In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods: Grand Teton National Park

The Teton fault runs between the mountains and the plain.
View from Jackson Lake Lodge.

The Tetons appear not  real, but surreal..surely a mural painted by an artist to amaze..But no, they have been conjured up instead, by millions of years of geologic forces. The rocks making up the Tetons are very old, but the mountains are compartively new..10-13 million years.

Lenticular clouds

The San Andreas fault currently marks the boundary of the North American and the Pacific plate, but 150 million years ago, the Farallon Plate first subducted beneath the North American plate, producing the Rockies..this subduction ended about 55 million years ago.

Morning mist rises from the Snake River

The vocanism produced by this subducted plate, created residual heat, eventually causing the North American plate to stretch and crack..The Teton fault is one of those cracks.. As the land was pulled apart, the mountains rose along the fault and the valley sank.

The ice age, beginning 2 million years ago, and the Little Ice Age 1350-1850 AD, further shaped the range. A glacier is seen in Mount Moran below:

Mount Moran and the Sagebrush plain from Willow Flats turnout.

This high country became the last refuge for American Bison, Grizzly Bears, wolves and Native Americans for thousands of years.

The Bison are back

They direct traffic.

And  share the plains with Pronghorn Antelope.

There are more Pronghorns than people in Wyoming.

The antelope were in the "Antelope Plains". Nearby were the remains of a 19th century Mormon settlement.

On the buildings and in the fields behind,
Mountain Bluebirds as blue as the sky.

Bye Bye

The Oxbow Bend of the Snake River. An anglers paradise.
 I saw moose and eagles here, from a distance.

Down by the River

Dragon Flies enjoying a dance.



Another beauty. ID help appreciated!

A Bronze Copper I think.

Fritillary. Not sure what kind.

The view from Signal Mountain clearly shows the Sagebrush plains, and the kettle ponds, a glacial feature produced when chunks of ice break off glaciers & later melt.

Find the Mule Deer on Signal Mountain.

Here I am.

Sunset from Signal Mountain looking towards the Absaroka Range,
 volcanic mountains older than the Tetons.

Sunset at Oxbow Bend

Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street. ~William Blake