From the sky, you understand how the Snake River earned its name: As you descend over the Jackson Hole valley, it twists and curves beneath the rugged, snowcapped Teton Range, which tops out over thirteen thousand feet and draws your gaze from the plane window. Flying in and out of Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) offers the bragging rights of traveling through the country’s only commercial airport located entirely inside a national park, Grand Teton. Regular directs from Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Houston put Southerners into the heart of the park in mere hours, with airlines often adding winter routes from D.C. for East Coast ski bums. Stroll under the airport’s welcoming archway of antlers and know that your commute is over—it’s just nine miles to the town of Jackson itself, and you’re already smack-dab in the land of moose sightings, easy hikes, whiskey cocktails, and red-meat Americana.
Get Out There
Plenty of folks relocate to Jackson to fish for half the year and ski the other, and those seasons are catnip for visitors, too. In the summer and autumn, Teton Troutfitters leads fly-fishing trips along the Snake for native cutthroat trout. And although the world’s first national park, Yellowstone, is temptingly just an hour’s drive away, don’t sleep on Grand Teton, with its abundant bike paths, scenic boat rides to hidden waterfalls, and hikes for all ambition levels. One sure bet: any stretch of the Jenny Lake Loop, a mostly flat footpath around a shimmering expanse carved out by Ice Age glaciers. In the summer, fawns graze among lupine and laurel fringing the lake; fall makes way for asters against a green mosaic of fir, spruce, and pine. Winter brings snowshoeing and cross-country skiing to the park, but adrenaline seekers will have no shortage of downhill options at Jackson Hole’s three ski resorts.
Dine and Dance
It’s a Western rite of passage to walk through the wooden doors at Jackson’s Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, find a seat—an actual leather saddle atop a stool—at the massive bar, order a brown-water pour from a regional distiller like High West or Wyoming Whiskey, and watch dancers two-step or Western swing. And it’s easy to keep the party going with a bite at a true locals’ haunt just outside downtown, the Bird. Regulars know that after picking from among the brews on tap, one’s toughest choice is deciding which of the many brisket burger options to order (or opting instead for lemon-pepper wings). For something a little more date-night appropriate, or for anyone wanting prime meats with views looking straight up the Tetons, book dinner at Steadfire Chophouse at the Four Seasons. Don’t skip the daily butcher’s cut from 22 Wagyu ranch; do spoon on the huckleberry steak sauce.
You’re in the Club
For two decades, Snake River Sporting Club has been a private hunting and fishing paradise set across nearly a thousand mountainous acres and abutting the expansive protected lands of Bridger-Teton National Forest. Since last year’s opening of the Sylvan Lodge there, guests can enjoy its luxurious amenities by booking a modern riverside cabin or one of the lodge’s thirty-eight rooms and suites with panoramic windows, gas fireplaces, and heated stone floors. Creature comforts like those might tempt you to hibernate in elegance, emerging only for a spa appointment on the ground floor of the lodge, but adventure calls. Nearly six miles of private fly-fishing access trace the Snake, a skeet-shooting range overlooks Wolf Mountain, and horseback trails wind through golden-leaved aspen groves. All that to say: A massage will feel even more restorative after a day spent in the wild.
CJ Lotz Diego is a Garden & Gun deputy editor. A staffer since 2013, she wrote G&G’s bestselling Bless Your Heart trivia game, edits the Due South travel section, and covers gardens, books, and art. Originally from Eureka, Missouri, she graduated from Indiana University and now lives in Charleston, South Carolina, where she tends a downtown pocket garden with her florist husband, Max.