This is a series of photos of the stunning Grand Tetons of Wyoming. It was early 1988. We first did an aerial reconnaisance of my soon to be field area for my Master's Thesis. I was about to embark on a survey of the Buck Mountain Fault by which the Cathedral Group (the Grand, Middle and South Tetons) were uplifted some 65 million years ago.
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The pulverized Buck Mountain fault can be seen curving around the south side of the Cathedral Group. -
Mount Moran looking southwest with its 30-50 meter wide diabase dike. -
Three great columns of smoke from the Yellowstone fires could be seen from the Tetons all summer. -
Mount Moran looking west northwest. -
Folded Cambrian Flathead sandstone pushed vertical by the Buck Mountain fault. -
Cross-cutting pegmatite dikes and sils demonstrate many episodes of tectonic activity. -
Camp at No Wood Lake. -
Serious forces caused the folding of these Archean metamorphic rocks. -
Glacial erratics near Taggart Lake. -
Buck Mountain fault can be seen on the west side of the Tetons. -
The southern boundary of Buck Mountain fault at Buck Mountain. Notice No Wood Lake in the basin. -
South Teton seen from the Middle Teton. -
Middle Teton climb. -
The folds seen here happened in precambrian time more than 540 million years ago. -
Buck Mountain sunset from No Wood Lake.
All Photos copyright © 2015, Daniel J. Smith. All Rights Reserved.
The great Yellowstone fire had not yet ignited. I had no inkling that my adventurous summer would be one that would go down in history. Notice the little lake in a couple of the aerial photos. No Wood Lake, named for obvious reasons, would become my basecamp, and I would spend weeks hiking and climbing the crushed interface of the fault that can be seen curving around the back side of the famous "Trois Tetons."
