Today Grand Teton National Park welcomes more than 3 million visitors a year, and the appeal is as obvious as the majestic mountains that tower over the landscape. It’s as beautiful a setting as you will find to experience the joys of outdoor life.
More than 80 years ago photographer Hansel Mieth went to Wyoming for a big package on summer vacation destinations in the July 14, 1941 issue of LIFE magazine, and his pictures captured the realm of natural wonder and adventure that, all these years later, still draws people to the Cowboy State.
The two shots from Mieth’s essay that ran in the magazine featured what LIFE described as “vacationing college girls” riding on horseback and listening to “a cowboy strum his song.” Other photos from his set show tourists fishing, hiking, and taking a dip in the lake, with the Grand Tetons usually looming in the background.
Mieth also documented a few slices of everyday life in the most sparsely-populated state in the lower 48—people farming, riding motorcycles, getting a shoeshine. He also shot a church wedding that looks like a scene of frontier life.
Of course some things have changed in the decades since Mieth visited. Park visitors today are more likely to be wearing fleece quarter-zips and other athleisure wear than the denims and plaid shirts in his pictures. And the spaces in Wyoming are not as open as they used to be: The summer crowds in Grand Teton National Park and similar destinations that LIFE photographed back in the day such as Yellowstone and Yosemite can test the vacationer’s patience. Also, the prices have inevitably gone up. The 1941 story mentioned that a cabin on park grounds could be rented for $30 a week; today the price of in-park lodging, though still a good deal, would be several hundred dollars.
But many of the sights from this 1941 story will be familiar to contemporary visitors, and that is a tribute to the national parks program and its mission of conservation. What was jaw-dropping then remains jaw-dropping today.
Friends fished for trout in the lake in the Grand Tetons, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Fishing in the Grand Tetons, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationers fishing in the Grand Tetons, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Fishing in the Grand Tetons, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The Grand Tetons, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The Grand Tetons, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Climbing in the Grand Tetons, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Climbing in Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationers in Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationing college students riding on horseback through the Grand Teton area, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationers in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationers in the Grand Tetons, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationers in Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Scene from a wedding in a small town church, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Newlyweds leaving a church in Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationers in Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationers listened to a cowboy playing guitar, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationing college students listened to a cowboy sing his song, Grand Tetons, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vacationers enjoyed a riverside picnic, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Shoe shine, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Motorcyclists in Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A tractor pulling wagons on a farm, Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Wyoming, 1941.
Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
