The quaint blends with the sublime in Jackson Hole in the northwestern corner of Wyoming. Those who want to rendezvous with the Wild West — whether it’s just to participate in some rugged backpacking or to watch a make-believe shootout — can find it all in this town that stretches for 50 miles on a valley floor that is more than 6,000 feet high.
Though Jackson Hole (“hole” is trapper parlance for a mountain-encircled valley) might sound like a rustic little Western hideaway, it is actually one of America’s premier year-round resort destinations and has become a playground for the rich and famous and just plain folk, both in summer when the landscape is shrouded in green, and in winter when some 400 inches of snow fall to cover the mountain peaks with a mantle of white. Completely ringed with beautiful jagged mountains, Jackson Hole is also the gateway to two other national treasures — Yellowstone National Park to the north, and majestic Grand Teton National Park on the west.
All this makes Jackson Hole a paradise for the outdoor enthusiast, while still maintaining its Old West character through its raised wooden sidewalks and barn-board-faced buildings. In summer, people swarm into the area for its wealth of recreational activities — fishing, whitewater rafting, water-skiing, kayaking, biking, hiking, mountain climbing, backpacking and more. Those who want a more commanding view can take a ride in a multicolored hot air balloon that glides over the area’s forests, lakes and wildlife. Another phenomenal panorama can be had by taking the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram Ride from the heart of Teton Village to the summit of 10,450-foot Rendezvous Mountain in just 12 minutes.
Those looking for Old West adventures can step back in time six nights a week at 6 p.m. from May through September to take in the longest-running Western shootout. This is a staged gunfight drama at the southeast corner of Jackson Town Square. The good guys square off with the bad guys. No blood flows, but when a stagecoach comes into view, shots ring out, characters fall “dead,” and sheriff and deputies save the day and the town’s payroll.
More pleasurable to those with a cultural bent is the Grand Teton Music Festival where symphony and musical programs feature renowned musicians from late June to late August, while the world’s largest collection of paintings (more than 2,000 by about 100 artists) and sculptures depicting Western wildlife can be seen at the striking National Museum of Wildlife Art, three miles north of town.
Relentless shoppers may prefer perusing the designer shops, cafes and art galleries in Jackson Hole, but others might prefer the atmosphere at the landmark Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, with its wild buckaroo marquee out front. Enjoy a steak dinner here or some spirits at the bar where the stools are real western leather saddles. Also worth a look is the Silver Dollar Bar where hundreds of silver dollars, dated 1921, glint beneath the bar’s varnish. They’re real and commemorate the original owner’s wedding day in 1921.
In winter, the blatant charms of Jackson Hole force visitors to make some painful choices. Should they go skiing, snowmobiling, snowboarding, dogsledding, paragliding, heli-skiing or ice-skating? Those who don’t recognize their own skiing limitations might prefer tackling Corbet’s Couloir, a stupefying vertical drop of 4,139 feet from the top of Rendezvous Mountain to the valley floor. It’s one of the longest continuous rises of any ski area in the United States.
Another major draw in winter is the 25,000-acre National Elk Refuge, northeast of town. As the air gets chillier and snow begins to fall, 7,000 to 12,000 elk make their way down from Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks to this peaceful refuge in search of food. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers sleigh rides so that you can catch a glimpse of the feeding herd from as close as 30 yards away.
Male elks have one very attractive quality: They lose their antlers in March and April before they migrate to their summer range, and grow a new set during the summer. This has distinguished Jackson Hole in several ways, for it has turned the town into the only place in the world where in May of each year a public auction of some three tons of elk antlers is held at Jackson Town Square (proceeds go to the refuge) during the annual Jackson Hole Elkfest. There are cookout breakfasts, parades, a rodeo, Native American hoop dancers, stagecoach rides and the reading of cowboy poetry, but the most intriguing is the auction.
Among the enthusiastic bidders from around the world are Asians who export these antlers to be made into potions that are touted as aphrodisiacs.
Others make furniture, wall decorations and jewelry. And the antlers have been put to use in another creative way — the massive gateway arches that frame each of the four corners of Jackson Town Square are made up of hundreds of elk antlers harvested by the local Boy Scouts from the National Elk Refuge.
