Grand Tetons

Wyoming is a vast state, and can seem eerily empty of people. Wide open plains and buttes stretch for miles, and a person can easily drive across the state and see almost nothing that they would consider to be a town. However flat and empty this state may seem upon first inspection, in the west, particularly the north west, the terrain begins to change drastically.

Steep mountains jut into the sky in and around Yellowstone National Park. Grand Teton National Park lies south of Yellowstone and contains the highest points in Wyoming. Gannett Peak is the highest point, but Grand Teton is probably more well known. Often the Teton Range is called the Grand Tetons, but more correctly Grand Teton is the name of a single mountain in that range.

The Teton Range consists of young fault-block mountains. Fault-block mountains are formed when two plates of the earth's crust crash into each other, buckling and bending upwards. As long as the plates continue to move together, the mountains continue to build. Tectonic plates move too slowly to see (about as fast as your fingernails grow), and the Teton Range is still getting slightly taller all the time.

Because these mountains are relatively young, they have a marked lack of foothills. Foothills are caused by erosion and time moving rock from the top of a mountain around the base. Imagine a sandcastle several hours after it is built -- it no longer has the sharp edges of the original construction, but has debris around the base. Because of the lack of foot hills, the Grand Tetons and other mountains near Yellowstone appear to be taller than they really are. The steep sides of the cliffs protrude into the sky at dramatic angles making for great photo opportunities.

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