Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton is the triumph of national parks. It was the land that everybody wanted for something else, but was instead preserved as a national park for all to enjoy. Most travelers only get a few windshield glances at the majestic mountains as they pass, hurrying through on their way to Yellowstone. The good news is, this means you won't have to share the grandeur of Grand Teton with quite so many others. First, there is a multitude of wildlife to watch, and while number one on almost everyone's hope-to-see list is a bull moose, that's just the beginning. Bison, elk, and pronghorn can be viewed in the sagebrush meadows along the back roads. Signal Mountain is a good place to look for black bears. 225 miles of trails lead hikers to secluded wonders beyond the reach of roads. Ponds, lakes, and rivers offer canoeing, boating and rafting. Lake trout and native cutthroat trout make these waters all the more exciting to the skilled angler. Eagles, hawks, pelicans, herons, geese, and osprey, among others, ply the skies and the waterways. They are sustained by the land and waters our fore bearers had the wisdom to preserve. Though not as obvious as the landscape, but ever looming in history, is the Tetons' role in defining conservation compromises. Grand Teton National Park is a compromise in every sense of the word. Though most of the park's 310,000 acres are federally owned, Teton also contains over 100 private in-holdings dating back to the late 1800s. Those who settled here called it Jackson Hole. The park also issues over 700 elk hunting permits each year. Commercial jet airliners roar over the southern portion of the park, making hourly landings and take-offs from a regional airport inside the park's boundary. However, if it weren't for these and many other compromises, the natural glory of Grand Teton might never have become a national park and therefore never made available for millions to enjoy. And last, but certainly not least, there are the mountains - archetypical mountains, they are towering majestic peaks, glacially-carved and snow-adorned; the kind of mountains that all other mountains aspire to be. This is the opening chapter in the always interesting, often ironic, and occasionally amusing story of one of America's most controversial national parks ... Grand Teton. Welcome to Grand Teton National Park!