Grand Teton National Park: National Museum of Wildlife Art

Between Jenny Lake and Jackson on a hillside overlooking the prairie sits the National Museum of Wildlife Art. Worth the stop!

 

 
 

Hanging In Jackson Hole, WY

I am of two minds about Jackson Hole since I read "Bears Without Fear" by Kevin Van Tighem. Van Tighem was the long time Superintendent of Banff and correctly points out that national park management bound by political boundaries sometimes makes it hard to manage when habitat is bounded by ecology. As we make parks more accessible but regulated, you find the growth of "edge" towns exploding, offering tourism services. You also find foothills and range land outside the parks being gobbled up for real estate purposes. Sorting through the conflicting priorities and goals of political, economic, and conservation is hard. Certainly the explosion in development in Canmore in Alberta is a prime example, and I think Jackson Hole just south of the Tetons is another.

From a tourist point of view Jackson Hole is great. It has endured a lot of development since our last visit especially to the south. It is trendy and upscale. There are still the $10 tee shirt shops, but there certainly are lots of high end clothing, art, and jewelry stores. It is close enough to the south end of the Tetons to make a trip into town for dinner an easy trip from Jenny Lake Campground and I have already written about how nice it was to experience the multi-use bike path from town up to Jenny lake and to see the work being done to extend it there and to see the start of the bike path going up the east side of the Snake River. In town, in the older section there are dedicated bike lanes where possible and in the southern end of town construction on a segregated bike lane in the newer commercial district.

You can't go into town without checking out the historic cowboy statue and the antler arches on the town green. I also love places that celebrate public art. Lots of that and great food in Jackson Hole.

 

 
 
 

Biking in the Grand Tetons

One of the nice changes we noticed in Grand Teton National Parks since our last visit was the development of bike paths in the park, and the development of dedicated bike lanes in downtown Jackson Hole.  There is a wonderful 43 mile loop you can do up one side of the Snake River, and down the other side. If you are hanging out at Jenny Lake Campground (as we did ) then about 1/4 of it is a multi-use bike trail, from Jenny Lake back down toward Jackson Hole. It was nice to see that work was being done to expand the bike trail further north and to expand it on the east side of the river. I wrote in an earlier post that when you ride north from Jackson to Jenny Lake you feel like you can reach out and touch the mountains. You get to do that stretch on a bike if you'd like as the bike path runs along the most scenic part of the park. It was wonderful. You can also ride all the way back to town if you you are looking for some city action (like catching a Mets game at a sports bar). There will be a post about things I would change in the US National Parks, and better access for bike traffic is high on the list, but the Grand Tetons seem to have figured it out a bit and are expanding what they already have. In the pictures below the little brown dots are antelope.