The Gros Ventre Range is a classic testament to the Laramide mechanics that created much of Wyoming’s landscape. Note the Triassic Chugwater formation in the foreground, and how all the rock units dip to the North. Image captured by John Hebberger, Jr.
THE SECOND FIDDLE
The Gros Ventre Range is an old structure. Originally extending all the way west to what is now the suburbs of Rexburg (a lot closer to here at the time), it was mother nature’s singular object of affection in Teton County and the source material for most of our local post-Laramide rock formations. If we were here back then it would have demanded the eye’s attention. This would have been Gros Ventre County.
About four or five million years ago that all changed. Basin & Range extension had just reached our part of what is now Wyoming and it completely replaced the compressional forces that 60 million years earlier gave rise to the mighty monuments of the Sevier and Laramide. The Gros Ventre Range started to pull apart. This new mechanic gave us our Valley, our Buttes, and our Tetons, and as one travels through this country today the eye is drawn to the west. The Gros Ventre now plays second fiddle, providing the background melody for the hard-rock Teton superstars that only recently moved to center stage. But in a Bob Dylan sort of way the Gros Ventre is still a masterpiece in its own right and a wonderland very much worth rediscovering. To this end, BTNF Recreation, Wilderness, & Trails Manager Linda Merigliano is going to give us an intimate tour this Tuesday (9/2/14) at the Teton County Library Auditorium at 6:00 pm. Hope you can make it.