Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [203]
Outside the park, in Tusayan, is Tusayan General Store, 1 mile south of the park entrance on Ariz. 64 (☎ 928/ 638-2854). Williams has a Safeway, 637 W. Rte. 66 (☎ 928/635-0500). In Cameron, try Simpson's Market, at the junction of U.S. 89 and Ariz. 64, next to the Chevron (☎ 928/679-2340). In Kanab you'll find Glazier's Food Town, 264 S. 100 E. (☎ 435/644-5029), and Honey's Jubilee Foods, 260 E. 300 S. (☎ 435/644-5877). Flagstaff has four large supermarkets: Albertson's, 1416 E. Rte. 66 (☎ 928/773-7955); Basha's, 2700 Woodlands Village Blvd. (☎ 928/ 774-3882); Basha's, 1000 N. Humphreys St. (☎ 928/774-2101); and Fry's, 201 N. Switzer Canyon Dr. (☎ 928/774-2719).
17
GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK
by Eric Peterson
EVERY TIME YOU FOCUS YOUR CAMERA IN GRAND TETON, THE FRAME will likely center on one of its many stately peaks. As a whole, the towering mountains of the Teton Range define this park, unlike neighboring Yellowstone, distinguished by its pastiche of thermal features and subtle beauty. You'll still see wildlife—eagles and osprey along the Snake River; moose and, if you're lucky, a black bear in the vicinity of the Jackson Lake Junction; and pronghorn on the valley floor—but it is the landscape that makes Grand Teton.
Compared with the undulations of Yellowstone, Grand Teton presents two vistas: a long, wide valley bordered on all sides by vertical peaks. If possible, once you enter the park, make a beeline for the summit of Signal Mountain, near Jackson Lake. There you will have a commanding 360-degree view that will put the park and surrounding areas in perspective. It's also the viewpoint from which some of the most famous early photos of the park were taken.
From the Jackson Point Overlook on Signal Mountain, you'll see a valley floor that was once covered with a freshwater sea and later thousands of tons of ice; to the west are views of a mountain formation towering more than a mile overhead.
Consider that the tops of the Tetons, which sit on a 40-mile-long fault, were displaced by geological upheaval that caused 30,000 feet of movement of the earth's crust over the last 13 million years—the valley floor dropped by 24,000 feet as the mountains shot up 6,000 feet. Ice-age glaciers, which also gouged out hundreds of lakes in the park, carved the canyons that punctuate the mountains.
One advantage of Grand Teton over Yellowstone is that it's significantly easier to navigate, in part because the park is smaller and activity centers are closer to each other. Jackson Lake and the Snake River, prime recreational areas for anglers and boaters, are near the hiking trails and campsites. Though less stately than the more famous Old Faithful Inn, Jackson Lake Lodge is quite appealing and comfortable in its own right.
The first homesteaders began arriving in the area in the 1880s. Many discovered, though, that the frigid winters and short growing season made it difficult—indeed, virtually impossible—to eke out a living, so they abandoned the area. By 1907 cattle ranchers discovered that wealthy Eastern hunters were attracted to the area as a vacation site, and the dude-ranching industry secured its first foothold in Jackson Hole, the great valley that runs the length of the Tetons on the east side.
When cattle interests learned of a movement to convert privately owned grazing land on the valley floor into a national park, a rancorous tug-of-war began. Congress had designated the area south of Yellowstone National Park the Teton Forest Reserve in 1897 and attempted to create a larger sanctuary in 1918; however, local opposition defeated the measure. In 1923, a better-reasoned and successful attempt