Hello fellow wanderers!
How many of you have been to Dubois, Wyoming? I am sure, most of you have been to Jackson Hole and that surrounding area but Dubois seems to be a less traveled town.
We were booking our 2021 summer road trip in January of 2021 and all RV parks in Jackson and close to, were completely booked already. Insane right! Seems to be the latest trend, having to book a year in advance. However, even though we are planners, we are not "a year in advance" planners. So, we started to search within a two-hour radius of Jackson. We have already "done" Yellowstone and parts of Grand Teton and this trip we wanted to focus only on Grand Teton and other areas.
That is how we stumbled upon the cute, charming little ol cowboy town of Dubois. Pronounced by the locals DEW-boys. Dubois is 1.5 hours from Jackson and 1 hour from Grand Teton. It sits an elevation of 6,900 feet. Not a bad alternative! Less crowded and plenty to do in Dubois! They even have a replica of the famous antler arch that you find in Jackson Town Square.
We stayed a week at the Dubois / Wind River KOA Holiday in Dubois in a pull through patio site. Next time, we will opt for a back in site along the river. Very nice KOA with indoor pool and game room, quiet and great WiFi for working remotely. Staff was more than friendly, and the grounds were well kept and beautiful, especially along the river.
We spent only one day in Jackson riding the Cowboy Coaster at Snow King Mountain and hiking around Jenny Lake. The wait for the coater was 1.5 hours long and to be honest, it was the slowest alpine coaster we had been on. They have automatic brakes that keep you from going full speed. Story goes: two drunk guys fell out of the coaster, so they implemented the automatic brakes. Thanks to those drunk guys, they ruined it for everyone. It was fun to do once but not worth the wait. Jenny Lake was beyond packed with people. Hundreds of people waiting for the ferry and hundreds of people on the trails. So, we decided to stay closer to Dubois where it was significantly less crowded.
We are not a fan of hiking on trails with hundreds of other people!
We did take an evening and we booked a float trip down the Snake River in Grand Teton that also included a BBQ dinner. It was a great trip and well worth the drive back to Teton. We booked through Triangle X Ranch, and we highly recommend. We had a great guide who, coincidently, had mutual contacts with us from the Miami area. Dinner was good and the scenery was beautiful, even with wildfire smoke hovering about the majestic peaks. This trip is truly a float trip, no rapids. It was peaceful with great views of the Grand Teton and quite a few birds. We did not see any moose on this trip, but we heard they are there!
Triangle X Ranch has several options for tours so check them out! You will not be disappointed!
Ok, now for our time spent near Dubois! This town is so charming with cute shops and eateries all within a few blocks. You can literally walk this town from the KOA within an hour depending on how much browsing you do. The downtown area is less than a mile long with Wind River running through it. We also want to note that there is plenty of parking on the side of the main highway for RVs if you happen to be passing through and want to stop for a moment. Dubois has a city park that also offers free WiFi.
Dubois has several attractions and nearby hiking trails that we recommend. They even have a "top ten" sign when you enter town.
Dubois Badlands Trail is just a few minutes outside of town and stunning. This area reminded us of Southern Utah. We hiked this trail with no other people in sight.
We also attempted to hike up to Lake Louise along the Torrey Creek waterfalls. We got to the top of the falls when it started to thunder and hail so we turned around, but this trail is simply worth it for the waterfalls. Beautiful country! This hike is within 30 minutes of town.
We also visited the National Museum of Military Vehicles. This museum is a private collection of all thing's military vehicles and weapons from several wars and just opened in 2020. If you want to be impressed and humbled, this museum is well worth it! We spent four hours here and wished we had all day. This museum is located within 30 minutes from Dubois.
During the summer months, Dubois has their rodeo every Friday night and we did not pass this up! It was fun to see the locals and people who traveled in to compete in the rodeo. It was a cold misty summer night but well worth it for some cowboy/cowgirl fun! They had merchandise for sale a couple of food trucks on site as well.
The one place we did not go to was the National Big Horn Sheep Center. It was closed due to the pandemic but we will be back to this area for sure!
Oh, one other thing, Dubois is famous for its Jackalope! Yes you heard that right, a Jackalope! Happy Jackalope hunting!
There are tons of hiking trails during the summer months and native history to explore. If you stay in Dubois, you will have plenty to do and while we only hiked two trails in the area, we saw no one on the Badlands trail and only one other couple on the Lake Louise trail. Dubois is far less crowded than Jackson which is what we like. We like to wander off on the less travel paths.
We hope you consider Dubois as a great alternative to Jackson Hole. You will not be disappointed.
We have videos on YouTube of both hikes, the Military Museum, KOA and the town of Dubois overall, along with the Cowboy Coaster and our Snake River Float Trip. We hope you check them out and they help you plan for your visit to the area! Don't forget to like and subscribe and share our videos! We truly appreciate the support!
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Thank you so much!
Wandered Off
Chris & Brandi
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