Grand Teton National Park: The Teton Loop

The Teton Loop starts here at Moose, at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, 100 Discovery Way, on a paved lot just outside the fee station. Visitors arriving from Yellowstone drive to Moose first and begin…

The Chapel of the Transfiguration and the Menors Ferry Historic District sit side by side on the west bank of the Snake River, down a short road off Teton Park Road. The log chapel holds Sunday services in summer and…

Sometimes Bill Menor's ferry was the only crossing on a 40-mile stretch of the Snake, and when the river ran too high, the way around was 80 miles. Boone tells of two brothers, the river between them, and a long argum…

The first long view of the Teton Range rises straight off the valley floor, with no foothills in front. The Gros Ventre Range across the valley shows what a folded range looks like by comparison. A shared-use pathway…

A roadside turnout on the left faces Teton Glacier, the largest in the park, clinging to the northeast flank of the Grand Teton above a ridge of moraine. Late summer shows the most gray ice and crevasses, and binocula…

Geraldine Lucas left a marriage behind, put herself through Oberlin as a single mother, and retired to a homestead under the Grand Teton. When the land buyers arrived, she had an answer ready. Boone tells how that wen…

Jenny Lake is the most popular destination in Grand Teton, a glacial lake held in by a wooded moraine below Cascade Canyon. The South Jenny Lake area has a large paved lot, a visitor center, a general store and a seas…

A side road from North Jenny Lake Junction leads about 0.8 mile to Cathedral Group Turnout, the park's best place to see the Teton Fault as a break in the slope at the mountain front. Teewinot, the Grand Teton and Mou…

In May of 1890 a New York lawyer with a famous name and a scandal behind him came west to hunt, and decided to stay on Jackson Lake. Boone tells how a low mountain up ahead got its name, and why people here kept talki…

Mount Moran Turnout on the left faces the mountain's east side, where a black band of diabase 150 feet wide runs down the rock. Sedimentary rock caps the summit, the same layer that lies buried far beneath the valley,…

Signal Mountain rises by itself on the east side of the road, and a narrow, winding summit road climbs to overlooks of the Teton Range and Jackson Lake. Trailers and RVs are not allowed on it. Signal Mountain Lodge, w…

A quiet visitor named Mr. Davison toured the western parks in 1924, and the park superintendent showing him around had been told what not to say. Boone follows the secret buying campaign that came next, and the fight…

Jackson Lake Dam carries the road across the Snake River outlet, and Dam Overlook on the left has restrooms and a view over the reservoir toward Mount Moran. Beneath the raised water lies a natural lake carved by a gl…

In about a quarter mile, at Jackson Lake Junction, turn right toward Moran. Left goes to Yellowstone.

Oxbow Bend Turnout is a paved pullout on the right where a slow channel of the Snake River curves toward the road. On calm days the water reflects Mount Moran, which makes it a favorite at sunrise and sunset. Everythi…

In the summer of 1895, a dispute over elk in Jackson Hole became national news. Boone tells what the papers printed, what the soldiers found when they arrived, and how long the law took to catch up with any of it.

Coming up, at Moran Junction, turn right, south toward Jackson. Left goes east over Togwotee Pass.

Just past Moran Junction, the highway east climbs toward Togwotee Pass, known to Shoshone people as Big Gap. The stop looks at the Tukudika, or Mountain Shoshone, and at the names Native people gave this range long be…

This turnout on the right overlooks Elk Ranch Flats, the park's last operating irrigated cattle and hay ranch. Livestock, bison, elk and pronghorn share the fenced fields, so not every large animal here is wild. Late…

Pierce Cunningham sold hay to two strangers in the fall of 1892, and let them winter in his cabin near Spread Creek. Boone tells what he saw there on a winter visit, and what happened at that cabin the next spring, on…

A short road on the right leads to Cunningham Cabin, one of the few homestead cabins left in the valley, on an easy self-guided loop of 0.8 mile. There is no restroom at the site. J. Pierce Cunningham chose this land…

Four men came to the Snake in the spring of 1886 to mine for gold. A boating party found what was left of the venture. Boone tells the tale behind one of the grimmest names on the park map, and the secret that went to…

Snake River Overlook sits on a bluff on the right side of the highway, high above a sweep of the Snake with the Teton Range beyond. Ansel Adams photographed the river and the range from roughly this vantage point in 1…

For about 24 years, a hermit named Uncle Jack Davis lived in the canyon south of the valley with his cats and a tame doe. Boone tells the gentlest tale on the road, about a man, a windowless cabin and some unexpected…

Teton Point Turnout on the right looks over terraces cut by glacial meltwater, stepping down to the Snake River. The Middle Teton, the Grand Teton, Mount Owen and Teewinot line the far side of the valley. This stretch…

A gravel side road on the right leads to Schwabacher Landing, where a short walk north along a side channel reaches a large beaver dam and a pond that reflects the central Tetons on calm mornings. The road closes seas…

The last tale on the road belongs to Glenn Exum, a college kid who went up a new ridge on the Grand Teton alone in 1931, in football shoes, with a length of clothesline for a rope. Boone tells what he found when the l…

Antelope Flats Road leads east to Mormon Row, where the Moulton Barn stands among the old homesteads with the Teton Range behind it, a view at its best at sunrise. The barn is reached by an out-and-back drive of about…

The loop closes just short of Moose Junction, about 42 miles after it began. A right turn crosses the Snake River and leads back to the visitor center where the tour started, while the highway straight ahead runs on t…