If Miley Cyrus hopped off a plane at LAX with a dream and a cardigan, I hopped off at JAC with high hopes and a puffer jacket — minus the glamour, plus three landing attempts and a bout of nausea I’m still recovering from.
The plane came into Jackson Hole hard, bounced once, and pulled back up. Then tried again. The turbulence had my hands gripping the armrest, and by the third approach, I just wanted solid ground. When we finally touched down, I peered around my boyfriend (now husband; one of our first trips together) out the window and couldn’t look away.
Snow-capped peaks rose before us, enormous and looming, sharp against the pale sky. Everything was so small, so insignificant against them. The plane taxied toward the gate, and I remember thinking, O’Hare is a shithole compared to this. I couldn’t wait to get off.
We stepped out directly onto the tarmac. The air was thin and cold, the sun bright, with no clouds overhead. I stood there for a moment, bag in hand, and thought: I’m going to like it here.
It’s hard to believe this was six years ago, in October 2020. I’ve been sitting on the photos ever since, half meaning to write about it, half convinced too much time had passed. Looking at them again, I realized something. Everyone’s chasing a version of this right now: Americana, western aesthetics, that golden-hour ranch fantasy. Yet Jackson Hole and the surrounding Tetons were completely indifferent to whether anyone showed up to notice.
Six years is enough time for the minute-by-minute details to fade, but the good stuff stuck. Here’s what we found, and everything worth knowing about things to do in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
See Jackson Hole on Foot
The Antler Arch in Town Square was our first stop — four thousand elk antlers stacked into an arc like a strange, very western cathedral. It’s worth checking out, cliché or not. Some photos earn the repetition.
Mormon Row at sunrise came next. T.A. Moulton Barn is the most photographed building in the American West, and for good reason. We got there early, watched the weathered wood turn into a pinkish hue as the sun came up, and quickly understood why everyone shoots it. Get there before the crowds do.
Jenny Lake is where we really tested ourselves. The hiking trail runs longer than the map suggests; this is a real climb, not a stroll, take it from someone who is no seasoned hiker. The first thirty minutes were fine. I remember looking back at George and saying, “We should hike more often.”
Half an hour later, my calves were screaming, I was breathing hard, and we’d stopped talking entirely. (I’ll never understand how people run and chat.) A bear warning sign made us move faster, but we kept going. When we reached the top, the whole valley opened up below us, the Tetons rising behind it all. Dare I say, worth every leg cramp.
Eat and Drink in Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole takes food more seriously than its cowboy-town reputation lets on. Start at Glorietta, the wood-fired Italian spot located at the Anvil Hotel. Dangerously convenient if you’re staying there, and worth seeking out even if you’re not — the fusilli alla vodka has more kick than you’d expect from a red sauce classic. A few blocks over, The Kitchen leans modern American with Asian influences. The seafood stood out here (a very good excuse to take a night off from meat), and whatever you do, don’t skip the shrimp toast starter. For a full carnivore’s night out, Local does elk and bison better than almost anywhere else in town. This is the place to go if you’ve been curious about game meat but haven’t taken the leap yet (it’s good, I swear!!)
Mornings belong to Persephone, a French-style bakery and café that’s earned a cult following (and rightfully so). Get there early for a coffee and pastry, but if you’re not a morning person, you’re still in luck because they’ll also take care of you at lunch.
Jackson’s brewery scene deserves its own separate outing, and it’s worth exploring more than one. Snake River Brewing, downtown and sprawling, is where we got a little too adventurous with our order. We tried the duck confit pizza. We do not recommend the duck confit pizza. Order it if you’re curious, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. For the actual beer, Still West was the standout of the trip, tucked closer to the mountain with a patio that looks straight up at Snow King. And if you find yourself at Roadhouse Brewery right in the town center, don’t be surprised if the whole night turns into an impromptu reunion. We ran into an old coworker there who treated us to a round of beer flights on the house.
For drinks with a little more polish, Bin 22 is equal parts wine shop and tapas bar, where a glass of something good is reason enough to stop in. The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is the classic you simply cannot skip: saddle barstools, western memorabilia, and a century’s worth of history that somehow still feels lively rather than like a museum. And if you’re craving a proper cocktail after a night of Coors Banquets, The Rose has bartenders who take their craft seriously.
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone is close enough that people treat it as an afternoon add-on to a Jackson Hole trip, which is a mistake. Give it a whole day, at least. Spanning 3,472 square miles, there’s truly so much to see and explore within the world’s first national park. Grand Prismatic throws steam into the sky in a way photos never quite capture — you’ll smell it before you see it, and the color only fully reveals itself once you’re standing right at the edge. From there, head to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, where Artist Point and Lookout Point offer two different angles of the same rugged, layered canyon. One head-on to the falls, the other wider and more sweeping. If you have time to push further north, Mammoth Hot Springs trades geysers for travertine terraces that look almost architectural.
Yellowstone is a completely different side of Wyoming from the golden, aspen-lined town you just left, and the contrast is part of what makes the detour worth it. Half the fun of Yellowstone is the drive itself. Some of the most beautiful moments weren’t at a marked overlook at all, just an unremarkable pull-off on the side of the road. Wildlife sightings picked up as the day went on as well, so keep your eyes on the tree line even between stops, not just at the official viewpoints.
One practical tip: download the NPS app before you go and save Yellowstone’s maps for offline use. Cell service inside the park is spotty at best, and the app’s interactive maps make it much easier to navigate between stops without relying on a signal that may or may not show up.
Six Years Later
What stuck with me most, looking back, wasn’t the antler arch or the barn everyone photographs. It was how much beauty was just sitting there, unbothered, whether anyone showed up to see it or not. That’s the real pitch for Jackson Hole, trend or no trend. This corner of Wyoming has been doing Americana long before it was a fad to chase. But if a nostalgic algorithm is what gets you there, I’m not going to argue with it.
Until next time, Jackson Hole.
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