Grand Teton and Yellowstone

En route from Moab to Salt Lake, right at the Spanish Fork mountain, the landscape changes drammatically. It feels as you are teleported on a different continent…

text and photography: Akis Temperidis

From the red rocks of the desert, you find yourself entering a lush, alpine world that eventually stretches all the way into Wyoming and Idaho, on the road to the famous national parks of Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

These two parks are a mere 10 miles apart, essentially forming a unified, protected ecosystem that spans an area of 73,000 square kilometers—more than half the size of Greece!

For over 11,000 years, this region was inhabited by indigenous tribes, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that white settlers discovered it. It was the French fur trappers, to be exact, who named the three peaks of the mountain range “le trois teton”—the three breasts—and this name eventually endured in the English language.

The range rises to 4,200 meters at the western edge of the stunning Snake River Valley, which harbors two splendid lakes at an elevation of 2,000 meters. The park is perfect for camping and hiking, though it doesn’t carry the global renown of its neighbor, Yellowstone—the mother of all national parks, safeguarded since 1872.

Around the caldera formed by the eruption of America’s largest volcano hundreds of thousands of years ago, lies a geothermal paradise that holds half of the world’s geysers. The most iconic of these is Old Faithful, which erupts every 90 minutes, drawing crowds of spectators day in and day out. Often, a bison will wander by and take a rest on the warm ground beside the geyser. A few miles away lie the beautiful prismatic springs of Yellowstone.

In the pristine forests of the park, between 2,200 and 2,700 meters, hundreds of species of mammals, birds, and fish roam, many of which are endangered.

The stars of the park are, of course, the grizzly bears, wolves, wild bison, and caribou, who often wander along the roadside. To truly explore Yellowstone, you need at least 3 to 4 days, as each of the two loop routes stretches over 100 miles.

We found ourselves in the park three weeks after unprecedented rainfall caused massive destruction, forcing the authorities to close the northern section and implement a system of timed entry to alleviate the congestion of visitors. However, we were fortunate, and on the day after our arrival, the northern section reopened, and the flow of cars was restored.