The mountains and valleys of Grand Teton National Park have the power to awe many who travel through the park. Less visible are the stories that happen behind-the-scenes and those that shaped the history of this place. TravelStorys, a mobile application available in the app store for iPhone and Android, created a driving tour in partnership with the Foundation to accompany you on your journey through Grand Teton. The location-aware, self-guided audio tour shares park stories that cannot be seen.
Since we currently cannot drive through the park, you can experience all of the wonderful content within the TravelStorys app remotely! Read the excerpt below or visit the TravelStorys website to listen to the entire tour to learn more about Grand Teton.
A few decades ago, you wouldn’t have seen wolves or grizzly bears here. But both of these predators have made remarkable comebacks. Since the reintroduction of gray wolves in Yellowstone in the 1990s, the once-endangered population has grown to more than 1,600. The grizzly bear population has grown from fewer than 250 bears in 1975 to more than 600 today.
Wolves, grizzly bears and black bears are magnificent creatures to watch from a distance. Bears, however, can be dangerous to humans when they are surprised or protecting their young. Habituated bears are those that have learned to associate humans with an easily accessible food source. The common local saying is, “A fed bear is a dead bear,” because habituated bears may behave more aggressively toward humans than non-habituated bears. So park rangers often have to intervene, relocating or even euthanizing the problem bear.