Exploring the Area

Although Grand Teton National Park is much smaller than Yellowstone, there is much more to it than just its peaks, a dozen of which climb to elevations greater than 12,000 feet. The park's size -- 54 miles long, from north to south -- allows visitors to get a good look at the highlights in a day or two. But you'd be missing a great deal: the beautiful views from its trails, an exciting float on the Snake River, the watersports paradise that is Jackson Lake.

Whether your trip is half a day or 2 weeks, the park's proximity to the town of Jackson allows for an interesting trip that combines the outdoors with the urbane. You can descend Grand Teton and be living it up at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar or dining in a fine restaurant that evening. The next day, you can return to the peace of the park without much effort at all.

Access/Entry Points

Grand Teton National Park runs along a north-south axis, bordered on the west by the Teton Range. Teton Park Road, the primary thoroughfare, skirts along the lakes at the mountains' base. From the north, you can enter the park from Yellowstone National Park, which is linked to Grand Teton by an 8-mile stretch of highway (U.S. Hwy. 89/191/287) running through the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, along which you might see some bare and blackened trees from the 1988 fires. If you enter this way, you will already have paid your entrance fee to both parks, but you can stop at the park information center at Flagg Ranch, just outside Yellowstone, to get Grand Teton information. From December to mid-March, Yellowstone's south entrance is open only to snowmobiles and snowcoaches.

You can also approach the park from the east, via U.S. Hwy. 26/287. This route comes from Dubois, 55 miles east on the other side of the Absaroka and Wind River mountains, and crosses Togwotee Pass, where you'll get your first (and one of the best) views of the Tetons towering over the valley. Travelers who come this way can continue south on U.S. Hwy. 26/89/191 to Jackson without paying an entrance fee, although they are within the park boundaries, and enjoy spectacular mountain and Snake River views.

Finally, you can enter Grand Teton from Jackson in the south, driving about 12 miles north on U.S. Hwy. 26/89/191 to the Moose Junction turnoff and the park's south entrance. Here you'll find the park headquarters and the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, plus a small community that includes dining and shops.

Visitor Centers & Information

There are three visitor centers in Grand Teton National Park. Opening in August 2007, the dazzling, $22-million Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center (tel. 307/739-3399) is a half-mile west of Moose Junction at the southern end of the park; it's open daily 8am to 7pm from June to Labor Day, and daily from 8am to 5pm the rest of the year. The Colter Bay Visitor Center (tel. 307/739-3594), the northernmost of the park's visitor centers, is open daily from 8am to 8pm from early June to Labor Day, and from 8am to 5pm after Labor Day through early October. There is also Jenny Lake Visitor Center (tel. 307/739-3343), open daily 8am to 7pm from early June to Labor Day, and daily from 8am to 5pm after Labor Day through early October. Maps and ranger assistance are available at all three centers, and there are bookstores and exhibits at Moose and Colter Bay. Finally, there is an information station at the Flagg Ranch complex (tel. 307/543-2861), which is located approximately 5 miles north of the park's northern boundary.

To obtain park maps before your arrival, contact Grand Teton National Park, P.O. Drawer 170, Moose, WY 83012-0170 (tel. 307/739-3300; TDD 307/739-3400; www.nps.gov/grte).

Fees

There are no park gates on U.S. Hwy. 26/89/191, so you can get a free ride through the park on that route; to get off the highway and explore, you'll pay $25 per automobile for a 7-day pass (admission is good for both Yellowstone and Grand Teton). If you expect to visit the parks more than once in a year, buy an annual pass for $50. And if you visit parks and national monuments around the country, purchase an Interagency Annual Pass for $80 (good for 365 days from the date of purchase at nearly all federal preserves). Anyone age 62 or older can get an Interagency Senior Pass for a one-time fee of $10, and people who are blind or who have a permanent disability can obtain an Interagency Access Pass, which costs nothing. All passes are available at any entrance point to the parks. While the Interagency Senior and Interagency Access passes must be purchased in person (to verify age or disability), Interagency Annual Passes are also available online at store.usgs.gov/pass.

Most of the money from entrance fees goes back into the park where it was collected, so consider it a contribution worth making: In Grand Teton, this revenue has been spent on renovating the Jenny Lake Overlook, maintaining trails, and restoring the lakeshore at Jenny Lake, among other things.

Fees for tent camping are $17 to $19 per night at all the park campgrounds ($5 for hike- and bike-in sites). For recorded information on campgrounds, call tel. 307/739-3603. It is not possible to make advance reservations at campgrounds in Grand Teton.

Special Regulations & Warnings

More detailed information about the following rules can be requested from the park rangers or at visitor centers throughout the park or at www.nps.gov/yell.

• Bicycles: Bicycles are not allowed on the park's trails or boardwalks, but there are some designated off-pavement bicycling areas -- contact the park for more information. Helmets and bright clothing are recommended because of the narrow, winding nature of park roads and the large recreational vehicles with poor visibility.

• Camping: In any given year, a person may camp for no more than 30 days in the park, and only 14 days during the summer season (no limits at Fishing Bridge RV Park). Food, garbage, and food utensils must be stored in a vehicle or container made of solid material and must be suspended at least 10 feet above the ground when not in use.

• Climbing: Because of the loose, crumbly rock in Yellowstone, climbing is discouraged throughout the park and is prohibited in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

• Defacing park features: Picking wildflowers and collecting natural or archaeological objects is illegal. Only dead-and-down wood can be collected for backcountry campfires, and only when and where such fires are allowed.

• Firearms: Firearms are not allowed in either park. However, unloaded firearms may be transported in a vehicle when cased, broken down, or rendered inoperable, and on certain trails for access to areas outside the park, with a special permit. Ammunition must be carried in a separate compartment of the vehicle.

• Littering: Littering in the national parks is strictly prohibited -- remember, if you take it in, you have to take it out. Throwing coins or other objects into thermal features is illegal.

• Motorcycles: Motorcycles and motor scooters are allowed only on park roads. No off-road or trail riding is allowed. Operator licenses and license plates are required.

• Pets: Pets must always be leashed and are prohibited in the backcountry, on trails, on boardwalks, and in thermal areas. If you tie up a pet and leave it, you're breaking the law.

• Smoking: No smoking is allowed in thermal areas, visitor centers or rangers stations, or any other posted public areas.

• Snowmobiling: In late 2007, Yellowstone officials released a final winter use plan that will limit snowmobiles entering the park to 540 a day as of 2008-09.

• Swimming: Swimming or wading is prohibited in thermal features or in streams whose waters flow from thermal features in Yellowstone. (One exception is Boiling River near Mammoth, where visitors can take a warm soak between dawn and dusk except during spring runoff.) Swimming in Yellowstone Lake is discouraged due to the cold water and unpredictable weather.

• Wildlife: It is unlawful to approach within 100 yards of a bear or within 25 yards of other wildlife. Feeding any wildlife is illegal. Wildlife calls, such as elk bugles or other artificial attractants, are forbidden.