Today we are heading out to Jackson Hole. Along the way we’ll check out fishing access sites along the Snake River. The Snake is a prime trout and whitefish river. Staying on route 26 there are numerous turnouts for viewing the Mountain Range and we stopped at most of them! The range is hazy in the daytime. In order to get clear pictures you have to be there early morning or at sunset. Even with the haze the views are majestic.
Along the route we stopped at the Cunningham Cabin historic site. The cabin and land around it was homesteaded by J. Pierce Cunningham in the 1880’s. The twenty year old from New York established the Bar Flying U Ranch where eventually he raised cattle and became one of the valley’s most prominent citizens. Later in the 1920’s he co-authored a petition to set aside the entire Jackson Hole as a recreation area. Ultimately the land was included in todays Grand Teton National Park. We walked the ½ mile trail giving us a glimpse of the difficult life of the homesteading ranchers who shaped the character of Jackson Hole.
Continuing down Rte 26,89,191 we took a side road (Schwabacher). We walked the nature trail along the river and saw a beautiful Blue heron sitting in a tree. (I didn’t know they sat in trees…) The path lead through marshy areas where a family of little ducks scurrying around. On the trail we met a lady who was painting the landscape - what a great talent to have. At the end of the trail we found a bench and just sat listening to the wind. Eventually we headed back to the car.
At Moose Junction we crossed the Snake River onto Moose-Wilson Rd and had a picnic in the shade along the side of the road. We decided to stay on the back road to see where it took us. This truly was a back road - narrow, windy, gravel and gorgeous. We found the Teton Village Ski Area and took a drive around. Very nice with lots of condos. It’s a popular celebrity area in the winter.
Continuing down the road we turned onto Rte 22 which led us into the town of Jackson. I was here with my family many years ago and was looking forward to showing Ken a real cowboy town…. Well it’s changed and the hitching posts, swinging doors, and boardwalk sidewalks are gone. Now it’s more like a big shopping mall. The main area of Jackson is built around the town park which has arches made out of antlers at each corner. We sat in the park for a while watching people and then went across the street to the Cowboy Bar. All of the bar stools are saddles so we climbed up and had a cool one. Back outside it’s almost 90 so we just hung out until it was time to mosey out to the Bar J Chuckwagon for dinner.
The Bar J is a real cattle ranch and they serve cowboy style dinners and put on a great show. While we were waiting to go into the dinning hall we watched a wrangler make corn biscuits in a pan over an open fire. He would take them out and put them on a tray along with homemade honey. I stood in line to get a couple while Ken found us seats inside. We sat at a long table with folks from Utah and had a great time. Soon it was time for dinner (we chose ribs) so we went through the line, which goes really fast, and got all our fixings, corn bread, baked potato, cole slaw, baked beans, and ribs. (later came spice cake for desert). After dinner the Bar J Wranglers put on a great show. Two of the guys are sons of the ranch owner and the others are cowboys on the ranch. They work during the day and do the show at night. Great western songs and lots of laughs. I would recommend this to anyone coming out this way.
We left the ranch about 10PM and drive Rte 26 in the dark for 30 miles. These are narrow, windy, and full of wildlife. We had to stop once for a very large Elk in the road. He was standing sideways and was very hard to see. We caught a movement and was able to stop in time… very scary. When we pulled into our campsite we had a surprise. The Coach House folks we met in Pick City, ND were parked right next to us.
It was a full day and we are off to bed…..
Pictures (bottom to top) Nature trail, Blue Heron (2), Jackson Antlers, Jackson Cowboy Bar, Rte 26 views, Willow Flats overlook, Cunningham property views, View out Cunningham Cabin, Snake River Overlook
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