If an AI was asked to compose an alpine scene that was maximally appealing to the human eye, it might well come up with something like this:

This is a view of Grand Teton National Park from a highway passing the park on the eastern side; this view irresistibly draws the eye at every place in the park. For example, here is the nearby Episcopalian Chapel of Transfiguration:

And here is the view of the altar from the front pew:

The first key ingredient of this view is the Teton Range which rises to about 13,000 ft, about 7,000 feet above the flatlands, with no obscuring foothills. This range traces the Teton fault, which caused a discontinuity of around 30,000 feet since eroded through glaciation to yield the current rugged appearance:

The second key ingredient are deep lakes scoured out by the glaciers, the largest of which, Jackson Lake has a depth of more than 400 ft:

Beyond the lakes are the beautiful green meadows:

With herds of grazing elk:

And bison:

And wildflower fields:

Lazily meandering through these meadows is the Snake River:

It doesn’t take a real-estate magnate to recognize the enormous economic potential of this land. Luckily, much of the potential development was preempted by John D Rockefeller, Jr, who simply bought it and donated it to the US government (exercising a Bruce Wayne-like “superpower”).

Grand Teton lies at the southwestern edge of Yellowstone National Park—first and most geologically active of America’s national parks—and now it is time to visit this magnificent park.