Paddle Jackson Hole Interactive map →
2 active alerts on the Snake High-water advisory · Teton Park Road paving View →
The Snake River winding below the Teton Range
Jackson Hole · Bridger-Teton National Forest

Snake River

The valley’s mainstem — from the Teton headwaters down through canyon whitewater to Palisades.

83 mi mapped Class I–III Wild & Scenic (2009)

Alerts on the Snake

Roads · water · fire
High water

High-water advisory

Flows above 5,000 cfs — cold, fast, strainers in the braids. Experienced boaters only.

Bridger-Teton NF
Construction

Teton Park Road paving

15-minute holds near Signal Mtn affect access to Pacific Creek and Deadmans Bar on weekdays.

NPS

Conditions now

Live USGS · weather · AQI · alerts · fire

USGS 13018750

Snake R. below Flat Creek, nr Jackson

Running high
4,820 cfs
▲ +8% vs. last week

Gauge height

6.4 ft

Water temp

53°F

Updated

11 min ago

Weather now

64° Partly cloudy
Wind 8 mph WSW H 74° · L 43°

Other gauges on this river

nr Moran (13011000) 5,640 cfs
above res. nr Alpine (13022500) 7,210 cfs

The Snake on the map

Full interactive map →
Open full map →

Showing the Snake only. Open the full map for access points, rapids, gauges & float planning across the watershed.

Fire & restrictions · advisory

Danger: High

Stage 1 fire restrictions in effect across the Bridger-Teton — no open fires outside developed, agency-provided rings.

Pacific Creek Fire

1,240 ac · 35% contained · 12 mi NE of Moran

Smoke & air quality

38

AQI · Good

PM2.5 · 9 µg/m³

Light haze from regional fires possible on south winds. No advisory in effect for the valley.

Five-day forecast

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360° on the Snake

Regional captures →
360° scheduled

Deadmans Bar → Moose

Scenic reach · capture scheduled

360° scheduled

Snake River Canyon

Lunch Counter run · scheduled

360° scheduled

South Park → Astoria

Lower valley · scheduled

Photos

Oxbow Bend, dawn

Lunch Counter wave train

Cutthroat release, South Park

Cottonwood gallery, Moose

Access & safety

RM 0

Pacific Creek

Gravel ramp · USFS

Put-in
RM 8

Deadmans Bar

Steep hand launch

Access
RM 16

Moose Landing

GTNP boat ramp · AED

Take-out
RM 49

West Table

Canyon put-in · ranger

Put-in
RM 57

Sheep Gulch

Canyon take-out

Take-out

Emergency

Teton County Search & Rescue · 911 dispatch. Nearest AEDs: Moose Landing, West Table ranger station. Bridger-Teton NF dispatch (307) 739-3630.

Float planning

Plan on map →

Deadmans Bar → Moose

Class I–II
10 mi~3–4 hrScenic, braided

West Table → Sheep Gulch

Class III
8 mi~2–3 hrLunch Counter, Kahuna

South Park → Astoria

Class I–II
6 mi~2 hrFamily float

Fish & wildlife

Vintage plate — cutthroat trout

Signature species

Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat

A subspecies found only in this drainage — dense, fine spotting toward the head. Catch-and-release ethic strongly encouraged.

In the water

Fine-spotted cutthroat Mountain whitefish Brook trout Brown trout (lower)

On the banks

Moose
Bald eagle & osprey
River otter
Grizzly & black bear

Wyoming Game & Fish Area 1 · license required · special cutthroat regs apply on designated reaches.

Vintage species plates — public domain (J. J. Audubon et al.), via Wikimedia Commons.

Recently observed nearby

iNaturalist →

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The river

The Snake is the spine of Jackson Hole. It gathers in the Teton Wilderness, slides past the range Ansel Adams made famous, then bends south and bites down into the Snake River Canyon, where Lunch Counter and Big Kahuna stack up at high water. Below Alpine it backs into Palisades Reservoir. Flows swing hard with snowmelt — a quiet July float can be a freight train in June.

History

Protected in 2009 by the Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act, which gave 413.5 miles of the Snake and its tributaries Wild & Scenic status. Long before that, the river carried names from the Shoshone and from French trappers — “La Maudite Rivière Enragée,” the accursed mad river — before settling as the Snake.