Jackson Hole, WyomingOne of the major differences between trips to Grand Teton and other national or state parks, is the existance of such a major town so close by. Usually you can't get to a large grocery easily, but here you can. There are dozens of restaurants, kinds of hotels, specialty gift shops and headquarters for float trips, etc.
Picture the two main streets of the center of Jackson as a +.
Parking and traffic gets tighter near the center of the +.
W. Broadway runs to the left of the center of the +, E. Broadway runs to the right.
If you go the left of this + on W Broadway you will find 22 running north to Wilson. From there, Teton Village is 12 miles northwest of Jackson on the Moose Wilson road (390).
N. Cache, the route to the airport (8 miles north of Jackson on 89) and Grand Teton Park, runs on the top of the + and S. Cache Street runs from the center of the + on the bottom leg.
Grand Teton Park begins about five miles north of Jackson on Highway 89 (N. Cache). An entrance gate and visitor center is at Moose Junction, 12 miles north. Another entrance is at Moran Junction, about 30 miles north of Jackson. The south entrance of Yellowstone NP is about 60 miles north on U.S. Hwy 89. Old Faithful is about 40 miles further, about 100 miles from Jackson.
At the northeast corner of the center of the + is Town Square with the arches of antlers. The Shoot Out Gang acts out an old west gunfight nightly, except Sunday, 6:15 to about 6:30 p.m. on the southeast corner of the town square.
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Art gallery tours
There are 35+ galleries in town that you can visit on your own or during our fall trips we can attend parts of the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival. Go to: http://www.jacksonholechamber.com/fall_arts_festival/fall-arts-festival.php for details, including (2008) historic ranch tours Sunday, Sept. 7, cowboy jubilee concert Thursday, Sept. 11, a galleries walk Friday, Sept. 12 &/or Thursday Sept. 18 and the Taste of the Tetons sampling (taste tickets $1) from valley chefs, restaurants and caterers, (and a juried art fair as well), in the town square, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008.
The gallery walks are free and have much more to see (including oil and watercolor paintings, prints, outdoor sculptures, furniture, pottery, quilting, jewelry, rugs) than the local (fee) museum our group was disappointed with on the 2007 trip.
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Highways 191, 89 and 26 are the left and upper legs of the +.
As of 2007/8,
Albertson's, with a big deli/bakery/produce section is at the corner of 22 coming south from Wilson and the curve of 189/191 as it becomes W. Broadway.
A couple of blocks south is the KMART.
Jackson Hole Grocer - 974 W. Broadway between Powderhorn and Scott - 307-733-0450 has a large selection of organic and conventional groceries, deli, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, fair trade coffees, bakery, homopathics, herbs, vitamins
There was an Ace hardware on the north side of W. Broadway near Flat Creek.
The Teton County library was south of W. Broadway on Virginian near Snow King.
A Stitch 'n Time fabric store, at 955 Alpine, between Powderhorn and Scott, has many more kinds of woodsy and western fabrics and quilting projects than anywhere in Silicon Valley. http://www.stitchntimeinc.com/
At 532 North Cache Street on the right as you start to leave Jackson going towards Grand Teton National Park is the Wyoming State Information Center with the sod roof. This Jackson Hole Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center has public restrooms, phones for free local calls to that rafting company, restaurant, etc., hundreds of free brochures and dozens of souvenirs/books for sale.
You can get your fishing license or National Parks pass.
It's usually open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the summer, 8 to 5 in the winter.
According to an article in the Jackson Hole News and Guide, the "Visitor Center ... offers maps, books, exhibits and answers to virtually any question... Children can crawl through a bear den and feel velveted antlers. Upstairs there are mounts of
bighorn sheep, elk, eagles, wolf and grizzly."
You can hold your hand up next to the grizzly's:
"... The center sits on the edge of a Flat Creek marsh on the National Elk Refuge. Visitors can walk out on a deck overlooking the swamp or use a spotting scope to identify duck species. The recorded screech of bugling elk draws people upstairs to a 22-seat television room, where videos on the history, flora and fauna of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are screened continuously."
St John's Medical Center (24 hour) is at 625 E. Broadway at Redmond (307) 733-3636. In an emergency in the park, call 911 as usual. For a problem you can't quite handle yourself, but short of an emergency, there is a medical clinic, (307) 543-2514, on the grounds of Jackson Lake Lodge, (open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the summer and fall of 2008), which is closer to places in the park. To find it, look for the black and white aerial photo at: Jackson Lake Lodge vicinity.
The Center for the Arts (dancer's workshops, recitals, theatre company, art exhibits, touring ballet/bands/choir/dancers/guitarists/pianists/blues/blues rock/funk/jazz/western swing/bluegrass/cowboy balladeer/hootennany/puppeteer) is at 265 S Cache, 2 blocks south of the town square. http://www.jhcenterforthearts.org/
Restaurants in Grand Teton National Park are non-smoking, most others in Wyoming and Montana allow
smoking. There are dozens of restaurants in the town of Jackson. They vary from burgers, Chinese, Mexican, sushi, pasta, Italian, steakhouse to four-stars with "an award-winning wine list". Most lean towards family or casual atmosphere. Grand Tetons restaurants describes the restaurants in the park and has links to menus of ones in town.
The drive from Colter Bay, (where most of us stay on our summer/fall trips), to the edge of Jackson is about 42 miles. A climbing school warns its customers:
"It is very important that you arrive on time, so please allow enough time for travel from wherever you are staying. Speed limits in the Park are low to protect wildlife and visitors, and rangers ticket offenders regularly. We want your entire experience here to be positive, so please do not speed."
The main trip information page for the De Anza College Outdoor Club trips to the Grand Tetons is at Grand Tetons
Grand Tetons trip pages index has brief descriptions of most of the pages about this trip.
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