Millions of elk blanket much of the continent. But, by the early 1900s, over 90-percent of these elk are gone, their historical rangelands homesteaded and turned into farms. Northwest Wyoming remains one of their last strongholds … until homesteaders
make it even here. This increased human population, coupled with several back-to-back severe winters (even by Wyoming standards) cause thousands of Jackson Hole elk to starve to death. Not surprisingly, locals didn’t like what was happening and bombarded both state and federal governments with pleas for help. The National Elk Refuge was established in 1912 to provide 1,760 acres of protected wintering ground for elk in Jackson Hole. Today the refuge is 25,000 acres and nearly 10,000 elk migrate down from the mountains to feed here each winter.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many elk to be found on the Elk Refuge outside of winter. And the few that do hang around certainly aren’t hanging out within easy view of the highway like they do in the winter. Which means you can’t take a horse-drawn sleigh ride into the middle of the herd like you can in the winter. But if you just can’t make it to the refuge when there’s snow on the ground, summer hiking trails abound. We can’t guarantee you’ll spot an elk, but, surrounded by 25,000 acres of designated wildlands, you’ll still get a pretty good idea of what the undiscovered, unsettled West looked like.
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