Snake River Float Trip

While in Jackson Hole, I always recommend going to a few places.
 
1.  You must, of course, visit the Teton's, and many visitors enjoy hiking around Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point.
2.  My favorite food/drink spot...I highly recommend enjoying a bottle of wine and a pizza at the rooftop of Dornans at the Moose Entrance of Grand Teton National Park
3.  If you are choosing an excursion, the options are plentiful from extreme mountain biking to a calm float trip.  I have found though, that a casual float trip through the national park is incredibly enjoyable and would highly recommend taking one!
 

While I lived in Jackson, I went on plenty of float trips down the Snake.  Some were more of a calm drink-in-hand trips with friends, and others were through the rapids of the Snake River.  This, however, was my first float trip within the National Park with the amazing Grand Teton Range views!  We went through National Park Float Trips and really enjoyed our guide, his knowledge, and the calm water with gorgeous views.
 
The company meets you near the Moose entrance at the visitor center and then drives you up to the drop off spot.  You then float about 10 miles back to where you first met in Moose, which just so happens to be right next to Dornans!
 
Here's us excited to get going!

Myself, Marlee, Dad, Kim (peeking out!), and Greg

 

The 'kids' - Greg, myself & Marlee

 

Dad and Kim...the lovers

 

Our Guide

 
And of course some of just the gorgeous views of the Teton Range!
 

 

 

We learned a lot on the trip about the Teton Range and how it was formed.  This side of the range, the Wyoming side, is much more jagged and rugged than the Idaho side due to the youngness of these mountains where they haven't been shaped by harsh winds and the way the Teton Fault shaped these jagged peaks.  The rock in the Teton Range is nearly 2.5 billion years, but the range itself is only about 9 million years.  Learn more about it here.

 

 

 

While on our float we saw plenty of birds and even some bald eagles!  It was beautiful!  We even saw one bathing in the water, Kim has a picture I need to get and I'll put it on here!

 

We also learned a funny story about beavers being introduced to the area.  At one point in time Disney paid a lot of money to film beavers in the 'natural' environment for their documentary, "Beaver Valley".  They paid a zoo to take their beavers for a little bit of filming along the Snake River.  At one point they left the beavers during filming to come back and find they had swam off!  Go figure!  Now there's a lot of beaver dams in the area, thanks Disney :)

 
I loved the float trip, it was totally unexpected from what I normally do while in the Jackson Hole area.  I highly recommend this trip for people of all ages as it's calm, beautiful, and your guide can give you a lot of interesting facts to help keep kids entertained as well!
 
Post our float trip, we enjoyed a delicious lunch and of course shared some wine before heading back to our rental in Teton Village!  Dornans really is one of the best places to enjoy food and drinks with friends.  It should be on your list of stops when you come to Jackson and Grand Teton National Park!
 

 

Come back next Thursday for my recap on Grand View Point Trailhead/Hike and the Geysers of Yellowstone!