Northwest Wyoming's Grand Tetons draped in winter snow

Continued from
Driving the American West: Cody, Wyoming

It had been four years since my last trip to Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons, an August trip that also included Yellowstone National Park and celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. We’d vowed to come back and see the area in winter someday, and well…that day had arrived.

The only thing missing was Adam. But hey — I took photos for him.

And, y’know, for you.

To the east of Grand Teton National Park, the stunning Bridger-Teton National Forest greeted me with snow. And I mean, a lot of snow. The kind of snow where you pull into a turnout to treat yourself to a lingering gander at the scenery, and you’re instead faced with an 8-foot-high wall of hard-packed flake-age.

Yes, I managed to climb atop one of these plow-made drifts, and yes, the mountain view was gorgeous. But yes, I (unnecessarily) worried that at any minute, I’d fall into an unseen crevasse — and I got right back into the car.

By the time I’d meandered down from the highest elevation, I could easily pull over to the side of the road and peer straight across a plain at furry, prancing elk and flame-orange grasses. There may have been some hand-clapping, and perhaps some giggling.

I cruised into Grand Teton National Park at golden hour, just in time to see a silvery gleam on the Snake River and several thousand elk parade across the National Elk Refuge. I’d spend most of the next day wending my way through the 20+ miles of the park that are open in winter, often alone on the road and always amazed. I tuned into an NPR music show called UnderCurrents, and visually soaked in the pristine winter snow to an inspirational soundtrack of Native American pop, Latin jazz, African blues and Southern folk.

And I wandered just about every inch of Jackson Hole. I’d really missed it here, a mix of Old West architecture, big city money, conservative politics and liberal thought, locavore cuisine and hunting trophies, low kitsch and high art. In winter, fairy lights twinkle on arches of antlers in the main square, and you have to pick your careful way along black ice on the boardwalks. Folks seem happy to see strangers, and there’s a little more time and space for conversation than in the summer high season.

But not all of Yellowstone National Park is open in winter. The west and east entrances are closed, but my friend Ann Shepphird points out that you can enter the south entrance (just north of Jackson) via snow coaches and can stay right in the middle of the park at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge & Cabins — and beat the summer crowds. (In addition, the park is always open from the north entrance near Gardiner, Montana, as is the nearby Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel.)

So if you want to see how a dazzling, undeveloped swath of nature copes with a clear, cold, sparkling blanket of snow and ice, head on over to northwest Wyoming (or southwest Montana).

And let me know you’re going: I just might be willing to drive.

In winter in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, you might just have to scale 7-foot snowdrifts at turnouts in order to get a decent view

A pair of elk prancing about in the Bridger-Teton National Forest

The greatest road sign of my entire trip, found in the Bridger-Teton National Forest

Silvery winter light on the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park

Just outside of downtown Jackson Hole, the National Elk Refuge is one of the area's most peaceful stretches of protected land

In winter, the National Elk Refuge is home to many thousands of wild elk

A stuffed elk stands proudly in front of Jackson Mercantile, just one ironic mile from the National Elk Refuge

Jackson Hole: Land of sparkly antlers, both moose and elk

The architecture in Jackson Hole is all Old West, all the time

Downtown Jackson Hole has boardwalks instead of sidewalks, which can ice over somethin' fierce in winter

Jackson Hole is full of art galleries and unique works like this positively enormous bronze cowboy

In the Teton movie theater in downtown Jackson Hole, you're likely to be seated next to a real-life cowboy or three

The uber-kitschy Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is one of the most recognizable landmarks on Jackson Town Square

I got your knotty pine for you: one small corner of Jackson Hole's Million Dollar Cowboy Bar

At the Koshu Wine Bar, I enjoyed the deep, rich, fruity Cinder Syrah from southeastern Idaho

Adam bought my teddy bear, Rusty (on the right), for me after our 2008 stay at Jackson Hole's Rusty Parrot Lodge, where every room features a bear; on this trip, I brought Rusty over 1000 miles to have a reunion with his people

The Antler Motel (also called the Antler Inn) was my cozy, right-in-downtown, AAA-discounted home this time around in Jackson Hole

Snow tubing is a popular Jackson Hole alternative for folks like me who don't (yet) know how to ski

Approximately 28 miles worth of Grand Teton National Park is open in winter, and you'll have views like this practically to yourselves

Treat yourselves to a great breakfast about 5 miles outside of Jackson Hole, at Nora's Fish Creek Inn in Wilson

Definitely take a drive out to to Wilson and/or the Teton Village; the scenery, especially in winter, is simply stunning

RESOURCES

TWT Travel Binder: Wyoming
Wyoming Tourism
Grand Teton National Park
Bridger-Teton National Forest
National Elk Refuge
Antler Inn
The Rusty Parrot Lodge
King Tubes
Trio American Bistro
Cafe Genevieve
Pearl Street Bagels
The Garage Restaurant
Koshu Wine Bar

Nora’s Fish Creek Inn

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Continued in
Driving the American West: Boise & Southern Idaho

Travels With Two

Call it a test of my own gumption or a simple thirst for adventure:

I’m hopping in my car and hitting the road to explore the American West!

In an effort to banish writer’s block, stir up my routine and physically reconnect with my passion for travel, I’m uncharacteristically striking out on my own to visit:

• The South Rim of the Grand Canyon in northwestern Arizona
• Monument Valley, Arches and Canyonlands in southeastern Utah
• Glenwood Springs, Basalt, Carbondale and more in western Colorado
• Yellowstone National Park Jackson Hole and the historic town of Cody in northern Wyoming
• The Thousand Springs Scenic Byway and Boise in southern Idaho
• Bend and Crater Lake Portland in northwestern Oregon
• The west coast of Oregon
• Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California

Travels With Two

The Grand Tetons and the Snake River

Gajillions of tourists flock each year to Yellowstone, but for our dime, it’s all about Grand Teton National Park.

True, you could scale a mountain face or tramp through a dozen hikes, discovering a little-seen waterfall or tracking a herd of tule elk.  But Grand Teton offers more passive pleasures for those, like us, who care to see nature unfold from a seated position.

The roads here are beautifully paved, so you can always put the car window down and gape open-mouthed. But you could also float the willful Snake River, dream awhile by  Jenny Lake, wait patiently for the sun to blaze behind the jagged Teton Range, watch wild animals graze in the sagebrush flats while you enjoy a glass of wine, or wander to a hand-hewn bench to see a magnificent floodplain stretch out before the mountains, lake, and forest.

One sixth the size of Yellowstone, Grand Teton is the only national park that boasts an airport within its borders; Jackson Hole is just ten minutes’ drive away.  The flight into this area is nothing short of spectacular, unless it’s always been your worst nightmare to swoop down into a towering line of mountains.

The park’s dramatic landscape soars from its snow-sprinkled namesakes to:

Forests in a dozen shades of green;
spongy golden hills like shaved wheaten terriers;
dry plains of bonsai-esque sagebrush;
squishy-soft meadows and marshes;
great big lakes;
and the twisting, braided Snake River.

If you’re looking to stay inside the park, we didn’t find a setting comparable to Jackson Lake Lodge.  I initially ran into this little slice of 1950s history to use the ladies’, and ended up fetching Adam in from the car to see the cathedral/lounge.

The fireplaces here are massive, and so are the 60-foot tall windows; inside or out, the sweeping view of the lake, the Tetons, Willow Flats, and a handful of pristine ponds will leave you speechless.  If you’re just stopping in, check with the front desk about booking a boat trip on Jackson Lake or dinner in the Mural Room.

Jackson Lake Lodge

Our one meal in the park was a lovely lunch at Jenny Lake Lodge.  At this elegant, polished-pine cabin with a mountain meadow view, meals are served on white tablecloths and good china, but the food isn’t overly fussy.  Adam loved his portobello panini, my salad had actual green lettuce (not always a given in a national park), and the soup of the day, mushroom lavender, was the perfect accompaniment to the scene outside.  Apparently, the rooms here are the fanciest to be found outside of Jackson Hole (and at $500+, you’re definitely paying for it), but the lake is across the road and through the trees, not viewable from the lodge.  Your call, but at $269 with a view at the Jackson, this wouldn’t be a hard choice for us.

Jenny Lake itself was our favorite part of the park.  Stash your car midway along it — keeping an eye out for foraging elk —  and stroll down to the water’s edge for a pebbly little spit of beach cushioned by a fringe of pines.  The water is clear and teal blue at the edges, an sun dapples through the shade of the trees; on our late-August visit, a light breeze quietly ruffled the surface.  Here, the Tetons themselves appear to rise from the center, and you can clearly see each crag and snowdrift.  An occasional canoe will drift by, and so will your sense of time.  Not a bad place to fall in love all over again.

Jenny Lake

A Snake River float will seal the deal. If you have time for only one adventure in Grand Teton National Park, this is it.  We had the concierge at our hotel, the Rusty Parrot, set this up for us, but you could also contact Barker-Ewing Float Trips on your own.  They offer whitewater trips as well as floats, but going slowly enough to catch animals in their wild habitats appealed to us far more.

We were two of eleven passengers in a sturdy rubber raft, floating for the two prime animal-viewing hours just shy of sunset.  It’s calm and quiet on the water, and as the light grows soft, the reeds and marshes glow.  Seeing the sun glint over the Tetons just before dusk was especially silent, save for the harp music in our heads.

Our guide, a young guy born and bred just minutes from the park, pointed out every beaver, deer, eagle and osprey, and spun yarns about the river in every aeon and season.  The Snake gets choppy and tree-choked in places, but he never lost his bearings or his narrative thread.

In late summer, it’s advisable to wear sneakers or Teva-type sandals, take along a sweatshirt or jacket, and if it doesn’t make you feel too dorky, bring a little pillow for your tush.  After two hours, though happy and relaxed, we were lamenting our partial loss of coccyx function.

Snake floating with Barker-Ewing

After ending our float at dusk, we drove one minute up the road to the commercial center of Moose and the ever-popular Dornan’s.

A two-story cafe, bar and comprehensive wine shop, Dornan’s is where locals and tourists alike come to listen to concerts at the Chuckwagon across the parking lot, or have excellent wines, simple salads, pizza and good company in the open air.  The hot tables here are first-come-first-serve on the second-floor deck; they look out over a brushy plain beside the Snake and Tetons, a prime viewing spot for evening-foraging elk and bison.  By the time we arrived at 8pm, it was wall-to-wall jammed, so we gave up waiting; it was enough for us to just drink in the scene and check out the dizzying array of California reds.

The animals will keep in this protected space — no reason not to go back and see them some other night.

The view from Dornan's in Moose, Wyoming

For more of our photos from Grand Teton National Park, please click here.

See related posts
TWT Travel Binder: Wyoming
The (Steamy) Heart of Yellowstone
Jackson Hole: The New Old West

Travels With Two