Jackson Hole Museum

 Native Americans lived seasonally in the large valley between the Gros Ventre and Teton mountain ranges for thousands of years, however, Europeans didn't enter the valley until the fur trapping era of the early 1800s. Fur trapping ended in the 1840s, a short gold rush occurred in the 1870s, and homesteaders trickled in at the turn of the century. Farming and ranching were unreliable due to the harsh winters and short growing season. Resourceful ranchers, playing off the allure of the west and cowboy life, started dude ranches. Ski clubs and resorts soon followed. Jackson, the main town, is now a vibrant upscale resort and vacation home community and much too expensive for all of us ordinary people. :D

The small museum touches on all of this with exhibits containing many artifacts and a slightly disjointed story line. 

The museum is accessible. A few exhibits in cases are too high to view from a seated position. 

Designated RV parking is a block north and a block west at the Welcome Center. The sidewalks and curb cuts are in good conditions. Museum  43.47979, -110.75901

 

Hoback Campground

Eighteen primitive campsites are located along a short road with a turn around loop at the end. Most sites have access to the Hoback River. Amenities include picnic tables,vault toilets, drinking water, fire rings and grills. US 189 parallels the campground so there is some traffic noise especially during the daylight hours. 

None of the sites are designated as accessible but most are usable. All of the riverfront sites were taken when we arrived so we camped in site 10 which has a wide parking pad but a table and grill located on  grassy and bumpy ground.  

The sites along the road are large enough for most RVs. The sites in the loop are a little tight. Most sites are paved but at least one is grass. One is pull though. Campground  43.28022, -110.59806

 

 

 

 

The scenery along US 189 coming from the south is magnificent. 

Warren Bridge Campground

 A picnic area loop, a 16 site campground loop, and a boat launch are all located at the Warren Bridge Campground. The campground has tables, trash cans, fire rings, barbecue grills, vault toilets, a dump station, and fresh water.   

 

The boat ramp is on the opposite side of US 189 and has a small parking area and a gravel ramp to the Green River. The old bridge, where ospreys nest, can be accessed by unlatching a barbwire gate. We also spotted a hawk with its dinner and a moose in the sagebrush across the river. 

None of the campsites are designated as accessible but most are usable. The first one has a high fire ring and is closer to the accessible vault toilet located in the picnic area. Campground 43.01624, -110.12166

 

Pinedale Dry Camping

The sign at this city park says Dry Tent Camping Only but, after looking at reviews online, it's clear that many people have stayed at the park in vans and RVs. It's just a large gravel lot adjacent to a large grassy field. The camping season must not have started when we camped in the park because porti-potties were not in place and there were no pay envelopes (we used our own). There are picnic tables and one water faucet. Park  42.86409, -109.87204

Museum of the Mountain Man

The mountain men of Wyoming were after one thing - beaver pelts.The method of removing the fine underfur from a beaver pelt and making it into a dense felt that could be molded into hats was perfected hundreds of years ago. Beaver hats became so popular in Europe that the beavers became almost extinct and by 1670  French, Dutch, and English had established fur trading companies in America to trap the abundant number of beavers found all across the continent. 

As the beavers were depleted in the coastal and mid-west regions, the trappers moved into the isolated valleys along the mountain ranges of the west and thus began the legend of the rough, bearded, solitary man finding his way in the wilderness. In reality most were young, clean shaven (native women did not like bearded men ;D), part of group hired by a trading company, and often traveling with women and children. 

 The rendezvous were the real thing though. For sixteen summers, from 1824 to 1840, thousands of Native Americans, trappers, and fur company traders set up camp in a valley meadow to barter, buy, sell, drink, gamble, and trade stories. Six were held about 10 miles west of the museum. The rendezvous were necessary because it would not have been practical for the trappers, on their own, to transport their furs all the way to the trading company headquarters. Instead the trading companies organized supply trains of pack animals, two wheeled carts, and wagons loaded with new traps, guns, knives, hatchets, beads, blankets, alcohol, tobacco, tin cups, tools, cooking pots and anything else that the Native Americans and traders might find attractive and then carted the pelts back to headquarters in St Louis. The journey covered 1,500 miles one way and opened the route to later travelers. By 1840 silk hats were the top fashion, the beaver trade declined, and rendezvous were no more. 

The museum is very nicely done with many stories of individual mountain men plus artifacts and sculptures. The lower level features paintings of mountain men. 

The museum is accessible with an elevator to the lower level. 

The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle. RVs will fit in the accessible spaces which avoids a roll across the gravel lot. Museum 42.86882, -109.85191

 

New Fork Campground

 Sitting right on the New Fork River, this little BLM campground is very popular for fishing but the best fishing starts in summer so we had it all to ourselves. The website says there are 2 camping sites, a vault toilet, 2 picnic tables and a boat launch but actually there are no established camping sites, no picnic tables although we could see where they used to be, closed vault toilets replaced with porti-potties, and a gravel boat ramp. It's a very pretty area but close to the road so there is traffic noise during the day. 

 Plenty of room for any vehicle. 

 

The ground is hard packed so rolling is easy. 

Campground  42.60639, -109.85566

 

South Pass City

 

(National Park Service photo) 

South Pass is a twenty mile wide gentle slope that travelers on the California, Oregon, and Mormon Trails in southern Wyoming used to cross the Continental Divide. The grade is so gradual that most people were not even aware when they had reached the 7,412 foot summit. The trail followed the Sweetwater River and isn't used today. Instead Route 28 climbs up and over the pass. 

South Pass City is just a couple miles off of Route 28 and was founded after gold was discovered in1867. Large gold deposits were never discovered and the town declined in just five years but investors continued to hope and poured money into the mines to no avail. By 1949 it was a ghost town. Most of the miners, shop keepers, saloon and hotel operators had moved on.

Today the town is a state park with over twenty restored buildings featuring rooms furnished with period pieces. Some of the buildings have interpretive displays. A video of the area history can be watched in the South Pass Hotel and Restaurant. 

The Clarissa Mill which was moved from nearby Atlantic City, another mining town, was refurbished after WWII but the mining and milling operations did not pay off and it closed in 1955. Tours are conducted Thursday to Sunday at 2 PM. We did not go on a tour. 

 

The town site is partly accessible. A ramp is located on the right side of the information/admission building. A boardwalk leads to about eight of the buildings situated on either side of Main Street. The rest of the street is dirt without boardwalks or ramps into the buildings. The video in the South Pass Hotel and Restaurant includes tours of the buildings that aren't accessible. A log (very bumpy) bridge goes across Willow Creek. There are no paths or ramps to the four buildings located there. 

Other access problems include high thresholds and glare from the plexiglass used to block entry to the rooms in the buildings. The Smith-Sherlock Company Store is the only building without plexiglass blocking off the exhibits.  

There are four intersecting loop trails. We did not attempt any of them but I suspect that even the easiest is not accessible.  

The dirt road from Route 28 to South Park City is in good condition, passable by any vehicle. The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle.  South Pass City  42.46867, -108.80331