The striking views of the Teton range make this park a must visit! Along with the mountains you have a number of lakes, glaciers, and wildlife to see. This park can also easily be combined with a trip to Yellowstone. If you love hiking and backpacking – this is your spot! And even if not, you don’t need to hike far to experience the beauty here. During my first trip here I was still recovering from a foot surgery and couldn’t hike much – and I still had a blast!

Colter Bay

Here you will find the northern-most visitor center in the park with several amenities, including lodging, camping, fuel, and food. There is a 2 mile figure-8 nature hike on the lake that I recommend for something easy in the area. This hike starts behind the visitor’s center and provides great views of the Teton range across Jackson Lake. You could get lucky and see some wildlife – a bear was spotted on the farther island a day before our visit.

Willow Flats Overlook & Oxbow Bend Turnout

I’m grouping these together because they both provide opportunities to see wildlife. We saw several people patiently waiting for an opportunity to see bears, while elk peacefully roamed the area. These are also great spots for bird watching!

Snake River Overlook

This is a fantastic sunset spot in the park. To be honest, there are a lot of them – this one is just more famous due to Ansel Adam’s photograph of the area from 1942. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the brilliant sunset colors.

Jenny Lake

Many hiking options in this area! The most popular hikes here are to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, accessible through either a hike around the lake (clockwise is 2.4 miles, counter-clockwise is 3 miles to the Hidden Falls trailhead) or via a boat shuttle across the lake. From the trailhead it is then a short half mile to Hidden Falls and another half mile to the top of Inspiration Point. Given their popularity you will encounter many people on this hike (or potentially be in a single file line..). At the top of Inspiration Point you will also find many chipmunks – please don’t feed them or drop food on the ground! Keep the animals wild.

If you are looking for more seclusion, opt for the hikes to/from the visitors center to the trailhead, continue hiking into Cascade Canyon from Inspiration Point (we were told you could even see moose here!) or hike north to String Lake or Leigh Lake.

The boat shuttle leaves every 15 minutes from each direction; the actual trip takes 5-10 minutes (you get a short orientation before taking off). At the time of our visit, a one-way ticket cost $10 and a round trip was $18.

Taggart Lake

Gorgeous area for a picnic, which is all we ended up doing here! There is an easy 3 mile in-and-out hike to Lake Taggart and longer options for a loop (3.9 miles, easy to moderate), hiking to Bradley Lake also (5.9 miles, moderate), and to Teton Glacier (difficult, see map).

That Famous Barn

It’s here and angled just perfectly for a beautiful shot of the Teton range. Not much else to say here!

Roosevelt Preserve

We inquired about the preserve as it was on our original itinerary to visit. The visitors center at the preserve provides a more ‘sensory’ experience than others in the park. There are hiking trails that start here, with the possibility of encountering wildlife on the longer (more secluded) hikes.

Lodging

Depending on the type of your trip, you may either opt to camp, stay in a hotel, or even a ranch. We found a great place that I highly recommend, Heart Six Ranch. The staff was nice and our room had a fantastic view. They offer different types of accommodations, including sleeping in a wagon.

Veggie in the Park

Similar to some other parks in the US, this one is also very friendly for any kind of diet. No matter which park area you stop at, options will be available – however there are two I recommend right off the bat: Signal Mountain Lodge and the general stores.

Signal Mountain Lodge contains two restaurants, Trapper Grill and Peaks Restaurant, as well as a bar, Deadman’s Bar. We stopped to eat at Trapper Grill for dinner and breakfast, waiting out the rain one morning. For dinner options they have two jackfruit sandwiches (jackfruit banh mi and BBQ jackfruit sandwich, omit coleslaw for vegan), homemade chickpea burger (vegetarian, not vegan), nachos that you can get with black beans for a veggie option (omit sour cream and cheese for vegan, add guacamole), and two salads that can be made vegan (Asian and Taco, with the right modifications). They also do beer flights with a good selection of wonderful local craft beers to choose from. I highly recommend the Snake River brewing beers.

Breakfast here has great options and can pass for the vegan visitor – oatmeal, fresh fruit, or a make-your-own breakfast plate that I made up while there: a plate of black beans, sauteed vegetables, and hash browns, with BBQ sauce for more flavor.

Some notable grocery finds in the park’s general stores include Beyond Burgers & Sausages, Dr Praeger veggie burgers, Starbucks bottled almond milk vanilla frappuccino, Hi Ball cold brew, fresh fruit and fresh fruit cups, and many more! I saw a number of gluten-free bread options as well. The selection will vary by each general store, but worry not – each one will have some nice surprises in store.

The Jackson Lodge has a diner-style restaurant that serves up huckleberry milkshakes – my travel pals enjoyed these a lot! They’re not vegan, but maybe one day?

Veggie in Jackson

One way or another, you will likely end up in Jackson WY, by either flying in here, simply staying while visiting the park, or just passing through, as was in our case. We had dinner at FIGS Lebanese restaurant, located in the lobby of the Jackson hotel. This is certainly not a budget dinner option but does provide excellent food! We ordered the Figs Five Mezze platter to share (falafel, za’atar potatoes, hummus, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh, and pitas) along with the Spinach Pie and the Labneh. The falafel here is excellent. It was enough food for 4 girls, with the portions being on the lighter side.

From my research of Jackson’s vegan dinner options, I also came across other contenders – Hatch Taqueria and Liberty & Gather burgers. They’ll be on my list for visiting next time – let me know how they are if you go!

Snake River Brewing is also located in Jackson. Though we didn’t sample the food, they do offer vegetarian options that can be modified for vegans (California pizza without cheese, buffalo cauliflower without ranch). The beer is excellent – I highly recommend the Jenny Lake lager and Hoback hefeweizen.

Skip

Mormon Row drive – if you want to see the famous barn, go take a picture and get back to the main roads. Mormon Row is a dirt road with not much to see.

Next Time

Since I was in a boot for this trip (post foot surgery recovery) I didn’t get a chance to do any long hikes – the hike list for next time is quite extensive. Here are a select few items for the next visit:

• Hike Cascade Canyon, great opportunity to see wildlife
• Kayaking on Jenny Lake (it was just a bit chilly on our visit)
• Hike Table mountain through Hurricane Pass – 2 day hike, recommended by a friend