SUMMER IN THE ROCKIES JACKSON,
OUT OF THE HOLE
Story and photography
by Eric Anderson

Another tourist attraction that's gone on for half a century, in fact it's billed as "the longest running Western shootout in the country," is the gunfight staged six nights a week every summer at the corner of Broadway and Center. Locals yield their vantage spots with friendly smiles when they see visitors with cameras.

They are friendly in Jackson. Even the bagpipers practicing for the Annual Cameron Highlanders event in the town baseball park stop when visitors want to pass without an earful. The Scottish connection is no surprise in Jackson. Many of the mountain men who first came here were Scots but there's a lot more to do in Jackson Hole than listen to bagpipers. If you are staying at the Snow King Resort on the south edge of town the ski lift's at your door and 30 minutes on it brings you to the Panorama House where you can survey the land from 7808 feet before wandering the nature trail at the top. Those staying at the historic Wort hotel in town are close to the old Playhouse with its long running attraction Annie Get Your Gun. The show is not exactly Las Vegas - the pianist is the bartender - but it's still show business! The National Museum of Wildlife Art, overlooking the national Elk Refuge, lies a short distance to the north as does the Grand Teton National Park and beyond it Yellowstone itself.

The Snake River meanders through Jackson letting companies like Barker-Ewing offer both scenic and white water float trips. Says Heather Ewing who now runs the family business: "Development of the American outdoors is growing exponentially. So there are fewer and fewer pockets of land left to be enjoyed in the United Sates. But here we have the privilege of traveling by river to embrace and interpret the history of America."