A Perfect 3 Day Weekend in Jackson Hole
I write a lot of travel guides for local businesses like Outbound Hotels and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. For visitors staying at those places, they hit the mark. These guides usually come with some restrictions though so for a lot of other travelers, they probably leave something to be desired. Especially those like me who aren’t trying to larp as a cowboy and are a little more outdoor-inclined.
Living in a national park isn’t always as fun as it sounds but this past weekend was top tier. From fishing at Flagg Ranch to running 25 miles in the Tetons, this is what a perfect weekend looks like for someone who lives in Grand Teton National Park.
Friday - Town Day in Jackson Hole
The town of Jackson is the least interesting part of a trip to Jackson Hole, IMO. So for brevity, I’m just going to list my regular haunts in town:
Run up Cache Creek - this is where I go when I’m sick of carrying bear spray in the park. Though to be clear, you should carry bear spray here.
Pearl Street Bagels - Spinach Feta bagel with Sun dried tomato olive cream cheese and sprouts is my go to. Maybe a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie too.
On Fridays, Sweet Cheeks makes sandwiches that are straight out of Europe. Everything they offered was way too heavy for the 90 degree day so I passed, but it’s a great alt in the cooler months.
High Country Outfitters - Ken is an award-wining fisherman so if you’re trying to go fishing on your own and aren’t sure what flies are bumping right now, High Country is the place to go.
Picnic - Yes, you can get coffee at Pearl Street but I love an espresso spritzer. I don’t get to town often so when I do, I always stop at both and I always skip the line and order ahead of time online.
REI - Generally I recommended Teton Mountaineering always but REI sells certain watch things that TM doesn’t.
Smiths - All of our grocery stores are terrible here so I have no advice on where to shop.
Later, we met up with a friend who used to be a fishing guide in the park. We took his boat out at Flagg Ranch, which is excellent fishing early season but gets weaker as the summer goes on. Jake was a little disappointed and said Flagg is done but I caught the most fish I ever have, so I suppose it depends on your personal skill level. I caught 5 cutthroats and brown trouts and missed plenty more and rowed the last 1/3rd of the way so all in all it was a pretty solid fishing day.
Realistically it is probably time to move on to the main Snake from Deadman’s Bar to Moose, though.
Pro tip: it’s hot as hell right now and I killed several fish from the stress of being caught in hot water, which I hate doing. I would highly recommend fishing in the morning or, if you have the ability, keep your big fish and cook them up. Trout is tasty.
Saturday - Run Up Granite and Death Canyons
I ran Paintbrush and Cascade Canyons on July 4th (20 miles), which is what I would recommend for most new folks looking for a big hike. Paintbrush is holding onto snow still and there were some sketchy parts though, so I’d wait a little longer if you’re not comfortable with that. Hiking up to Lake Solitude from Cascade Canyon is a great hike in itself.
You can find somewhat updated reports on the Grand Teton website or Alltrails, though neither one felt particularly accurate. I would actually maybe search on Instagram for photos or videos from other hikers for the most up to date info.
I’m training to run the Crest Trail and wanted to push the mileage a little farther this weekend so the only loop with current snow levels was Granite and Death Canyon. Granite to Death Canyon is 25.3 miles with 4000+ft of vertical gain. These canyons have much fewer visitors than Cascade and Paintbrush, but with the current Death Canyon TH construction parking is still a challenge.
Death Canyon is super craggy and has an incredible rock shelf at the top so it’s one of my favorite canyons; Granite is kind of whatever. Granite is pretty overgrown but it is the best access point if you want to hike to Lake Marion. For lower mileage, you can also take the tram up to Rendezvous and hike to Lake Marion but honestly I dont think it’s worth all of that. It’s a cute lake but it’s probably the least interesting of the Teton lakes.
I swam in Lake Marion, saw a moose, and felt sick af at the end of the run because 90 degrees in July in the Tetons is not normal and my electrolyte game did not keep up. Water, electrolytes, and eating enough calories help with elevation as well as dehydration so if you’re doing a big hike here, stay on top of your fuel!
Lake Marion going up Fox Creek Pass
Wildflower game is good right now
Sunday - Whitewater on the Snake River in Alpine Canyon
Alpine Canyon is the iconic whitewater stretch in Jackson Hole. My partner and friends all guide on the Snake in Grand Teton National Park, but that is not whitewater. It’s fast and uniquely braided and people underestimate it and die so I still highly recommend going with a guide but if whitewater is your jam, you’ll have to look to Dave Hansen, Jackson Hole Whitewater, etc or bring your own boats.
It was another extremely hot day so the canyon was busy. The rivers in Wyoming are generally cold all year and I often wear a dry suit but at these temps, we were all swimming and I was just paddling in my sun hoody. If you’re sitting up high in a boat, you’re going to bake and don’t need any sort of waterproof suit this time of year.
as they say in the Grand Canyon: if you’re hot, you’re stupid.
Our classic route is West Table to Sheep’s Gulch, but you can do a wide assortment of put ins and take outs. Our route is a little over 7 miles and takes several hours, depending on flows. There are plenty of rapids in here that range from class II to III (or IV at high water), but the main ones of interest are Kahuna and Lunch Counter. Lunch Counter is generally the gnarliest but as water levels drop, Kahuna gets bigger. Snake River Photo takes photos at Lunch Counter and Kahuna (depending which one is bigger) so you should always look for your floatographs afterwards!
they are ridiculously expensive so accepting donations to buy this photo.
Lunch Counter is famous for its standing wave that people surf, and the surfers were everywhere this weekend. Lunch Counter is overall a bumping spot, as people hike down to watch the surfers and rafters and jump in the rapid (with pfds ofc). It’s a great spot to run the rapid several times too with your kayak or packraft, as you can just pull over in the eddy below and walk back up on the rock shelves. This eddy is one of our favorite spots to take a break, eat the sandwich we picked up from Dornan’s deli, swim, etc, but it will get crowded.
At the end of the day, we went to Dornan’s to grab a pizza with the best view in the valley. Dornan’s proper was slammed so we ended up at Chuckwagon, which I strongly discourage. Wait for the pizza and close out an amazing weekend the right way.
