MOOSE, Wyo. – A new interagency agreement will create 15 miles of trails groomed for
classic and skate skiing in Grand Teton National Park.
The national park and Teton County entered into an agreement in late January to
provide regular grooming along the Teton Park Road in partnership with the Grand
Teton National Park Foundation.
As an extension of community grooming activities outside the park, the county agreed
to pilot a program to groom the snow-covered road between Taggart Lake trailhead and
Signal Mountain Lodge in the park. The plan is for county crews to groom the road at
least once a week, generally on Saturdays.
Teton County/Jackson Parks and Recreation Department maintains a series of
pathways in and around Jackson; in winter months, county personnel also groom some
of these paths for Nordic skiing.
Since 2002, park staff has periodically groomed the road when time and funding
allowed. Looking ahead, they will plan to augment the county groomers’ work on other
days of the week when possible.
Park officials and the Teton County Board of Commissioners reached this partnership
agreement in part to support healthy outdoor recreation on this popular winter trail,
according to a press release from the park. As a part of the agreement, Grand Teton
National Park Foundation, the park’s primary fundraising partner, will accept restricted
private donations for the purpose of grooming the Teton Park Road and reimburse the
county for its costs.
The grooming status will be provided on Grand Teton’s recorded road condition hotline
at (307) 739-3682 and posted at facebook.com/GrandTetonNPS. The Teton County
Parks and Recreation’s tetonparksandrec.org/ website will also provide an update on
grooming status. Grooming will end when spring plowing operations begin.