Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole Day Trip from Yellowstone

Study a highway map of northwestern Wyoming and you will discover the closest two-for-one national park connection in the United States. When you drive out of the South Entrance of Yellowstone National Park, a forested eleven-kilometre (seven-mile) corridor called the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway leads you in fifteen minutes directly into the northern boundary of Grand Teton National Park. Your existing seven-day entrance receipt or America the Beautiful interagency pass (check current pass rates on the official National Park Service site) covers both parks, allowing you to transition in a quarter of an hour from Yellowstone's steaming volcanic caldera plateau to a landscape that is its geological opposite. Here, along an active fault line, a jagged sixty-kilometre wall of crystalline granite and gneiss peaks rises more than 2,100 vertical metres straight out of the flat sagebrush floor of the Jackson Hole valley with zero intervening foothills, crowned by the 4,199-metre (13,775-foot) summit of the Grand Teton.

Understanding the 68-Kilometre Grand Teton Loop Road

Unlike Yellowstone's vast 230-kilometre Figure-8 Grand Loop Road, which requires at least two full days of driving just to trace the main thermal basins and canyons, Grand Teton National Park is organised around a compact, scenic 68-kilometre (42-mile) oval road loop that sits entirely in front of the mountain wall. Between Jackson Lake Junction in the north and Moose Junction in the south, the park highway splits into two parallel routes with distinct purposes:

• The Outer East Road (US Highway 89 / 191 / 26 along the Snake River): runs further back from the base of the mountains along the elevated eastern benches of the Snake River valley. Because it offers wide-angle views of the entire Cathedral Group reflected in river channels and beaver ponds, the Outer East Road is the premier route for sunrise photography and wildlife spotting.
• The Inner West Road (Teton Park Road, Open May through October): branches west at Jackson Lake Junction, crosses the Jackson Lake Dam, and hugs the immediate glacial moraines and alpine lakes directly beneath the granite cliffs. This inner road provides direct access to Signal Mountain, String Lake and the Jenny Lake trailheads.

Driving the Outer East Road: Oxbow Bend, Schwabacher Landing and Mormon Row

When driving south from West Thumb Geyser Basin and Yellowstone Lake for a full-day excursion or continuing down to catch a flight out of Jackson Hole Airport (JAC), follow these four classic stops down the eastern side of the valley:

1. Jackson Lake Overlook and Colter Bay (Northern Shore): as you emerge from the forest along the shore of 25-kilometre-long Jackson Lake, Mount Moran and the northern Teton peaks appear directly across the water. Colter Bay Visitor Center and Marina offer lakeside walking trails and Native American art exhibits just off the highway.
2. Oxbow Bend Turnout (Just East of Jackson Lake Junction): arguably the richest wildlife and reflection stop in the park. Here, a wide, slow-moving oxbow meander of the Snake River acts as a mirror for broad-shouldered 3,842-metre Mount Moran and its hanging Skillet Glacier. Keep your binoculars ready along the willow banks for river otters, white pelicans, bald eagles, ospreys, moose and grizzly bears (including the park's famous matriarch, Grizzly 399, whose territory spans Pilgrim Creek and Oxbow Bend).
3. Snake River Overlook and Schwabacher Landing: twenty minutes south along US Highway 89, pull into Snake River Overlook, the high bluff where photographer Ansel Adams stood atop his station wagon in 1942 to capture his celebrated black-and-white image of the river curving below the Tetons. Five kilometres further south, turn down the short graded gravel spur road to Schwabacher Landing, where a flat dirt footpath follows tranquil beaver ponds that mirror the jagged granite spires of the Grand Teton, Mount Owen and Teewinot.
4. Mormon Row Historic District (Antelope Flats Road): just north of Moose Junction, turn east onto Antelope Flats Road to reach the 1890s homestead community of Grovont (known today as Mormon Row). Two weathered 1910s wooden barns built by brothers John and Thomas Alma Moulton stand in open sagebrush pastureland directly in front of the cathedral peaks, while herds of bison and pronghorn frequently graze along the fence lines.

The Inner Teton Park Road: Signal Mountain, String Lake and Jenny Lake

After visiting the eastern overlooks (or first thing in the morning before car parks fill), loop onto the western Teton Park Road to get right underneath the rock walls and glacial canyons:

• Signal Mountain Summit Road (8 km Winding Climb): just south of Jackson Lake Dam, a narrow paved spur road switchbacks 240 vertical metres to the top of Signal Mountain, delivering a sweeping panorama across Jackson Lake, the braided channels of the Snake River and the entire Jackson Hole basin.
• Jenny Lake Boating Shuttle to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point: sitting in a glacial basin carved by a tongue of ice that pushed out of Cascade Canyon during the last Ice Age, Jenny Lake is the centrepiece of the park. Pull into the South Jenny Lake Visitor Center early in the morning (the car park reaches capacity by mid-morning in July and August) and walk down to the East Boat Dock. From here, wooden motor launches operated by Jenny Lake Boating shuttle passengers across the crystal-clear water to the West Boat Dock every ten to fifteen minutes (check the official concessionaire site for current one-way and return fares, or walk the flat 3.2-kilometre lakeshore trail around the southern rim). From the West Dock, a 1.8-kilometre round-trip trail climbs alongside foaming Cascade Creek to 30-metre Hidden Falls and continues up rock steps to Inspiration Point, perched 120 metres above the lake. Walk fifteen minutes further west into the flat U-shaped floor of Cascade Canyon to scan the willow ponds for feeding moose and listen for pikas in the boulder fields.
• String Lake and Leigh Lake: immediately north of Jenny Lake, shallow, sun-warmed String Lake offers calm, waist-deep wading and flat shoreline picnic paths beneath Mount St John and Rockchuck Peak.

Finishing Your Day in Jackson Hole and Fitting It Into Your Route

Twenty minutes south of the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center at Moose Junction, US Highway 191 brings you into the lively Western ranching and ski town of Jackson, Wyoming (often referred to by the name of the surrounding valley, Jackson Hole). Park near the green lawn of Jackson Town Square, whose four corners are spanned by towering arches woven from thousands of naturally shed elk antlers collected each spring by local Boy Scouts on the neighbouring National Elk Refuge. Browse the wooden boardwalk galleries, Western outfitters and bakeries, or ride the aerial sightseeing gondola at nearby Teton Village before dinner. As detailed in our 3-to-4-day Yellowstone and Grand Teton itinerary and our Yellowstone lodging guide, you can visit Grand Teton as a long day trip from Old Faithful or Canyon Village, or spend one to two nights at Jackson Lake Lodge, Jenny Lake Lodge or inside the town of Jackson at the start or end of your trip.