The Tetons
The Cathedral Group
“The grand lift of the Tetons is...a primal gesture of the earth beneath a greater sky”
— Ansel Adams
Movement along the 40-mile long Teton fault began between six and nine million years ago, uplifting the mountain range with each earthquake two to three feet while dropping the valley floor (Jackson Hole) four to six feet. This also means they rise abruptly from the valley floor without foothills, making them even more prominent. The Tetons are the youngest range in the Rocky Mountains - most of the rest of the Rockies are between 50 and 80 million years old. Because the mountains are so young, erosion has not had a chance to weather and round them, so they are still jagged. Additionally, they have been extensively glacially sculpted over the past 200,000 years, creating U-shaped canyons, gouging out depressions that have become lakes, and sharpening peaks. (Most of this information is from the NPS website).
Technically, they should be in the Rockies section, but I felt this dramatic mountain range deserved a separate section.
The Cathedral Group from the Cathedral Group Turnout in Grand Teton National Park. The Cathedral Group are the three spires: Teewinot Mountain, the Grand Teton and Mount Owen - 17 July 2024
Grand Teton The namesake of the National Park - 17 July 2024
"Grand Teton" - The namesake of the National Park - 17 July 2024
Across Jenny Lake - 17 July 2024
Thomas Alma Moulton Barn One of the iconic barns in the Mormon Row Historic District of Grand Teton National Park - 17 July 2024
T. A. Moulton Barn in Black and White - 17 July 2024
John Moulton Barn The 'other' iconic barn in the Mormon Row Historic District - 17 July 2024
John Moulton Barn with Grand Teton rising behind it - 17 July 2024
John Moulton Barn in the Mormon Historic District of Grand Teton National Park - 17 July 2024
The Cathedral Group from the Snake River Overlook. Ansel Adams was hired by the National Park Service (NPS) in 1941 to "help promote and protect Western U.S. landscapes." (NPS sign at the overlook). This was approximately where Ansel Adams took his famous 1942 photo The Tetons and the Snake River. So I had to convert it to black and white, of course.
A Hazy Afternoon in Grand Teton National Park - 17 July 2024