Overview

Jackson Hole is a natural haven of adventure that has drawn people in search of a challenge or their own personal limits since the mountain men held their first rendezvous here. Known to skiers and boarders for its skiing and snowmobiling, Jackson is honestly a summer resort with a ski season being the off-season.

Jackson Hole is a 50-mile-long recreational smorgasbord, snuggled into the northwest corner of Wyoming just below Yellowstone National Park and, when the town shakes off the winter, summer allows for easy and safe access into the backcountry for fly-fishing, hiking, boating, biking, climbing, wildlife viewing, and camping. It's surrounded by five mountain ranges, including the Tetons, named by the French trappers who first saw them and which tower more than 10,000 feet above the Snake River and the valley floor.

Let's just say there's a lot to do here. Scenic chairlift rides from the base of Snow King Ski Resort and Grand Targhee Resort (on the Idaho side of the Tetons) , the Grand Teton Music Festival, hiking, rock climbing and mountain biking, museums and galleries, rodeo, tennis and golf, hunting in the fall - and more than 100 restaurants if you're into recreational eating.

Whitewater enthusiasts come for the rapids, or more sedate floats down the Snake River, kayaking and canoeing in Grand Teton National Park. Moose, elk, deer, bison... and bear. Find a safe distance and enjoy these mobile monuments. But please don't feed.

The town gets busy in summer, but since more than 90 percent of the valley is federal land, it's never hard to get away from people. You can find accommodations in the heart of Jackson or up in the mountains. Many visitors looking for bargains stay at Teton Village, at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort; others spend a week or two at famous guest ranches, most of them near the Gros Ventre (Gro Vant) mountains on the east side of the valley.

The Jackson Hole Aerial tram was closed in  2006 after 40 years and nine million riders to make way for a new, state-of- the- art tramway that has the longest continual vertical rise of any ski resort in North America. The new tram greeted riders in December 2008, and is available for summer scenic rides.

In addition to daily non-stop flights from seven major cities, Jackson Hole has new non-stop daily flights from Chicago on United Airlines. Jackson is easy to reach by air (it has the only jet airport actually within a national park), or you can fly into Salt Lake City and drive roughly 300 beautiful miles (4.5 hours) north to the Tetons.