoming)|Moran]], [[Paintbrush Canyon|Paintbrush]], Cascade, [[Death Canyon|Death]] and [[Granite Canyon]]s slice through Teton Range.

=== Jackson Hole ===
{{Main|Jackson Hole}}
[[File:Teton Fault Scarp WY1.jpg|right|thumb|The Teton Fault near the base of Rockchuck Peak creates a nearly horizontal line above the trees in the foreground.]]
Jackson Hole is a {{convert|55|mi|km|-long|adj=mid}} by {{convert|6|to|13|mi}} wide [[graben]] valley with an average elevation of {{convert|6800|ft|abbr=on}}, its lowest point is near the southern park boundary at {{convert|6350|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=dougherty1>{{cite book|last=Dougherty|first=Michael|title=The Ultimate Wyoming Atlas and Travel Encyclopedia|date=October 2003|publisher=Ultimate Press|isbn=978-1-888550-12-2|page=405|url=http://www.ultimatewyoming.com/wysections/WY2%20yGrand%20Teton.pdf|author2=Heidi Dougherty|access-date=February 4, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317170446/http://www.ultimatewyoming.com/wysections/WY2%20yGrand%20Teton.pdf|archive-date=March 17, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The valley sits east of the Teton Range and is vertically displaced downward {{convert|30000|ft|abbr=on}}, making the Teton Fault and its parallel twin on the east side of the valley normal faults with the Jackson Hole block being the hanging wall and the Teton Mountain block being the footwall.<ref name=nrp>{{cite web|title=Geologic Resources Inventory Report|url=http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/publications/reports/grte_gri_rpt_body_print.pdf|work=Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRR—2010/230|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|year=2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923122521/http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/publications/reports/grte_gri_rpt_body_print.pdf|archive-date=September 23, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Grand Teton National Park contains the major part of both blocks. Erosion of the range provided sediment in the valley so the topographic relief is only {{convert|7700|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=geology/> Jackson Hole is comparatively flat, with only a modest increase in altitude south to north; however, a few isolated [[butte]]s such as [[Blacktail Butte]] and hills including [[Signal Mountain (Wyoming)|Signal Mountain]] dot the valley floor.<ref name=love/> In addition to a few outcroppings, the [[Snake River]] has eroded [[Terrace (geology)|terraces]] into Jackson Hole. Southeast of Jackson Lake, glacial depressions known as [[Kettle (landform)|kettles]] are numerous. The kettles were formed when ice situated under gravel outwash from [[ice sheet]]s melted as the glaciers retreated.<ref name=love1>{{cite book|last=Love|first=David|title=Creation of the Teton Landscape|year=1997|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-08-1|at=Carving the Rugged Peaks|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec2.htm|access-date=February 4, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420024745/http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec2.htm|archive-date=April 20, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

=== Lakes and rivers ===
{{See also|Snake River| Lakes of Grand Teton National Park}}
[[File:Oxbow Bend outlook in the Grand Teton National Park.jpg|right|thumb|Oxbow Bend on the Snake River]]
Most of the lakes in the park were formed by glaciers and the largest of these lakes are located at the base of the Teton Range.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lakes and Ponds|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/lakes.htm|work=Natural Features and Ecosystems|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|date=December 7, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108080833/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/lakes.htm|archive-date=November 8, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In the northern section of the park lies Jackson Lake, the largest lake in the park at {{convert|15|mi|abbr=on}} in length, {{convert|5|mi|abbr=on}} wide and {{convert|438|ft|abbr=on}} deep.<ref name=stats1/> Though Jackson Lake is natural, the Jackson Lake Dam was constructed at its outlet before the creation of the park, and the lake level was raised almost {{convert|40|ft|abbr=on}} consequently.<ref name=reclamation/> East of the [[Jackson Lake Lodge]] lies [[Emma Matilda Lake|Emma Matilda]] and [[Two Ocean Lake]]s. South of Jackson Lake, [[Leigh Lake|Leigh]], [[Jenny Lake|Jenny]], [[Bradley Lake|Bradley]], [[Taggart Lake|Taggart]] and [[Phelps Lake (Wyoming)|Phelps Lake]]s rest at the outlets of the canyons which lead into the Teton Range. Within the Teton Range, small alpine lakes in [[cirque (landform)|cirque]]s are common, and there are more than 100 scattered throughout the high country.<ref name=keller>{{cite web|last=Keller|first=Lynn|title=Geologic Features and Processes|url=http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/publications/reports/grte_gri_rpt_body_print.pdf|work=Grand Teton National Park and John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway Geologic Resources Inventory Report|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|page=19|year=2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923122521/http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/publications/reports/grte_gri_rpt_body_print.pdf|archive-date=September 23, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> [[Lake Solitude (Wyoming)|Lake Solitude]], located at an elevation of {{convert|9035|ft|abbr=on}}, is in a cirque at the head of the North Fork of Cascade Canyon. Other high-altitude lakes can be found at over {{convert|10000|ft|abbr=on}} in elevation and a few, such as [[Icefloe Lake]], remain ice-clogged for much of the year.<ref name="ortenburger2">{{cite book|last=Ortenburger|first=Leigh|title=A Climbers Guide to the Teton Range|date=November 1, 1996|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-0-89886-480-9|page=192|author2=Reynold Jackson}}</ref> The park is not noted for large waterfalls; however, {{convert|100|ft|m|-high|adj=mid}} [[Hidden Falls (Teton County, Wyoming)|Hidden Falls]] just west of Jenny Lake is easy to reach after a short hike.<ref name="dayhikes">{{cite web|title=Day Hikes|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Dayhikes10.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 26, 2012|date=March 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108041016/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Dayhikes10.pdf|archive-date=November 8, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

From its headwaters on Two Ocean Plateau in Yellowstone National Park, the Snake River flows north to south through the park, entering Jackson Lake near the boundary of Grand Teton National Park and John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway.<ref name=snake>{{cite web|title=Floating the Snake River|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Floating10.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|date=March 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108080350/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Floating10.pdf|archive-date=November 8, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The Snake River then flows through the spillways of the Jackson Lake Dam and from there southward through Jackson Hole, exiting the park just west of the Jackson Hole Airport.<ref name=snake/> The largest lakes in the park all drain either directly or by tributary streams into the Snake River. Major tributaries which flow into the Snake River include [[Pacific Creek (Teton County, Wyoming)|Pacific Creek]] and [[Buffalo Fork (Wyoming)|Buffalo Fork]] near [[Moran, Wyoming|Moran]] and the [[Gros Ventre River]] at the southern border of the park. Through the comparatively level Jackson Hole valley, the Snake River descends an average of {{convert|19|ft/mi}}, while other streams descending from the mountains to the east and west have higher gradients due to increased slope.<ref name=geology/> The Snake River creates [[Braided river|braids]] and channels in sections where the gradients are lower and in steeper sections, erodes and undercuts the cobblestone terraces once deposited by glaciers.<ref name=geology/>

=== Glaciation ===
[[File:Middle Teton Glacier looking southeast.jpg|right|thumb|[[Middle Teton Glacier]] on the northeast slopes of Middle Teton has numerous [[crevass]]es.]]
The major peaks of the Teton Range were carved into their current shapes by long-vanished [[glacier]]s. Commencing 250,000–150,000&nbsp;years ago, the Tetons went through several periods of [[glacial period|glaciation]] with some areas of Jackson Hole covered by glaciers {{convert|2000|ft|abbr=on}} thick.<ref name=geology/><ref name=love2>{{cite book|last=Love|first=David|title=Creation of the Teton Landscape|year=1997|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-08-1|at=Quaternary-Time of Ice, More Lakes and Continued Crustal Disturbance|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec9.htm|access-date=August 23, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108080217/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec9.htm|archive-date=November 8, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref> This heavy glaciation is unrelated to the uplift of the range itself and is instead part of a period of global cooling known as the [[Quaternary glaciation]].<ref name=love2/> Beginning with the Buffalo Glaciation and followed by the [[Bull Lake glaciation|Bull Lake]] and then the [[Last glacial period|Pinedale glaciation]], which ended roughly 15,000&nbsp;years ago, the landscape was greatly impacted by glacial activity. During the Pinedale glaciation, the landscape visible today was created as glaciers from the Yellowstone Plateau flowed south and formed Jackson Lake, while smaller glaciers descending from the Teton Range pushed rock [[moraines]] out from the canyons and left behind lakes near the base of the mountains.<ref name=love2/> The peaks themselves were carved into [[Pyramidal peak|horns]] and [[arête]]s and the canyons were transformed from water-eroded V-shapes to glacier-carved U-shaped valleys.<ref name=geology/> Approximately a dozen glaciers currently exist in the park, but they are not ancient as they were all reestablished sometime between 1400 and 1850&nbsp;AD during the [[Little Ice Age]].<ref name=keller2>{{cite web|last=Keller|first=Lynn|title=Glaciers and Climate Change|url=http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/publications/reports/grte_gri_rpt_body_print.pdf|work=Grand Teton National Park and John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway Geologic Resources Inventory Report|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|pages=8–9|year=2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923122521/http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/publications/reports/grte_gri_rpt_body_print.pdf|archive-date=September 23, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Of these more recent glaciers, the largest is [[Teton Glacier]], which sits below the northeast face of Grand Teton. Teton Glacier is {{convert|3500|ft|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1100|ft|abbr=on}} wide, and nearly surrounded by the tallest summits in the range.<ref name=love2/> Teton Glacier is also the best-studied glacier in the range, and researchers concluded in 2005 that the glacier could disappear in 30 to 75&nbsp;years.<ref name=nrp/> West of the Cathedral Group near [[Hurricane Pass]], [[Schoolroom Glacier]] is tiny but has well-defined terminal and lateral moraines, a small [[proglacial lake]], and other typical glacier features near each other.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cooper|first=Ed|title=Soul of the Rockies: Portraits of America's Largest Mountain Range|year=2008|publisher=Falcon Guides|isbn=978-0-7627-4941-6|page=75|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRggz0glL3gC&pg=PT95|edition=1st|access-date=February 4, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== Geology ==
{{Main|Geology of the Grand Teton area}}
[[File:Middle Teton from Garnet Canyon.jpg|thumb|right|The geologic feature known as the Black Dike is a diabase intrusion into older gneiss and is visible on the east face of Middle Teton as a dark line bisecting the peak.]]

Grand Teton National Park has some of the most ancient rocks found in any American national park. The oldest rocks dated so far are 2,680 ± 12&nbsp;million years old, though even older rocks are believed to exist in the park.<ref name=nrp/> Formed during the [[Archean|Archean Eon]] (4 to 2.5&nbsp;billion years ago), these [[metamorphic rock|metamorphic]] rocks include [[gneiss]], [[schist]] and [[amphibolite]]s.<ref name=nrp/> Metamorphic rocks are the most common types found in the northern and southern sections of the Teton Range.<ref name=love3>{{cite book|last=Love|first=David|title=Creation of the Teton Landscape|year=1997|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-08-1|at=Precambrian Rocks-The Core of the Tetons|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec5.htm|access-date=February 4, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713223929/http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec5.htm|archive-date=July 13, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> 2,545&nbsp;million years ago, the metamorphic rocks were intruded by [[Igneous rock|igneous]] granitic rocks, which are now visible in the central Tetons including Grand Teton and the nearby peaks.<ref name=nrp/> The light-colored [[granite]]s of the central Teton Range contrast with the darker metamorphic gneiss found on the flanks of Mount Moran to the north.<ref name=love3/> [[Magmatic]] intrusions of [[diabase]] rocks 765&nbsp;million years ago left [[Dike (geology)|dikes]] that can be seen on the east face of Mount Moran and Middle Teton.<ref name=nrp/> Granitic and [[pegmatite]] intrusions also worked their way into fissures in the older gneiss.<ref name=love3/> [[Precambrian]] rocks in Jackson Hole are buried deep under comparatively recent [[Tertiary]] volcanic and [[sedimentary rock|sedimentary]] deposits, as well as [[Pleistocene]] glacial deposits.<ref name=HarrisA>{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Ann|title=Geology of National Parks|year=2010|publisher=Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-7872-9970-5|pages=660–664|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xr7v7GNmHs0C&pg=PA659|edition=1st|author2=Esther Tuttle |author3=Sherwood Tuttle |access-date=February 4, 2012}}</ref>

By the close of the Precambrian, the region was intermittently submerged under shallow seas, and for 500&nbsp;million years various types of sedimentary rocks were formed.<ref name=love3/> During the [[Paleozoic]] (542 to 251&nbsp;million years ago) [[sandstone]], [[shale]], [[limestone]] and [[Dolomite (rock)|dolomite]] were deposited.<ref name=love4>{{cite book|last=Love|first=David|title=Creation of the Teton Landscape|year=1997|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-08-1|at=The Paleozoic Era|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec6.htm|access-date=August 23, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712233204/http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec6.htm|archive-date=July 12, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Though most of these sedimentary rocks have since eroded away from the central Teton Range, they are still evident on the northern, southern and western flanks of the range.<ref name=fossils>{{cite web|title=Fossils|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/fossils.htm|work=Nature and Science|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|date=December 7, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122020150/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/fossils.htm|archive-date=November 22, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> One notable exception is the sandstone Flathead Formation which continues to cap Mount Moran.<ref name=nrp/><ref name=love4/> Sedimentary layering of rocks in [[Alaska Basin]], which is on the western border of Grand Teton National Park, chronicles a 120-million-year period of sedimentary deposition.<ref name=love4/> [[Fossil]]s found in the sedimentary rocks in the park include [[algae]], [[brachiopod]]s and [[trilobite]]s.<ref name=fossils/> Sedimentary deposition continued during the [[Mesozoic]] (250–66&nbsp;million years ago) and the [[coal]] seams found in the sedimentary rock strata indicate the region was densely forested during that era.<ref name=love5>{{cite book|last=Love|first=David|title=Creation of the Teton Landscape|year=1997|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-08-1|at=The Mesozoic-Era of Transition|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec7.htm|access-date=August 23, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713223935/http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec7.htm|archive-date=July 13, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Numerous coal seams of {{convert|5|to|10|ft|abbr=on}} in thickness are interspersed with [[siltstone]], [[claystone]] and other sedimentary rocks. During the late [[Cretaceous]], a [[volcano|volcanic]] arc west of the region deposited fine-grained ash that later formed into [[bentonite]], an important mineral resource.<ref name=love5/>

From the end of the Mesozoic to the present, the region went through a series of uplifts and erosional sequences. Commencing 66&nbsp;million years ago the [[Laramide orogeny]] was a period of mountain-building and erosion in western [[North America]] that created the ancestral Rocky Mountains.<ref name=love5/> This cycle of uplift and erosion left behind one of the most complete non-marine [[Cenozoic]] rock sequences found in North America.<ref name=love6>{{cite book|last=Love|first=David|title=Creation of the Teton Landscape|year=1997|publisher=Grand Teton Natural History Association|isbn=978-0-931895-08-1|at=Tertiary-Time of Mammals, Mountains, Lakes and Volcanoes|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec8.htm|access-date=February 4, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006142942/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grte/grte_geology/sec8.htm|archive-date=October 6, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref> [[Conglomerate (geology)|Conglomerate]] rocks composed of [[quartzite]] and interspersed with [[mudstone]] and sandstones were deposited during erosion from a now vanished mountain range that existed to the northwest of the current Teton Range. These deposits also have trace quantities of [[gold]] and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]].<ref name=love6/> During the [[Eocene]] and [[Oligocene]], [[volcanic eruption]]s from the ancestral [[Absaroka Range]] buried the region under various volcanic deposits.<ref name=love6/> [[Sedimentary basin]]s developed in the region due to drop faulting, creating an ancestral Jackson Hole and by the [[Pliocene]] (10&nbsp;million years ago), an ancestral Jackson Lake known as Teewinot Lake.<ref name=HarrisA/> During the [[Quaternary]], [[mass wasting|landslides]], erosion and glacial activity deposited soils and rock debris throughout the Snake River valley of Jackson Hole and left behind terminal moraines which impound the current lakes.<ref name=keller/><ref name=love2/> The most recent example of rapid alteration to the landscape occurred in 1925 just east of the park when the [[Gros Ventre landslide]] was triggered by spring melt from a heavy snowpack as well as heavy rain.<ref name=press>{{cite book|last=Press|first=Frank|title=Earth|year=1985|publisher=W. H. Freeman|isbn=978-0-7167-1743-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/earth0004pres/page/127 127]–129|url=https://archive.org/details/earth0004pres|url-access=registration|edition=4th|access-date=February 4, 2012}}</ref>

== Ecology ==

=== Flora ===
[[File:Low Larkspur Grand Teton.jpg|thumb|right|Low larkspur is one of over a hundred flower species found in the park.]]
[[File:Pinus albicaulis 8574.JPG|right|thumb|Whitebark pine cones protect seeds that are an important food source.]]

Grand Teton National Park and the surrounding region host over 1,000 species of [[vascular plant]]s.<ref name=plants>{{cite web|title=Plants|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/plants.htm|work=Nature and Science|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|date=December 2, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107225627/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/plants.htm|archive-date=November 7, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> With an altitude range of over {{convert|7000|ft|abbr=on}}, the park has a number of different ecological zones including [[alpine tundra]], the [[Rocky Mountains subalpine zone]] where [[spruce-fir forests]] are dominant, and the valley floor, where a mixed conifer and [[deciduous]] forest zone occupies regions with better soils intermixed with [[sagebrush]] plains atop alluvial deposits.<ref>{{cite web|title=Common Plants|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/upload/plants.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 2, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414013212/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/upload/plants.pdf|archive-date=April 14, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Additionally, [[wetlands]] near some lakes and in the valley floor adjacent to rivers and streams cover large expanses, especially along the Snake River near Oxbow Bend near Moran and Willow Flats near the Jackson Lake Lodge.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wetlands, Marshes and Swamps|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/wetlands.htm|work=Natural Features & Ecosystems|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|date=December 6, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002021922/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/wetlands.htm|archive-date=October 2, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Altitude, available soils, [[wildfire]] incidence, [[avalanche]]s and human activities have a direct impact on the types of plant species in an immediate area.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Patten|first=Robin|author2=Dennis Knight|title=Snow Avalanches and Vegetation Pattern in Cascade Canyon, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A|journal=Arctic and Alpine Research|date=February 1994|volume=26|issue=1|jstor=1551874|pages=35–41|doi=10.2307/1551874}}</ref> Where these various niches overlap is known as an [[ecotone]].<ref name=forests>{{cite web|title=Forests|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/forests.htm|work=Natural Features and Ecosystems|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|date=December 7, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107225640/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/forests.htm|archive-date=November 7, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

The range of altitude in Grand Teton National Park impacts the types of plant species found at various elevations. In the alpine zone above the [[tree line]], which in Grand Teton National Park is at approximately {{convert|10000|ft|abbr=on}}, tundra conditions prevail.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burde|first=John|title=Mammals of the National Parks|url=https://archive.org/details/mammalsofnationa00burd|url-access=registration|date=May 13, 2005|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0-8018-8097-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/mammalsofnationa00burd/page/44 44]|author2=George Feldhamer}}</ref> In this treeless region, hundreds of species of [[grass]], [[wildflower]], [[moss]] and [[lichen]] are found.<ref>{{cite web|title=Grasses|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/grasses.htm|work=Plants|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|date=December 2, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622001854/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/grasses.htm|archive-date=June 22, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Lichens|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/lichen.htm|work=Plants|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|date=December 2, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621221441/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/lichen.htm|archive-date=June 21, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In the [[subalpine]] region from the tree line to the base of the mountains, [[whitebark pine]], [[limber pine]], [[Abies lasiocarpa|subalpine fir]], and [[Picea engelmannii|Engelmann spruce]] are dominant.<ref name=forests/> In the valley floor, [[lodgepole pine]] is most common but [[Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir]], and [[Picea pungens|blue spruce]] inhabit drier areas, while [[Populus tremuloides|aspen]], [[Populus sect. Aigeiros|cottonwood]], [[alder]], and [[willow]] are more commonly found around lakes, streams, and wetlands.<ref name=forests/> However, the tablelands above the Snake River channel are mostly sagebrush plains and in terms of acreage are the most widespread habitat in the park.<ref name=habitat>{{cite web|title=Mammal-Finding Guide |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/upload/mammal.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526153110/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/upload/mammal.pdf |archive-date=May 26, 2012 |work=Plan Your Visit |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=April 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The sagebrush plains or flats have 100 species of grasses and wildflowers. Slightly more elevated sections of the plains of the northern sections of Jackson Hole form forest islands with one such obvious example being Timbered Island. In this ecotone, forested islands surrounded by sagebrush expanses provide shelter for various animal species during the day and nearby grasses for nighttime foraging.<ref name=habitat/>

While the flora of Grand Teton National Park is generally healthy, the whitebark pine, and to a lesser degree the lodgepole pine, are considered at risk. In the case of the whitebark pine, an [[invasive species]] of [[fungus]] known as [[Cronartium ribicola|white pine blister rust]] weakens the tree, making it more susceptible to destruction from [[Endemism|endemic]] [[mountain pine beetle]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Whitebark Pine|url=http://www.greateryellowstonescience.org/topics/biological/vegetation/whitebarkpine|publisher=Greater Yellowstone Science Learning Center|access-date=January 2, 2012|date=September 2, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920040457/http://www.greateryellowstonescience.org/topics/biological/vegetation/whitebarkpine|archive-date=September 20, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Whitebark pines generally thrive at elevations above {{convert|8000|ft|abbr=on}} and produce large seeds that are high in fat content and an important food source for various species such as the  [[grizzly bear]], [[red squirrel]] and [[Clark's nutcracker]].<ref name=whitebark>{{cite web|title=Whitebark Pine Communities |url=http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/research/whitebar.htm |publisher=Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, United States Geological Survey |access-date=January 2, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527120712/http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/research/whitebar.htm |archive-date=May 27, 2010 }}</ref> The species is considered to be a [[Keystone species|keystone]] and a foundation species; keystone in that its "ecological role (is) disproportionately large relative to its abundance"<ref name=pine>{{cite web|title=Whitebark Pine Strategy for the Greater Yellowstone Area |url=http://fedgycc.org/documents/WBPStrategyFINAL5.31.11.pdf |publisher=The Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee Whitebark Pine Subcommittee |access-date=January 2, 2012 |date=May 31, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315052611/http://fedgycc.org/documents/WBPStrategyFINAL5.31.11.pdf |archive-date=March 15, 2012 }}</ref> and foundation in that it has a paramount role that "defines ecosystem structure, function, and process".<ref name=pine/> Whitebark pine has generally had a lower incidence of blister rust infection throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem than in other regions such as [[Glacier National Park (U.S.)|Glacier National Park]] and the [[Cascade Range]]. The incidence of blister rust on whitebark pines in Yellowstone National Park is slightly lower than in Grand Teton.<ref name=whitebark/> Though blister rust is not in itself the cause of increased mortality, its weakening effect on trees allows native pine beetles to have more easily infest the trees, increasing mortality. While general practice in national parks is to allow nature to take its course, the alarming trend of increased disease and mortality of the vital whitebark pine trees has sparked a collaborative effort amongst various government entities to intervene to protect the species.<ref name=pine/>

=== Fauna ===
{{See also|Mammals of Grand Teton National Park}}

Sixty-one species of mammals have been recorded in Grand Teton National Park.<ref name=habitat/> This includes the [[gray wolf]], which had been extirpated from the region by the early 1900s but migrated into the Grand Teton National Park from adjacent Yellowstone National Park after the species had been reintroduced there.<ref>{{Cite web |last=River |date=2023-02-16 |title=Horsetail Creek wolf pack spotted in Jackson Hole |url=https://buckrail.com/horsetail-creek-wolves-spotted-in-jackson-hole/ |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=Buckrail - Jackson Hole, news |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Jonathan|title=Public Acceptance of Management Actions and Judgments of Responsibility for the Wolves of the Southern Greater Yellowstone Area: Report to Grand Teton National Park|url=http://www.fort.usgs.gov/products/publications/21531/21531.pdf|publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior|access-date=April 29, 2012|author2=Shea Johnson|author3=Lori Shelby|year=2005|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327001954/http://www.fort.usgs.gov/products/publications/21531/21531.pdf|archive-date=March 27, 2009|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The re-establishment of the wolves has ensured that every indigenous mammal species now exists in the park.<ref name=fuller>{{cite magazine|last=Fuller|first=Alexandra|title=Yellowstone and the Tetons|url=http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/surface-of-the-earth/yellowstone-tetons/|magazine=National Geographic|access-date=April 29, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422174209/http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/surface-of-the-earth/yellowstone-tetons/|archive-date=April 22, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In addition to gray wolves, another 17 species of [[carnivora]]ns reside within Grand Teton National Park including grizzlies and the more commonly seen [[American black bear]]. Relatively common sightings of [[coyote]], [[North American river otter|river otter]], [[American marten|marten]] and [[American badger|badger]] and occasional sightings of [[North American cougar|cougar]], [[Canada lynx|lynx]] and [[wolverine]] are reported annually.<ref name=habitat/> A number of rodent species exist including [[yellow-bellied marmot]], [[least chipmunk]], [[muskrat]], [[North American beaver|beaver]], [[Uinta ground squirrel]], [[American pika|pika]], [[snowshoe hare]], [[North American porcupine|porcupine]], and six species of bats.<ref name=habitat/>

Of the larger mammals, the most common are elk, which exist in the thousands.<ref>{{cite web|title=Elk Ecology and Management|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/elk_11.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 29, 2012|date=January 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904003441/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/elk_11.pdf|archive-date=September 4, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>  Their migration route between the National Elk Refuge and Yellowstone National Park is through Grand Teton National Park, so while easily seen anytime of the year, they are most numerous in the spring and fall. Other [[ungulate]]s in the park include moose, [[American bison|bison]], and [[pronghorn]]—the fastest land mammal in the western hemisphere.  The park's [[moose]] tend to stay near waterways and wetlands.<ref name=habitat/> Between 100 and 125 bighorn sheep dwell in the alpine and rocky zones of the peaks.<ref name=habitat/><ref>{{cite book|title=America's Natural Places|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=978-0-313-35318-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/americasnaturalp00sapp_0/page/133 133]|url=https://archive.org/details/americasnaturalp00sapp_0|url-access=registration|editor=Methea Sapp|access-date=January 7, 2012|date=November 25, 2009}}</ref>

Over 300 species of birds have been sighted in the park including the [[calliope hummingbird]], the smallest bird species in mainland North America, as well as [[trumpeter swan]]s, which is North America's largest waterfowl.<ref name=birds>{{cite web|title=Birds|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/birds.htm|work=Nature and Science|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 7, 2012|date=December 1, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621054321/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/birds.htm|archive-date=June 21, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In addition to trumpeter swans, another 30 species of waterfowl have been recorded including [[blue-winged teal]], [[common merganser]], [[American wigeon]] and the colorful but reclusive [[harlequin duck]] which is occasionally spotted in Cascade Canyon.<ref name=guide>{{cite web|title=Bird Finding Guide |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/upload/birds.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090824164456/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/upload/birds.pdf |archive-date=August 24, 2009 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 7, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Both [[Bald eagle|bald]] and [[golden eagle]]s and other birds of prey such as the [[osprey]], [[red-tailed hawk]], [[American kestrel]] and occasional sightings of [[peregrine falcon]] have been reported.<ref name=checklist>{{cite web|title=Birds of Jackson Hole |url=http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/chekbird/r6/jackhole.htm |work=Bird Checklists of the United States |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=January 7, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203210250/http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/chekbird/r6/jackhole.htm |archive-date=December 3, 2012 }}</ref> Of the 14 species of owls reported, the most common is the [[great horned owl]], though the [[boreal owl]] and [[great grey owl]] are also seen occasionally.<ref name=checklist/> A dozen species of woodpeckers have been reported, as have a similar number of species of warblers, plovers and gulls.<ref name=checklist/> The vocal and gregarious [[black-billed magpie]] frequents campgrounds while [[Steller's jay]] and Clark's nutcracker are found in the backcountry. The sage covered plains of Jackson Hole are favored areas for [[sage grouse]], [[Brewer's sparrow]] and [[sage thrasher]]s, while the wetlands are frequented by [[great blue heron]], [[American white pelican]], [[sandhill crane]] and on rare occasions its [[endangered species|endangered]] relative, the [[whooping crane]].<ref name=guide/><ref name=checklist/>

The [[Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout]] (or Snake River cutthroat trout) is the only native trout species in Grand Teton National Park.<ref name=fish>{{cite web|title=Fish|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/fish.htm|work=Nature and Science|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 7, 2012|date=December 1, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122033353/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/fish.htm|archive-date=November 22, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It is also the only subspecies of [[cutthroat trout]] that is exclusively native to large streams and rivers. Various researchers have not been able to identify any genetic differences between the Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout and the [[Yellowstone cutthroat trout]], though in terms of appearances, the Snake River subspecies has much smaller spots that cover a greater portion of the body, and the two subspecies inhabit different ecological niches.<ref name="behnke">{{cite book|last=Behnke|first=Robert|title=Trout and Salmon of North America|year=2002|publisher=Free Press|isbn=978-0-7432-2220-4|pages=175–177}}</ref> The Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout was identified by some researchers as a separate subspecies by the mid-1990s, and is managed as a distinct subspecies by the state of Wyoming, but is not yet recognized as such by the neighboring states of Idaho and Montana.<ref name=behnke/><ref name=kirk>{{cite web|last=Van Kirk|first=Robert|title=Exploring differences between fine-spotted and large-spotted Yellowstone cutthroat trout|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm8_047783.pdf|publisher=Idaho Chapter American Fisheries Society|access-date=January 7, 2012|author2=James Capurso|author3=Mark Novak|year=2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004235500/http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm8_047783.pdf|archive-date=October 4, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout is found only in the Snake River and tributaries below the Jackson Lake dam to the Palisades Reservoir in Idaho. Other non-native species of trout such as the [[rainbow trout]] and [[lake trout]] were introduced by the Wyoming Fish and Game Department or migrated out of Yellowstone.<ref name=fishGY>{{cite journal|last=O'Ney|first=Susan|author2=Rob Gipson|title=A Century of Fisheries Management in Grand Teton National Park|journal=Proceedings of the 8th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem|date=October 17–19, 2005|pages=131–134|citeseerx=10.1.1.565.8446}}</ref> Today five trout species inhabit park waters.<ref name=fish/> Native species of fish include the [[mountain whitefish]], [[longnose dace]], [[mountain sucker]] and non-native species include the [[Utah chub]] and [[Arctic grayling]].<ref name=fish/>

Only four species of reptiles are documented in the park: three species of snakes which are the [[garter snake|wandering garter snake]], the less commonly seen valley garter snake, and [[rubber boa]], as well as one lizard species, the northern [[sagebrush lizard]], that was first reported in 1992. None of the species are venomous.<ref>{{cite web|title=Reptiles|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/reptiles.htm|work=Nature and Science|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 7, 2012|date=December 2, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622011541/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/reptiles.htm|archive-date=June 22, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Six amphibian species have been documented including the [[Columbia spotted frog]], [[boreal chorus frog]], [[tiger salamander]] and the increasingly rare [[boreal toad]] and [[northern leopard frog]].<ref name=amphibians>{{cite web|title=Amphibians|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/amphib.htm|work=Nature and Science|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 7, 2012|date=December 1, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621154906/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/amphib.htm|archive-date=June 21, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Species List |url=http://www.fort.usgs.gov/RARMI/rarmi_spplists_gyellow.asp |work=Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: Rocky Mountain Region |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=January 7, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202235006/http://www.fort.usgs.gov/RARMI/rarmi_spplists_gyellow.asp |archive-date=December 2, 2013 }}</ref> A sixth amphibian species, the [[American bullfrog|bullfrog]], was introduced.<ref name=amphibians/> An estimated 10,000 insect species frequent the park; they pollinate plants, provide a food source for birds, fish, mammals, and other animals, and help in the decomposition of wood.<ref name=insects>{{cite web|title=Insects|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/insects.htm|work=Nature and Science|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 7, 2012|date=December 7, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622001447/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/insects.htm|archive-date=June 22, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In one example of the importance of insects to the ecosystem, swarms of [[Army cutworm|Army cutworm moth]]s die in huge numbers after mating and provide a high fat and protein diet for bears and other predators.<ref name=insects/> One study concluded that when this moth species is most available, bears consume 40,000 moths per day which is roughly 20,000&nbsp;kcal/day.<ref>{{cite web|title=Grizzly Bear and Black Bear Ecology|url=http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/research/grizzlyb.htm|publisher=United States Geological Survey|access-date=January 7, 2011|date=August 1, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527125900/http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/research/grizzlyb.htm|archive-date=May 27, 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Grand Teton National Park permits the hunting of elk to keep the populations of that species regulated. This provision was included in the legislation that combined Jackson Hole National Monument and Grand Teton National Park in 1950.<ref name=hunting>{{cite web|title=Elk Ecology and Management|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/elk_11.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 22, 2012|date=January 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904003441/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/elk_11.pdf|archive-date=September 4, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> While some national parks in [[Alaska]] permit subsistence hunting by indigenous natives and a few other National Park Service managed areas allow hunting under highly regulated circumstances, hunting in American national parks is not generally allowed.<ref name=hunting/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Rennicke|first=Jeff|title=Hunting in the Parks?|journal=Backpacker|date=February 1995|pages=12–13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=594DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12|access-date=January 22, 2012}}</ref> In Grand Teton National Park, hunters are required to obtain Wyoming hunting licenses and be deputized as park rangers. Hunting is restricted to areas east of the Snake River, and north of [[Moran, Wyoming|Moran]], the hunt is permitted only east of [[U.S. Route 89]].<ref name=hunting/> Proponents of continuing the elk hunt, which occurs in the fall, argue that the elk herd would become overpopulated without it, leading to vegetation degradation from overgrazing elk herds.<ref name=hunting/><ref>{{cite web|title=Annual Elk Reduction Program Begins in Grand Teton National Park|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parknews/news-release-11-93.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 22, 2012|date=October 5, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201185335/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parknews/news-release-11-93.htm|archive-date=February 1, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Opponents cite that there has been an increase of predators such as the wolf and grizzly bear in Grand Teton National Park, rendering the annual hunt unnecessary and exposing hunters to attacks by grizzly bears as they become accustomed to feeding on remains left behind from the hunt.<ref name=hatch>{{cite news|last=Hatch|first=Cory|title=Attack stokes criticism of hunt|url=http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/top_stories/attack-stokes-criticism-of-hunt/image_0aeaa665-cf9e-5b7b-9d16-2fc20d0028a0.html|access-date=January 22, 2012|newspaper=Jackson Hole News and Guide|date=November 2, 2011}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="180px" class="center">
File:Mountain Lion in Grand Teton National Park.jpg|Though cougars are present in Grand Teton, they are rarely seen.
File:Moose in Grand Teton NP near Leigh Lake-750px.JPG|Moose near Leigh Lake
File:Snakecutt.jpg|Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout has tiny black spots over most of its body.
File:Bison Teton.JPG|Bison grazing in Jackson Hole
</gallery>

=== Fire ecology ===
[[File:Beaver Creek Fire.jpg|thumb|right|A forest fire near Beaver Creek]]
The role of wildfire is an important one for plant and animal species diversity.<ref name=fire>{{cite web|title=Fire Regime|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/fire.htm|work=Environmental Factors|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|date=December 2, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713041538/http://www.nps.gov/grte/naturescience/fire.htm|archive-date=July 13, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Many tree species have evolved to mainly germinate after a wildfire. Regions of the park that have experienced wildfire in historical times have greater species diversity after reestablishment than those regions that have not been influenced by fire.<ref name=fire/><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Doyle|first1=K.M.|title=Seventeen Years of Forest Succession Following the Waterfalls Canyon Fire in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming|journal=International Journal of Wildland Fire|year=1998|volume=8|issue=1|doi=10.1071/WF9980045|page=45|last2=Knight|first2=D.H.|last3=Taylor|first3=D.L.|last4=Barmore|first4=W.J.|last5=Benedict|first5=J.M.|display-authors=etal|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Though the [[Yellowstone fires of 1988]] had minimal impact on Grand Teton National Park, studies conducted before and reaffirmed after that event concluded that the suppression of natural wildfires during the middle part of the 20th century decreased plant species diversity and natural regeneration of plant communities. One study conducted 15 years before the 1988 Yellowstone National Park fires concluded that human suppression of wildfire had adversely impacted Aspen tree groves and other forest types.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Loope|first=Lloyd|author2=George Gruell|title=The Ecological Role of Fire in Natural Conifer Forests of Western and Northern America|journal=Quaternary Research|date=October 1973|volume=3|issue=3|pages=425–443|doi=10.1016/0033-5894(73)90007-0|bibcode=1973QuRes...3..425L|s2cid=128898446 |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/aspen_bib/5313}}</ref> The majority of conifer species in Grand Teton National Park are heavily dependent on wildfire and this is particularly true of the Lodgepole Pine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Arno|first=Stephen|title=Mimicking nature's fire: restoring fire-prone forests in the West|date=March 16, 2005|publisher=Island Press|isbn=978-1-55963-143-3|pages=149–153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=92BUwxJDGnUC|edition=1st|author2=Carl Fiedler|access-date=December 30, 2011}}</ref> Though extremely hot canopy or crown fires tend to kill Lodgepole Pine seeds, lower severity surface fires usually result in a higher post-wildfire regeneration of this species.<ref>{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Michelle|title=Species: Pinus contorta var. latifolia|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinconl/all.html#26|publisher=United States Forest Service|access-date=December 30, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028125813/http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinconl/all.html#26|archive-date=October 28, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In accordance with a better understanding of the role wildfire plays in the environment, the National Park Service and other land management agencies have developed Fire Management Plans which provide a strategy for wildfire management and are expected to best enhance the natural ecosystem.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fire Planning and Policies|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/fireplans.htm|work=Fire Management|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 2, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715002310/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/fireplans.htm|archive-date=July 15, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

=== Air and water quality ===
Grand Teton National Park is more than {{convert|100|mi|abbr=on}} air distance from any major urban or industrial area, and localized human activities have generally had a very low environmental impact on the surrounding region. However, levels of [[ammonium]] and [[nitrogen]] have been trending slightly upwards due to deposition from rain and snow that is believed to originate from regional agricultural activities.<ref name=air>{{cite web|title=Air Pollution Impacts|url=http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/permits/aris/grte/impacts.cfm?tab=1#TabbedPanels1|work=Air resources|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 1, 2012|date=June 14, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130220153855/http://www2.nature.nps.gov/air/Permits/aris/grte/impacts.cfm?tab=1#TabbedPanels1|archive-date=February 20, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Additionally, there has also been a slight increase in [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] and pesticides that have been detected in snow and some alpine lakes.<ref name=air/> Ozone and haze may be impacting overall visibility levels.<ref name=air/> Grand Teton National Park, in partnership with other agencies, erected the first air quality monitoring station in the park in 2011. The station is designed to check for various pollutants as well as ozone levels and weather.<ref>{{cite web|title=Grand Teton National Park Installs New Air Quality Monitoring Station|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parknews/press-release-11-86.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 1, 2012|date=September 22, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614045621/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parknews/press-release-11-86.htm|archive-date=June 14, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

A 2005 study of the water of Jackson, Jenny, and Taggart Lakes indicated that all three of these lakes had virtually pristine water quality.<ref name=rhea>{{cite web|last=Rhea |first=Darren |title=Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Water, Sediment and Snow, from Lakes in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming |url=http://www.ecrc.usgs.gov/pubs/center/pdfDocs/PAH_2-05.pdf |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=April 1, 2012 |date=February 2005 |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425052303/http://www.ecrc.usgs.gov/pubs/center/pdfDocs/PAH_2-05.pdf |archive-date=April 25, 2012 }}</ref> Of the three lakes, only on Taggart Lake are motorized boats prohibited, yet little difference in water quality was detected in the three lakes.<ref name=rhea/> In a study published in 2002, the Snake River was found to have better overall water quality than other river systems in Wyoming, and low levels of pollution from [[wiktionary:anthropogenic|anthropogenic]] sources.<ref>{{cite web|last=Clark|first=Melanie|title=Water-Quality Characteristics of the Snake River and Five Tributaries in the upper Snake River Basin, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1998–2002|url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2004/5017/|publisher=United States Geological Survey|access-date=April 1, 2012|author2=Wilfrid Sadler|author3=Susan O'Ney|date=September 16, 2005|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214081849/http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2004/5017/|archive-date=February 14, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Climate==
According to the [[Köppen climate classification]] system, Grand Teton National Park has a [[humid continental climate]] (''Dfb'').

{{Weather box|width=auto
|location = Moose, Wyoming, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1958–present
|single line = Y

|Jan record high F = 50
|Feb record high F = 55
|Mar record high F = 65
|Apr record high F = 78
|May record high F = 88
|Jun record high F = 92
|Jul record high F = 97
|Aug record high F = 97
|Sep record high F = 92
|Oct record high F = 83
|Nov record high F = 67
|Dec record high F = 55
|year record high F =

|Jan avg record high F = 41.6
|Feb avg record high F = 45.6
|Mar avg record high F = 53.9
|Apr avg record high F = 66.8
|May avg record high F = 77.1
|Jun avg record high F = 85.0
|Jul avg record high F = 90.2
|Aug avg record high F = 90.2
|Sep avg record high F = 84.8
|Oct avg record high F = 73.2
|Nov avg record high F = 56.3
|Dec avg record high F = 43.7
|year avg record high F = 91.4

|Jan high F = 27.4
|Feb high F = 32.3
|Mar high F = 41.7
|Apr high F = 50.2
|May high F = 61.5
|Jun high F = 71.1
|Jul high F = 81.7
|Aug high F = 80.7
|Sep high F = 70.8
|Oct high F = 55.6
|Nov high F = 39.3
|Dec high F = 28.2
|year high F = 53.4

|Jan mean F = 14.3
|Feb mean F = 19.2
|Mar mean F = 28.2
|Apr mean F = 36.9
|May mean F = 47.1
|Jun mean F = 54.9
|Jul mean F = 62.7
|Aug mean F = 61.2
|Sep mean F = 52.5
|Oct mean F = 40.3
|Nov mean F = 27.4
|Dec mean F = 16.2
|year mean F = 38.4

|Jan low F = 1.2
|Feb low F = 6.2
|Mar low F = 14.8
|Apr low F = 23.7
|May low F = 32.7
|Jun low F = 38.6
|Jul low F = 43.7
|Aug low F = 41.7
|Sep low F = 34.2
|Oct low F = 25.1
|Nov low F = 15.4
|Dec low F = 4.3
|year low F = 23.5

|Jan avg record low F = -21.8
|Feb avg record low F = -18.0
|Mar avg record low F = -6.4
|Apr avg record low F = 8.4
|May avg record low F = 19.3
|Jun avg record low F = 27.6
|Jul avg record low F = 33.9
|Aug avg record low F = 30.6
|Sep avg record low F = 21.7
|Oct avg record low F = 9.8
|Nov avg record low F = -7.2
|Dec avg record low F = -19.2
|year avg record low F = -25.6

|Jan record low F = -46
|Feb record low F = -42
|Mar record low F = -25
|Apr record low F = -10
|May record low F = 7
|Jun record low F = 20
|Jul record low F = 26
|Aug record low F = 22
|Sep record low F = 6
|Oct record low F = -9
|Nov record low F = -25
|Dec record low F = -43
|year record low F =

|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation inch = 2.64
|Feb precipitation inch = 2.22
|Mar precipitation inch = 1.81
|Apr precipitation inch = 1.80
|May precipitation inch = 1.99
|Jun precipitation inch = 1.81
|Jul precipitation inch = 1.15
|Aug precipitation inch = 1.22
|Sep precipitation inch = 1.57
|Oct precipitation inch = 1.69
|Nov precipitation inch = 2.33
|Dec precipitation inch = 2.78
|year precipitation inch =

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in
|Jan precipitation days = 15.8
|Feb precipitation days = 14.5
|Mar precipitation days = 11.5
|Apr precipitation days = 10.3
|May precipitation days = 12.0
|Jun precipitation days = 10.9
|Jul precipitation days = 8.8
|Aug precipitation days = 8.7
|Sep precipitation days = 8.3
|Oct precipitation days = 9.3
|Nov precipitation days = 10.4
|Dec precipitation days = 16.1
|year precipitation days =

|Jan snow inch = 40.5
|Feb snow inch = 28.4
|Mar snow inch = 19.5
|Apr snow inch = 9.8
|May snow inch = 0.9
|Jun snow inch = 0.0
|Jul snow inch = 0.0
|Aug snow inch = 0.0
|Sep snow inch = 0.3
|Oct snow inch = 4.2
|Nov snow inch = 18.2
|Dec snow inch = 44.1
|year snow inch =

|unit snow days = 0.1 in
|Jan snow days = 16.1
|Feb snow days = 13.4
|Mar snow days = 9.1
|Apr snow days = 5.5
|May snow days = 1.1
|Jun snow days = 0.0
|Jul snow days = 0.0
|Aug snow days = 0.0
|Sep snow days = 0.2
|Oct snow days = 2.4
|Nov snow days = 8.0
|Dec snow days = 15.1
|year snow days =

|source 1 = NOAA<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=riw
| title = NOWData – NOAA Online Weather Data
| publisher = [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]
| access-date = June 9, 2021
| archive-date = August 14, 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210814180850/https://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=riw
| url-status = dead
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&startDate=0001-01-01&endDate=9996-12-31&stations=USC00486428&format=pdf
| title = Summary of Monthly Normals 1991–2020
| publisher = [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]
| access-date = June 9, 2021
}}</ref> }}

== Recreation ==

=== Mountaineering ===
Grand Teton National Park is a popular destination for mountain and rock climbers partly because the mountains are easily accessible by road.<ref name="ortenburger3">{{cite book|last=Ortenburger|first=Leigh|title=A climber's guide to the Teton Range|date=Nov 1, 1996|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-0-89886-480-9|page=13|author2=Reynold Jackson}}</ref> Trails are well marked and routes to the summits of most peaks are long established, and for the experienced and fit, most peaks can be climbed in one day.<ref>{{cite book|last=Peterson|first=Eric|title=Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks|date=March 13, 2012|publisher=Frommers|isbn=978-1-118-07473-2|page=122|edition=8th}}</ref> The highest maintained trails climb from the floor of Jackson Hole over {{convert|4000|ft|abbr=on}} to [[mountain pass]]es that are sometimes called saddles or divides.<ref name=dayhikes/> From these passes, the climbs follow routes that require varying skill levels. Climbers do not need a permit but are encouraged to voluntarily register their climbing plans with the National Park Service and inform associates of their itinerary.<ref name=mountain>{{cite web|title=Mountaineering|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/mountaineering_07-c.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 10, 2012|date=August 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530132656/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/mountaineering_07-c.pdf|archive-date=May 30, 2009|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Any climb requiring an overnight stay in the backcountry does require a permit.<ref name=back>{{cite web|title=Backcountry Camping |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Backcountry11.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127084946/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Backcountry11.pdf |archive-date=January 27, 2012 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=March 10, 2012 |date=November 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Climbers are essentially on their own to determine their own skill levels and are encouraged to not take unnecessary risks.<ref name=mountain/> The Exum Mountain Guides, which is considered one of the finest mountaineering guide services in the U.S., as well as the Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, offer instruction and climbing escorts for those who are less experienced or unfamiliar with various routes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Climbing & Mountaineering|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/climb.htm|work=Plan Your Visit|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 10, 2012|date=December 29, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315031405/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/climb.htm|archive-date=March 15, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Fedarko|first=Kevin|title=The House Of Rock|url=http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/rock-climbing/The-House-of-Rock.html?page=all|publisher=Outdoor|access-date=March 10, 2012|date=April 2004|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120629072236/http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/rock-climbing/The-House-of-Rock.html?page=all|archive-date=June 29, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
[[File:Mount Moran, April 2021.jpg|thumb|[[Mount Moran]] at 12,605 feet elevation ]]

An average of 4,000 climbers per year make an attempt to summit Grand Teton and most ascend up [[Garnet Canyon]] to a mountain pass called the Lower Saddle, which is between Grand Teton and Middle Teton.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pitcher|first=Don|title=Yellowstone and Grand Teton: Including Jackson Hole|date=May 5, 2009|publisher=Avalon Travel Publishing|isbn=978-1-59880-160-6|pages=135–136}}</ref><ref name="ortenburger4">{{cite book|last=Ortenburger|first=Leigh|title=A climber's guide to the Teton Range|date=Nov 1, 1996|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-0-89886-480-9|pages=50–51|author2=Reynold Jackson}}</ref> From the Lower Saddle, climbers often follow the [[Owen-Spalding route|Owen-Spalding]] or [[Upper Exum Ridge Route|Exum Ridge]] routes to the top of Grand Teton though there are 38 distinct routes to the summit.<ref name=ortenburger3/> The [[North face (Grand Teton)|north face]] route to the summit of Grand Teton is a world-renowned climb involving a dozen distinct [[Pitch (ascent/descent)|pitches]] and is rated at [[Grade (climbing)|grade]] 5.8 in difficulty for the {{convert|3000|ft|adj=on}} vertical ascent. On a connecting ridge and just north of Grand Teton lies Mount Owen, and though lower in altitude, this peak is considered more difficult to ascend. Middle Teton is another popular climb that is most easily summited from a saddle between it and South Teton. Well, north of Grand Teton lies Mount Moran, which is further from trailheads and more difficult to access and ascend. The [[Direct South Buttress (Mount Moran)|Direct South Buttress]] of Mount Moran provides a vertical mile of climbing that was considered the most difficult climb in the U.S. when first accomplished in 1953.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Renny|title=The American Alpine Journal|year=2001|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-0930410896|pages=122–129|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bRSqSWLDEEC&pg=PA122|editor=Christian Beckwith|access-date=June 6, 2012|chapter=Moran's South Buttress in Winter}}</ref> Other popular climbing destinations include [[Buck Mountain (Wyoming)|Buck Mountain]], Symmetry Spire,  [[Mount Saint John]], [[Mount Wister]], Teewinot Mountain and [[Nez Perce Peak]] and each mountain has at least six established routes to their summits.<ref name=ortenburger3/>

=== Camping and hiking ===
{{See also|List of hiking trails in Grand Teton National Park}}
[[File:Hiking to Paintbrush Divide.jpg|thumb|right|Hiker crosses snowfield en route to Paintbrush Divide.]]
Grand Teton National Park has five front-country vehicular access campgrounds. The largest is the Colter Bay and Gros Ventre campgrounds, and each has 350&nbsp;campsites which can accommodate large [[recreational vehicle]]s.<ref name=campgrounds>{{cite web|title=Campgrounds |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm#CP_JUMP_31296 |work=Plan Your Visit |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=March 10, 2012 |date=February 21, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227163820/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm |archive-date=February 27, 2012 }}</ref> Lizard Creek and Signal Mountain campgrounds have 60 and 86&nbsp;campsites respectively, while the smaller Jenny Lake campground has only 49 sites for tent use only. Additionally, full hookups for recreational vehicles are at the concessionaire-managed 112&nbsp;campsites at Colter Bay Village and another 100 at Flagg Ranch in the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway.<ref name=campgrounds/> Though all front-country campgrounds are only open from late spring to late fall, primitive winter camping is permitted at Colter Bay near the visitor center.<ref name=campgrounds/>

All campsites accessible only on foot or by horseback are considered backcountry campsites and they are available by permit only, but camping is allowed in most of these backcountry zones year-round. The National Park Service has a combination of specific sites and zones for backcountry camping with a set carrying capacity of overnight stays per zone to protect the resources from overcrowding.<ref name=back/> Open fires are not permitted in the backcountry and all food must be stored in an Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee approved [[Bear-resistant food storage container|bear-resistant container]].<ref name=back/> As of 2012, only four brands of bear-resistant containers had been approved for use in the Grand Teton National Park backcountry.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bears and Backcountry Food Storage|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/bears_bc.htm|work=Plan Your Visit|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 10, 2012|date=January 19, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314022625/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/bears_bc.htm|archive-date=March 14, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Additionally, hikers may use an approved [[bear spray]] to elude aggressive bears.<ref>{{cite web|title=Carry Bear Spray&nbsp;— Know How to Use It|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/bear_spray.htm|work=Bear Safety|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 10, 2012|date=December 6, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814130143/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/bear_spray.htm|archive-date=August 14, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

The park has {{convert|200|mi|abbr=on}} of hiking trails, ranging in difficulty from easy to strenuous.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mayhew|first=Bradley|title=Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks|year=2008|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74104-560-4|page=40|author2=Carolyn McCarthy}}</ref> The easiest hiking trails are located in the valley, where the altitude changes are generally minimal. In the vicinity of Colter Bay Village, the [[Hermitage Point Trail]] is {{convert|9.4|mi|abbr=on}} long and considered easy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schneider|first=Bill|title=Best easy day hikes, Grand Teton|date=July 1, 2005|publisher=FalconGuides|isbn=978-0-7627-2541-0|pages=67–71}}</ref> Several other trails link Hermitage Point with [[Emma Matilda Lake Trail|Emma Matilda Lake]] and [[Two Ocean Lake Trail]]s, also considered to be relatively easy hikes in the Jackson Lake Lodge area.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schneider|first=Bill|title=Hiking Grand Teton National Park|year=2005|publisher=Falcon Guides|isbn=978-0-7627-2567-0|page=155|edition=2nd}}</ref> Other easy hikes include the [[Valley Trail (Grand Teton National Park)|Valley Trail]] which runs from [[Trapper Lake (Teton County, Wyoming)|Trapper Lake]] in the north to the south park boundary near Teton Village and the [[Jenny Lake Trail]] which circles the lake. Ranging from moderate to strenuous in difficulty, trails leading into the canyons are rated based on distance and more importantly on the amount of elevation change. The greatest elevation change is found on the [[Paintbrush Canyon Trail|Paintbrush Canyon]], [[Alaska Basin Trail|Alaska Basin]] and [[Garnet Canyon Trail]]s, where elevation increases of over {{convert|4000|ft|abbr=on}} are typical.<ref name=dayhikes/> Horses and pack animals are permitted on almost all trails in the park; however, there are only five designated backcountry camping locations for pack animals and these campsites are far from the high mountain passes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Saddle and Pack Stock|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/stock.pdf|work=Plan Your Visit|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 25, 2012|date=March 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622030022/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/stock.pdf|archive-date=June 22, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Bicycles are limited to vehicle roadways only and the park has widened some roads to provide a safer biking experience.<ref name=bike>{{cite web|title=Biking in the Park|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/bike.htm|work=Plan Your Visit|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 25, 2012|date=March 23, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001232004/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/bike.htm|archive-date=October 1, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> A paved multi-use pathway opened in 2009 and provides non-motorized biking access from the town of Jackson to South Jenny Lake.<ref name=bike/>

=== Boating and fishing ===
[[File:Colter bay boats 20100822 080110 1.jpg|right|thumb|Boats anchored at the Colter Bay Marina]]
Grand Teton National Park allows boating on all the lakes in Jackson Hole, but motorized boats can only be used on Jackson and Jenny Lakes. While there is no maximum horsepower limit on Jackson Lake (though there is a noise restriction), Jenny Lake is restricted to 10&nbsp;horsepower.<ref name=boats>{{cite web|title=Boating and Floating|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/boat.htm|work=Plan Your Visit|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 26, 2012|date=March 22, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327155520/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/boat.htm|archive-date=March 27, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Only non-motorized boats are permitted on Bearpaw, Bradley, Emma Matilda, Leigh, Phelps, String, Taggart and Two Ocean Lakes. There are four designated boat launches located on Jackson Lake and one on Jenny Lake. Additionally, sailboats, windsurfers, and water skiing are only allowed on Jackson Lake and no jet skis are permitted on any of the park waterways.<ref name=boats/> All boats are required to comply with various safety regulations including personal flotation devices for each passenger.<ref name=boating>{{cite web|title=Boating|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/boating12.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 26, 2012|date=February 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621231616/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/boating12.pdf|archive-date=June 21, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Only non-motorized watercraft are permitted on the Snake River.<ref>{{cite web|title=Floating the Snake River|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Floating11.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 26, 2012|date=March 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522124358/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Floating11.pdf|archive-date=May 22, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> All other waterways in the park are off limits to boating, and this includes all alpine lakes and tributary streams of the Snake River.<ref name=boating/>

In 2010, Grand Teton National Park started requiring all boats to display an Aquatic Invasive Species decal issued by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department or a Yellowstone National Park boat permit.<ref name=boating/> In an effort to keep the park waterways free of various invasive species such as the [[Zebra mussel]] and [[Myxobolus cerebralis|whirling disease]], boaters are expected to abide by certain regulations including displaying a self-certification of compliance on the dashboard of any vehicle attached to an empty boat trailer.<ref>{{cite web|title=Aquatic Nuisance Species-Free Certification |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/self_certification_ANS_Steps.pdf |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/66mzHwZPZ?url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/self_certification_ANS_Steps.pdf |archive-date=April 9, 2012 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=March 26, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=McGee|first=Diane|title=Aquatic Nuisance Species|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/PocketGuide_ANS_Book.pdf|publisher=Grand Teton National Park|access-date=March 26, 2012|year=2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417072631/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/PocketGuide_ANS_Book.pdf|archive-date=April 17, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Grand Teton National Park fisheries are managed by the Wyoming Fish and Game Department and a Wyoming state fishing license is required to fish all waterways in Grand Teton National Park.<ref name=fishGY/><ref name=fishing>{{cite web|title=Fishing 2011|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/fishing11.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 1, 2012|date=March 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228040950/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/fishing11.pdf|archive-date=February 28, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The creel limit for trout is restricted to six per day, including no more than three cutthroat trout with none longer than {{convert|12|in|cm|abbr=on}}, while the maximum length of other trout species may not exceed {{convert|20|in|cm|abbr=on}}, except those taken from Jackson Lake, where the maximum allowable length is {{convert|24|in|cm|abbr=on}}. There are also restrictions as to the seasonal accessibility to certain areas as well as the types of bait and [[fishing tackle]] permitted.<ref name=fishing/>

=== Winter activities ===
[[File:Grand Teton in Winter-NPS.jpg|thumb|right|Left to right, Nez Perce, Grand Teton, and Mount Owen in the winter]]
Visitors are allowed to [[snowshoe]] and do [[cross-country skiing]] and are not restricted to trails.<ref name=winter>{{cite web|title=Winter Season Activities to Begin in Grand Teton National Park|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/parknews/new-release-11-105.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 8, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511210817/http://www.nps.gov/grte/parknews/new-release-11-105.htm|archive-date=May 11, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The Teton Park Road between the Taggart Lake trailhead to Signal Mountain Campground is closed to vehicular traffic during the winter and this section of the road is groomed for skiing and snowshoeing traffic.<ref name=skiing>{{cite web|title=Cross-Country Skiing and Showehoeing|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/XC-ski12.pdf|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 8, 2012|date=November 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510181607/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/XC-ski12.pdf|archive-date=May 10, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The park service offers guided snowshoe tours daily from the main headquarters located in Moose, Wyoming.<ref name=winter/> Overnight camping is allowed in the winter in the backcountry with a permit and visitors should inquire about avalanche dangers.<ref name=winter/>

The only location in Grand Teton National Park where [[snowmobile]]s are permitted is on Jackson Lake.<ref name=snowmobile>{{cite web|title=Snowmobiling 2012 |url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/snowmobile12.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510181412/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/snowmobile12.pdf |archive-date=May 10, 2012 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=April 8, 2012 |year=2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The National Park Service requires that all snowmobiles use "Best Available Technology" (BAT) and lists various models of snowmobiles that are permitted, all of which are deemed to provide the least amount of air pollution and maximize noise abatement. All snowmobiles must be less than 10&nbsp;years old and have odometer readings of less than {{convert|6000|mi|abbr=on}}.<ref name=snowmobile/> Additionally, snowmobile use is for the purposes of accessing [[ice fishing]] locations only.<ref name=cfr>{{cite web|title=36 CFR Part 7|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-11-20/pdf/E9-27894.pdf|work=Federal Register|publisher=Government Printing Office|access-date=April 8, 2012|pages=60183–60194|date=November 20, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929125841/http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-11-20/pdf/E9-27894.pdf|archive-date=September 29, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Snowmobile access was permitted between Moran Junction and [[Flagg Ranch]] adjacent to the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway so that travelers using the Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail could traverse between Bridger-Teton National Forest and Yellowstone National Park. However, in 2009, winter use planners closed this since unguided snowmobile access into Yellowstone National Park was also discontinued.<ref name=cfr/>

== Tourism ==

=== Visitor centers ===
[[File:Grand Teton NP new VC GTNP1.jpg|thumb|right|Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Moose, Wyoming]]
The [[Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center]] adjacent to the park headquarters at Moose, Wyoming, is open year-round. Opened in 2007 to replace an old, inadequate visitor center, the facility is named for the late [[U.S. Senator]] [[Craig L. Thomas|Craig Thomas]] and designed by acclaimed architect, [[Bohlin Cywinski Jackson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bcj.com/projects/grand-teton/|title=BCJ - 404|website=bcj.com|access-date=April 29, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210015524/https://bcj.com/projects/grand-teton/|archive-date=December 10, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It was financed with a combination of federal grants and private donations.<ref>{{cite web|title=Visitor Center|url=http://www.gtnpf.org/projects.php|publisher=Grand Teton National Park Foundation|access-date=February 4, 2012|year=2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220012003/http://www.gtnpf.org/projects.php|archive-date=February 20, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> An adjoining 154-seat auditorium was opened to the public in April 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gtnpf.org/auditorium.php |title=Auditorium |publisher=Grand Teton National Park Foundation |access-date=December 14, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131075934/http://www.gtnpf.org/auditorium.php |archive-date=January 31, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> To the north at [[Colter Bay Village]] on Jackson Lake, the Colter Bay Visitor Center & Indian Arts Museum is open from the beginning of May to the early October. The Colter Bay Visitor Center & Indian Arts Museum has housed the David T. Vernon Indian Arts Exhibit since 1972. The Colter Bay Visitor Center was built in 1956 and was determined in 2005 to be substandard for the proper care and display of the Indian art collection.<ref name=scott>{{cite web|last=Scott|first=Mary|title=Colter Bay Visitor Services Plan|url=http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=33550|work=Planning, Environment and Public Comment|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309085251/http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=33550|archive-date=March 9, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=coltervc>{{cite web|title=Colter Bay Visitor Services Plan/ EA Launched|url=http://gtnpnews.blogspot.com/2010/12/colter-bay-visitor-services-plan.html|work=Grand Teton National Park News Releases|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|date=December 6, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328034516/http://gtnpnews.blogspot.com/2010/12/colter-bay-visitor-services-plan.html|archive-date=March 28, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> During the winter of 2011–2012, a $150,000 renovation project was completed at the center and a portion of the arts collection was made available for viewing when the center opened for the season in May 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wilcox|first=Mark|title=Colter Bay renovation sheds new light on old collection|url=http://wyomingbusinessreport.com/post-8544/|access-date=June 4, 2012|newspaper=Wyoming Business Report|date=May 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811031646/http://wyomingbusinessreport.com/post-8544/ |archive-date=August 11, 2016}}</ref>

South of Moose on the [[Moose–Wilson Road]], the [[Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve]] Center is located on land that was privately owned by [[Laurance S. Rockefeller]] and is situated on Phelps Lake. Donated to Grand Teton National Park and opened to the public in 2008, the property was once part of the JY Ranch, the first dude ranch in Jackson Hole.<ref>{{cite web|title=Laurance Rockefeller Preserve Center|url=http://www.nps.gov/partnerships/snapshots_grandteton.htm|publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior|access-date=February 4, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919020948/http://www.nps.gov/partnerships/snapshots_grandteton.htm|archive-date=September 19, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> At Jenny Lake, the Jenny Lake Visitor Center is open from mid-May to mid-September. This visitor center is within the [[Jenny Lake Ranger Station Historic District]] and is the same structure photographer [[Harrison R. Crandall|Harrison Crandall]] had constructed as an art studio in the 1920s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jenny Lake Historic District|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/historyculture/jlhd.htm|work=Cultural History|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|date=March 31, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108011447/http://www.nps.gov/grte/historyculture/jlhd.htm|archive-date=November 8, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
[[File:Signal Mountain Lodge GTNP1.jpg|thumb|right|Signal Mountain Lodge]]<!--placing image lower than this restricts reference columns-->

=== Accommodations ===
Contracted through the National Park Service, various [[Concession (contract)|concessionaire]] entities manage lodging facilities inside the park.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lodging|url=http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/lodging.htm|work=Plan Your Visit|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 4, 2012|date=December 28, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016235454/http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/lodging.htm|archive-date=October 16, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The largest such facility is the Jackson Lake Lodge, which is managed by the Grand Teton Lodge Company. Located near Jackson Lake Dam, the Jackson Lake Lodge has a total of 385 rooms, meeting facilities, a retail shop, and a restaurant. The Grand Teton Lodge Company also manages the [[Jenny Lake Lodge]], which consists of cabins and a restaurant, and Colter Bay Village, which has cabins, a restaurant, a grocery store, and a laundry, and a marina.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Park Lodging|url=http://www.gtlc.com/index.aspx|publisher=Grand Teton Lodge Company|access-date=February 4, 2012|year=2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208201359/http://www.gtlc.com/index.aspx|archive-date=February 8, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> South of Jackson Lake Dam, the [[Signal Mountain Lodge]] is managed by [[Forever Resorts]] and provides cabins, a marina, a gas station and a restaurant.<ref>{{cite web|title=Signal Mountain Lodge|url=http://signalmountainlodge.com/|publisher=Forever Resorts|access-date=February 4, 2012|year=2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808182341/http://www.signalmountainlodge.com/|archive-date=August 8, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The [[American Alpine Club]] has [[hostel]] dormitory-style accommodations primarily reserved for mountain climbers at the [[Double Diamond Dude Ranch Dining Hall|Grand Teton Climber's Ranch]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Grand Teton Climber's Ranch |url=http://www.americanalpineclub.org/p/grand_teton_climbers_ranch |publisher=The American Alpine Club |access-date=February 4, 2012 |year=2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131175715/http://americanalpineclub.org/p/grand_teton_climbers_ranch |archive-date=January 31, 2012 }}</ref> Adjacent to the Snake River in Moose, Wyoming, Dornan's is an inholding on private land which has year-round cabin accommodations and related facilities.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dornans in Moose, Wyoming|url=http://www.dornans.com/|publisher=Dornans|access-date=February 4, 2012|year=2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209142805/http://www.dornans.com/|archive-date=February 9, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Lodging is also available at the Triangle X Ranch, another private inholding in the park and the last remaining dude ranch within park boundaries.<ref>{{cite web|title=Triangle X Ranch|url=http://www.trianglex.com/|publisher=Triangle X|access-date=February 4, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006064025/http://www.trianglex.com/|archive-date=October 6, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Hazards and incidents==
{{Main|Hazards of outdoor recreation|Mountaineering#Hazards}}
Encountering [[Bear danger|bear]]s is a concern in the Teton Range.<ref name="WR-20170424">{{cite news |author=Staff |title=Bear Safety in Wyoming's Wind River Country |url=https://windriver.org/bear-safety-in-wyomings-wind-river-country/ |date=April 24, 2017 |work=[[Wind River Indian Reservation#Tourism|WindRiver.org]] |url-status=live |archivedate=July 26, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726133155/https://windriver.org/bear-safety-in-wyomings-wind-river-country/ |access-date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref> As of 2011, there have been six attacks by bears within the park, though none have been fatal. In 2001, a hunter from Minnesota was mauled by a sow grizzly bear and suffered severe wounds to his head and scalp. In 2007, a 54-year-old man was injured when he came across a grizzly bear and her cubs feeding on a elk carcass. The man received injuries to his head and face before being rescued by a ranger.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Grand Teton Incident Reports |url=https://npshistory.com/morningreport/incidents/grte.htm |website=National Park Service}}</ref> 

There are other concerns as well, including [[Insect|bugs]], [[wildfire]]s, [[Classifications of snow|adverse snow conditions]] and [[Rocky Mountain National Park#Elevation|nighttime cold temperatures]].<ref name="PD-20050727">{{cite news |last=Ballou |first=Dawn |title=Wind River Range condition update - Fires, trails, bears, Continental Divide |url=http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2005/07/WindRiverRangecondit.htm |date=July 27, 2005 |work=PineDaleOnline News |url-status=live |archivedate=April 21, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421050551/http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2005/07/WindRiverRangecondit.htm |access-date=May 31, 2022}}</ref> Avalanches occur with regularity during the winter and spring seasons.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wyoming Fatalities by Date List – Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center |url=https://bridgertetonavalanchecenter.org/wyoming-fatalities-by-date-list/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2025, a skier was killed after the group they were with triggered an avalanche while skiing in the park's backcountry.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-01-06 |title=Skier killed after group triggers avalanche in Wyoming National Park |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/avalanche-death-grand-teton-wyoming-b2674191.html |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

Accidental falls resulting in death and injury [[Mountaineering#Falls from rocks|from steep cliffs]] (a [[wikt:misstep|misstep]] could be fatal in this [[Yosemite Decimal System|class 4/5 terrain]]) and due to [[Mountaineering#Falling rocks|falling rocks]] are not uncommon at the park.<ref name="AAC-1993">{{cite news |author=Staff |title=Falling Rock, Loose Rock, Failure to Test Holds, Wyoming, Wind River Range, Seneca Lake |url=http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13199308300/Falling-Rock-Loose-Rock-Failure-to-Test-Holds-Wyoming-Wind-River-Range-Seneca-Lake |date=1993 |work=[[American Alpine Club]] |url-status=live |archivedate=July 26, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726124452/http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13199308300/Falling-Rock-Loose-Rock-Failure-to-Test-Holds-Wyoming-Wind-River-Range-Seneca-Lake  |access-date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="CLMB-20070814">{{cite news |last=MacDonald |first=Dougald |title=Trundled Rock Kills NOLS Leader |url=https://www.climbing.com/news/trundled-rock-kills-nols-leader/ |date=August 14, 2007 |work=[[Climbing (magazine)|Climbing]] |url-status=live |archivedate=July 26, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726131458/https://www.climbing.com/news/trundled-rock-kills-nols-leader/  |access-date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="TRIB-20151209">{{cite news |author=Staff |title=Officials rule Wind River Range climbing deaths accidental |url=https://trib.com/outdoors/officials-rule-wind-river-range-climbing-deaths-accidental/article_eca43632-2f91-519f-bb81-0c59ed52e07e.html |date=December 9, 2015 |work=[[Casper Star-Tribune]] |url-status=dead |archivedate=July 26, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726124448/https://trib.com/outdoors/officials-rule-wind-river-range-climbing-deaths-accidental/article_eca43632-2f91-519f-bb81-0c59ed52e07e.html  |access-date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="WYO-20180814">{{cite news |last=Dayton |first=Kelsey |title=Deadly underestimation |url=https://www.wyofile.com/deadly-underestimation/ |date=August 24, 2018 |work=WyoFile News |url-status=live |archivedate=July 26, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726124437/https://www.wyofile.com/deadly-underestimation/  |access-date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="WD-20060901">{{cite news |author=Staff |title=Incident Reports - September, 2006 - Wind River Search |url=http://www.1.wildernessdoc.com/Report.aspx?IN=13 |date=September 1, 2006 |work=WildernessDoc.com |url-status=dead |archivedate=January 27, 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127232916/http://www.1.wildernessdoc.com/Report.aspx?IN=13 |access-date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="MP-2009">{{cite web |last=Funk |first=Jason |title=Squaretop Mountain Rock Climbing |url=https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106521163/squaretop-mountain |date=2009 |work=[[Mountain Project]] |url-status=live |archivedate=July 26, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726095630/https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106521163/squaretop-mountain  |access-date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="PD-20050722">{{cite news |author=Staff |title=Injured man rescued from Square Top Mtn - Tip-Top Search & Rescue helps 2 injured on the mountain |url=http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2005/07/Injuredmanrescuedfro.htm |date=July 22, 2005 |work=PineDaleOnline News |url-status=live |archivedate=July 26, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726131552/http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2005/07/Injuredmanrescuedfro.htm |access-date=May 31, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dayton |first=Kelsey |date=2018-08-24 |title=Deadly underestimation |url=https://wyofile.com/deadly-underestimation/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=WyoFile |language=en-US}}</ref> Lightning strikes have also resulted in death for climbers at the park. In 2020, Brayden DuRee fell while climbing the park's Owen-Spalding trail.<ref>{{Cite web |last=gripped |date=2023-07-24 |title=Climber Dies on Grand Teton Route |url=https://gripped.com/news/climber-dies-on-grand-teton-route/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=Gripped Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2022, skier Radcliff Spencer fell from a slim trail while skiing in the park and was fatally injured.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 15, 2022 |title=Skier dies after falling at Death Canyon in Grand Teton |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/grand-teton-national-park-skier-death-canyon-b2015645.html |work=The Independent}}</ref> In 2023, Joy Cho fell from the west side of Teewinot mountain after losing her balance on the hiking trail.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yang |first=Maya |date=2023-08-12 |title=Woman dies after falling off mountain in Wyoming’s Grand Teton national park |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/12/woman-dead-falls-off-mountain-grand-teton-wyoming |access-date=2025-04-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lagatta |first=Eric |title=Tributes pour in for California hiker who fell to her death in Grand Teton National Park |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/08/14/california-hiker-fall-grand-teton-national-park/70587805007/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref>

Grand Teton National Park has been the site of several homicides. In 1986, a skull with a bullet hole was found on Signal Mountain that was later discovered to belong to a man that had gone missing in 1983.<ref name=":0" /> In 2002, a former park employee was killed while riding his bicycle within the park by a motorist who was later convicted of vehicular homicide. In 2021, the body of [[Killing of Gabby Petito|Gabby Petito]], a domestic violence victim was found within the boundary of Grand Teton National Park after an extensive search.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=September 21, 2021 |title=Body found near Grand Teton confirmed to be Gabby Petito, death ruled a homicide |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/body-found-grand-teton-confirmed-gabby-petito-death/story?id=80124838 |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Outline of Grand Teton National Park]]
* [[List of national parks of the United States]]
* [[Jackson Hole Economic Symposium]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|wikt=no|commons=Grand Teton National Park|b=no|n=no|q=no|s=no|v=no|voy=Grand Teton National Park|species=no|d=no}}
* {{Official website}}
* [http://www.grandtetonpark.org/ Grand Teton Association] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121000813/http://grandtetonpark.org/ |date=January 21, 2023 }}

{{National parks of the United States}}
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[[Category:Grand Teton National Park| ]]
[[Category:Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem]]
[[Category:National parks in Wyoming]]
[[Category:National parks of the Rocky Mountains]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1929]]
[[Category:Rockefeller family]]
[[Category:Teton County, Wyoming]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Teton County, Wyoming]]
[[Category:History of the Rocky Mountains]]
[[Category:1929 establishments in Wyoming]]