Teton Trails : A Guide to the Trails of Grand Teton National Park

The trail descriptions and maps are detailed and accurate. Both authors are intimately familiar with the Tetons and have had help from NPS staff. The labeled line drawings of various Teton scenery, penned by various National Park rangers, identify specific peaks, ridges, and passes from different vantage points.

Teton Trails is readily available at many shops in the Tetons area, but I recommend buying a copy now and enjoying some vicarious hiking. Planning vacation hikes can be almost as much fun as the hikes themselves. It is wise to have backup hiking routes, as snow can shut-in some higher passes well into midsummer in years of heavy winter snowfall. Talk to the rangers when you first arrive at the Grand Tetons about your hiking plans.

Duffy and Wile include a overview of the Grand Teton National Park, the hiking and camping guidelines, the geology, the varied habitats, and some discussion about bears. A final section, titled Flora and Fauna, provides checklists of key trees, shrubs, flowers, mammals, and birds.

The authors recommend purchasing topographic maps covering your selected trails. It is a good idea and map reading and orienteering always add an enjoyable dimension to mountain hiking. It's amazing how difficult it can be to cross a few closely spaced contour lines.

For those that have a long familiarity with the Tetons, this new publication replaces the earlier guidebook of the same title by Bryan Harry that was widely used in the 1960s thru the 1980s. For anyone interested in off trail hiking (especially the northern canyons in the park) or Teton mountaineering, I highly recommend A Climber's Guide to the Teton Range , third edition, by Leigh Ortenburger and Reynold Jackson.