Bridger-Teton National Forest
Jackson Ranger District
Jackson, WY
One of the largest national forests in the country, wrapping Jackson Hole in wilderness, hot springs, and headwaters.
The Bridger-Teton is one of the largest national forests in the country, more than three million acres of mountains, rivers, and wilderness wrapped around Jackson Hole. It holds the headwaters of rivers that flow to both the Pacific and the Gulf, and its high country ranks among the wildest land left in the Lower 48.
For all its scale, it is remarkably reachable. From the town of Jackson you can drive up a river canyon, walk into a wilderness, or soak in a hot spring in the space of an afternoon. It is the wild backyard of the Tetons, quieter than the parks it borders and every bit as beautiful.
What Guests Love
- Soaking in the backcountry pool at Granite Hot Springs
- Some of the wildest, least-crowded high country in the Lower 48
- Scenic drives up the Hoback and Gros Ventre river canyons
- World-class hiking, fishing, and wildlife watching just outside Jackson
Worth Knowing
- This is grizzly and black bear country, so carry bear spray and store food properly
- High passes and backcountry roads hold snow well into summer, so check conditions
- The Granite Creek road to the hot springs is unpaved and closes seasonally
- Weather turns fast at elevation, so pack layers even on warm days
Details
Jackson, WY
Learn about Bridger-Teton National Forest
Granite Hot Springs
Up the Granite Creek road off the Hoback Canyon sits Granite Hot Springs, a rock-lined pool built into the forest in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Hot mineral water fills the pool against a backdrop of peaks, and the setting, deep in the woods at the end of a gravel road, is half the pleasure.
Nearby, Granite Falls tumbles over a ledge in the creek, and the whole side canyon makes a fine day. In summer the road is open to cars, and in winter the pool becomes a reward at the end of a snowmobile or dogsled trip through the snow.
Wilderness on every side
The forest holds a remarkable amount of designated wilderness. The Gros Ventre Wilderness rises east of Jackson Hole, the Teton Wilderness reaches north toward Yellowstone across some of the remotest country in the region, and the Bridger Wilderness climbs the west slope of the Wind River Range to glacier-carved peaks and hundreds of alpine lakes.
Together they shelter grizzly and black bears, wolves, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn, and form a crucial piece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the last nearly intact temperate ecosystems on Earth. Trails lead from roadside into country where you can walk for days.
River canyons and the valley
Two scenic river canyons open the forest to anyone with a car. The Hoback River carves a green gorge southeast of Jackson along the highway, and the Gros Ventre River leads east past the great Gros Ventre Slide, a mountainside that let go in 1925 and dammed the river into Lower Slide Lake.
This is the ancestral homeland of the Eastern Shoshone and other nations, who summered in the high valleys and hunted the herds that still move through the forest. The mountain-man rendezvous of the fur-trade era were held in these same valleys, near where the town of Jackson grew up.
Visiting
The town of Jackson is the hub, with a Forest Service district office for maps, permits, and current conditions. From there, paved and gravel roads climb into the Hoback, the Gros Ventre, and toward the wilderness trailheads, and the national parks lie a short drive north.
Summer and early fall are the seasons for high-country hiking and the hot springs road; winter turns the forest into a backcountry-ski and snowmobile playground. Whatever the season, come ready for bears, weather, and the fact that help can be far away.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Jackson
Grand Teton National Park
About 15 miles north
The jagged Teton Range rising straight from the valley floor above glassy lakes and the Snake River, one of the most dramatic mountain fronts in the country.
Town of Jackson
In the valley
The lively hub of Jackson Hole, with its antler-arched town square, galleries and saloons, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art just north of town.
National Elk Refuge
Just north of Jackson
A winter home for thousands of elk on the edge of town, with sleigh rides among the herds in the cold months and abundant birdlife year round.