GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

OUR FAMILY HAS CAMPED AT THIS NATIONAL PARK. WE TOOK A NICE CALM BOAT TRIP ACROSS A LAKE TO VIEW A BEAUTIFUL WATERFALL. THE HIKE WAS ONLY A FEW MILES LONG. WE PHOTOGRAPHED THE MOUNTAIN RANGE WHICH IS QUITE SPECTACULAR AND THE THUNDEROUS WATERFALL WAS BEAUTIFUL. EVERYONE SEEMED TO BE FROM A FOREIGN COUNTRY.

WE WENT ON A HIKE THAT LED US AROUND A SMALL LAKE WHERE WE WERE CAMPING. WE WERE IN MIXED EVERGREEN AND OAK WOODLAND. IT WAS A DAMP TRAIL AND I SPIED A MOTHER MOOSE AND HER BABY ACROSS A SMALL BODY OF WATER. THEY STAYED STILL ENOUGH TO PHOTOGRAPH AND THEN STEPPED INTO THE FOREST. WE BOUGHT SALMON FOR DINNER AND COOKED IT AT OUR CAMPGROUND. THE RANGER SAID TO BE SURE TO CLEAN UP BECAUSE THERE ARE BEARS. SO WE KEPT OUR CAMPSITE CLEAN AND ALL FOOD WE KEPT IN THE VAN. OTHER PEOPLE HEARD THE BEARS BUT WE DID NOT SEE OR HEAR ONE, LUCKILY. THEY HAD A FULL CAMPGROUND AND I WAS STUDYING TO BE A LIFE COACH AND CALLING ON PHONES TO HEAR MY CLASSES ON OUR VACATION.

PREVIOUSLY MY HUSBAND AND I VISITED THIS PARK.WITH OUR WINNEBAGO WHEN MY MOM VISITED US IN SOUTH DAKOTA. THE ELEVATION RANGES FROM 6000' TO 14000' AT THE GRANITE SUMMIT. THERE WERE PEOPLE KAYAKING ON THE MELLOW SNAKE RIVER . THEY HAVE A LEARNING CENTER THAT INCLUDES THE NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES OF YELLOWSTONE AND GRAND TETONS. THEY HAVE A CENTER FOR CULTURAL PRESERVATION AND EDUCATION. AN JACKSON HOLE HAS A CULTURAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM.

THE PARK WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1929. JACKSON HOLE NATIONAL MONUMENT WAS
ESTABLISHED IN 1943. THE NATIONAL PARK CONTAINED 23,700 ACRES. THE PARK HAS SEVEN MORAINE LAKES. WE HAVE HIKED AROUND JENNY LAKE ONLY. THERE HAVE BEEN PALEO- INDIAN, PREHISTORIC INDIANS, FUR TRAPPERS, HOMESTEADERS, AND RANCHERS, AND CONSERVATIONISTS WHO HAVE LIVED IN THE PARK.

THE PARK'S COLD WINTERS ARE DIFFICULT FOR SOME OF THE ANIMALS, WITH TEMPERATURES REACHING - 63 DEGREES. THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS ARE MADE FROM TECTONIC ACTIVITIES, WHILE SOME OF THE MOUNTAINS ARE THRUST FAULTED ANTICLINES AND ANDESITIC VOLCANISTIC ROCKS. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY FAULTS IN THE PARK. TWENTY MILLION YEARS AGO THE TETONS BEGAN TO GROW.

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