SOUTHERN SECTION - Yellowstone Treasures - page 134

Sheep Interpretive Center, where tours can be arranged to visit the sheep's fall and winter
range.
U.S. Highways 26 and 287
Outside the town, once a center for the production of railway ties, are now cattle and guest
ranches. Spectacular striped hills, composed of alternating red clay stone and white tephra
layers, line the road west of town.
Shoshone and Bridger-Teton National Forests offer two high-altitude picnic areas and two
campgrounds as you cross Togwotee Pass, at 9,544 feet (2,909 m) a higher mountain pass
than any inside Yellowstone. Togwotee was a medicine man and chief of the Sheepeater tribe.
He led early explorers across this pass and guided Gen. Philip H. Sheridan on his expedition
in 1882.
After you cross the pass, rolling hills and meadows greet the eye, with high mountains on
all sides. You descend to the Buffalo Fork of the Snake River and cross the east boundary of
Grand Teton National Park. Reaching Moran Junction, continue toward Yellowstone or turn
left for the Tetons or Jackson.
FROM MORAN JUNCTION TO THE SOUTH ENTRANCE
One of two Teton Park entrance stations is located at Moran Junction, just north of where
U.S. 26/287 joins U.S. 89/191. Going north for about 3.5 miles (5.5 km) takes you to Jackson
Lake Junction, where the Teton Park Road joins the U.S. highway.
South of the junction is Jackson Lake Dam, first completed in 1911 and rebuilt in 1989.
The dam has raised the water level of Jackson Lake as much as 39 feet (12 m). In August and
September of dry years, drawdown for irrigation creates mud flats in the northern section of
Jackson Lake.