- Where
- Teton County,
north-western Wyoming - Coordinates
- 43.74° N
110.80° W (the Grand Teton) - Grand Teton
- 13,775 ft (4,199 m)
- Area
- About 310,000 acres
- Created
- 1929; enlarged 1950
- Visits
- 3,800,648 in 2025
- Getting there
- Jackson Hole Airport,
inside the park - Advisory
- United States
(no State Department level)
A wall of sharp grey peaks shooting up from a flat valley of sagebrush all at once, as if the middle part had been left out, snow still in the creases. The lakes below were so still the mountains stood in them upside down. An old wooden barn sat alone with the whole range behind it; a man photographed it for most of the afternoon, and I nearly joined in.
The short answer
Grand Teton National Park lies in north-western Wyoming, in Teton County near the town of Jackson, and covers about 310,000 acres, Wikipedia records; it is ten miles south of Yellowstone National Park. The Teton Range is about 40 miles long, and besides the Grand Teton, at 13,775 feet, nine of its peaks are over 12,000 feet; the Grand Teton rises more than 7,000 feet above the valley of Jackson Hole. The Snake River, which rises on the Two Ocean Plateau in Yellowstone, runs north to south through the park, and Jackson Lake, the largest lake, is about 15 miles long and 438 feet deep; a dam at its outlet raised it by about 39 feet in 1916. French trappers called the peaks les trois tétons, the three breasts, later shortened to the Tetons. The park recorded 3,800,648 visits in 2025.
Why it's worth knowing
A park assembled in two halves. President Calvin Coolidge signed the act creating the first park on 26 February 1929, Wikipedia records. John D. Rockefeller Jr. began buying land in the valley through the Snake River Land Company, and that land later passed to the National Park Service; Jackson Hole National Monument was abolished in 1950 and most of it was combined with the park. In 1972 a 24,000-acre parcel to the north was added and named the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway.
An airport inside the park. Jackson Hole Airport, in the valley below the range, is described in Wikipedia’s article on the park as the only commercial airport within an American national park. Menor’s Ferry, near present-day Moose, was built in 1892 to give wagons a crossing to the west bank of the Snake River.
The field notes
Mormon Row
Settlers sent by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived from Idaho in the 1890s, the Park Service says, and dug ditches by hand and with teams of horses, building a system of levees and dikes that carried water to their fields between 1896 and 1937; some of the ditches still carry water. John and Thomas Alma Moulton built two barns on neighbouring homesteads, one a two-storey gambrel barn and the other a gable-with-shed barn. The Mormon Row Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. As of the park’s conditions page (updated 30 September 2026), the district was open, with some buildings closed during construction.
Who else lives here
Grizzly and American black bears live in the park among 17 other species of carnivore, with gray wolves, Wikipedia records; pronghorn, which the article calls the fastest land mammal in the western hemisphere, and elk in their thousands migrate through it. The Park Service’s conditions page (updated 30 September 2026) says black and grizzly bears roam the park even in most winter months, and that visitors must stay 100 yards from bears.
A Moulton barn on Mormon Row, October 2021.
Photograph: NPS / J. Bonney · Public domain
Sunrise at Schwabacher Landing.
Photograph: Cora Leach via Unsplash · Unsplash licence · cropped
Mount Moran above the Snake River at Oxbow Bend, in autumn.
Photograph: NPS / M. Nall (Grand Teton NPS) · Public domain
Pronghorn below Mount Moran.
Photograph: Alex Moliski via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
- Be at a lake’s edge when the sun first reaches the peaks, while the water is still flat enough to hold them.
- Pull over at dusk for anything with antlers. It was here first, and walks as though it knows.
- Draw the skyline across the top of the list. (I gave up partway along and drew a zigzag. It is the most accurate thing on the page.)
- The old barns and homesteads were somebody’s hard-won farms. Look at them from the road and the paths, and leave every door the way you found it.
- Take the boat across the lake and walk up into the canyon behind it, slowly, looking back often.
A Moulton barn on Mormon Row. John and Thomas Alma Moulton built two barns on neighbouring homesteads on the valley floor, the Park Service says, after settlers from Idaho arrived in the 1890s and dug their irrigation ditches by hand and with horses; the district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The barns stand where they were built, with the range behind them.
Tally, in the marginI took it at first for something put there to improve the view. Half the morning went by before I saw that it was built for hay, and that the view was simply something the hay had to put up with.
Getting there
How to get there. By air to Jackson Hole Airport, inside the park, or by road through the town of Jackson to the south, or from Yellowstone to the north, ten miles away; visitors travelling between the two parks pay a separate entrance fee at each, the Park Service’s fees page says.
When to go. Front-country campgrounds open from late spring to late fall, and in winter the Teton Park Road between the Taggart Lake trailhead and Signal Mountain Campground is closed to vehicles and groomed for skiing and snowshoeing, Wikipedia records; annual snowfall averages about 166 inches. The park’s conditions page (updated 30 September 2026) lists, for October 2026, the Death Canyon Road and trailhead and the Moose-Wilson Road between the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve and Moose closed to all use, the Taggart Lake trail partly open during construction, and delays of 20 minutes near Moran Junction and at the Moose roundabout.
What to arrange ahead. As of 20 October 2026, the Park Service’s fees page (updated 30 June 2026) gives the entrance fee as $35 a private vehicle, $30 a motorcycle or $20 a person on foot or bicycle, each for seven days, and says each visitor aged 16 or older who is not a US resident pays a further $100 unless entering on an annual or America the Beautiful pass; the non-resident America the Beautiful pass costs $250. No reservation is needed to enter; the park’s lodging and campgrounds are all reservable. The remaining fee-free days in 2026 are 27 October and 11 November.
Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here; the hazards are the park’s own. The Park Service’s conditions page lists the bear rule above and gave the wildland fire danger as moderate on 30 September 2026; it posts current closures there.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Grand Teton National Park?
Grand Teton National Park is in Teton County, north-western Wyoming, United States, near the town of Jackson and ten miles south of Yellowstone National Park, Wikipedia records.
How tall is the Grand Teton?
The Grand Teton, the highest peak of the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, is 13,775 feet (4,199 metres) high and rises more than 7,000 feet above Jackson Hole, Wikipedia records.
When was Grand Teton National Park created?
Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming, was created on 26 February 1929, when President Calvin Coolidge signed the act; Jackson Hole National Monument was abolished in 1950 and most of it was combined with the park, Wikipedia records.
How much does it cost to enter Grand Teton National Park?
The National Park Service’s fees page for Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (updated 30 June 2026), gives $35 a private vehicle, $30 a motorcycle and $20 a person on foot or bicycle, each for seven days; children under 16 enter free.
What is the non-resident fee at Grand Teton National Park?
Each visitor aged 16 or older who is not a US resident pays a $100 non-resident fee at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, on top of the entrance fee, unless entering on an annual or America the Beautiful pass, the Park Service’s fees page (updated 30 June 2026) says; the non-resident America the Beautiful pass costs $250.
What is Mormon Row?
Mormon Row is a historic district of homesteads and barns in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, settled in the 1890s by Latter-day Saints from Idaho, the Park Service says; John and T. A. Moulton built its two best-known barns, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
Do you need a separate pass for Yellowstone and Grand Teton?
Yes. The National Park Service’s fees page for Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, says visitors travelling to or from Yellowstone through Grand Teton pay a separate entrance fee; an annual or America the Beautiful pass covers both.
Why are they called the Tetons?
French trappers called the peaks of the Teton Range, in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, les trois tétons, the three breasts, later shortened to the Tetons, Wikipedia records.