According to the Forest Service, Josie's Ridge carries up to 450 users a day in summer. That makes it the busiest trail in the Greater Snow King Area. Over the years it has picked up the damage that kind of traffic leaves: erosion, cut switchbacks and a tread worn wider than it was built. In its October 27 release, the Bridger-Teton National Forest's answer to that crowding is a new trail that would take bikes off the middle of Josie's, not a wider Josie's.
The Jackson Hole News&Guide reported that the four proposed routes total about 6 miles and could be "the first new routes developed in almost a decade" on the trail network around town. Each one is aimed at a specific spot where uphill and downhill traffic, or bikes and dogs, or horses and blind corners, now share one narrow line. Jackson Ranger District staff will review the proposals and answer questions at an open house on Monday, Nov. 16, from 5 to 7 p.m. at its office at 340 N. Cache St.
Where Each Route Pulls Traffic Apart
The Forest Service's project page lists four routes, and each one targets a different kind of conflict.
Ferrin's Trail Alternate: 1.75 miles
Ferrin's climbs to the Snow King summit from Cache Creek. The agency describes collisions and frequent near misses on its narrow two-way sections. The alternate would run from Ferrin's easternmost switchback to the fourth bridge junction on the Hagen Trail. That creates loops, plus a way down that doesn't mean going back the way you came. Katherine Dowson, executive director of Friends of Pathways, told the News&Guide that downhill bikers would get a way around slower uphill traffic during the busy hours. "It would give people a choice," she said.
Josie's Ridge Trail Alternate: 1.06 miles
The new route would link the lower Josie's Ridge summit area to the Sink or Swim Trail and would be open to horses, hikers and bikes. That gives bikers their own way up to the summit, and with it in place the Bridger-Teton could make the middle section of Josie's hike-only. In practice, the busiest trail in the Greater Snow King Area would lose its bike traffic through the middle section, and hikers would gain a second way to climb or descend. Part of the alternate falls inside the winter wildlife closure, so that section would be closed from December 1 to May 1.
Game Creek Parallel Trail: 2.2 miles
The first 2 miles of Game Creek follow a two-track road. The Forest Service lists complaints about near misses between hikers, dog walkers, horse riders and downhill bikers at blind, brushy corners, and the road floods each spring because it runs so close to the creek. The parallel route would run from the trailhead to the Beaver Ponds junction. It would start on the north side of the road, outside the winter wildlife closure, and cross to the south side about half a mile up on a new small bridge over Game Creek. It would be open year-round to bikes and hikers only. The News&Guide put it plainly: the goal is to move bikers off a trail where they bring high-speed traffic into an area with dogs and children. The agency also notes that this corridor connects to the South Highway 89 pathway and the South Park neighborhoods, so the trail could cut some car trips to trailheads such as Cache Creek.
Leeks Canyon Trail Alternate: 1.19 miles
The fourth route moves traffic out of wildlife habitat. Today the Leeks Canyon Trail drops off the upper Wilson Canyon Trail on the back side of Snow King along an overgrown old road. It dead-ends at private land, inside an area the Forest Plan manages as high-value wildlife habitat. The alternate would follow parts of an existing user-created trail to the Snow King Antennae Road. The current Leeks Canyon Trail would then be decommissioned and restored. The agency's reasoning is that new loops on the back side would draw some traffic away from the front-side trails.
Why New Trail and Not New Rules
Trail etiquette could, in theory, handle some of this. Jackson District Ranger Todd Stiles told the News&Guide that the forest had discussed other fixes with Friends of Pathways, such as requiring uphill and downhill traffic to use separate routes. "It takes a lot of management on a trail system as busy as this area is," he said. "They don't tend to always get a lot of support."
So the proposal builds the separation into the trails themselves. It also fits a planning principle older than this project. Stiles said the routes match the Jackson District's 2020 trail assessment. That plan aims to concentrate recreation in developed areas near town, not spread it across more ground, so wildlife sees less disturbance. For the Snow King area in particular, the assessment called for a network offering "a variety of loop opportunities near town with an eye towards reducing conflict."
How the project got this far also explains how quickly it could move. The routes started with Friends of Pathways, and Stiles said they have been in the works for about two years. Dowson said the nonprofit paid for the environmental analysis and cultural resources surveys completed this past summer. "That is the reality of funding cuts and capacity issues at our forest," she told the News&Guide. In its release, the Forest Service said specialists in wildlife, cultural resources, botany, fisheries, recreation, hydrology, rangeland management and invasive species surveyed the routes, and that the proposals reflect more than 25 years of collaboration among the agency, Friends of Pathways, local land managers and community members.
The forest is reviewing the project under a categorical exclusion for building and rebuilding trails. As the News&Guide explained, that means public comment isn't required, so the Nov. 16 open house is the forum the forest has scheduled for the public. "It hasn't pointed to any showstopper," Stiles said of this summer's fieldwork.
The Questions Conservation Groups Are Bringing
Building separation into the trails still means building new trail, and local conservation groups have said they will be watching. Catherine Hughes, conservation director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, told the News&Guide she wants to learn more about the visual impacts and the need for the project.
"We have to find the balance and to know when to say enough is enough."
Catherine Hughes, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, to the Jackson Hole News&Guide
Renee Seidler, executive director of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, said her organization will meet with forest officials about the proposal. The design partly answers these concerns already. The Leeks Canyon change moves use out of the high-value habitat zone, and the Josie's alternate keeps the winter closure dates on its section inside the closure. If the routes are approved, a Forest Service trail crew, Friends of Pathways, conservation corps and volunteers would build them following Universal Trail Design principles.
The Calendar From the Open House Forward
The open house falls just two weeks before the hill's winter rules take over. Here is the sequence:
- Monday, Nov. 16, 5 to 7 p.m. The open house at the Jackson Ranger District Office, 340 N. Cache St., where district staff will review the proposals and answer questions. The News&Guide has posted maps at tinyurl.com/AlternateTrails.
- December 1. The Bridger-Teton's winter travel restrictions take effect each year on December 1 and run until 6 a.m. on May 1, with entry into the order's Area C prohibited for that period. The current order runs through May 1, 2029. A Forest Service winter notice lists Josie's Ridge, the slopes above Highway 89 south to Game Creek, and the slopes above Cache Creek and Nelson Drive among the Jackson-area areas closed to all human presence. The same day, the district's dog leash order starts its annual run. It requires a leash no longer than six feet in its designated areas, including the Game Creek trailhead area, Game Creek Trail #4025 and the Game Creek Connector #4025B.
- December 4. Snow King Mountain Resort's planned opening day for the 2026–27 ski season. This year the resort added 18 tower fan snow guns, nine on the Rafferty side and nine on the Exhibition run. The Jackson Hole Snow Devils and a few other businesses are paying part of the cost of the Exhibition machines, according to the News&Guide. General manager Ryan Stanley told the paper the guns are meant to keep another low-snow year from canceling the Hill Climb.
- The next five years. If approved, the four routes would be built over that period. The News&Guide reported that new routes could start appearing as soon as next year.
The closure and leash dates above come from the Forest Service orders linked in each item. This is general information, so confirm the current terms with the Jackson Ranger District before heading out.
For many owners in town, how close a home sits to Josie's Ridge, Ferrin's or the Game Creek trailhead matters as much as anything inside it, and that connection is part of how we describe a property to the right buyer. If you own near the Snow King trails and are thinking about what comes next, Graham Faupel Mendenhall & Associates can prepare a confidential valuation and a marketing plan built around how your home connects to the mountain.
