🇺🇸 United States · Rocky Mountains
Jackson Hole is the name of the great valley in northwestern Wyoming flanked by the towering Teton range, and by extension it is used for the whole tourist area around it, whose hub is the town of Jackson. It is one of the most spectacular mountain destinations in the United States: a blend of the authentic West —with its square of arches built from elk antlers and its saloons— and raw wilderness at the doorstep of two jewels, Grand Teton National Park and, further north, Yellowstone.
The valley is famous for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, in Teton Village, celebrated for its steep, extreme terrain that draws expert skiers from all over the world. In summer, Jackson becomes the gateway to the great parks, with rivers for rafting, wildlife everywhere (bison, elk, bears, wolves) and postcard alpine scenery.
This guide walks you through the essentials of Jackson Hole with a practical eye: the town of Jackson and its famous Town Square, skiing in Teton Village, the closeness of Grand Teton and Yellowstone, the wildlife of the National Elk Refuge, how to get there and get around, and where to sleep and eat. It is the ideal base for combining mountains, Western life and the country's most emblematic national parks.
The Jackson Hole valley was the territory of Indigenous tribes such as the Shoshone and, in the early 19th century, the stomping ground of the fur trappers ('mountain men') who roamed the Rockies; the name recalls David Jackson, one of those fur traders. Too cold and isolated for intensive farming, the valley was settled late, by ranchers and the first tourist ranches ('dude ranches'). The creation of Grand Teton National Park in 1929, expanded in 1950 with land donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr., and the growth of skiing turned the area into the destination it is today. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The least populated state in the country: Shoshone, Cheyenne and Arapaho land, of the Old West and the ranches, the first place in the world to recognize women's right to vote, cradle of the planet's first national park —Yellowstone— and of the sharp peaks of the Grand Teton.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Long before the Europeans arrived, the Jackson Hole valley was the seasonal territory of Indigenous peoples. Tribes such as the Shoshone, the Crow, the Gros Ventre and the Blackfeet moved through the valley in summer to hunt and gather, though the harsh winters at more than 1,900 meters of altitude made permanent settlement inhospitable. Archaeological remains confirm thousands of years of human presence in the area.
In the early 19th century came the fur trappers, the legendary 'mountain men', drawn by the abundance of beaver. It was one of them, David E. Jackson, a partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, who gave the valley its name: his companions began calling that mountain-ringed depression 'Jackson's Hole', because in trapper slang a 'hole' was precisely a valley enclosed by ranges, a good place to spend the winter and trap beaver.
The mythical explorer John Colter, who split off from the Lewis and Clark expedition, may have been the first American of European descent to travel through the area around 1807, on a winter journey near the Tetons and Yellowstone that for years sounded like an unbelievable tall tale.
Permanent settlement of the valley came late and hard. Only from the 1880s did the first permanent settlers arrive, drawn by the land-distribution laws (the Homestead Act), even though the extreme climate severely limited farming. They devoted themselves above all to cattle and horse raising, in an isolated setting where winter could cut the valley off for months.
The town of Jackson took shape in the early 20th century and starred in a singular episode: in 1920 it elected an all-female town government, with a woman mayor and councilwomen, a landmark in American political history, only a few years after women won the vote nationally.
In those same decades an activity emerged that would shape the future: the 'dude ranches', ranches that took in visitors from the East eager to live the Western experience, ride horses and enjoy the scenery. Nature tourism was beginning to look like the valley's true calling, more profitable and more durable than a cattle economy forever at the mercy of the weather.
Jackson Hole's destiny was sealed by the protection of its wilderness. In 1929 Grand Teton National Park was created, initially limited to the mountain range and the lakes at its foot. Conservation found a powerful ally in the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., who for years quietly bought valley land through a front company with the intention of donating it to expand the park and prevent uncontrolled development.
The operation set off a bitter local dispute between conservationists and ranchers who feared losing land and autonomy. After decades of tension, in 1950 Rockefeller's lands were incorporated and the park reached its present extent, taking in a good part of the valley. The road linking Grand Teton with Yellowstone bears the philanthropist's name today.
In parallel, from the 1960s on, the valley developed its skiing side. The opening of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village in 1965, with its impressive vertical drop and extreme terrain, turned it into a mecca for advanced skiers. Ever since, the combination of legendary national parks, world-class skiing and Western aesthetics has made Jackson Hole one of the most coveted mountain destinations in the United States.
In recent decades, Jackson Hole has established itself as one of the richest and most coveted valleys in the United States. The combination of spectacular scenery, two national parks on the doorstep, a world-class ski resort and Wyoming's lack of a state income tax attracted fortunes from all over the country, which bought ranches and built second homes, driving land values to levels comparable with those of major capitals.
That boom brought with it a tension that defines Jackson Hole today: on one side, a prosperous economy based on mountain and nature tourism, with luxury hotels and resorts such as the Four Seasons and Amangani; on the other, a crisis of affordable housing for local workers, many of whom have to travel long distances from Idaho or from valley towns in order to work in Jackson.
At the same time, the valley keeps a strong conservationist commitment, inherited from Rockefeller's generation: much of the surrounding land is protected between the national park, the Bridger-Teton National Forest and refuges such as the National Elk Refuge, which has held back uncontrolled urban development. Jackson Hole thus symbolizes, better than almost anywhere else in the country, the tug-of-war between protected nature, high-end tourism and the social strains that economic success generates in a valley with limited room.