Depaul Travel

Archive for the ‘Travel In Wyoming’ Category

The Grand Tetons – Norman A. Rubin

(As one enters Grand Teton National Park the landscape can be overwhelming. The magnificent mountain range, as well as its historical background, captures the hearts of many, young and old.)

Standing on the edge of a rocky ridge, the mountain man squinted as he searched and studied the wide horizon. There in his sight were the peaks of the Grand Tetons cleared of their winter covering. The trapper threw off his furry cap in the air, and hallooed as loud as his voice can echo through the valley below.

Then the mountain pulled back from the edge of the ridge, lifted his trusty musket and pointed the barrel into the air and fired a shot. Soon returning halloos and shots were echoing over the valleys. Summer has come to the Rockies, and the mountain men gathered for another rendezvous.

One hundred and fifty years ago, when the fur trade was at its height, every mountain man would gather at the beginning of summer at a prearranged place under the Teton peaks.(1) There they would gather, barter the furs from the winter trapping, trade with local Indian tribe, swap yarns and gossip, and have one heck of a roaring time before heading back to the beaver streams for another lonely and long winter season.

Those spots for a mountain rendezvous were customarily held in a wide sheltered valley under the Teton peaks that was rich in water and game and with easy access through mountain trails. Such valleys were termed ‘holes’ by the mountain men; the one well known and popular with those grizzled trappers and trader was ‘Jackson’s Hole’, named after the famous mountain man Davy Jackson. (2)

But the valleys within the range have serious drawbacks. The mountain passes connecting the valleys are snowed in most of the year, and the wild and roaring Snake River coursing through the area is dangerously unpredictable, full of hidden rocks and sinkholes. As for farmers to plow the land or graze cattle, the soil is too rocky and there is little pasture during the winter months.

“Teton mountain range real wealth does not lie in furs, crops or cattle, but in the awe-inspiring scenery, especially the three peaks known as South, Middle, and Grand Teton.

‘Jackson Hole’ as it’s know today, is located at the Wyoming Teton Mountain Range just south of the Yellowstone National Park and has been one the crossroads of the west since prehistoric times. Blackfoot, Crow, Gros Ventre, and Nez Perce were among the Indian tribes that spent their summers there and frequently fought each other for the control of the valley’s vast herds of game roaming the pastures.

The Indians called the three peaks guarding the valleys “The Three Brothers’ or the ‘The Three White-haired Fathers’, or simply ‘the Pinnacles’. But the early French-Canadian voyageurs thought they looked like breasts, and they called these mountains them ‘Les Trois Tetons’, which means that in French and the name stuck and remained ‘The Tetons’ to this very day.

The Tetons rise so abruptly from the valley below that it is hard to believe they are actually mountains and not some skillfully artistic backdrop. Formations like these are the result of a geological movement called ‘slippage’. When pressure builds up along a fault line through the years, two rock faces slip past each other. One formation moves upward and the other move downward, creating mountains range. This is how the Teton mountain range was formed over five million years ago, which makes them comparatively young in geological terms.

Today the sharp crags and the sheer faces of the Teton Peaks provide and exciting challenge for mountain climbing enthusiasts. Visitors to Grand Teton National Park can take exciting rafting or kayak trips down the swift Snake River, or climb into a saddle for a pack trip into back country, with its spectacular scenery and the presence of great herds of elk and mule deer.

There’s a rendezvous in Jackson Hole every summer, and you’re invited. See you there!

NOTES:

1) With the decline of the fur trade and the passing of the great Indian tribes, Jackson Hole was largely abandoned except for a few homesteaders and other citizens who found the valley’s isolation to their liking.

2) The Snake River connected with the Columbia, Missouri River systems provided a convenient highway across the Rockies as far west as Oregon for the beaver hunters.

SIDEBAR:

“Located in northwestern Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park protects spectacular mountain scenery and a diverse collection of wildlife. The central feature of the park – the Teton Range — is a 40-mile-long mountain front rising from the valley floor some 6,000 feet. The towering Tetons were formed from earthquakes that occurred over the past 13 million years along a fault line. The jagged range includes its signature peak – Grand Teton, 13,770 feet (4,198 m) – and at least twelve pinnacles over 12,000 feet (3,658 m). Seven morainal lakes adorn the base of the range, and more than 100 alpine lakes dot the backcountry.

Elk, moose, mule deer, bison and pronghorn, are commonly found in the park. Black bears roam the forests and canyons, while grizzlies range throughout more remote portions of the park. More than 300 species of birds can be observed, including bald eagles, peregrine falcons and trumpeter swans."

National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior

Did you know that hermit crabs live in shells like snails and turtles, but they weren’t born in their shells, and their shells don’t grow with them? Instead, they have to find new shells to live in as they get bigger. In this way, hermit crabs are like humans. Well, at least they’re like human families. As our families grow we have to add on to our house or get a new one that is big enough to fit our needs.

Hermit crabs live over a range of land that extends from the deep ocean floor to right up on the shore. You’ve probably seen them on a trip to the beach, but I’ll bet you’ve never seen a hermit crab without its shell before. It’s not a very common occurrence, though it does happen sometimes. When hermit crabs get too big for their shell, they have to leave it and look for a new one. The shells they look for are ones that have been discarded by another hermit crab or other sea creatures. Similarly, humans don’t always make a new home for themselves when they need one, instead, they will buy a home that has been used and “discarded” by other humans.

When it’s time for a hermit crab to move into a new home, he will go out looking for one while still in possession of his old home. He carries it on his back, of course, until he finds a home that will fit his needs. When he finally finds the home he’s been looking for, he will crawl out of his old shell and into the new one. For a brief moment, he is unprotected, but he is soon in the safe security of his new shell, and all is right again.

When humans decide it is time to move, they go out looking for a new home that will fit their needs while they are still in possession of their old home, just like a hermit crab. When they finally find the home that they like best and that satisfies their needs, they will sell their old home and travel with all of their things to their new home. For the short period of time between when they leave their old home and enter their new one, they are not really in danger like hermit crabs are, but if they aren’t able to move into their new home as soon or sooner than they have to leave their old home; or if they have to travel a long distance to move into their new home, they may feel unprotected for a while, until they can get safely settled in their new home.

Sometimes the reason a family or individual has to move out of their old home before they are able to move into their new one, is that there is a great demand for the home they are in, so they can get the price they want for it, but there is not enough supply of new homes for them to move into. Sometimes the supply is smaller than the demand for homes in the world of hermit crabs too. There are only so many shells that have been discarded by other sea creatures, and there may be, at times, more hermit crabs needing a new home than there are empty shells. When this is the case, hermit crabs may have to fight for the same shell. Humans do this too, though it’s never the kind of fighting you think of as “fighting.” Instead, it is decided based on the amount of money each party is willing to pay for the home. When crabs fight for a shell, the strongest crab wins, when humans compete for the same house the human willing to pay the most wins.

We’ve talked about hermit crabs and humans moving based solely on their need for a bigger home because they’ve outgrown their old one. This is really the only reason hermit crabs move, unless their old home breaks or gets stolen from them. Humans, however, have multiple reasons for moving. They may wish to live in a different area because their job has moved, or because they want to live near family. They want a prettier house or a nicer yard. They may move because they want to live in a different state or country, or because they need to go to a college that’s in a different state or country.

In order to buy a new home, humans, unlike hermit crabs have to find a way to finance their new home. Mortgage companies can help you with an Aurora mortgage loan, your Draper Utah real estate, or your Casper Wyoming real estate.

While researching new vacation ideas, I recently came across what many insiders say is about to become the modern-day counterpart of the 20th century luxury ocean cruise. Called a rail cruise, it puts travelers eager for a one-of-a-kind vacation experience on board classic trains plying some of the most scenic American countryside. The outings, which take anywhere from several days to more than a week, bring together luxurious furnishings, delicious food and first-rate service in exclusive settings typically reserved for only about a hundred passengers.

If you watch the Travel Channel, you may already be acquainted with rail cruising from a travel guide about one of these tour trains, the American Orient Express (AOE). The train, which was recently renamed the GrandLuxe Express when AOE’s parent company changed its name to GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, is made up of polished, bullet-like lounge and dining cars originating from the 1940s and 1950s. Inside, mahogany and brass give the cars and compartments an elegant art-deco flair that definitely embodies the Golden Age of train travel.

GrandLuxe Rail Journeys sends its trains on excursions that offer passengers views and experiences never dreamed of by earlier of steamship cruisers. One of the most spectacular has to be National Parks of the West, a 10-day luxury rail cruise that starts its south-to-north leg in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From there, the train carves out a route that takes it to Santa Fe, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, a choice of Bryce Canyon or Zion National Parks, Salt Lake City, Yellow Stone National Park and finally, Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. There’s also a version of the excursion that starts in Wyoming and then moves south (instead of north) to finish up in Albuquerque.

Another great excursion has to be the 9-day journey that includes four of the Pacific Northwest’s most stunning national parks. For those who start their journey with the the eastbound leg of the Great Northwestern National Parks tour, the trip starts in Seattle, Washington, and heads first to Mt. Rainier National Park, where train passengers can enjoy a unforgettable view of the Cascade Range’s highest peak (14,410 feet). After that it’s on to the Columbia River Gorge, beautiful Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, pristine Glacier National Park, Helena, Montana, and finally Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Westbound travelers start at Grand Teton and finish their trip in the Emerald City of Seattle.

Remember, these are carriage-grade tours that offer outstanding comfort and five-star cuisine in a truly unique environment, so expect to pay accordingly. Rates for the 2008 season, which includes eight different departure dates between early May and late June, start at 5,250 dollars per person for the National Parks of the West Tour. The Northwestern National Parks tour starts at 4,710 dollars per person. Included in the fare is the cost of travel, some of the finest cuisine on wheels and on board sleeping accommodations in two-person, original Pullman sleeper cars. Taking advantage of early booking can cut the cost of the trip by an average of about 250 dollars.

If prices like these are just too steep for your wallet, you can still enjoy the luxury of rail cruising. GrandLuxe Rail Journeys also offers rail trips that are significantly less expensive. For example, you can journey from Chicago to Los Angeles for 1,599 dollars or take one of many 789-dollar trips that connect like Washington, D.C. and Miami, Denver and San Francisco, Denver and Chicago, and Chicago and Washington, D.C.