Teton Valley Magazine Summer 2019

Dogs with Jobs

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Experience Care Excellence

Teton Valley Hospital was built by and for our community over 80 years ago. We respect our heritage and continue to build innovation, quality, and care excellence for the people of Teton Valley.

Brunch

5:30 - 9:30, Daily Reserve

I talk often to my grandmother. Gregy lives in Texas and will turn ninety-seven this September. I am forever thankful that, even though my home is in a small mountain town in Idaho, I can still pick up the phone and hear her voice, clear as day, or read a text message—yes, a text message—she sends just to say hi.

Our conversations are dear to my heart. She tells me about growing up in the Great Depression, being a nurse in WWII, and raising a family before the luxuries of a washing machine or television. We compare big winter memories—hers, long ago in Buffalo, New York; mine, this past February in the Tetons. And when the phone call ends, she often says, “Where have the years gone?” followed not long after with, “We have so much to be thankful for.”

As I combed through the stories in the summer issue of Teton Valley Magazine, I found myself thinking of her words, feeling certain many folks featured in the pages might just agree with Gregy.

Take Brian Berry, who owns fly-fishing outfitter Teton Valley Lodge with his brother Matt. This year, his family is celebrating one hundred years of guiding, thanks to a chance encounter between their great-grandfather Alma Kunz and a visitor who wanted to fish the Teton River.

It’s been ten years since Julie Martin, the executive director of horse-rescue nonprofit HAPI Trails, first began helping and rehoming horses in need. As she ushers the nonprofit into its next chapter, now at their permanent home, she’d likely say the time has flown by.

And then there’s Mark Hansen and Ryan Kunz, two gatekeepers of the valley’s dairy history. The years have turned the once bustling industry into a niche, but resilient market, complete with a biodynamic dairy. Their forefathers would surely delight at the trail they blazed for this new age of dairy farming.

There’s so much history in this valley; some, deeply rooted and others just turning the page to chapter two. As time inevitably marches on, I am reminded that there is so much to be thankful for, from fertile farms and healthy rivers, to changing seasons and phone calls with Gregy.

publisher + editor in chief

Kate Hull kate@powdermountainpress.com

publisher + art director

Sage Hibberd sage@powdermountainpress.com

marketing + sales representative

Kristin Mortenson kristin@powdermountainpress.com

design assistant Liza Sarychev

publisher emeritus

Nancy McCullough-McCoy

editor at large

Michael McCoy

design advisor

Linda Grimm

contributors

Molly Absolon

Lara Agnew

Jamye Chrisman

Camrin Dengel

Cody Downard

Jessica L. Flammang

Tom Hallberg

Smith Maddrey

Michael McCoy

Liz Onufer

Drew Orlando

Tibby Plasse

Kristen Pope

Christina Shepherd McGuire

David Stubbs

Winner of 1st place in the Magazine–General Excellence category, Idaho Press Club’s Best of 2014, 2015,

Linda Swope Teton Valley Magazine is published twice yearly by Powder Mountain Press, LLC 18 N Main #305 | PO Box 1167 | Driggs ID 83422 (208)354-3466 TetonValleyMagazine.com

U.S.A. Volume 23, No. 1

Jamye Chrisman

From left to right: Carl Struttmann, Paul Kelly, Julie Bryan, Kim Beres, Andrea Loban. Not pictured: Brice Nelson, Brooke Saindon.

Molly Absolon

Freelance writer Molly Absolon (Mountain Renaissance Man, page 44, and Plastics, page 50) covers everything from outdoor risk and adventure to lifestyle and the arts in order to support her own mountain adventures. She lives in Victor with her husband and daughter, and supplements her writing work with occasional outdoor education gigs and a position on the Victor City Council.

Smith Maddrey

Smith (Music in the Mountains, page 76) made a beeline westward from North Carolina in 2000 to explore the mountains, rivers, and wild places of the Rockies. He first came to Teton Valley in 2001 as an itinerant outdoor educator and returned with his family in 2008 to reside here full-time. In addition to teaching English at the Jackson Hole Community School, he works as a mountain guide and occasional writer. He lives in Driggs with his wife Susan and three kids.

Kristen Pope

Kristen (Bear Scares, page 34) is a Victorbased freelance writer and editor. She writes about science, conservation, travel, and outdoor adventure, among other topics. When she’s not glued to her computer, you’ll find her out on the local trails and waterways, traveling, or curled up with a good book. When she’s not writing for Teton Valley Magazine, she writes for NationalGeographic.com, Discover Magazine, and many other publications, and she also edits JHStyle Magazine

Linda Swope

Linda (Life in Purple, page 80, and Local Flavors, page 94) got her first camera at age ten. By twenty-four, after earning degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of Texas, she began a full-time photography career that has lasted forty-one years. She has shot everything from wedding photography to prize livestock and the San Antonio Spurs. Linda discovered Jackson Hole in 1988 and moved to the Tetons, where she pioneered the destination wedding photography business and shot thousands of portraits and events in the region. Linda moved to Teton Valley three years ago and now devotes her time to fine art photography and photographing for nonprofits. She serves as the Teton Arts Gallery co-chair.

Liz Onufer

Liz (Disappearing Dairies, page 38) has been exploring the Tetons since 1998. Originally from New Jersey, she admits it only when someone catches her accent when she says “water.”

Liz is an English teacher, freelance writer, and PhD student who does her best thinking in the mountains or on the water. She enjoys hiking, horseback riding, rafting, and skiing. She has also enjoyed working at a number of places around the valley—like Grand Targhee Resort, MD Nursery, and Teton School District 401—where she has come to know the people almost as well as the landscape.

Sit outside and munch avocado toast with a pourover coffee at Rise Coffee House

Dive into a plate of homemade chicken and waffles at Tetonia’s Badger Creek Cafe

Hit the South Fork or Teton River with one of our many pro fly-fishing guides

Hike or mountain bike the South Horseshoe trails in the Big Hole Range west of Driggs

Gaze down on Teton Valley from a high-flying hot air balloon

Savor brunch at Butter Cafe in Victor with an Italian breakfast panini or maple bacon Benedict

Spoil a good walk (as Mark Twain would say) by golfing at one of our three public courses

Find your center and paddle the Teton River on a SUP from Yostmark

Stock up on homegrown goods at the Teton Valley Farmers Market

Unlock your inner yogi with a mid-morning class at Hummingbird Yoga Studio

* Visit our Dining section for more bodacious breakfast ideas

Get a blast from the past at the Teton Valley Historical Museum

Take in the stellar views on a scenic chairlift ride at Grand Targhee Resort

Explore the unique home décor offered at Victor’s Festive Living or The Rusty Nail in Driggs

Show your stuff at the Fifth Street Skate Park by grabbing some big air or folfing nine holes

Soak up the flavor of the valley at the Teton Geotourism Center in Driggs

Pack a lunch of Victor Valley Market’s fresh deli sandwiches, then head to the national parks

Cool off with a huckleberry shake from the Victor Emporium or a lime freeze at Corner Drug

Melt your worries and heal your worn body with a massage at Teton Springs’ Stillwaters Spa

Groove on a smoothie from Barrels & Bins Community Market

Enjoy a runway-side repast at Warbirds Cafe, then check out the vintage aircraft nearby

* Turn to our Dining section for additional lunch ideas

Dine al fresco at Forage in Driggs, savoring a charcuterie board and seasonal fare

Pull up a lawn chair or spread a blanket at Symphony on Sundays held at Driggs City Plaza

Watch the sun dip behind the Big Holes while dining outside at the Knotty Pine Supper Club

Share a special dinner with family and friends at Linn Canyon Ranch

Hoot and holler for the cowboys and cowgirls at the Friday evening Teton Valley Rodeo

Dance the night away at Thursday’s Music on Main in Victor

Hang with the locals at the Royal Wolf, where “snow sagas and fish tales are told nightly”

Cozy up under the stars at the Spud Drive-In or opt for an indoor flick at Pierre’s Playhouse

Munch on sushi with a perfectly paired craft brew at Teton Thai’s new sushi bar and brewery

Grab a cool beverage and wood-fired pizza on the deck at Tatanka Tavern

* Go to our Dining section for more dinner suggestions

Boundless Design

The Rusty Nail is ushering in the next chapter of curating stunning spaces at their new location, 89 North Main Street in Driggs at the old county courthouse.

For the past nearly fifteen years, owner Teneal Neihart has helped clients from Teton Valley to Boston find their style. Although they stay true to the classic, timeless mountain home style on the showroom floor, projects can touch on mountain modern or more tailored looks featuring current trends.

“Limited is not a word we use frequently at Rusty Nail,” she says. “No boundaries, no box.”

With a background in business management and marketing, Teneal got her start working as an assistant to a designer. After seeing the creative process firsthand, she was hooked. “I learned that if you can go to work every day and love what you do, it’s a good life,” she says.

Teneal finds inspiration from the client’s story—and she’s always looking for that one piece of art or unique fabric to set the tone for the space.

“My focus on any project, remodel, or room is that the home keeps a perfect flow from one space to the next, always complementing the structure, views, and surroundings,” she says. “I also enjoy educating people about quality and great constructed furniture; this includes offering a large variety of home goods and furnishings that are made in Teton Valley.”

rustynailinteriors.com

The average family goes through nearly two dozen rolls of plastic wrap a year saving leftovers, covering casseroles, or storing veggies. Lighten your shopping with reusable food wraps. Local illustrator Stacey Walker Oldham designs and creates colorful reusable wraps with whimsical designs available locally at MD Nursery & Landscaping or through her online shop (staceywalkeroldham.com).

Or make your own! Cut various sizes of cloth with pinking shears. Place on wax paper. Sprinkle the cloth evenly with beeswax beads. Place a second sheet of wax paper on top; then, iron. The beeswax melts through the cloth, covering both sides.

MakerSpace Reduce, Reuse, Re-wrap

Uncover the inner workings of a robot. Create a 3D dinosaur. DIY meets education inside the libraries’ MakerSpace. Now with programs at both the Driggs and Victor branches of Valley of the Tetons Library, children and adults let their creativity blossom while learning to use different technologies and materials. Tucker Tyler, the Driggs library’s MakerSpace specialist, guides the learning process, as budding engineers, future fashion designers, and computer coders create, learn, and discover. Visit valleyofthetetonslibrary.org for program times and information.

Coffee Time

Inside Alex Suckling’s Lupine Lane business, the smell of coffee beans fills the room. Bags of Frank Sumatra or Goat Herder line the wall, ready to be enjoyed. Alex opened Alpine Air Coffee Roasting in December 2018 charged with a plan to provide direct-to-consumer coffee that’s both delicious and environmentally conscious (his USDA Organic certification is in the works).

Originally from New Zealand, Alex chased winter for a few years before moving to Colorado where he met his wife, Erica Hansen, who works as a wildlife biologist. The pair moved to Logan, Utah, and after a few trips to the Tetons, decided to make the valley home in 2016. Alex has a background as a barista and a deep-seated love for coffee. His desire to start his own business and his fondness for fine coffee collided.

“I wanted to do something I truly believe in and have a passion for,” he says. “I love coffee, a lot of people love coffee—I saw that there was a great opportunity in this valley for a local roaster. I figured I could do this, and who better to bet on than yourself?”

Roasting a raw coffee bean brings out the flavors of the coffee: fruit notes, the boldness, light or dark. The variations are numerous. The Alpine Air beans’ origins span the globe from Indonesia and Central America to Ethiopia and Brazil with unique flavor notes like blueberry, brown sugar, and chocolate. To bring out the flavors, Alex uses a fluid-bed roaster, which uses hot airflow to heat the coffee beans and liberate each flavor. With one sip, his attention to and understanding of the coffee bean’s potential is apparent to the taster.

Alpine Air Coffee Roasting is available at Victor Valley Market and Barrels and Bins. You can also sign up for a weekly coffee-share program or order online. Alex offers free local delivery. You can also see what’s brewing weekly this summer at the Teton Valley Farmers Market in Driggs. alpineaircoffee.com

Shake It Up

There’s hardly a day that the Victor Emporium crew isn’t scooping, blending, and slinging milkshakes. Sure, on the 4th of July that number is exponentially higher than on a sub-zero January day. But the valley loves a good milkshake and the Victor Emporium has a history that runs deep. For twenty years, co-owners Kim Keeley and Kathryn Ferris have carried on the tradition that began in 1950. “I have always felt more like a steward of the Emporium than an owner,” Kim says. They regularly hear stories from folks with connections stretching back generations: “‘I worked here in 1955 with the green shake machine,’ or ‘I grew up having milkshakes here, and now I’m bringing my kids’; and on and on,” Kim says. Whether it’s your first visit or you’ve lost count, the Emporium is a not-to-be-missed mainstay. And if you’re getting a milkshake, we recommend the huckleberry variety.

Twenty Years of Improving Trails

Teton Valley Trails and Pathways is celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2019, marking two decades of being stewards for a trail-connected community. If you enjoy any of the local trails or cruise the paved path between Victor and Driggs, the impact is apparent. And the numbers speak for themselves—TVTAP has:

• Created 30 miles of pathways and 15.2 miles of bike lanes;

• Used 75 pulaskis (a handtool similar to an ax) for trail work since 1998;

• Logged 13,440 volunteer hours since 2002; and

• Enhanced 114.5 total trail miles in the Teton Basin Ranger District through maintenance, rerouting, and reconstruction in partnership with the Forest Service. Here’s to the next twenty—thank you, TVTAP. tvtap.org

Plug In

Dreamcatcher Bed and Breakfast is cementing itself as a hub for sustainable travel with the addition of an Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station at the inn. Located on twenty acres just outside Victor, Dreamcatcher is owned by Aline Sarria and offers more than seven thousand square feet of spacious, inviting accommodations overlooking the Big Holes.

“We know we’re in one of the most beautiful locations in the country and we’re doing our part to keep it that way,” Aline says.

In Idaho, gasoline-fueled cars account for more than eleven thousand pounds of CO2 equivalent emissions. The addition of more electric cars and charging stations like Dreamcatcher’s will help reduce the amount of air pollutants caused by travel—a particularly important factor in a tourism-driven region like Teton Valley. Have a Tesla? Teton Distillery also has an EV Charging Station specifically for the electric cars. dreambb.com

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Unscripted Acting

Improv, or improvisation theater, is an acting style where performers use off-the-cuff dialogue, sometimes from the audiences’ suggestions, to create scenes. But the style has expanded beyond the stage into classrooms, businesses, and households as a skill that cultivates success in a variety of social and professional worlds: teamwork building, listening skills, developing relationships—the list goes on. Arts educator and improv performer Mel Paradis, who you might also know from the pages of this magazine or as a member of local improv group Laff Staff, has penned the tools for the acting style in her new book, Teaching Improv: The Essential Handbook.

“Improv is beneficial for everyone,” Mel says. “It teachers and reinforces the skills that foster success in every aspect of life: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.”

A great source for teachers, the book offers a series of sixteen lessons with a scope and sequence to build skills and culminate in a final performance, as well as video links with Mel diving into topics further. Teaching Improv is available online at bbbpress.com/teaching-improv

Symphony on Sunday

June 30, July 28, August 18, & September 15, 4–6pm

Driggs City Plaza

Shakespeare in the Parks “Henry IV, Part I”

July 18, 6:30pm Driggs City Plaza

8th Annual Driggs Plein Air Festival

July 24 – August 3

Driggs City Plaza & Teton Arts Gallery

Home Sweet Home

Local horse adoption program plants roots

BY TIBBY PLASSE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARA AGNEW

Whether or not you have read the stable of classic horse tales like National Velvet and Misty of Chincoteague, you likely know that the bond between a girl and her horse can run deep. The cowgirls in Teton Valley are no different, and for one circle of women, their story goes beyond dedication to include horse rescue and rehabilitation, training, adoption, and programs for horse enthusiasts. Now with a new home to call their own, they are just getting started.

In 2005, Julie Martin passed by a sandwich board sign outside the old post office in Jackson touting the Animal Adoption Center’s new horse adoption initiative. Victor resident Vicki O’Brien was overseeing the program. Julie had just brought home a bred mare, and was looking to adopt the Missouri Fox Trotter with a golden-hued coat named Doc. But Julie’s land wasn’t quite ready for the additional horse, so Vicki offered to let Julie board Doc on her property, giving her a dozen horses. When Vicki O’Brien was killed in a car accident that next year, Julie, along with Vicki’s neighbor Greta Procious, stepped in to rehome the horses.

The program at the AAC for horse adoption disbanded, but the staff kept Julie’s number on hand for when they got calls. And the calls came, giving Julie just enough starter to seed the Horse Adoption Program, Inc., in 2009, known to most as HAPI Trails. The other founding members—Greta, Kim Mills, Debbie Falber, Jen Carter, and Gena Howald— remain on the board or as active volunteers ten years later.

“HAPI Trails started out of my house,” Julie says. “I had ten acres and divided up the pastures to create paddocks. As the money would come in, we would slowly purchase portable shelters for more horses.”

Julie is the executive director of HAPI Trails, which she manages in conjunction with the marketing and branding company OPEN Creative she co-owns with Tess Kirkwood. But if you speak with any of the board members, you’ll find each is a force to be reckoned with, particularly when it comes to horses.

“You really can’t stop us. We’re all so passionate. If you’re hurting, neglecting, or abusing a horse, we’re there,”

Kim says. She is Greta’s business partner at Chinker Chicks.

Julie and the board believe that there will always be a need for this kind of work in Teton Valley. The region has its roots in ranching, but what some might not realize is that owning and caring for horses is expensive. Horses need routine care and trimming, a process of maintaining horses’ hooves that grow five to ten millimeters every four weeks, the cost of which can quickly add up. Owners age, pass away, or find themselves in circumstances where they can no longer support their horses. That’s where HAPI Trails steps in.

Now, after a decade, the organization that’s in the business of finding homes for horses has finally found a home to call its own, at Teton Saddleback Vistas. The subdivision, designed with an equine ethos, has created an ideal partnership for the nonprofit.

“The original indoor facility was designed to be a high-end hunter/jumper boarding facility,” Julie says. “The barn was auctioned off and went to a home in Pinedale to be reassembled. The sale displaced a lot of really nice horses.”

But the residents at Saddleback still wanted horses. Saddleback’s homeowners’ association approached local nonprofit Valley Advocates for Responsible Development (VARD) about how to manage the subdivision’s open space. VARD invited HAPI Trails to the discussion. Within six months, HAPI Trails had negotiated a lease and, in May 2017, the organization moved to the property. The agreement with the HOA gave HAPI Trails access to 640 acres of open space with three miles of trails, two outdoor arenas, a round pen on seventeen acres divided into six large pastures, and seven smaller corrals.

HAPI Trails founding board member

Greta Procious works with her horse, Gypsy, at HAPI Trails’ new permanent home at Teton Saddleback Vistas.

ABOVE, TOP Julie Martin founded HAPI Trails in 2009, rescuing horses and keeping them on her ten-acre property.

ABOVE, BOTTOM The Teton Saddleback Vistas horse residents enjoy a visit from enthusiastic equine lovers.

LEFT

“You really can’t stop us. We are all so passionate.”

Kim Mills HAPI Trails founding board member

ABOVE HAPI Trails hosts a number of horsecentric events each summer, like the 4H program Horses for the Horseless, the Extreme Cowboy Challenge, and public clinics.

“It was bittersweet for me,” says Julie. “I knew all the horses so well. I had cared for them daily, some for years. But I was so happy for them to have more space and give them more opportunity to interact with the community.”

With HAPI Trails’ centralized location, the group can extend the community reach of the horses.

“You see the impact horses have on people; we not only provide that but provide more reasons to visit with the horses,” Julie says.

The move and exposure also enabled them to increase their volunteer program. Now, HAPI Trails has around thirty-five year-round volunteers and, on any given day, three or more people are caring for the horses. After an orientation process, volunteers are welcome to visit with horses on their own schedules. But pastures remain locked unless the volunteer is a certified trainer.

“Volunteering is work,” Kim says. “It’s a lot to manage. There is weed control, fencing, and plumbing to take care of. We’ve come so far though.”

The new facility has been a catalyst for growth that Kim and the board have welcomed, allowing for the addition of programs and community offerings.

“We started a 4H program called Horses for the Horseless for children who are enthusiastic and love horses, but don’t have them,” she says.

Twelve kids signed up for the inaugural year this past winter.

“We go over parts of the horse, grooming, safety, all aspects of horses. But this is all groundwork, not riding,” Kim says.

HAPI Trails does offer some saddle work, too. There are public clinics in dressage, team roping, mulemanship, and packing offered throughout the summer. August will feature the Teton Basin Ranch Roping series by local ranch roper Travis Allen. In September, HAPI Trails will host the Extreme Cowboy Challenge with cow sorting and other obstacles. The event will be judged by Jennie Wentworth, an Extreme Cowboy Champion, who is also hosting an Extreme Cowboy obstacle clinic the day before.

Now that their roots are firmly planted, HAPI Trails is looking to the horizon. They hope to expand the number of horses they serve while continuing to work with the community as they fundraise for a barn. And as the tales of determined cowgirls like National Velvet’s Velvet Brown have shown us time and time again, there’s no stopping these horse-loving cowgirls.

Full Service Bike Shop REPAIRS SALES

&

Celebrating one hundred years of fishing the Teton River

BY KATE HULL

Trout of the Century

Each summer, after the snow melts, the Teton River is filled with the chatter of the changing season: bugs hatching, trout rising, birds singing, oars thwapping the riverbed, and hopeful anglers casting a line. Fly fishing is engrained in our valley’s summer, like the ski hill is to winter. For Brian Berry, fly fishing is as much a story of Teton Valley’s history as his own, thanks to the legacy, and legend, of his great-grandfather Alma Kunz, the founder of Teton Valley Lodge and the region’s first guide.

Alma’s legacy has spanned the country. Sports Illustrated profiled his guiding prowess in a 1966 issue. He was the official promoter for Idaho tourism. When he passed away in 1965, dozens of newspapers ran his obituary. His reach was great and his impact even greater. Alma was Teton Valley’s first fly fishing guide.

“He was probably even the first guide in the western United States,” Brian says. Brian, along with his brother Matt Berry, are the fourth-generation family owners of Teton Valley Lodge that Alma started in 1938.

But for Alma, it all began in 1919. The story goes that Alma, then just eighteen, was working for his family’s dairy, hauling milk to the Victor cheese factory. Yellowstone National Park was a new and popular draw to the area, and the Oregon Short Line Railroad, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific, came to Driggs and Victor, putting the sleepy community on the tourism map. Visitors would come in on the train, then explore the area.

“At that time, Jackson was nothing but just a little one-horse town,” Brian

says. “Victor and Driggs were the big towns all because of the railroad. Visitors would ride back over the hill [from Jackson] to Victor and get on the train to go home.”

Then one summer day, a businessman from back East went to the Teton River to try his luck fly fishing, but to no avail.

“So, he went to the café in Victor and asked if anyone could help him go fishing,” Brian says. “They told him to go to the cheese factory to find Alma. He was the best fisherman in town.”

Alma agreed to take the man fishing only if he’d first help him deliver his milk. For the next three days, the man would wake up and help Alma finish his work, then they’d head to the river.

“After that, Alma was a guide,” Brian says. He’d juggle fishing between dairy farming and trapping, until he eventually decided to open Teton Valley Lodge.

Now, Brian runs a staff of twentyfive guides and welcomes visitors from across the globe, many of whom have made it an annual tradition to fish here. For Brian and his family, that’s what makes the lodge so special.

VACATION & LONG TERM RENTAL MANAGEMENT

“Alma

Brian Berry Teton Valley Lodge owner

“I can’t imagine another place where you could live that would be better than this,” Brian says. “It’s a great place to live and a great business to be a part of. You get to fish, but even better than that are the people you get to share fishing with.”

Brian still guides regularly; it’s one of his favorite activities, after all. And as the lodge continues into its eighth decade in operation, and second century guiding, Brian reflects on what his great-grandfather accomplished.

“He started the lodge at the end of the Great Depression and right before World War II,” he says. “That’s pretty incredible to think about.”

Some things have changed over the years. Brian laughs at the memory of stories of the early years when guests fished in a suit and tie. But the legacy of Alma’s love of the river, its trout, and the valley hold strong in how Brian and his family run the lodge today.

“A man who comes here just sent me a picture of his new baby the other day,” Brian says. “I’ve grown up with these people from all over the country. It’s pretty amazing.”

Bear Scares

How to avoid them—and what to do if you don’t

BY KRISTEN POPE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CODY DOWNARD

On July 10, 2013, Michael “Mac” McCoy decided to go for a mid-day jog, with the Tin Cup Challenge 5K coming up. He set out on a three-mile route from his home in Henderson Canyon on the valley’s west side. After ascending the Henderson Divide in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Mac made his way down to the creek, carefully placing each foot in order to avoid twisting an ankle on the steep, rocky terrain. His mind was on his footwork as he began hopping across rocks to cross the small creek, when he heard a snort to his right. Earlier, he had seen cows and calves grazing in the forest, so he initially assumed it was another bovine making the noise.

Then brush began to violently shake. Next came the roar. Just ten feet away, a bear—which Mac believes was a grizzly—stood on its hind legs. He recalls it being “very big.”

Mac shouted an expletive and “[I] did exactly what they tell you not to do when encountering a bear,” he says. “What I did was run like a bat out of hell, looking over my shoulder every two or three seconds. Every time I looked back, the bear was just walking around, sniffing at the ground. It was back on all fours, and didn’t seem to be interested in chasing me. I really think the bear had been sleeping in the shallow creek water, and that I disturbed its nap.”

Experts recommend never running from a bear, and Mac urges others to heed their advice. “I do not recommend doing what I did,” he says. “I lucked out.” He would often bring bear spray with him back then, but he didn’t have it that day. “If I’d had bear spray, I probably would have been more collected and more likely to remember what you’re supposed to do,” he says. “But I didn’t, and so what I experienced was really sheer terror.” These days, he always brings along bear spray.

His training log for July 10, 2013, includes a special notation: “unplanned speed work.”

While Mac was startled to encounter a bear on his mid-day jog, it’s not uncommon for people to see them in the area. Bears can be active any time of day, with peak activity typically near dawn and

dusk in warm-weather months. In 2016, researchers estimated there were approximately 690 grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and black bears are also plentiful in the ecosystem.

“You can encounter a bear anywhere in Teton Valley—[particularly] in the national forest—and they tend to move based on food sources,” says Jay Pence, district ranger for Teton Basin Ranger District. He says that earlier in the spring, they’re more likely to be at lower elevations as the snow melts and more food becomes available, and they will often move up in elevation as the season continues. However, he cautions, “That’s just a general rule. They can still be anywhere.”

Bears can emerge from their dens as early as February, according to Jeremy Nicholson, regional wildlife biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Typically, large males emerge first, followed by females without cubs, then females with cubs. Many bears roam over a large area, traveling across state lines between Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. According to Yellowstone National Park information, male grizzlies can claim a home range of up to two thousand square miles during their lifetime and females up to five hundred square miles.

Being aware of the animal’s presence and acting prudently is key to enjoying the outdoors in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s bear country. “One of the biggest things people can

do to avoid bear conflicts when they’re out recreating in the woods is to make sure that they’re situationally aware,” says James Brower, regional communications manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. He encourages people to travel in groups, maintain good visibility, make lots of noise, and bring bear spray, which he says is more effective than firearms.

“I’m a pretty good shot [with a firearm], but if I have a grizzly bear running at me at thirty-three miles per hour from a pretty close distance, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to hit what I’m aiming at,” James says. “Bear spray comes out in a fog, it has a pretty effective distance, and it kind of stays in the air for a little while. It’s the most effective tool.”

In order to be useful, the bear spray canister has to be readily accessible and not buried deep in a backpack. James recommends a hip or chest holster, though when he travels through thick areas with poor visibility, he’ll keep it in hand.

Bears can also easily travel through communities, and are often attracted by things people leave out, including bird and hummingbird feeders. “If you’re feeding birds, you’re going to be feeding bears if you’re in bear country,” Jeremy says. He encourages people to draw birds in with birdbaths rather than feeders. “We’ve got to live a little differently if we’re living in bear country,” he says.

“You can encounter a bear anywhere in Teton Valley and they tend to move based on food sources.”

Jay

Pence district ranger, Teton Basin Ranger District

Storing anything with a scent where bears can’t access it is also important. “Everything that smells, smells good to a bear,” James notes.

While people need to take precautions when living and playing in bear country, James doesn’t want to discourage people from enjoying the outdoors. He emphasizes that being mentally prepared and having proper tools—like bear spray—at hand can help avoid negative encounters and provide the knowledge to act appropriately during an encounter.

“I would just like to make sure people are aware that they don’t need to be afraid to recreate in bear country,” he says.

If you recreate responsibly, James says, it’s very unlikely that you’ll have a negative encounter with a bear. And always make sure to carry your bear spray. Mac, this publication’s editor at large, would likely be the first to remind you.

ABOVE A young black bear takes in the views atop a fire-scarred tree in Grand Teton National Park.

For more information, go to tetonhospital.org/5star

Disappearing Dairies

What’s become of all the contented cows?

BY LIZ ONUFER PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAMRIN DENGEL

This is an ideal country for dairying, with its fine meadows, pastures, and wonderful range. The dairy industry is fast forging to the front and brings in a continuous income to dairymen. History of Teton Valley, Idaho, by B.W. Driggs, published in 1926.

In years past, milk cows were a part of life for almost every family in Teton Valley. “Everyone had cows when I was growing up, at least for themselves, for their milk; if they had any extra, they’d send it to the creamery,” says Ryan Kunz, now in his sixties and retired from both dairy farming and his career as a long-time Teton High School Spanish teacher. As a participant in the valley’s long legacy of dairy farming, Ryan started working with milk cows when he was about six years old. “I was too small to lift buckets [of milk], but I could clean the udders and get the cows ready,” he recalls.

Ryan’s family started this work before the turn of the twentieth century. The Kunzes had emigrated from Switzerland and homesteaded in the Montpelier, Idaho, area in southeastern Idaho near the Utah border.

“Got to be so many of ’em [dairies] that my great-grandfather moved up here,” Ryan says.

The first cheese-making plant was established in Teton Valley in 1895 by his great-grandfather, Samuel Kunz, Sr. The plant made cheddar cheese to meet the local market needs for five or six years before Samuel Kunz shifted to farming grain and raising cattle.

Local cheese-making operations resumed in 1919 when the NelsonRicks Company of Salt Lake City built a cheese factory in Victor. The cheesemaking work soon expanded to Driggs and Tetonia. Over the years, local dairies produced milk for national companies like Kraft, Glanbia Foods, and Cache Valley Cheese.

Mark Hansen, a Teton High School teacher and dairy farmer, recalls when the valley was composed of a “whole bunch of forty-acre farms. [The farms]

kept people alive. If they had a cow and some bread, they survived.” And for families like the Hansens and the Kunzes, milk cows were more than just sustenance; the family dairy operations helped raise generations—both in income and work ethic.

“Yes, it’s a lot of work, morning and night, but we weren’t scared to work. It [was] a monthly income,” Mark says.

Over the years, the Hansen family continued to make improvements to their farm. In 1975, they built a barn that they still use today. They upgraded from hand milking into buckets to modern milking equipment with vacuum lines and a milk cooling tank. Mark has kept milking over the years even as other family dairies died off. “It’s raised a pretty good family,” he says, of the work and commitment. He also acknowledges the rural aesthetics of staying in business: “It’s nice to see a herd of cows off in the field.” Today, the Hansens milk forty-five cows and ship their milk to Blackfoot every two days.

Milk cows, though, were not always looked upon favorably in a valley that was raising beef. Only a few years prior to the establishment of the Kunzes’ cheese-making plant, the Driggs family had brought in Holstein bulls and cows to begin another dairy operation. The bulls were shot by local stockmen who feared the Holsteins would interfere with their beef stock by mixing breeds and creating a “herd of mongrels,” reports Stanley Boyle in The Narrative History of Teton Valley (published in 1957). Boyle refers to this as “the first incident in regulating the cattle industry” in Teton Valley.

It did not take long, however, for the Holstein cow to become the breed of choice for dairy production in the val-

“[The farms] kept people alive. If they had a cow and some bread, they survived.”

Mark Hansen Local dairy farmer and THS teacher

LEFT Paradise Springs Farm serves a niche market in the valley for raw, organic milk. The farm was named one of the top-ten organic dairies in the nation.

TOP Owner Mike Reid tends to his land where the Miller family’s dairy operated at the turn of the twentieth century.

“It’s been good to us to raise a family. But the kids don’t want to come back to do it, because they can’t make a living. They want to do it but can’t make it work financially.”

Ryan Kunz Former dairy farmer and teacher

ley. Alma Hanson, who homesteaded in the Bates area, was the first president of the Teton Valley Dairy Association (now defunct). In this position, he secured the first train-car load of Holstein cows from Wisconsin in 1922. The First National Bank of Driggs provided funding, and dairies were soon thriving across the valley.

In the fifties and sixties, the dairies were an integral part of Teton Valley life. Some families were on the milk route; the cheese factories would send out a flatbed truck to collect full tengallon metal milk cans from their farms. Other families would deliver the milk themselves to the factories, if they had any extra.

Ryan remembers milking cows in the morning and delivering gallons of milk in glass bottles on his way to school. “We would drop off to five or six places,” he says. “We were coming in right at the [school] bell, sometimes a little after. It was an amazing life. Everyone did it. It helped the economy.”

The local producers were an essential part of the dairy industry’s success. Trucking the milk long distances for processing was not an option with the equipment available at that time.

What was once considered a mainstay of family life, and with it the valley economy, began to decline when the last Nelson-Ricks Creamery in Driggs closed in 1970. In the process of consolidating, the company moved its regional operation to the Moody plant in Rexburg. That plant, in turn, closed in 2012. “After the local creameries closed, the milk went

to Moody, then Star Valley, and now to a cheese factory in Blackfoot,” Mark says. “The truck comes every fortyeight hours to pick up.” Of the original dairy farmers in the valley, he adds, only three families are left—the Hansens, the Wrights, and the Bagleys.

At one point in the eighties, Ryan recalls, a group of dairymen planned to build a cheese factory in Victor where Grand Teton Brewing operates today. The plan never came to fruition, because the group was unable to secure funding from the county to help with expenses. At the time, about thirty-five dairies operated in the valley.

The decline of the valley’s dairy industry has been sharp over the last thirty years, the economics having pushed many families out of the business. “We can’t compete with the big ones [commercial dairies] in Jerome, Boise, Twin Falls,” Ryan says. “They’re milking twenty-four hours a day, milking each cow five or six times a day.” Here in the valley, because most of the dairy farmers held full-time jobs off the farm, they could only milk their cows two, maybe three times, a day.

Mark boils down the economics like this: “Does milk price pay for the expenses? It’s always been close. The big dairies set policies. The small dairies are at the whim of the bigger market. The margin isn’t there. It’s touch and go.”

Ryan has had the conversation with his adult children about the family dairy operation. “It’s been good to us to raise a family,” he says. “But the kids don’t want to come back to do it, because they can’t

ABOVE Mark Hansen’s family dairy near Hatch’s Corner still operates today, shipping milk from forty-five cows every two days to Blackfoot, Idaho.

make a living. They want to do it but can’t make it work financially.”

But the generational connection is not lost entirely. In 2009, Paradise Springs Farm opened in Cedron, on the west side of the valley, and secured the first permit issued under the Idaho Raw Milk Ordinance. Mike Reid purchased the farm from John Miller, a Swiss dairy farmer whose ancestors homesteaded the land in 1900. Mike relied heavily on local expertise and equipment to learn the trade.

“I intentionally gathered equipment from my neighbors as I built the farm,” Mike says. “The stalls in the parlor used to be in Bates’ milking barn and the milking equipment and some of my field equipment came from the Kunzes. I went down this path, partially at least, because I saw how my neighbors before me had successfully raised dairy cows in the valley and blazed a clear trail for me.

“Although I had a lot of my own ideas when I got into farming, I am lucky that my friends, [the late] Duane Kunz, and his brother, Merle, and their sons, Craig and Ryan, took me under their wing and taught me how to have cows in Teton Valley. I learned a lot from watching and listening to them, along with Gary Zohner and Don Miller, among others.”

Through the ensuing ten years, Paradise Springs has garnered acclaim. Cornucopia Institute, an alternative agriculture group, named the farm as one of the top-ten organic dairies in the nation, and it is one of only three biodynamiccertified dairies in the country.

“As the dairy industry consolidates into huge dairies, with tens of thousands of cows that produce milk for the global market and not for their own families’ food, this has also created a small market for local producers like me,” Mike says. “I produce high quality raw milk that is needed by pregnant and nursing moms and small children who need the most nutrition possible from their food in order to grow and thrive—these are most of my customers.

“This milk is very expensive to produce, but worth it from a results standpoint. I still use a sharp pencil when I draw up the budget like the other guys, but at least I have a market of people who support what I’m doing, which didn’t exist even a decade ago.”

While the niche market served by Paradise Springs is thriving, remnants of the original Teton Valley dairy industry can be hard to spot today. Its legacy lives on, however, in the work of Mike Reid and the other families cited.

Ryan Kunz recently received a note from one of his sons, expressing thanks for the lessons and work ethic he learned from the family dairy. “Working the ground, seeing it grow, having faith it will grow, working to make it grow— it’s good teaching to see how we got it. We appreciate it more,” Ryan says.

As for Mark Hansen, he believes the dairy helped him raise a pretty good family. “I see families that work together. Did we always get along?” Not necessarily, he indicates, relating the story about a fight between his two older brothers that ended with one of them in the manure pile.

“It’s family,” he says, laughing.

ABOVE Dairies were once an integral part of Teton Valley life. The market shifted to bigger towns with large-scale facilities and now only a few local milk-producing families remain.

Ted Wells

BY MOLLY ABSOLON PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARA AGNEW

Mountain Renaissance man

Ted Wells is a twenty-first century Renaissance man. He’s a farmer, a musician, a golfer, and an excellent cook and baker. He built his post-andbeam house from scratch with the help of friends. He plays banjo and pedal steel guitar and sells bouquets of cosmos, sunflowers, and zinnias, as well as garlic, tomatoes, and herbs, to local shops and restaurants.

He groomed Nordic ski trails for Teton Valley Trails and Pathways for years, and drove a four-hundred-andfifty-mile courier route a couple of days a week when he needed to supplement his income. He’s been a ski bum, but now it’s mountain biking and winter fat biking that has his focused attention.

In fact, focused attention is one of Ted’s defining characteristics. When he decides to learn a new skill he goes all in, doing it with what he calls, “classic Ted Wells obsession.”

That all-in style started in college, Ted says. He attended St. Lawrence University in upstate New York. For a January term, when students got to pursue their own interest for a month, he decided to learn how to play the banjo.

“I was really into the Grateful Dead,” Ted says. “Jerry Garcia played the banjo, so I decided I’d learn to play the banjo. Then I figured I would be able to play the guitar—total music naiveté.”

But play the banjo he did. In fact, he played the banjo twelve hours a day.

“I lived off campus with two guitar players,” Ted says. “All we did was play music. We went to class, but then we came back and played music.”

Ted met fellow future Teton-area musician and bandmate Phil Round, originally from Rhode Island, at St. Lawrence. They formed a band the summer after their sophomore year while living in Vermont. Ben Winship, another future Teton Valley musician and a friend of Ted’s since their high school days in Boston, joined them. The trio forged a friendship and musical partnership that continues close to forty years later.

In the fall after that summer, Ted decided to take a break from school. He headed to Jackson Hole to ski and, of course, play music.

He went back East after a year in Jackson to complete school, finishing in 1983 as the first and, as far as he knows, only St. Lawrence graduate to earn a degree in banjo. After graduation, Ted stayed in upstate New York, playing his banjo, working at North Country Public Radio, and helping build and repair vintage wooden boats. Finally, the lure of powder skiing, together with some gentle prodding from Phil, who’d moved back to Jackson in 1980, was too much for him to resist, and he and Ben headed west in 1985.

“Phil said we’ll ski and play in bars for a few years, and then get on with our lives. It’s been a long few years,” Ted says.

Ted, together with Phil, Ben, and some others, formed the alt-bluegrass band Loose Ties in 1985. The band’s name reflected the fact that its music was “loosely tied to traditional bluegrass.” For ten years they played bars, weddings, and festivals, and traveled

When Ted Wells decides to learn a new skill, he goes all in, doing it with what he calls “classic Ted Wells obsession.”

ABOVE Ted Wells is a twenty-first century mountain Renaissance man and a jack of all trades. His proficiencies include mountain and fat biking, playing pedal steel guitar and banjo, and golfing, cooking, and farming, to name just a few.

around spreading the spirit of music for the Wyoming Arts Council. During their years together, Loose Ties received numerous accolades, including winning the Telluride Bluegrass Festival band championships in 1986, and coming in second in the Kentucky Fried Chicken “Best New Bluegrass Bands” contest in 1987. First place that year was won by Alison Krauss and Union Station.

Loose Ties thrived, but eventually its members found themselves wanting to explore new options, musically and personally, and the band dissolved in the mid-1990s.

“After Loose Ties, I thought, ‘What am I going to do with myself?’” Ted says. “I looked around and thought, ‘Well, I have these five acres of land. I’ll start a farm.’”

He missed fresh, local produce, which was hard to come by in Teton Valley in those days, so starting a farm seemed like a logical next step.

The idea of farming didn’t come out of nowhere. Ted grew up gardening and has vivid memories of what he describes on his farm’s website as a “jungle of kaleidoscopic flowers and sumptuous tomatoes” in his parents’ and grandparents’ gardens. When he moved off campus in college, he grew his own vegetables, and he had a big garden while he juggled jobs in upstate New York after graduation, but he hadn’t done much gardening for a number of years. He missed fresh, local produce, which was hard to come by in Teton Valley in those days, so starting a farm seemed like a logical next step. In 1990, Ted established Alpenglow Farm.

“I saw that as a need, and I had five acres and little kids,” Ted says. “So, farming it was.”

Like everything he decides to do, Ted threw himself into his new vocation, working from dawn to dusk on his property south of Victor. Ted married Clarissa Stout in 1991. Ted, Clarissa, and Whitney (Clarissa’s daughter who passed away in 2014) settled into life

on the farm. Their first child, Hanna, was born in 1993, followed a couple of years later by a son, Lyons. Clarissa was on the road a lot for her job, which meant Ted was the house dad much of the time. He was a hands-off kind of father, trusting his kids to take care of themselves.

“The kids would be playing in here happy as could be, so I’d go back to work,” Ted says.

When Hanna and Lyons got older, they worked with Ted and manned a farm stand at the end of the family’s driveway. Their help allowed Ted to expand his operation, and he added two greenhouses to the farm to prolong his growing season and increase his yields. Now the kids have left home, and Ted is back to running a one-man show. But his produce—bags of spring mix, arugula, and spinach; fresh tomatoes and garlic; bouquets of flowers—can still be found on the shelves at local shops around the valley.

The nucleus of Alpenglow Farm is the home Ted built with Ben Winship more than thirty years ago. A rambling warren-like house filled with cozy rooms tucked here and there under the eaves and painted in bright, cheery colors—orange, yellow, and red—Ted’s house echoes with stories. Photographs crowd every surface, and baskets hang next to pots and pans in the kitchen, while in the living room strands of Christmas lights encircle the open beams. There’s a glassed-in sunroom where Ted starts his plants in the spring. In the winter, it’s sunny and smells like dirt, of the earth. A basket overflowing with skeins of colorful yarn, random sheets of music, and shelves crammed with books provide insight into Ted and Clarissa’s lives, pastimes, and passions. The place has a cozy, cluttered, lived-in feel, different from the stark, mountain modern homes common today.

Outside, the house is surrounded by trees: lilacs, ponderosa pines, aspens, mountain ash, poplar, and a few exotics, like a black cherry and a paper birch. Prayer flags hang across the driveway, while the trees are adorned with bird feeders. Ted has two large hoop houses on his property, which, in the winter when they are mostly empty, smell slightly spicy, a mixture of old basil, rotting leaves, and earth.

TOP South of Victor at his five-acre Alpenglow Farm, Ted Wells grows arugula and spinach; fresh tomatoes and garlic; and flowers that can be found at local shops around town.

The Birth Center

> Exceptional care, comfort, and privacy

> Beautiful setting with views of the National Elk Refuge

> Well-appointed suites featuring abundant natural light

> In-room labor tubs for patient comfort

> Cesarean section rate far below national average

> Breast feeding rate well above the national average

> Support from certified lactation nurses in hospital and after returning home

> Prenatal care services

> Monthly groups for babies and families

BELOW Bundles of garlic hang to dry in Ted Wells’ barn. Ted eschewed big machinery to start his farm; he loves the feel and smell of the dirt and days spent outside in the fresh air.

Ted eschewed big machinery and did most of the labor by hand. He loved the feel and smell of the dirt and plants. He loved being outside in the fresh air, and he loved working hard. And somewhere, somehow, amidst that hard work, Ted decided to learn how to play the pedal steel guitar.

“In classic ‘Ted Wells obsession mode,’” he says. “After the kids went to bed, I’d go into my music room, put on my headphones, and play and play. Eventually Thomas [Sneed, another of Teton Valley’s resident musicians] took pity on me, and I started playing some gigs.”

Pedal steel, which Ted says is a brutal instrument that requires a full-body workout to play, has opened doors. He is part of a “ridiculous number of bands” because of the demand for the sound.

Ted says he is more of “side man” for the bands he plays with. “I get a lot of work because I can blend in and help make the music better rhythmically and harmonically,” he says. “It’s cool to be able to sit in with other musicians, where it’s not about you, it’s about the sound.”

Ted’s musical virtuosity is hardearned. He is talented at many things— banjo, pedal steel, growing garlic, baking bread, skiing, riding a bike—but that talent comes from focused attention to detail and hours of practice. Last winter, when his focus was on mountain biking, he watched how-to videos on the sport and built a jump in his driveway to hone his skills. Just the latest example of his pursuit of excellence.

What will be next? With Ted Wells, Teton Valley’s modern version of a Renaissance man, you never know. But you can bet he’ll do it well, whatever it is.

PLASTICS

Kirsten Kapp dives into the not-so-tiny world of microplastics.

BY MOLLY ABSOLON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAMRIN DENGEL

As a scientist, Kirsten Kapp had been thinking about the problem with microplastics for a while, but the concern really hit home when she participated in a volunteer cleanup day at Trail Creek Pond in the south end of Teton Valley. As she wandered around picking up trash, the Victor resident was surprised by the amount of old fishing line she found buried in the soil, the number of plastic bait containers that lay hidden in the grass, and the sheer volume of broken bits of old Styrofoam coolers mixed in with the dirt. Suddenly, she realized, plastics were not just the ocean problem she’d been reading about. Plastic pollution is also affecting the Rocky Mountain West.

Kirsten is a professor at Central Wyoming College in Jackson. She studied wildlife and fisheries management at the University of Vermont and went on to get a master’s degree in conservation biology and sustainable development at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Long interested in the interaction between humans and wildlife and the ways humans affect their environment, she’d been reading a lot about researchers finding plastics in the stomachs of seabirds and ocean mammals. But she hadn’t worked on the issue herself until she spent a summer as a visiting scientist aboard American Promise, the mothership of the Rozalia Project, a nonprofit dedicated to clean oceans and founded by an old sailing friend of Kirsten’s.

During that experience, Kirsten and her students found microplastics in the stomachs of herring they caught miles from shore in the Atlantic Ocean. Kirsten concedes there’s a chance that some of that plastic came from the researchers’ clothing—they weren’t controlling for contamination—but regardless, finding it in fish that spent their lives far from any human activity indicated to her just how far up the food chain microplastics had traveled.

Back home in Victor, Kirsten’s scientific wheels started to turn. She wondered where the microplastics found in the ocean were originating and just how prevalent they were elsewhere, specifically in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Snake River watershed she calls home.

In 2014, Kirsten set out to determine if there were microplastics in the watershed and, if so, how much. Along with a research assistant, she collected water samples of the Snake River every fifty miles for 1,400 miles. The team started at the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park and finished at the mouth of the Columbia River where it flows into the Pacific Ocean, sampling the surface water along the way for evidence of microplastics. Some of their findings were good, she says. They found no microplastics in the water they collected near Yellowstone; as they moved downstream, however, plastics became more and more prevalent. There were some spikes, which Kirsten says looked like

they corresponded to agriculture or wastewater treatment facilities (but for which she acknowledges lacking scientific proof thus far). And, while plastics are not as ubiquitous in the Snake as in certain other environments around the world, their presence in one of the cleanest places on Earth was still alarming.

“It can be deflating,” Kirsten says. “For a while, I felt pretty hopeless. It seemed as if no one cared, but the media is beginning to catch on and that is helping educate people.”

“Plastic is a great product. It’s allowed for incredible advances in the medical field, in cars, and in technology of all kinds. But we are using plastics where we don’t need to.”

–Kirsten Kapp

Kirsten’s study, and others similar to it, have led to further investigations into microplastic pollution and its sources. Kirsten thinks that fibers from synthetic clothing—pile jackets,

polypropylene long underwear, polyester and acrylic sweaters—are most likely the primary sources of the microplastics found in waterways surrounding Teton Valley. According to IFLScience. com, each time synthetic fabrics are washed, they can release plastic microfibers into the water. That water then flows into wastewater treatment plants. Currently, these facilities are not designed to filter out plastics. As a result, lighter bits drain out with the treated water. Heavier pieces sink to the bottom of the holding ponds and are incorporated into “bio-sludge,” which in some places—including parts of Idaho—is used for fertilizing fields. The plastic can then get into the food system and, eventually, into humans.

A Victor resident and professor at Central Wyoming College, Kirsten Kapp began studying microplastics in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Snake River watershed in 2014 by collecting water samples every fifty miles for 1,400 miles.

Kirsten’s samples near Yellowstone yielded no microplastics, but as she moved downstream, plastics became more and more prevalent. She noted the spikes might correspond to agriculture or wastewater treatment facilities.

It’s estimated that 209,000 tons of plastic microfibers are introduced to the world’s waters every year.

Technically, microplastics are fragments of plastic smaller than five millimeters, or about the length of a grain of rice, that result from the breakdown of larger pieces of plastic. Most of the microplastics Kirsten and her assistant collected during their study were less than 300 microns in size, invisible without the aid of a microscope. The source of microplastic pollution includes everything from plastic bottles to clothing fibers; from plastic beads added to cosmetics to packaging and grocery bags. Microplastics have been found nearly everywhere: in waterways, such as that which Kirsten’s study demonstrated, but also in food, soil, air, freshwater fish, marine life, and, as a study published in October 2018 revealed, human waste as well. The effect of microplastics on humans and animals is not entirely understood, but more and more scientists are looking into its impacts as

awareness of its prevalence in our environment grows.

“There was a study that looked at earthworms in agricultural soil,” Kirsten says. “There’s lots of research into the effects of plastics on organisms. The severity depends on the organism and the exposure, so it’s hard to generalize.

“But it’s clear that plastic is an endocrine disrupter and that it puts stress on the liver. There are signs that it affects feeding behavior and reduces reproduction rates in certain organisms. These studies have been done in labs, and the levels of microplastics involved may or may not reflect what is out in the world. That’s why sampling studies like ours are important. We need to know the concentration of microplastics in our waterways to understand its impact.”

Kirsten’s study, published in 2016, was one of the first to sample the entire length of a river in the United States. It was also one of the longest watersheds in the world sampled to date. Her findings helped add to the understanding of

the presence of microplastics in freshwater systems, which at the time the research was conducted represented a gap in scientific knowledge. And she continues to explore the topic. This winter, one of her research assistants, Zach Andres, sampled snow in the Teton region to look for the presence of microplastics. Kirsten also hosted a panel discussion in Jackson in May of 2018 to discuss plastic pollution and ways people can reduce their contribution to the problem.

“Plastic is a great product,” Kirsten says. “It’s allowed for incredible advances in the medical field, in cars, and in technology of all kinds. But we are using plastics where we don’t need to.”

Plastics were hailed as the miracle product not so long ago, and they still are critical in today’s world. Our lives became easier and more convenient and our diets more varied with the advent of plastic. Plastic clamshells enable us to purchase organic baby spinach and strawberries in January

WAYS TO REDUCE PLASTIC USE:

• Carry reusable fabric bags. Keep bags in your car so you always have some handy. After unloading groceries, place them back in the car.

• Buy products in glass. Look for glass jars when you are buying pickles, condiments, spices, and oils. These jars can be reused or, in Teton Valley, washed and recycled.

• Carry a to-go kit. Keep a mug, food containers, and metal or bamboo utensils in your car.

• Buy in bulk to reduce packaging. Bring your own containers to put items in rather than using the plastic bags offered.

• Wear natural fibers. Wool, cotton, bamboo, and hemp do not produce microplastic fibers when washed.

• Buy bar soap and shampoo bars to cut down on plastic packaging.

• Carry a reusable water bottle.

• Use beeswax or a plate to cover leftovers in the refrigerator.

• Use cloth rags rather than sponges for cleaning. The rags can be thrown in the wash and be used again and again.

• Support local agriculture to cut down on packaging and transportation for food.

The Community Foundation of Teton Valley utilized Teton Valley Community Recycling’s portable hydration station seen above at last year’s Tin Cup Challenge to cut down on disposable water bottles. They are working to add more initiatives like this for the 2019 annual event in July.

at Broulim’s grocery store in Driggs. Plastic allows us to eat takeout with a fork or have a latte on the road, far from our supply of reusable utensils or our to-go cups. It enables us to buy all kinds of products—shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, medicines, laundry detergent, dish soap—without even thinking about the implications of the packaging. But, despite some limited efforts to recycle certain types of plastic, most of it ends up in the landfill, on the roadside, or in the ocean where it takes thousands of years to break down. That part of the convenience of plastic is the part that worries many.

Microplastics also attract toxins. Pollutants in water are drawn to chemicals in plastic, coating the surface, which means that when marine animals ingest plastic, they also ingest toxins.

In the United States, California is the only state that has banned singleuse plastic bags, but a number of municipalities, including Jackson, Wyoming, have introduced community-wide bans. Idaho passed a law in 2016 forbidding local governments from enacting plastic bag bans, but as public pressure to reduce waste grows, some Idaho grocery stores—such as the Albertsons stores in Idaho Falls—are looking at implementing their own bag bans in the next few years.

In Teton Valley, the impact of plastic pollution can be hard to see. Sophisticated waste-management systems mean that, for most consumers, once an item gets dropped into a trash can, it disappears; and, with its disappearance, most people stop thinking about its impact. But there is growing concern nonetheless, and here and across the country, efforts to reduce waste or offer alternatives to plastics are gaining traction. Google “plastic free” and you’ll find sites with names like “My Plastic-Free Life,” “Life Without Plastic,” and “How I Kicked My Plastic Habit.” Some of the measures promoted by zero-waste advocates can be daunting—making your own toothpaste or lotion for example—but many others require a few simple changes of habit that can make a difference.

Examples of local efforts include the Teton Valley Foundation’s 2018 initiative to reduce the number of plastic cups used at its eight-week summer Music on Main concert series through a stainless-steel cup rental program. TVF’s executive director, Lauren Bennett, says the concept began with Steve Kitto, of Liquid Hardware in Victor, who said he could make stainless steel reusable pint glasses to supplant the classic plastic cups used at Music on Main at the time. Lauren 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Teton Valley Foundation’s cup program helped reduce single-use plastic cups by 45 percent. In 2019, the foundation is eliminating plastic cups thanks to the 2018 success.

wasn’t sure TVF could afford to buy cups. That’s when Dave Hudasko, from trash-pickup provider RAD Curbside, jumped in and said RAD would sponsor the program and buy the first round. He persuaded Spoons Bistro to agree to wash the cups after each use. Suddenly, it seemed like a no-brainer, Lauren says. “Their energy motivated me,” she says. “We decided to start slowly and bought two hundred and fifty cups. I was so nervous that first night, but we sold out of them in a couple of hours and ended up ordering 1,400 more.”

By the end of the season, Music on Main had used 45 percent fewer plastic cups than it had in the past. For 2019, Teton Valley Foundation is going completely plastic cup-free for beer and wine sales, thanks to the success of the 2018 program launch. In addition, Teton Valley Community Recycling set up a hydration station at the concerts so

people could refill water bottles rather than purchase bottled water.

WorldCast Anglers, headquartered in Victor, has also implemented a number of practices to reduce its plastic use. Clients are given aluminum reusable water bottles instead of bottled water to drink from during days on the river. Guides carry growlers of chilled water in coolers to refill the bottles as needed. The company is also no longer selling fishing flies in plastic containers.

“At WorldCast Anglers, we work to protect and preserve the environment, all fish, and their supporting watersheds,” says Mike Dawkins, the company’s vice president. “It is so important to us [that] it’s listed in our statement of culture. We felt like hypocrites operating under this statement but continuing to contribute to our waste and landfills. The elimination of single-use plastic water bottles on our full-day guided

“The elimination of single-use plastic water bottles on our full-day guided float trips was the first step of making sure we practiced what we preached.”

–Mike Dawkins, vice president, WorldCast Anglers

float trips was the first step of making sure we practiced what we preached.”

WorldCast’s “kick plastic” campaign started in 2016. Since then, the company estimates it has prevented 180,000 single-use water bottles from winding up in landfills and waste collection areas. Dawkins says that’s just the beginning.

Other local examples abound. Butter Café in Victor offers stainlesssteel straws. Teton Valley Community Recycling has established three TerraCycle stations—one in Victor and two in Driggs—where people can drop

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LINN CANYON RANCH

A Classic Taste of the West

Take simple steps in your everyday life to reduce plastic use like purchasing glass products, carrying reusable fabric bags, and choosing goods that are not in plastic containers.

off hard-to-recycle items like foil energy bar wrappers and toothpaste tubes. In Tetonia, Clawson Greens’ Community Supported Agriculture lettuce program uses compostable bags and allows participants to bring clean bags back to be reused. Barrels & Bins Community Market in Driggs accepts empty egg cartons, and, back in Victor, Alpine Air Coffee Roasting bags its beans in fully compostable bags. The Community Foundation of Teton Valley’s annual Tin Cup Challenge fundraising event has gone to compostable cups and is working with Teton Valley Community Recycling to brainstorm other ways to reduce its overall impact.

And Chiang Mai Thai Kitchen, also in Victor, has begun using compostable to-go containers for all its carryout food. The containers are made from unbleached wheat fiber, which is a byproduct of wheat production and, therefore, a sustainable resource. Since the containers are made from wheat stalks and not the grain, they are still gluten-free, and will break down in home composters in two to four months.

Patrick Murphy, who owns Chiang Mai Thai Kitchen with his wife Sophia, says, “We realized very quickly running a business that it was our responsibility to provide the most eco-friendly options available. We also recycle glass, aluminum, tin, plastic, and cardboard. We’re doing our best.”

While the impact may be minimal, such measures get people thinking.

“I’m not sure if bag bans or plastic

Photo:

Jamye

Chrisman

“To make changes, we have to find things that suit people’s lifestyles.”

–Iris Saxer, executive director of Teton Valley Community Recycling

straw bans make a dent, really,” Kirsten says. “But the importance is raising awareness.”

And even that can be difficult.

“I’ve given lectures about microplastic pollution, and the next day students will still come in with their lunch in a Styrofoam container and a plastic bag. That can be discouraging. It’s hard to change human behavior, and ultimately it really should be companies that take charge of making the change. The guilt shouldn’t rest on consumers.”

Dawkins, of WorldCast Anglers, says clients have been supportive of the company’s efforts to reduce waste, and many now bring their own refillable water bottles. However, he believes it’s his company’s responsibility to walk its talk and do everything in its power to lead the way. He says he’s seen a number of local outfitters adopt their own kickplastic campaigns, and that major outdoor manufacturers like YETI Coolers and Orvis have also been supportive of the efforts. His hope is that the example set by these smaller companies will begin to ripple upward to larger ones.

Iris Saxer, the executive director of Teton Valley Community Recycling, says the size of the plastic problem can be overwhelming. That’s why she likes to focus at the local level, where habit changes can have an impact.

“Americans are attached to convenience,” she says. “To make changes, we have to find things that suit people’s lifestyles. Our emphasis is increasingly on source reduction. Make less waste. Hopefully, that message will start to get through to more and more companies, and they will begin to look at their packaging with that goal in mind.”

Scenic Flights

Airplane Scenic Flights

2019 Teton Valley Events

Linda Swope

Linda Swope

Jamye Chrisman

Jamye

Linda Swope

Linda Swope

Linda Swope

DOGS WITH JOBS

A day at work through the lens of our furry friends

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAMRIN DENGEL

Dogs. (Wo)man’s best friend. Some of our dearest companions. Many dogs, however, are wired for more than just companionship. From bird dogs to herd dogs, these canines know how to earn their keep, each filled with purpose, vigor, and apparent contentment at the completion of an expected task. Many begin their training as pups, though some breeds’ instincts set them up to be naturally far more successful at one job than another. Though this sampling only skims the surface of the local working dog scene, I was happy to meet a representative handful of dogs around Teton Valley hard at work.

Trout Border Collie

[Livestock Herding—6 years old]

Border collies are specifically bred for intelligence and obedience. Trout, a tri-colored border collie, is constantly tuned into his owners Gabby and Jesse Murdock, waiting for the next command. His movements toward livestock push the animals in desired directions, allowing large groups of stock to be moved efficiently. Ranging from “come by” to “that’ll do,” each command directs Trout onto a different task. Like any great stock dog, Trout is quick, attentive, and brave.

Tashi & Hoss Brittanies

[Gun Dog/Bird Hunting—Both 6 years old]

Tashi and Hoss make quite the duo in the field. Brittanies, known as Brittany Spaniels until the early 1980s, are regarded as great all-purpose hunting dogs, specifically for covering ground, pointing, and retrieving downed birds (Tashi’s favorite task). While both are agile and energetic, Tashi lets Hoss do a lot of the work flushing birds for their owners, Kevin Emery and Kate Koons.

Nayeli Great Pyrenees

[Livestock Guardian—She declined to reveal her age]

Nayeli is part of the pack of Great Pyrenees tasked with protecting the Siddoway family’s sheep flocks on rangeland surrounding Teton Valley. Guardian dogs work well independently, protecting livestock from predators. With the ability to endure harsh weather, Pyrenees are well suited to living outdoors. Nayeli’s calm energy and patience allow her to fit in effortlessly with the flock.

Bannock

German Shepherd

[Search & Rescue—5 years old]

Bannock is one of Deb and Joe Hurlburt’s (beloved) working German shepherds. Focused and full of life, his list of credentials is impressive. Bannock works with the North American Police Working Dog Association and Idaho Search & Rescue Dogs. Certified in scent-specific human tracking and cadaver tracking on land and water, he works cases for local sheriff departments, the FBI, national parks, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Addie Doberman Pinscher

[Limited Protection Service Animal—2 years old]

Addie is a service-dog-in-training with local trainer Ronda Bowser. Addie’s limited protection skill set is intended to suit a person living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These skills are honed to help her companion discern safe situations from alarming ones. Her job is not to show aggression, but to stay alert to the world around her, communicate her observations, and provide constant companionship to someone benefiting from the buddy system. (Addie was successfully matched with an ideal forever home last fall.)

Victor’s Changing Landscape

Etching out the future of the south end

BY JESSICA L. FLAMMANG

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DREW ORLANDO

When Abbi Sarthou relocated to Victor from Park City, Utah, five years ago, she was moving to a new place. Her husband, Pierre—a native of nearby Wilson, Wyoming—was returning to the Tetons. His family has lived in the region for half a century. But the bi-state community he returned home to was different than the one he left in the late nineties.

“We moved [back] the weekend the stoplight was installed in Victor,” Sarthou says.

Since their move back in 2014, a new health clinic and pharmacy, the fifty-six-room Cobblestone Hotel on the corner of Main Street and Dogwood, and multiple housing projects have made their mark on the quaint Idaho town.

Not too long ago, Victor was a quiet crossroads where Idaho State Highway 33, leading north toward Driggs and southeast to Jackson Hole, meets State Highway 31, which heads west over Pine Creek Pass to Swan Valley, Idaho. Now in the throes of another swell in development, citizens hope the town can find balance, learning from past mistakes.

“I hope the city planners and the county [work to] ensure that everything stays true to our small-town feel,” Sarthou says, “and create thoughtful, community-oriented design.”

THE NUMBERS

Although development has picked up, the growth has not yet matched the building boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, a boom that skidded to a halt following the national recession of 2008.

Growth is not rapidly increasing, says Vic-

tor Planning and Zoning Director Ryan Krueger. “From what I know from the previous ‘boom’ cycle for Teton County as a whole, it appears to be more in line with steady growth trends, although it seems Victor is seeing increased activity in the issuance of permits,” he says

In 2014, seventeen building permits were issued in Victor. In 2017, that number rose to seventy-eight. By comparison, in 2007, just before the recession occurred, 113 building permits were issued. The number of permits issued in 2017 were 70 percent of the total number issued in 2007, according to Victor Mayor Jeff Potter, a Jackson Hole native.

The city’s 2018 End of Year Report stated that “the pace of submitted building permits has been sharply increasing on a percentage basis since 2014.” At the close of its fiscal year on September 30, fifty-two building permits had been received. And not all of the building permits are residential. The new Victor Elementary School broke ground in October 2018. Located just north of Sherman Park at the corner of Elm and Baseline Road, it is slated to open in 2020.

“The reality of the situation falls somewhere between boom and a steady increase,” Krueger says.

To address impending advancements, the city adopted a model code for zoning and building ordinances as required by state law, according to Mayor Potter. He acknowledges, however, that it still needs fine-tuning.

“We anticipated that as we implement new standards, there will be issues,” Mayor Potter says. Lighting has been one of them. Public engagement, another.

LEFT Victor’s Killpack Hotel on Depot Road in 1921 where retail and coffee shop Suba is today.

BOTTOM The city added Victor Drug pharmacy and clinic and the new Cobblestone Hotel to Main Street last summer.

TOP Hundreds of visitors and residents flock to Victor City Park for the popular Music on Main concerts.

“I think it’s important to have everyone involved in the type of community we are trying to build. ”

—SHANNON CLAY

GROWING PAINS

With growth comes growing pains, no doubt.

“We have seen more [commercial] development this season with the pharmacy, the new school, and the clinic,” Councilman Will Frohlich says. “This creates public issues like lighting ordinances and signage.”

As Victor stretches its britches, light pollution is a contentious issue. For Shannon Clay, it has been an ongoing battle since renting a house on Dogwood Street in October 2017.

“When I moved in, there was nothing there,” Clay says. “Now, there are two large apartment buildings with ten units each, and five new structures on the other side.”

Since relocating to Teton Valley from Olympia, Washington, in 2011—armed with a background in sustainable development—Clay has played an active citizen’s role in helping craft zoning and code regulations, attending housing and urban development meetings, and working alongside the city to try to sustain the valley’s rural identity.

“It is nice to hear from citizens when issues come up like downtown lighting associated with new development,” City Administrator Olivia Goodale says. “It gives us a chance to review, to check in with our code, and to ask ourselves, ‘Is our code meeting the intent of what our community wants to see?’”

Mayor Potter has directed staff to look into the lighting code, Goodale says, thanks to input from residents like Clay.

“I think it’s important to have everyone involved in the type of community we are trying to build,” Clay says. “We have a good community and people who care. I want Victor to maintain its character.”

A TOWN TO COME HOME TO

Currently, 72 percent of households in Victor have one or more residents who commute over Teton Pass daily, according to The Western Greater Yellowstone Region Housing Needs Assessment of November 2014. Sponsored by the Western Greater Yellowstone Consortium, the same study found that “Teton County, Idaho, has

the highest percentage of households with employees who leave the county for work and the lowest percentage of households with a locally employed member.”

Victor is a bedroom community not only for those who choose to live in Idaho, but also for Jackson laborers unable to find housing on the Wyoming side of the state line. Hotel Terra, located in Teton Village, Wyoming, recently built employee housing for its employees on the Idaho side of Teton Pass, further blurring the lines.

Fortunately, members of Victor City Council are working to maintain the community feel. “I still want Victor to be its own brand, its own town,” says Councilman Frohlich, “not just a bedroom community.”

But the issue is complicated by changing real estate and rental markets, the availability of more jobs with higher wages across state lines, and a variety of other factors. According to the Teton County, Idaho, Affordable Housing Strategic Plan, the median home sales price and rental rate have increased and outpaced gains in wages, despite an increase in new housing construction between 2014 and 2018, creating a conundrum for many.

An increasing supply of short-term rentals have also stifled the long-term rental market due to sites like VRBO and Airbnb, a problem seeming to plague tourism-driven mountain towns throughout the West. As of July 2018, according to the affordable housing plan, “there were 370 ‘entire home’ short-term (less than 30 days) rentals listed on the Airbnb website in the county, which represents 6.4 percent of the county’s housing units.”

Clay currently commutes to earn an income. The average starting wage typically listed for open jobs in Jackson is $15 to $20 an hour, versus $11 to $15 in Teton Valley. The wage disparity can translate to an impact on community cohesion. “I feel more disconnected from the [Teton Valley] community now that I commute,” Clay says.

Still, the landscape speaks to her, and she isn’t willing to give that up just yet.

BELOW Victor hosts a number of celebrated events, like Mountain Bike the Tetons’ Moose Cross, a two-day cyclocross festival held in the fall.

A REVAMP OF THE PLAN

As Victor’s physical character changes, focus on revamping the City of Victor Comprehensive Plan moves to the top of the list for many, who hope that landscaping, infrastructure, and building development stay consistent with its original vision. City staff agrees. A significant update to the comprehensive plan is already underway, the success of which relies heavily on community outreach by the city and input from residents.

The comprehensive plan update—which the Victor City Council identified as its top priority at its annual retreat in February—will give the public opportunity to voice their ideas and concerns.

As of this spring, the city was in the process of preparing a request for proposal for a consultant on the project. The bulk of the update will fall within 2020. According to Goodale, the ultimate goal is a vibrant main street and a more localized economy.

Council and city staff are hoping for a high level of involvement for the plan.

“Residents need to remain vigilant and involved,” Mayor Potter says.

Councilman Frohlich agrees. “We would love more public opinion in our meetings on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, and on social media,” he says. “Transparency is huge. More public opinion at charrettes and meetings gives us more to go on.”

Goodale says the city staff will look to the public engagement best practices formed in Envision Victor and implement them throughout the process.

In 2009, the City of Victor partnered with Valley Advocates for Responsible Development [VARD] and Teton Valley Trails and Pathways to attempt to define the community’s core values and sense of place under the umbrella of the Envision Victor project. The Orton Family Foundation funded the two-year project with a $100,000 grant to go toward defining what makes up the “heart and soul” of the community, according to VARD.

Envision Victor was a city project that, although different than the comprehensive plan, also helped the city identify the values of the

community. Maybe most notably, Envision Victor identified public engagement and transparency strategies that Goodale says will carry over into the new comprehensive plan updates.

Shawn Hill, executive director of VARD, remains a resounding voice in the discussion. Founded in 2001, VARD is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit citizens’ group “working toward fair and predictable development that will benefit the entire community and future generations,” according to its mission statement.

In the fall of 2018, VARD held a community event outlining recent developments in the city called, ‘What’s our vector, Victor?’

“We wanted to increase public awareness that Victor is receiving more development applications, but there doesn’t seem to be a clear direction for how the community wants to grow,” Hill says. “We need to return to the original tenets of Envision Victor.”

Potter, however, feels the tools are in place, saying, “Development that isn’t consistent with community vision” will be denied.

Since the completion of the Meadows housing project, the public has “awoken,” Hill says.

The small-unit Meadows project consists of two parcels west of the Victor downtown core comprising fourteen housing units, Krueger says. “It has generated a significant amount of community feedback since its inception; comments that encouraged the City of Victor to take a more proactive approach in determining appropriate design characteristics for our travel corridors and community as a whole.”

In 2018, the city adopted design review guidelines that outlined specific zones and building types within the city, Krueger explains.

“The Design Review Advisory Committee continues to hone those standards to ensure future development is established in accordance with the community’s preferred aesthetic mindset,” he says.

But Hill remains focused on the values put forth in Envision Victor’s original plan.

“If we can set the tone for the right kind of development in Victor, we will establish its character for generations to come,” he says.

ABOVE Brian Milligan wrangles his hockey enthusiast son Rowan, age three, at Victor’s Kotler Ice Arena.

Beautifying Victor

As Victor grows and changes, one group of citizens is working to make sure the city has a bit of artistic flair. The Victor Placemakers, charged with creating an art-filled community, constructed a snow park in 2017 and are in the throes of creating an art park featuring public art, games, and seating on an empty Main Street lot between the Knotty Pine and the Victor Post Office. Last summer, they orchestrated a vibrant eight-by-thirtythree-foot mural on the Victor City Park Stage, created by nationally acclaimed artist and Placemakers member Jason Borbet (known in the art world as Borbay). TVM caught up with Jason to chat about the mural and the Placemakers.

TVM: How did you get involved with the Victor Placemakers?

JB: If you can judge a town by the passion of its mayor, I owe my civic involvement to Mayor Potter. His desire to enhance Victor is palpable, so when he asked if I was interested in joining The Placemakers—then the Victor Urban Renewal Agency Board—I was all in.

TVM: What sprouted the idea for the mural?

JB: While I slung the paint, our mural was the brainchild of the Victor Placemakers—a group of passionate citizens I’m proud to call friends. Building on our 2017 snow park, we decided to literally paint the town in 2018.

TVM: Tell us about the mural’s design.

JB: We wanted to capture the excellence of our mountain town, with ‘VICTOR IDAHO’ in neon letters, atop the Big Hole Mountains. The Tetons are spectacular, but we are in Big Hole country, and wanted this to be extremely personal. In fact, if you have a chance, check out the mural up close and read the stars. (The stars spell out the name of beloved local musician Candice Miller, who died last summer.)

Greater Yellowstone Crane Festival

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Ryan Krueger, who has lived in the Greater Yellowstone region for more than a decade, began his job as Victor’s new planning and zoning director in December of 2018. His first priority: an update of the land use code, which is different from the comprehensive plan. “The most recent iteration needed revision,” he says. “The code needs to ultimately work for you and not against you.”

Krueger is diligently following up on residents’ concerns. “The city is trying to be a partner [with] residents in finding solutions that will offer peace of mind,” he says. So far, he has been able to resolve several outstanding issues.

An outdoor enthusiast, Krueger is passionate about the land in and around Teton Valley. But he can’t stave off legitimate development. “Victor is on the map,” he says. “Developers are coming in from outside the region eager to build in Victor.”

What Krueger can do is serve as a balancing force. “I strive to bring the community into the fold for the challenges we will see moving forward,” he says.

A commitment to regional identity is paramount, along with the willingness of both residents and city officials to adjust to growth. For Goodale, this means continually looking to the comprehensive plan and land use code and getting community input.

“Victor has undergone periods of growth in the past and we’ll experience periods of growth

in the future,” she says. “Through it all, Victor has been able to maintain its sense of place.”

But change is inevitable.

“You have to be able to adapt to change in this day and age,” Councilman Frohlich says. “The city has done a good job in trying to align itself to that change during the boom.”

Teton County Clerk Kim Keeley, who has coowned the Victor Emporium on Main Street for twenty years, agrees, saying there have been many positive changes over the last two decades.

“I give the Victor City Council a lot of credit,” she says. “Not all decisions have worked out, but they have been forward-thinking and in good faith.”

A SMALL TOWN AT HEART

Despite some development debacles, Sarthou and many other community members know that Victor is special and will ultimately survive its growing pains.

“Most of my husband’s high school friends have returned to the region, many of whom chose to live in Teton Valley,” she says. “They are all still connected. To me, this shows that it is a great place to stay and create your life.”

Councilman Frohlich holds a similar view. “Victor still has a small-town feel. Regardless of development, this likely won’t change in my lifetime,” he says.

Additional reporting by Powder Mountain Press staff.

LEFT Victor celebrates the 4th of July each year with breakfast in the park, a festive parade, and a craft fair.

RIGHT MarchFourth Marching Band delights the crowds at Victor’s Music on Main.

PHOTOS: LEFT, DREW

RIGHT, LINDA SWOPE

Sounds to Match th e Sce nery

A ‘secret sauce’ of world-class mountains and music

BY SMITH MADDREY PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID STUBBS

Moving briskly toward Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, we follow the chaotic sounds of trumpets and drumbeats. It’s one of those endless mid-summer days, and my seven-year-old daughter Lyles and I are making our way to Grand Teton Music Festival’s Hartley Family Concert Series event, “A Night at the Movies.”

We discover the origins of the music: the Instrument Petting Zoo. Inside Hartley Pavilion, we find people blowing into flutes, banging on drums, and testing out retired instruments, large and small, neatly arranged from woodwinds to brass winds to tubas.

Hosted by the Jackson Hole Community Band, a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization, the petting zoo takes wornout instruments and lets kids “make some noise,” says Julie Wilson, flute-player and the organization’s vice president. It’s all about exploring these instruments in an informal setting, she explains.

“The best thing is when they—the kids and adults—try to make a noise and a nice sound emerges,” Julie says. “Wham! A nice sound belts out, and I give them a high five.”

Taking our seats inside a packed Walk Festival Hall, we listen to Conductor Jerry Hou set the tone for the evening with his interactive, upbeat prompts of the audience (“Raise your hand if you grew up playing an instrument!”). The ninety-two-person orchestra opens with a performance of “Sunrise” from 2001: A Space Odyssey and the big-band sound fills the room. Conductor Hou’s commentary bookends each number, ranging from blockbuster films such as Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean to—my daughter’s favorite—an eight-minute medley of Disney Classics including Mary Poppins, Cinderella, and Peter Pan.

Large community concerts like these might date back to the Renaissance era, but Grand Teton Music Festival (GTMF) got its start in 1962 as a part of the Jackson Hole Fine Arts Festival. With the opening of Walk Festival Hall in 1974, it solidified a venue for host-

“Usually people leave a music hall and find themselves in the city. Here, you literally walk outside and you’re in the mountains. It’s our secret sauce.” Andrew Palmer Todd GTMF President and CEO

ABOVE Liam Koob, five, bangs a drum at Grand Teton Music Festival’s Instrument Petting Zoo held each year before the Hartley Family Concert Series event at Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village. LEFT Jerry Hou conducts at “A Night at the Movies,” leading the orchestra in lively performances of songs from celebrated films like Mary Poppins , Cinderella , and Peter Pan

ing internationally renowned visiting artists and conductors. President and CEO Andrew Palmer Todd shares that the festival provides an opportunity to “hear the finest musicians playing in a superb acoustical facility.”

Grand Teton Music Festival brings in approximately two hundred and thirty orchestral musicians from ninety different orchestras for the summer season. Usually you will find eighty to ninety performing, depending on the event, including Andrew himself on the

piano or the organ.

GTMF’s ambitious breadth of offerings might be among the reasons why The New York Times recently identified it as “One of the Top 10 Classical Music Festivals.” For seven straight weeks starting in the first week of July, the summer season stages more than sixty public events. These include its mainstay Festival Orchestra, which are Friday and Saturday night performances guided by world-renowned conductor Donald Runnicles; Free Family Con-

ABOVE Robyn Bound, three, learns a bit of cello at the Instrument Petting Zoo. TOP RIGHT Caleb McEuen, ten, tries a tuba. The event lets kids touch and experience different instruments in an informal setting.

BOTTOM RIGHT Luke Landry takes in the music at “A Night at the Movies” event with his uncle Chris Owen. A family-friendly offering, the show featured cinema classics played by the orchestra.

certs, weekly, kid-friendly music appreciation and instructional shows; and Movies on the Mountain, Monday evening screenings of silver-screen favorites like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Toy Story. For music aficionados looking to go deeper, there are pre-performance lectures, chamber music events, fundraising galas, and winter season concerts.

Mike and Shawn Daus, who have attended with their family for many years, credit much of the festival’s success to its diverse array of offerings.

“Our favorite concerts are not the typical ones,” Shawn says. “We have seen great guitar players, string rockers, and Broadway singers ... We love that we have the opportunity to expose our kids to a variety of musical genres and sounds without having to leave town.”

In 2019, for their fifty-eighth season, GTMF offers a summer lineup that includes prolific musician Norah Jones and Broadway legend Kristin Chenoweth, to name just a couple.

While some of the high-profile shows might lighten the wallet, there is

a conscious effort to make many of the events free and family-friendly. These include the Hartley Family Concert Series like “A Night at the Movies” and this year’s “Another Day in Paradise” and the Movies on the Mountain series.

Jackson high school student Warren Levy tries to see a few shows each week during the summer season.

“The caliber of performers would be impossible to have in Jackson without such an attractive festival,” Warren says. “My favorite memory is from the Sarah Chang concert a few years ago ... and she was super nice when I met her in person after the concert.”

After a spirited playing of “Let It Go” from Frozen, the orchestra concludes their performance to great applause, and we shuffle our way outside.

As for what makes this musical experience unique, Andrew puts it this way: “Our hallmark is a world-class orchestra in a casual environment. Usually people leave a music hall and find themselves in the city. Here, you literally walk outside and you’re in the mountains. It’s our secret sauce.”

An insider’s look at Jackpine Lavender Life in Purple

BY CHRISTINA SHEPHERD MCGUIRE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LINDA SWOPE

“My children grew up and now I have plants,” says Ann McMullen of Jackpine Lavender. Maybe you’ve seen Ann and her husband Jeff, a Jackson Hole native, peddling their products at the summer farmers market in Driggs. Their hobby—actually, it’s more of an encore career—started in 2015 after the couple acquired two off-the-grid plots of land on Jackpine-Pinochle Loop Road north of Felt.

And as far as their new “kids” go— well, they don’t talk back, there’s no whining, and worrying about curfew is not a concern. Instead, and often unlike children, lavender plants invoke a sense of calmness. Just one frolic through the McMullens’ certified organic fields leaves you in a state of bliss, yearning to make this herb a part of your every day.

Why Lavender?

Imagine this. Ann, a freelance technical mathematics writer, and Jeff, a retired mechanical engineer, posted up all summer long in their twenty-fivefoot camper, surrounded by eight hundred blossoming lavender plants. They have running water and a bathroom, but they tote their laundry over Teton Pass to Jeff’s mother’s house to clean their clothes. It’s a life of simplicity, one that pairs nicely with their low-maintenance specialty crop. And, after visiting with the couple, it’s easy to see that together, alongside undemanding lavender, they make the perfect match.

Ann, who says she’s always had a love for herb gardening, comes from a long line of family members with health sensitivities. After discovering these same sensitivities in one of her children, she began using lavender in both skin and household preparations. Her knowledge of the plant’s many uses grew. And then once Jeff retired, the couple decided they wanted to work their land. “Getting into ‘real farming’ seemed like a lot of effort,” explains Jeff. “Lavender doesn’t require any fertilization, herbicides, or pesticides. It’s a very low-maintenance plant and it’s relatively simple to take care of compared to a lot of other operations.”

So, the couple whipped out their soil meters and tested the ground for its pH and viability, vowing that, whatever they grew, they’d do so in the most natural way possible. To further cultivate their interest, the McMullens attended a lavender conference, and then—predictably, perhaps, for a couple with backgrounds in science and math—ran a series of experiments on their land.

The couple’s yearning to farm organically comes from both a careful consideration of what they put on and into their bodies and a wish to foster consumer confidence.

They tested the efficacy of different varieties and played around with various ages of starts, finally landing on Lavandula angustifolia, commonly called English lavender, and Lavandula x intermedia, the French variety. Currently, they grow twelve kinds of the two species, including Melissa, True Hidcote Blue, Hidcote Pink, Purple Ellagance, Provence, and Grosso, to name a few.

The couple’s yearning to farm organically comes from both a careful consideration of what they put on and into their bodies and a wish to foster

LEFT Ann and Jeff McMullen started their encore careers as lavender farmers in 2015. From their Felt land, they grow the fragrant herb and produce certified-organic products.

consumer confidence. “We made the conscious effort to go organic,” says Jeff. “And as you go through that whole process, you really understand the dedication it takes. It cuts into our profit margin, but we want people to trust us.”

For the Body

Ann loves lavender for its use in skin care products. Just peruse their online store (jackpinelavender.com) to view a sampling of their offerings like oil, soap, face masks, and even a caffeine-infused body bar used to dispel unsightly cellulite. The McMullens take precise care when making their products, as the process from propagation to goods is no easy task.

First, they cut fresh flowers when the plant is in full bloom, mid-July through late September in most years. “We cut the flowers by hand when they are super fragrant,” explains Ann. “We just love the harvest—bees and butterflies flying around. It’s an amazing time.”

Next, they take thirty pounds of flowers and place them inside one of their two steam distillers (they use both a copper and a stainless vessel). Steam rises up through the plant material and into a coil to produce the end products: a highly atomized essential oil and a hydrosol. The oil is used to make Ann’s aromatherapy blends, body butters, healing salves, and more. And the hydrosol is featured in Jackpine’s toners and sprays. This end result contains the loving energy emitted from the farmers throughout both the harvest and production process. And, since mindful practices make the utmost of products, customers can be confident that each and every item bought from the McMullens is fresher and has a potency much stronger than mass-produced, storebought items.

In The Belly

Outside of using it to make a tea, not many people would consider lavender a culinary herb. But the McMullens sold me on their daily cappuccino, complete with lavender extract. In their booth at the farmers market in Driggs you’ll find lavender salt, lavender pepper, lavender sugar, and an aromatic extract of the herb used for baking. Ann prefers to cook with the English variety, as English lavender “tends to be sweeter and

ABOVE Jackpine Lavender owners Jeff and Ann McMullen sell their certified-organic lavender and goods like lavender salt, soaps, and oils at the Teton Valley Farmers Market.

less pungent than French,” she says. However, French lavender is used in traditional French cuisine and pairs well with foods that have a naturally strong flavor.

As with other culinary herbs, dried lavender buds offer the most versatility in the kitchen. As the plant dries, the flavor becomes more concentrated and the dried buds crumble easily, making it perfect for spice blends and rubs. (Ever hear of “Herbes de Provence?”) But fresh lavender creates a refreshing summer tea, one that Ann and Jeff drink daily. (Grab a bundle and try your hand at making tea infusions. Or, for a festive outdoor barbeque, an adult-themed lavender lemonade will delight guests and soothe any awkward party tension. See the recipe on page 84.)

In addition to providing premier body products and spice blends that excite your taste buds, the McMullens distribute their lavender flowers to a handful of regional businesses. Try their buds in Bear Root Bitters’ Teton Lavender Bitters; In Season makes artisanal sourdough breads with their herb; Higher Elevation Kombucha makes a lavender-infused fermented refresher; and Healthy Being Juicery and Café in Jackson incorporates the couple’s lavender into seasonal offerings.

While Felt is far from the French countryside—and despite its harsh climate—this locally produced lavender may be superior to its European counterpart (the cold is said to enhance the fragrance of the flower). So, grab a fermented drink, treat yourself to an indulgent face oil, or simply swing by the Friday market for a glimpse of what just might be one of the most soothing and properly cared for herb samplings on the planet.

“Teton hospitality at its finest for over 25 years.”

ABOVE The McMullens grow Lavandula angustifolia , commonly called English lavender, and Lavandula x intermedia , a French variety.

In The Kitchen

When working with lavender in the kitchen, a little goes a long way. For grilling, pair the dried flower with other heavy-handed herbs, like rosemary and oregano, to season chicken, meat, or potatoes. Lavender’s potency makes baked goods shine, too, but it needs a little taming with citrus notes like lemon and orange. And, if you aren’t sourcing your lavender directly from Ann and Jeff McMullen, always buy a food-grade culinary variety, as some ornamental lavenders aren’t suitable for consumption.

Lavender Lemonade Cocktail

Makes 1 serving

4 ounces homemade lemonade 1 ounce vodka

½ teaspoon Jackpine Lavender extract

Sliced lemons and lavender sprigs (optional)

1. Combine ingredients over ice.

2. Stir or shake.

3. Garnish with lemons and a fresh sprig of lavender.

Dr. John Toenjes, D.D.S. Se habla espanol Dr. Gabe Brizzee, D.D.S.

Dr. Drostan Orme, D.D.S.

St. Anthony Sand Dunes

A unique playground for more than just ATVers

BY TOM HALLBERG PHOTOGRAPHY BY CODY DOWNARD

Tucked away within the eastern Idaho farmlands near St. Anthony is a geological wonder. The St. Anthony Sand Dunes, located due west of the town off Highway 20, wrap around the bottom of Juniper Buttes in a swath of white quartz sand, with piles that reach up to four hundred feet high. Just over an hour’s drive from Teton Valley, it seems a world away from our alpine home.

The area is a motorized recreation haven, calling people from across the West to cruise the dunes in ATVs and side-by-sides. But motorized recreation has never done much for me, so on a Saturday afternoon at the tail end of last year’s Indian summer, I visited Fitzgerald’s Bicycles in Victor to rent a fat bike. I loaded it into the bed of my truck, peppering the guy at Fitzgerald’s with questions: Where should I ride? How did the fat bike work? Were there trails I could follow?

He easily caught onto my inexperience and related apprehension. Since the sand is always shifting due to the

prevailing westerly winds, there are no trails, but he showed me an area accessible from the Egin Lakes campground.

“You’re going to love it,” he told me.

The drive to the dunes suggests little about their magnificence. After you leave Teton Valley, rolling farmland undulates away from the highway on both sides. But as you get close, the sparkling dunes halt the monotonous parade of sagebrush and farmland; white hills rise from cattle fields, ringed by the cottonwoods and aspens that line the shores of Egin Lakes at the southwestern edge of the dunes.

The lips of the dunes on the west

LEFT The St. Anthony Sand Dunes formed at the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, when the region’s climate grew drier and hotter, causing lakes to dry up. The sandy sediment blew across the Snake River Plain, eventually colliding with the eroding Juniper Buttes. The sediment stopped moving, collecting against the terrain feature and forming the crescent-shaped mounds frequented by ATV, dirt-bike, and fat-bike recreationists.

end stretch leeward, to the northeast, evidence of their formation. At the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, the region’s climate grew drier and hotter, causing lakes to dry up and the sandy sediment at their bottoms to blow across the Snake River Plain. When the sandstorms collided with the eroding Juniper Buttes, the sediment stopped moving, collecting against terrain features and forming crescentshaped mounds, called barchan dunes

The Arabic word means “ram’s horns,” referring to the pair of points that mark the terminuses of the crescent. Barchan dunes are asymmetrical, with a gently sloping windward side and a steep leeward slope, called the slip face. As I discovered, the shape of the dunes is integral for enjoyable biking, because conditions were rough that day.

Ideal conditions, at least for sand, seem to be when the dunes are firm and wet, but not soggy. The sand was dusty dry the day I went out. While I struggled, my dogs—a lanky wolfhound mix named Huck, and Jasper, a shaggy Husky mix whose fur appeared to be attracting sand—trotted along happily, disappearing over ridges and reappearing to see if I was still alive. Even with my tires deflated past the point that seemed appropriate, the bike dug into the sand.

Enter the dunes’ shape. The only way I could even attempt to ascend some of the dunes, which were several hundred feet tall, was to slowly follow the ridges formed on their gentle, windward sides, shouldering the bike

After what seemed like forever, but may have been only forty-five minutes, I reached a high point from which I could see the Tetons in the distance and the undulating fields around St. Anthony below.

TOP The dunes are enjoyed by ATVers, fat bikers, and even enthusiastic dogs, like photographer

RIGHT Just over an hour from Teton Valley, the St. Anthony Sand Dunes, located due west of the town off Highway 20, unveil swaths of white quartz sand, with piles that reach up to four hundred feet high.

and walking if I reached a steeper section. Passing ATV riders and dirt bikers threw me sideways glances as I crawled toward the top of the highest dune I could find.

After what seemed like forever, but may have been only forty-five minutes, I reached a high point from which I could see the Tetons in the distance and the undulating fields around St. Anthony below. Huck and Jasper, apparently confused by the slow pace, stared at me as I considered the small, sandy cornice that topped a two-hundred-foot slip face.

They dropped before I did, kicking up a sandy spray. The descent was uncontrolled, more of a slide; the back wheel fishtailed in a slight S-curve as I plied the brakes before straight lining into the flats. In gravity-assisted sports, the descent is always more gleefully fun than the ascent. Upon dropping, I forgot the lung-busting uphill and the back tire digging into the sand, enjoying the twilight breeze off Egin Lakes. I’m not sure I love the sport the way the guy at Fitzgerald’s talked about it, but careening down a dune at high speed was well worth the effort spent climbing it.

Cody Downard’s Labradoodle Scout.

Back at the truck, I loaded up and drove around, past Sand Hill Resort, to see the northeast end of the dunes. Trucks and cars were stopped along the road and all over the parking lot, people armed with cameras spilling out, ready for the sunset. The dunes on that end were smaller, more manageable even in dusty conditions. I rolled away from the parking lot to get around Juniper Buttes and score an unbroken view. In Teton Valley, we see magnificent sunsets, with colors that reflect off and above the high peaks, but we miss out on one of the best qualities of big-sky country: a longlasting descent of light into evening.

I watched from atop a dune, with the sky stretching forever across the Snake River Plain, as the sun slowly dipped, casting pinks and purples behind wispy cirrus clouds, the celestial pyrotechnics lasting well over an hour. When I trundled back to the truck and pointed it home, there were still people parked on the side of the road, standing on hoods and truck cabs, snapping photos of the day’s final vestiges of color on the western horizon.

More information: www.blm.gov/ visit/st-anthony-sand-dunes.

RAGBRAI Fever

Crossing the Corn State on two wheels

BY MICHAEL J. MCCOY

Several winters ago, I was “test gliding” a pair of used cross-country skis at Trail Creek Nordic Center over the pass in Wilson, Wyoming. Somehow, the owner of the skis and I got to talking about bicycling, and he mentioned that the previous summer he and his wife, an Iowa native, had participated in RAGBRAI. That’s the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, widely regarded as the world’s premier multi-day, allcomers-welcome cycling event. Launched in 1973, it always takes place the last full week of July and draws upward of an astounding 20,000 riders.

“It was miserable,” my friend said. “Lying in the tent at night in a pool of sweat … never getting cool. I hadn’t been in a climate like that before.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” I responded. “I grew up in Iowa myself. I don’t see the appeal.” After all, the Teton region boasts one of the finest summer climates in the world. Who would want to swap that for a weekplus in the heat-and-humidity fest that is late July in Iowa?

But then came my friend’s surprising follow-up quip: “We can’t wait to sign up for next year. It was so much fun.”

Okay, I thought, there’s obviously more to it than the intolerable weather. And true, I did work in the bicycletouring industry for forty years. I began to consider relenting (or should I say backpedaling?). A native Iowan who’s an avid cyclist and has never ridden RAGBRAI is sort of like a lifelong Teton Basin cowboy who’s never been to the Tetonia rodeo.

Recently, my older brother Roger helped push me over the edge. As of 2017 he had completed five consecutive versions of Iowa’s moveable mash-up of all things bicycling, beer, and farmyard bounty. “Come on, do it,” he prodded. “It’s like spring break for adults.”

So, Roger’s sixth RAGBRAI in 2018 would be my first. Same goes for my wife Nancy and our friend Julie Huck, membership director for the 52,000-member, Montana-based Adventure Cycling Association.

What was my maiden RAGBRAI voyage down the byways of Iowa like?

Way fun. And sort of like spring break for adults. But for kids, too, because RAGBRAI is just about whatever you want to make it, including a familyfriendly event.

Nancy, Julie, and I were fortunate to be accepted as members of Roger’s RAGBRAI team, Le Lanterne Rouge (motto: “First to Drink, Last to Ride). This meant we had a private bus for baggage transport and that we got to glamp, or even enjoy a few indoor overnights, at private homes rather than having to squeeze into the RAGBRAI-designated tent cities filling schoolyards and such.

It also meant that on day one, as newcomers, we were expected to ride wearing silly clothes—in my case, pink “Tickle Me Elmo” panties pulled on over black Lycra shorts.

“Whoa,” I protested in vain. “This isn’t what I signed up for.”

RAGBRAI is no everyday bike ride. Accustomed to going out for long, non-stop fitness rides, we had to recalibrate our thinking and behavior. It is not our normal M.O. to ride ten miles, then stop to eat an ear of the world’s best sweet corn (dripping with butter, of course); pedal another twelve miles before dodging into the town park of a Dutch-settled community to laugh at karaoke performers while chomping on the scrumptious baby-sized puffed pancakes known as poffertjes; ride twelve more miles, then pause in another tiny town to take in the mud wrestling action; proceed for another ten miles, then stop to slurp a thousand calories’ worth of Beekman’s homemade ice cream …

A native Iowan who’s an avid cyclist and has never ridden RAGBRAI is sort of like a lifelong Teton Basin cowboy who’s never been to the Tetonia rodeo.

LEFT Each year, Iowa’s RAGBRAI hosts 20,000 cyclists on a 400-mile ride from the Iowa-Nebraska state line to the edge of Illinois.

TOP Cyclists wait at a train crossing on their 400-mile excursion across the state from the Missouri to the Mississippi River.

BOTTOM A native Iowan, author Mac McCoy (center), his wife Nancy McCullough-McCoy (right), and friend Julie Huck (left) participated in their first RAGBRAI in 2018. Mac says he can’t wait to do the ride—which changes routes every year—again.

CORNER DRUG

10 S. Main, Driggs • 208-354-2334

Victor Drug, 81 N. Main, Victor • 208-787-3784

OLD-FASHIONED SODA FOUNTAIN

• pharmacy

• ice cream

• specialty toys

• children’s books

• fish & game licenses

• sporting goods

• hand-tied flies

• Idaho souvenirs

Did I mention that RAGBRAI is not a weight-loss scheme, despite the more than 400 miles you must bicycle to go from the Iowa-Nebraska state line to the edge of Illinois?

Iowa is the only state with lateral borders defined by rivers, and RAGBRAI always goes from the Missouri to the Mississippi, making it sort of like a cross-country, sea-to-sea ride in microcosm. But the beginning and ending towns, and those in between, are different every year. Communities large and small vie to be designated as overnight locations, because the economic impact of having thousands of cyclists roll through is huge.

Our route took us from Onawa to Davenport, with overnight stops in Denison, Jefferson, Ames (home to Iowa State University), Newton, Sigourney, and Iowa City (location of the University of Iowa). This RAGBRAI was the first to include overnights in the state’s two primary university cities; as such, it was the battle of the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes. Roger, the U. of I. Hawkeye, swallowed his pride and joined us in riding around the track in Jack Trice Stadium, where the ISU Cyclones play football. But I do think I heard him shouting a couple of anti-Cyclone sentiments as he rolled. I also saw a father and son riding side by side wearing custom “A House Divided” jerseys—Hawkeye colors and logos on the right half and the respective Cyclone images on the left.

I think back on the array of bicycles, tricycles, and unicycles and the people riding them, and the even broader range of zany costumes. Portable Bluetooth speakers mounted on bike racks, blasting sounds from hugely annoying (IMHO) to lovely. Country people sitting in the shade of big maple trees in their tidy farmyards, waving and yelling “You go!” as we zipped past. Townspeople in T-shirts made for the occasion, welcoming us with placards and balloons. Watching the entire family, including little kids, working hard in the downtown food booths—inspiring to see. A late chicken-noodle casserole dinner in the basement of the Jefferson United Methodist Church. (They’d served around 2,000 meals that day—at $10 a pop, not bad for a day’s work to support their missionary work in Central America.)

The weather for RAGBRAI XLVI turned out to be perfect, mercifully mild for late July. No pools of sweat in the tent.

Early morning in the hilly town of Denison was a watershed: individuals and small groups coasting down side streets, tumbling in like tributaries from their various overnighting locales … ultimately pouring into the crowded current at the confluence with the main mapped route, becoming part of an unstoppable torrent of riders flowing eastward down the highway, Mississippi River-bound.

We were all impressed by the U.S. Air Force Cycling Team, roughly 130 strong. One or more members would magically swoop in, as if on wings, whenever he/she was needed by someone requiring mechanical or first-aid attention. Two-wheeled ambassadors wearing brilliant blue, they were obviously intent on exemplifying the Air Force ideals of “Integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do.”

The need for that first-aid was not uncommon, what with the real risk of riding fast with so many others, especially later in the day when a lot of cyclists were worn down and/or beered up. Beer in the towns and beer in the country; the same goes for food, along with a lot more hills than you would expect in the “flat” state of Iowa. The overnight communities threw non-stop parties downtown, with live music, more food, more beer, and more fun.

The best part? Despite the tornadoes that struck Iowa just before we arrived, and the soaking rains that fell not long after our departure, the weather for RAGBRAI XLVI turned out to be perfect, mercifully mild for late July. No pools of sweat in the tent.

I can’t wait to sign up for this year’s ride—or, depending on the meteorological forecast, maybe the one after that. A 2020 vision worth considering.

BY KATE HULL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LINDA SWOPE

Comfort food and character collide

Badger Creek Cafe

Elyse Archer and John Flyg have forged a culture at Badger Creek Cafe that’s welcoming, affordable, and consistent—a perfect recipe for regulars.

And with one bite of a plate of flavorful steak and eggs, or a sweet and savory mouthful of perfectly crispy chicken and fresh, syrup-covered waffles, you’ll likely join the fan club. On any given day, the breakfast and lunch spot welcomes friends and neighbors with hot coffee, a delicious menu, and a vibe that perfectly matches its Tetonia Main Street locale.

Inside, the walls are dotted with photos, art, and even taxidermied versions of the namesake critter. Music hums in the background, old country favorites that beckon you to sit back and stay a spell.

THRIFT STORE

A

not-to-be

missed summer jam!

4-8pm at the Knotty Pine in Victor, $10 Donation at the door Join Friends of the Teton River and the Targhee Music Foundation for a family-friendly evening featuring pay-per-plate Knotty Pine BBQ, raffle, kids activities, the dancing cutthroat, and more!

Presenting Live On-Stage:

Eli West, Eric Thorin, & Mike Witcher Folk Songs for Children with Thomas Sneed | The Balsamroots | Masontown

In the summer, the patio brings folks outside to soak up the sun and sip a beer paired with a juicy burger, maybe even with their dog in tow. It’s no wonder Badger Creek has quickly become a locals’ favorite since opening July 2017.

“We love Tetonia and we wanted to bring a good place for locals and people passing through,” Elyse says. “The north end is the best end, but don’t tell anybody that.”

The secret might be out, though. Don’t be surprised to see Victor, Driggs, or even Jackson folks with hungry bellies walking through the door—this writer included. An eighteen-mile drive north from Victor is nothing when met with one of Elyse’s flavor-packed scones or John’s warm biscuits and gravy. (I like to think I know a good biscuit when I eat one, and that is indeed a good biscuit.)

It’s no wonder. Elyse is a trained pastry chef with ample experience running kitchens and managing the front house. John honed his culinary chops at restaurants spanning the country,

Tetonia’s Main Street restaurant Badger Creek Cafe serves breakfast and lunch daily to hungry regulars and soon-to-be regulars.

from Portland, Oregon, to a Michelinstarred restaurant in New York City and Jackson’s Local. But running a comfortfood style café in a tiny pocket of Idaho seems to fit just right.

Ask any fan of Badger Creek about their go-to item, and the list will run the gamut. I am a tried-and-true fan of the chicken and waffles. For the head chef? It’s a juicy cheeseburger.

“Just a burger with cheddar cheese and lettuce and tomato,” John says. “That’s what’s up.”

Be on the lookout for daily specials, like house-smoked brisket Benedict on cornbread with collard greens or smoked pork loin sandwiches with eggplant puree, to name just a couple. Specials allow John to step outside the culinary box and get creative with his epicurean skills.

Whether you’re just down the road or coming from the south end, it’s well worth the trip, and odds are you’ll be back for more. Breakfast and lunch are served daily.

Agave

310 North Main Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-2003

Open Daily 11am–10pm

From the owners of El Abuelito in Jackson comes Agave, Teton Valley’s very own family Mexican restaurant! Serving fajitas, burritos, and all of your Mexican favorites, cooked to perfection seven days a week, with lunch specials from 11am to 3pm daily. Bienvenidos amigos, mi casa es su casa! [p. 78]

AmeriAsia Bistro

185 West Center Street Victor, ID 83455

208-787-5678

Mon–Sat 8am–11am; 11:30am–2:30pm; 5pm–9pm

AmeriAsia Bistro, located in Victor on Center Street, serves up delicious, flavorful Southeastern Asian fare with an American twist. Dine in for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and enjoy fresh, new, and innovative items. For breakfast, enjoy traditional offerings like a homestyle American breakfast or burrito, or sample something unexpected like Tapsilog, an Asian dish with marinated beef, garlic rice, eggs, tomato, and cucumber. For lunch or dinner, don’t miss the chicken adobo, crispy pork belly, or pho. [p. 57]

Badger Creek Cafe

110 North Main Street

Tetonia, ID 83452

208-456-2588

Open Daily 8am–3pm badgercreekcafe.com

Badger Creek Cafe serves fresh, seasonal, and chef-inspired breakfast and lunch on the north end of the valley in a casual setting. Breakfast specialties include biscuits and gravy, chicken and waffles, and a variety of eggs Benedict. Serving burgers, sandwiches, fried chicken, and salads for lunch. Homemade desserts prepared daily. Breakfast available all day on Sundays. Contact us for catering or special events!

Barrels & Bins

36 South Main Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-2307

Open Daily 8am–7pm barrelsandbins.market

Teton Valley’s source for all-natural and organic products including local and organic produce, meats, cheeses, and bulk food; 460 Bread baked fresh daily; beer and wine; nutritional supplements; health and beauty products; all natural pet foods; and much more! Juice & Smoothie Bar is open 9am to 2pm daily. Check in for sandwiches, salads, and soups, as well as other grab-and-go takeout options. [p. 79]

Broulim’s Food and Pharmacy

240 South Main Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-2350

Open Mon–Sat 7am–11pm broulims.com/driggs

Order sandwiches to go made from your choice of Columbus meats and cheeses. Breakfast sandwiches and paninis made fresh daily. Our deli has hot baked or rotisserie chicken, take-and-bake pizza, and other meals to go. Check out our display of hand-cut specialty cheeses! Freshly prepared salads, our own Sushi Bar, and hot Asian food. Daily specials of smoked meats available. Inquire at the deli for catering services.

Butter Cafe

57 South Main Street

Victor, ID 83455

208-399-2872

Open Daily 7am-3pm; 5:30pm–9:30pm butterinvictor.com

From the owners of Wilson’s StreetFood at The Stagecoach, husband and wife team Marcos Hernandez and Amelia Hatchard have brought their culinary chops to Victor, Idaho, with a new must-try restaurant on Main Street: Butter Cafe. Stop by for maple bacon eggs Benedict, tropical French toast, fish tacos, the kale and arugula salad, and more for brunch. New this summer, stop by for Italian dinners nightly. [p. 10]

Corner Drug

10 South Main Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-2334

Open Mon–Sat 9am–6:30pm driggspharmacy.com

Located at the stoplight in historic downtown Driggs, the familyowned and -operated Corner Drug Soda Fountain has been a local favorite for satisfying that ice cream craving for more than a hundred years. Corner Drug also has your weekend essentials and a full-service pharmacy. Fishing licenses, Idaho souvenirs, along with books and toys make this store a “must see” destination. [p. 92]

Dining In Catering, Inc.

Bill Boney, Owner & Executive Chef 208-787-2667, toll-free 800-787-9178 diningincateringinc.com

Dining In Catering, Inc. is the region’s most experienced outdoor event catering company, receiving rave reviews for great food and service. Owner and executive chef Bill Boney and his staff have catered the biggest events, weddings, and corporate retreats to take place in Jackson Hole and Teton Valley. Dining In Catering also offers a banquet location in Teton Valley—The Wildwood Room, The Gathering Place for Teton Valley’s best events since 2003! [p. 83]

Forage Bistro & Lounge

285 Little Avenue, Suite A Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-2858

Open Daily Mon–Fri 11am–9pm, Sat and Sun 10am–9pm forageandlounge.com

Forage Bistro & Lounge, specializing in seasonal regional cuisine with an emphasis on local ingredients, offers creative, chefinspired lunch, brunch, and dinner seven days a week. Enjoy halfpriced bottles of wine every Wednesday, as well as Happy Hour food-and-drink specials daily from 3pm to 5pm. Amazing burgers, nightly steak special, pasta, market fish, homemade desserts, and more made from scratch. Our open kitchen with nothing to hide offers diners a unique experience in Teton Valley. [p. 36]

Grand Targhee Resort Alta, WY 83414

800-TARGHEE (827-4433) grandtarghee.com

The Branding Iron offers a menu that features authentic Rocky Mountain fare and housemade items. Come enjoy casual slopeside dining with a full bar, must-try menu, and unbelievable views. At the Trap Bar and Grill you’ll find a wide selection of local microbrews on tap, great food like the famous Wydaho Nachos, HD TVs with your favorite sports teams, and the best live music on this side of the Tetons! Snorkels is your slopeside bistro; enjoy a cup of hot coffee or cappuccino with a Wyoming-style breakfast burrito; return for an afternoon ice cream or milkshake treat! [BC]

Grand Teton Brewing

430 Old Jackson Highway

Victor, ID 83455

888-899-1656

Open Daily 11am–8pm grandtetonbrewing.com

Grand Teton Brewing’s Tasting Room is open daily this summer offering a wide selection of beer on tap and now CANS to go. Enjoy a pint on the lawn and check out Taste Bud’s food truck after a day in the mountains. Don’t miss our summer events, like American Craft Beer Week in May, nonprofit Pint Nights starting in June, and Octoberfest to close out the season. Come enjoy great craft beers, sodas and mountain views with Grand Teton Brewing. [p. 93]

Linn Canyon Ranch

1300 East 6000 South Victor, ID 83455

208-787-LINN (5466) linncanyonranch.com

Whether you are staying at Linn Canyon Ranch or just want to join us for dinner, the Sunset Dinner Ride is not to be missed! Friendly mountain horses will be waiting to take you for a leisurely guided ride through the foothills of the Tetons, winding through aspen groves and fields of wildflowers. After your ride, members of the Linn family will welcome you back to an elegant western evening at our historic lodge. Appetizers and music on the porch precede a gourmet dinner, after which we’ll gather around the bonfire to roast marshmallows and stargaze. [p. 56]

McDonald’s ® 1110 West Broadway @ Hwy 22 Jackson, WY 83001

307-733-7444

Open Daily 5am–midnight or later mcwyoming.com/6435

Fast, Affordable, and On Your Way! Whether you’re driving over the pass on your way to Grand Teton National Park or commuting to your job on the “other side,” make McDonald’s® a part of your day. We’re serving your breakfast favorites like the classic Egg McMuffin®, Egg White Delight McMuffin®, and McCafe™ beverages featuring Lattes, Mochas, and Frappes. Premium Salads, Real Fruit Smoothies, and Fruit and Maple Oatmeal are delicious choices to support your healthy, active lifestyle. [p. 85]

Marigold

Café

Located above the gift shop at MD Nursery

2389 South Highway 33 Driggs, ID 83455

Open Mon–Sat, until 3pm mdlandscapinginc.com/marigold-cafe

Located above the gift shop at MD Nursery, Marigold Café makes food motivated by the mountains. Breakfast and lunch is offered in a casual, counter-service setting. Innovative, nutrition-inspired food is made with love using quality ingredients. As the menu changes seasonally, guests will find sandwiches, salads, soups, and specialty kitchen dishes. Freshly baked treats, espresso, and specialty drinks round out the café offerings. [p. 31]

Rise Coffee House

40 Depot Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-RISE

Open Mon–Sat 7:30am–3pm Sun 8am–2pm risedriggs.com

Rise Coffee House isn’t just a place where you’ll find the best coffee and baked goods around. It’s a place where our community gathers, says hello to one another, and finds time to slow down. Rise is the place to go if you are looking for a unique pour-over coffee, a beautifully crafted espresso drink, a mouth-watering baked good, or delicious savory treat. No matter what brings you in, you are sure to feel right at home.

Riverside Bar & Grill at South Fork Lodge

40 Conant Valley Loop Road

Swan Valley, ID 83449

208-483-2112

naturalretreats.com/south-forklodge-fishing-vacations-idaho

South Fork Lodge by Natural Retreats is an angler’s paradise, offering experienced guides, luxury accommodations, and some of the best fly-fishing waters in the country. Enjoy refined regional cuisine in the attractive setting of our architecturally stunning lodge dining room with its framed river views or from the riverside patio with the sound of the river. It is the perfect way to celebrate a successful day on the river and is sure to inspire the sharing of tall tales and good times with friends—new and old. The lodge’s full bar offers a wide range of wines, local beers, and spirits.

dining guide

Tatanka Tavern

18 North Main Street, 3rd Floor of the Colter Building, Suite 315 Driggs, ID 83422

208-980-7320

Open Daily 4pm–10pm tatankatavern.com

Tatanka Tavern offers wood-fired artisan pizza, salads, and the finest craft beers and wines. Bring in the family for a night out, or grab a seat at the bar and watch the game. Enjoy local favorites like the Fungus Amongus for dinner daily. [p. 36]

Teton Thai

18 North Main Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-787-THAI (8424)

Lunch Mon–Fri 11:30am–2:30pm; Dinner Daily 4pm–9pm tetonthai.com

Voted “Best Restaurant, Teton Valley” in the Jackson Hole News&Guide, Teton Thai offers something for everyone. Enjoy a variety of exotic dishes, from Crispy Duck Pad Gar Pow to Muslimstyle Masaman curry, all made from our family’s recipes created in Bangkok. Sit at the kitchen counter and watch our chefs prepare your dish while you explore our eclectic beer and wine list. Stop by our new Teton Thai Brewery and Tap Room located down the hall from Teton Thai. Enjoy Old World ales, Japanese-style pub food, and sushi. Dine in or take out. [p. 42]

The

Royal Wolf

63 Depot Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-8365

Open seven days a week; serving lunch and dinner 11am–late theroyalwolf.com

Since 1997, locals and visitors alike have enjoyed discovering this off-Main Street establishment offering a diverse menu of sandwiches, burgers, salads, appetizers, and entrées served in a casual, smoke-free, pub-style environment. Complementing our menu is a full bar serving all of your favorite beverages, including cocktails, wine, and a selection of regional microbrews on draft. Enjoy outdoor dining on our spacious deck during the summer. Daily food and beer specials, Wi-Fi, and billiards. Stop by to meet old friends and make new ones. Snow sagas and fish tales told nightly.

Three Peaks Restaurant & Catering

15 South Main Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-9463

Daily happy hours 4pm–6pm threepeaksdinnertable.com threepeakscatering.com

Enjoy classic Italian dishes with a wild western flare: Elk Meatballs, Spicy Pork Sausage Lasagna, and Idaho Rainbow Trout, just to name a few. A great downtown Driggs restaurant close to the stoplight. Boutique wine selection available for takeout or on-site enjoyment. Plenty of gluten-free and vegetarian options. Private inhome or on-site catering and cooking classes available. We feature locally made artwork in our unique, circa 1940s building. Visit our website or call for reservations. [p. 97]

Victor Emporium

45 North Main Street

Victor, ID 83455

208-787-2221

Open seven days a week

Over one million served! For more than sixty-five years, the Victor Emporium Old Fashioned Soda Fountain has served delicious milkshakes, including the World Famous Huckleberry Shake. Gourmet coffee and espresso served daily. The Emporium is also a great place to pick up those unusual gifts. Where the locals meet before enjoying the great outdoors here in Teton Valley. [p. 84]

Victor Valley Market

5 South Main Street

Victor, ID 83455

208-787-2230

Open Daily 7am–9pm

Victor Valley Market is your local grocer and the place to get fresh seafood and choice meats in Teton Valley. Offering a unique selection of groceries, from organic and specialty items to your everyday needs, including a full selection of wine and beer. Our gourmet deli counter offers delicious house-made takeout dishes, along with sandwiches made with locally-baked bread, fresh salads, housemade soups, and so much more! Victor Valley Market has all that you need to make a delicious meal, whether for eating in or picnicking out. [p. 88]

Warbirds Restaurant

675 Airport Road

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-2550

Open Daily 11:30am–3pm and 5pm – 9pm warbirdscafe.com

Craft cocktails, fine wine, creative cuisine: Teton Valley’s most unique dining experience features award-winning Executive Chef David Hugo’s seasonally-inspired cuisine from Teton Valley and beyond. Serving dinner seven nights a week, 5pm-9pm. Join us for Happy Hour from 5pm-6pm daily, with 50 percent off wines by the glass, well cocktails, $4 local drafts, and a $10 local beef burger. After dinner, inquire about Teton Aviation’s scenic airplane rides and make sure to visit our free display of restored vintage war- planes. Can’t wait to see you. [p. 84]

Wildlife Brewing

145 South Main Street

Victor, ID 83455

208-787-2623

Open Daily 4pm–10pm wildlifebrewing.com

Since 2003, Wildlife Brewing has been a cornerstone to Victor’s restaurant scene. Locals and visitors alike visit daily to enjoy awardwinning microbrews and freshly made hand-tossed pizza. With large family-friendly seating and a unique stainless-steel bar, Wildlife is the perfect place to enjoy a quick brew after a fun-filled day or bring the whole family to enjoy the best pizza in the valley. Come on in and ‘Live the Wildlife!’ [p. 22]

Cabin & Company

57 South Main Street Victor, ID 83455

307-201-1861 cabinandcompany.com

Cabin & Company provides luxury vacation rentals as well as vacation rental representation and premium home management services to homeowners in Jackson Hole and Teton Valley. We stand by uncompromising standards designed to overachieve the expectations of our owners and guests alike. Homeowners and rental guests enjoy meticulous attention to detail and twenty-four-hour service. Our staff offers full concierge services, transportation service, private chef facilitation, grocery service, daily cleaning, and more. It is our pleasure to care for our clients’ homes and provide our guests the best in comfort and convenience. [p. 5]

Dreamcatcher

Bed and Breakfast

1831 West 5500 South Victor, ID 83455 208-201-3691 dreamcatcherbedbreakfast.com

Our home is your home when you stay at Dreamcatcher Bed and Breakfast. Join us for a relaxing getaway in one of the most beautiful areas of the country. We are easily found just four miles northeast of Victor; 29 miles from Jackson, Wyoming; and 68 miles from Idaho Falls. Dreamcatcher is also conveniently located near both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. From gourmet breakfasts, drinks on our picturesque deck, to turning in for the night in our welcoming and cozy guestrooms, your basecamp for an incredible getaway with unbeatable accommodations starts here. [p. 96]

Fin and Feather Inn

9444 South Highway 31 Victor, ID 83455 208-787-1007 finandfeatherinn.com

The Fin and Feather Inn is a small bed and breakfast in Teton Valley situated along the Teton Scenic Byway. We combine luxury and country hospitality, making for a very relaxing and comfortable stay. Our five rooms feature Grand Teton views, spacious bedrooms, private bathrooms, dual-head showers, a deep soaking bathtub, HD/Direct TV, and free wireless Internet. Come stay at the Fin and Feather Inn and experience the wonderful adventures that Teton Valley has to offer, while enjoying a quality bed and breakfast.

Grand Targhee Resort

Alta, WY

800-TARGHEE [827-4433] grandtarghee.com

After a day on the mountain, it’s time to relax with the family in one of a variety of western-style slopeside accommodations. All lodging is located just steps away from an array of shopping, dining, and activities. For those who desire a more intimate family retreat, consider Grand Targhee Resort’s Vacation Rentals in Teton Valley, perfectly situated in Victor, Driggs, or on the way to the resort. Call 800-TARGHEE to book your stay. [BC]

Grand Targhee Resort

Property Management 18 North Main Street #105 Driggs, ID 83422 307-353-2300, ext 1396 grandtarghee.com

With more than thirty years of experience, our team provides twentyfour-hour service, real estate advice, and strategic marketing for your vacation rental. For those who are visiting and desire a more intimate family retreat, consider a vacation rental in Teton Valley, perfectly situated in Victor, Driggs, or on the way to the resort. Call 800-TARGHEE to book your stay. [p. 56]

Grand Valley Lodging Property Management

PO Box 191, 158 North First Street

Driggs, ID 83422

800-746-5518

mail@grandvalleylodging.com

grandvalleylodging.com

Grand Valley Lodging is the premier property management company in Teton Valley, operating since 1992. We offer great rates on shortterm rentals that include vacation homes, cabins, and condominiums throughout the valley. We are also the largest long-term (six-monthsplus) property management company in the valley, and can help you optimize income and maintain your property. With our extremely experienced team in the housing rental business, we are happy to discuss the management of your valuable investment in Teton Valley. [p. 32]

Linn Canyon Ranch

1300 East 6000 South Victor, ID 83455

208-787-LINN [5466] linncanyonranch.com

Our lodging combines the best of luxurious accommodations with nature’s simple pleasures. Sleep peacefully in one of our luxuryplatform tents, or indulge yourself in creature comforts and rustic elegance in our artisan-built timberframe cabin. Our guests feel relaxed and inspired in our cozy mountain sanctuary. When you make your lodging reservation, we will also book your riding and dining activities at the ranch. We are also happy to help you reserve off-site adventures such as floating, fishing, hiking, and sightseeing. [p. 56]

Moose Creek

Ranch

2733 East 10800 South Victor, ID 83455 208-787-6078 ext 1 moosecreekranch.com

A guest ranch for travelers visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and Teton Valley, Idaho, Moose Creek Ranch is a beautiful location for weddings, ski vacations, corporate retreats, family reunions, and more. The ranch is located 22 miles from downtown Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on the Greater Yellowstone Loop and is conveniently located 45 minutes from both Grand Targhee and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. A unique facility with affordable packages, make your event, reunion, wedding, or vacation an unforgettable experience at Moose Creek Ranch. [p. 12]

South Fork Lodge by Natural Retreats

40 Conant Valley Loop Road

Swan Valley, ID 83449

208-483-2112

naturalretreats.com/south-forklodgefishing-vacations-idaho

South Fork Lodge is an angler’s paradise, with its experienced guides, luxury accommodations, and some of the best fly-fishing waters in the country. This spectacular lodge rests on the South Fork of Idaho’s Snake River in Swan Valley. South Fork Outfitter’s professional guides are experts on the South Fork and can help anglers, no matter their level of experience, reel in a few unforgettable catches. In addition to the charming lodge and cabin rooms, South Fork Lodge offers a bucket-list fly-fishing experience at their float-in Riverside Camp on the Wild and Scenic stretch of the river.

Teton Springs Lodge & Spa

10 Warm Creek Lane Victor, ID 83455

877-787-8757 or 208-787-7888 tetonspringslodge.com

US News & World Report’s #1 Hotel in Idaho multiple times, this destination offers fifty-one elegant guest rooms and suites, as well as luxury log cabins. Nestled in the heart of the Yellowstone-Teton area, the year-round resort offers the best of summer and winter activities available. The Stillwaters Spa & Salon offers a full range of services. Guests staying at the Lodge or in the luxury cabins have access to resort and club amenities, including two Byron Nelson designed golf courses, outdoor heated pool, fitness center, and more. [p. 24]

Teton

Valley Cabins

34 East Ski Hill Road

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-8153 or 866-687-1522

stay@tetonvalleycabins.com tetonvalleycabins.com

Nestled amongst mature cottonwoods, Teton Valley Cabins welcomes you for your special getaway, vacation home base, or family or group reunion. Quaint charm, rustic cabins, and affordable rates await you at Teton Valley Cabins, just one mile from Driggs, with its restaurants and shops. Enjoy our picnic and activity grounds complete with an oversized Jacuzzi, or explore Teton Valley from here. We are centrally located, with Grand Targhee Resort just up the road and other recreational opportunities within a few minutes drive. Various room types are available. Our rooms are equipped with microwave, fridge, satellite TV, and WiFi. [p. 31]

Teton Valley Lodge 3733 Adams Road Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-2386 flyfish@tetonvalleylodge.com tetonvalleylodge.com

During your stay at Teton Valley Lodge, you can expect to fly fish on a different stretch of river every day. With more than twenty-five different sections of river on three blue-ribbon fisheries in Idaho, years of discovery await even the most experienced of fly fishermen. Prolific dry-fly hatches on the South Fork of the Snake, Teton River, and Henry’s Fork offer you many opportunities for large trout. Experience Teton Valley and the surrounding area with us—you will never forget it. [p. 3]

Teton Valley Realty Management

253 South Main Street

Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-3431

mail@tvrmanagement.com vacationrentalstetonvalley.com

We hope you will allow us to find that perfect home or condominium to make your vacation memorable. All of our homes are nicely furnished, meticulously maintained, and fully equipped to accommodate your group at a fraction of what you would pay for a few hotel rooms. All homes come complete with linens, kitchen necessities, smart TVs or satellite TV service, high-speed internet, soaps, and paper products. Book online at vacationrentalstetonvalley.com and receive all the conveniences of home, away from home. [p. 8]

Teton Valley Resort

1208 Highway 31

Victor, ID 83455

877-787-3036

tetonvalleyresort.com

At Teton Valley Resort, our goal is to provide you with a cozy and comfortable basecamp for your adventures. We offer a wide variety of lodging and amenity options suited to any traveler. Park your motor-home or stay in one of our luxury cabins, glamping units, or furnished tipis while taking advantage of our guide or shuttle services. Swim in our pool or clear your mind with a yoga session in our clubhouse after visiting our Day Spa. We are a community of travelers rubbing shoulders and sharing experiences in the gem of the Rocky Mountain West known as Teton Valley. We look forward to your visit. [p. 49]

Calvary Chapel Teton Valley

53 Depot Street | Driggs, ID 83422 | 208-354-WORD [9673] ccteton.org

Visitors welcome. Our motto is to simply teach the Bible simply— and thus, our pattern of study is verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, right through the Bible. Sunday service starts at 10am and typically consists of worship, teaching, and fellowship. Dress is nice casual, and the service usually lasts about an hour. Children’s church and a nursery are provided. Wednesday Bible study starts at 7pm and lasts about an hour; dress is casual. One block north of the stoplight in Driggs, turn west on Depot Street (opposite Wallace Street and the gas station); the church will be on your right.

Church in the Tetons, Pastor Karlin Bilcher

Driggs City Center | Driggs, ID 83422 | 208-270-7507 churchinthetetons.org | Find us on Facebook

We gather for worship in the Driggs City Center at 9:30am on Sunday mornings. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of the month. On months with five Sundays, we go out as the hands and feet of Jesus to serve our neighbors however we may. We are a biblically grounded, Christ-centered, mission-focused, witnessing community that exists to serve Teton Valley and the world to the glory of God. We are often described as authentic, relational, genuine, and honest. Nursery is available for infants and toddlers two and under. Education is provided for kids three and over.

Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints

Teton Valley is home to three meetinghouses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Visitors of all ages and backgrounds are invited to attend Sunday worship services in Victor (87 East Center Street; 9am, 10:30am, 12pm), Driggs (225 North 1st Street; 9am, 10:30am, 12pm), and Tetonia (209 South Main Street; 9am, 10:30am).

Worship services are centered on the partaking of the bread and water of the sacrament. This one-hour meeting includes congregational hymns, prayers, and brief sermons focused on the love of God and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Following this meeting, visitors of all ages are invited to attend one-hour Sunday School classes, divided by various age groups from toddlers to youth to adults. Additional information can be found by calling Zane Calderwood (208-317-3325), Wade Treasure (208-351-4480), or at ChurchOfJesusChrist.org.

St. Francis of the Tetons Episcopal Church

20 Alta School Road | Alta, WY 83414 | 307-353-8100 sftetons@silverstar.com | stfrancis.episcopalidaho.org

Join us for Sunday morning worship beginning at 10am. St. Francis of the Tetons Episcopal Church welcomes worshippers of all walks of faith. In the shadow of the Tetons, this historic church offers an opportunity to experience God’s presence and join in fellowship, spiritual renewal, and service to others.

Teton Valley Bible Church

265 North 2nd East | Driggs, ID | 208-354-8523

tetonvalleybiblechurch.org

Teton Valley Bible Church exists to glorify God and exalt Jesus Christ as Lord through Holy Spirit-empowered living and worship. Our mission is to make disciples through gospel-centered outreach, the spiritual building-up of believers, and living in loving fellowship with one another. We gather together to worship the Lord on Sunday mornings; please visit the website for service times. Pastor Jim Otto (MDiv) is committed to expositional preaching and Biblical theology. Child care is available and all are welcome. [p. 93]

Teton School District 401

District Office: 208-228-5923

tsd401.org

Empowering our students to reach their full potential—Teton School District 401 provides a safe and exceptional learning environment where career and college readiness are the academic cornerstones of a relevant and progressive education. [p. 36]

Teton High School

Grades 9–12 | 208-228-5924

tsd401.org

Teton High School strives to recognize the uniqueness of the individual in preparing for a lifetime of learning. THS provides a safe and academically focused learning environment, where students are challenged for career and college readiness.

Basin High School

Grades 9–12 | 208-228-5928

tsd401.org

Basin High School is an alternative for students who meet the state criteria for enrollment. Students obtain credits through a stateapproved independent-study format, with assistance from certified staff.

Teton Middle School

Grades 6–8 | 208-228-5925

tsd401.org

Teton Middle School is dedicated to providing a quality education through which students will grow in academic achievement, respect for themselves and others, self-discipline, integrity, honesty, and responsibility.

Teton Elementary Schools

Grades K–3 at Victor 208-228-5929 | Driggs 208-228-5927 | Tetonia 208-228-5930 | Rendezvous Upper Elementary grades 4–5 in Driggs 208-228-5926

tsd401.org

The mission of the elementary schools of Teton School District 401 is to be integral in the partnership between school, home, and community in nurturing and encouraging all children to become productive citizens and lifelong learners.

Teton Science Schools - Teton Valley Campus

Grades pre-K–8 | 192 West Birch Street | Victor, ID 83455

tetonscience.org

A place-based-education independent day school, for students Pre-K to grade 8 that creates lifelong learners by educating the whole child through academic engagement, character development, and community focus. [p. 92]

exposure

Little

This newly hatched Barred Plymouth Rock chick, part of Lauren Bennett and Michael Sanchez’s young flock, balances on a precarious perch for the camera.

PHOTO BY JAMYE CHRISMAN Chicken

Photo: Cort Muller