Wayfinders Adventure Co.
Jackson, Wyoming Eclipse Trip
When you gotta go, you gotta go.
How did we get here?
So let's say it's August 2017 and the most rarest of occurences is taking place in the United States. A full solar eclipse! I could not miss out on this. Upon looking at the path of totality map, for no real reason, I zeroed in on Jackson, Wyoming as the place to be. Could've picked St. Louis, MO or just outside of Portland, OR but for whatever reason...Jackson here we come.
Looking up flights in OMG so expensive! Hotels? Completely booked up! If you're like me, when you look at a map you start to see all the pitstops, the cool places on the routes...Las Vegas, Zion Canyon, Salt Lake City. Before my very eyes an incredible road trip began to unfold.
First stop was Zion National Park. There wasn't a whole lot of campground availability but I settled on Zion River Resort RV Park & Campground. Not exactly an "in nature" experience but a place to pitch your tent and there's running water showers/bathrooms, electricity at each campsite. Not too bad of an option when all the hotels are full up (price check: in 2017 it was $45/night. in late 2025 it's up to $79/night).
The park: incredible of course! Especially that Angels Landing hike. Definitley get on the trail before sunrise because you don't want to be on the long line up the final spine unable to move through the traffic jam with massive drops down either side.
From Zion it's about 8 more hours to Trail Creek Campground just inside the border of Wyoming from Idaho. This was a great find, just 30 minutes outside of Jackson and at the time, just $15 a night (price check: in late 2025, it's up to only $25 a night). Quite a steal compared to the folks paying at least $500/night in town for this once-in-a-lifetime moment.
The night before the big event, we hit up Snake River Grill for one and only one item on the menu: the Eskimo Bars. This is one of those times I'll mention the Food Network show The Best Thing I Ever Ate, where all the FN chef's simply tell you about the best thing they've ever eaten and where to get it. Thanks Giada!
For the main event, a buddy of mine recommended heading into Grand Teton NP and posting up at Schwabacher's Landing. An idyllic spot where the snake river slows to the point of creating a reflective mirror pool to the Grand Teton's.
The Eclipse then totally happened and it was totally worth it. A mind-bending moment when the heavens suddenly turn off the lights and the wolves began howling in the valley and you could hear every human around cheering. My one regret...I tried to take a picture on my DSLR camera. I lost 45 valuable seconds trying to get the shot and I realized OH NO! This moment is passing me by. The eclipse lasted about 90 seconds total so half the moment...gone. One of my early lessons in why "doing it for the gram" kinda not the way we should do things. While I did get the shot, if there's one piece of advice I can offer during a total solar eclipse: be present and take in in the moment.
Now what? Well, there's now a whole National Park to explore! We created a fun little loop for ourselves in and around Jenny Lake. Went for a swim. Saw a bison roaming through the fields.