Enchanted by the Mountains’ Ever-Changing Beauty: 45 Miles on the Teton Crest Trail

When I arrived at my first campsite in Wyoming’s Teton Range, some 17 miles from the trailhead, I fully expected to collapse into my sleeping bag. My feet ached, my shoulders were cramping from the weight of my pack and, despite having spent much of the day hiking above 9,000 feet, I had yet to fully adjust to the altitude. I quickly set up my tent, pried my boots off and climbed inside.

Instead of nodding off, though, I glanced out through the mesh screen and found myself entranced by the view: Framed in the distance — as if perfectly arranged in a picture window — was the imposing peak of Grand Teton, towering above the surrounding spires.

So began what felt like a nightlong play in five acts, with the Tetons occupying center stage: the clarity of early evening, the dusky glow of sunset, the gradual emergence of the Milky Way, a saturated set of predawn hues and, finally, crisp streaks of early-morning light.

A day earlier, I’d waded through overflowing parking lots and crowded boardwalks in Yellowstone National Park, edging my way to spectacular views of Grand Prismatic Spring and the geysers in Norris Basin.

But here in the backcountry, some 50 miles south, away from the popular hikes along John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, the main thoroughfare that connects Yellowstone with the Teton Range, I was experiencing in near solitude what Rockefeller — who donated tens of thousands of acres to Grand Teton National Park — once described in a letter.