There’s A Secret Road From Idaho To Jackson, But You’ll Probably Need A Jeep

TETONIA, Idaho — There’s a secret route that people living in Idaho’s Teton Valley all know about as an alternate route over to the wealthy enclave of Jackson, Wyoming, to do their blue-collar work.

It’s called Reclamation Road, and some locals think it may be time to dust off — or grade with a heavy equipment scraper— this possible route for travel.

To get there, you have to drive 25 miles or so north of Tetonia, look for the Squirrel cemetery near Ashton, then head east on a dirt and gravel road. About half the trip to Ashton is possible at 70 mph. The rest goes about half those speeds — or slower.

But there’s no traffic. None. Only potato farms and silos.

The road is rough over the Teton mountains and dumps drivers on U.S. Route 191 a dozen or so miles north of Jackson.

Google maps doesn’t work very well in this part of the Potato Belt. But now that the main artery that connects Jackson with its working-class communities in Idaho is out of commission, no other alternative seems out of the question for consideration.

Tyler Hammond, owner of WreckerBoyz Towing in Driggs, Idaho, won’t go up to Reclamation Road anymore to fetch anyone because they are “tourists and people with RVs, and the cell service isn’t great.”

Everyone in Idaho’s tiny Teton Valley communities knows about Reclamation Road.

“Reclamation is nicknamed ‘Jeep Trail’ because it’s a little rough in spots,” said Tetonia resident Jim Beard.

Even Jerry Anderson, the front desk clerk of Cobblestone Hotel & Suites in Victor — the first town outside of the Idaho and Wyoming border along Idaho State Route 33 — knows about Reclamation Road.

“I’m going up there on Friday to check it out,” said Anderson, whose hotel Tuesday lowered its $300-a-room charge to $220 to attract guests.

WYDOT’s Horse

The Wyoming Department of Transportation isn’t familiar with the Reclamation Road route because it is betting on a faster horse.

WYDOT’s alternative to a washed out Highway 22 over Teton Pass in Wyoming is the reason why everyone drives more than 100 miles along five highways of bumper-to-bumper traffic from Victor, Idaho, at the border with Wyoming to Jackson.

This alternative route was developed after the 30-minute drive to Jackson was taken away in a landslide from Idahoans, who are frustrated that their blue-collar pay is now complicated with a big commute.

Highway 22’s loss in Wyoming is a crushing blow to Idahoans.

Tourism is feeling the slowdown on the Idaho side of the border, and pocketbooks are feeling lighter with the extra money everyone is paying for gasoline at the pump.

In Tetonia, the Sinclair station was charging $3.54 for a gallon of unleaded gas.

“I miss having tourists around here,” said Erica Black, manager of the gas station.

This time of year had brought long lines to the gas station, but now a fill-up is quick-in, quick-out, she said.

Others are getting pinched financially by the fewer tourists in the valley as well.

“People living here have been impacted a lot by the Teton Pass closure,” said Zach Bennett, who runs the Teton Peaks Resort in Tetonia. “We’ve seen a lot of cancellations because everyone thinks there’s nothing to do here.”

Tempers also are beginning to flare.

Crashing Gates

At the Idaho-Wyoming border, WYDOT traffic electrician Bryce Clements drove up from Cokeville, Wyoming, to repair the closure gates because an unidentified driver rammed them.

“This is not typical in the summer months,” Clements said.

Earlier in the day, he repaired a closure gate in Wilson, Wyoming, to the east of the landslide when a distracted driver talking on a cellphone hit the gate.

“I’m not sure what is going on,” he said. “This type of stuff happens in the winter.”

Sitting at a picnic table outside the Hot Diggity Dog food stand about a mile north of the Bennett’s Teton Peaks, a group of men were chewing the fat on the traffic mess.

Beard, Hank Hatch and Os Rigby wondered why WYDOT wasn’t helping out with the grading on the old Reclamation Road that runs up near Grassy Lake Dam in Wyoming by the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park.

“Hell, yes,” said Beard when asked whether WYDOT should get involved with improving the road to help the Idaho communities.

Reclamation Road — named after its owner, the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages power and water in the U.S. West — is about a 30-minute drive north of Tetonia over a labyrinth of paved and fine-dirt roads to just north of a tiny community called Squirrel.

On the turnoff to Reclamation, there’s not much except for a dirt road, a collapsing wooden home from a bygone era and a silo.

“Over 25% of the people who live here, work there in Jackson,” Beard said. “No one can afford to live there, where people are paying a few thousands of dollars a month in rent.”

Thousands of people who work in Jackson but live in Idaho’s Teton Valley communities are seeing red over the extra driving time.

Riding Buses

A START bus service run out of Jackson charges $16 for a roundtrip ticket to go from Driggs to Jackson, but that assumes an over two- to three-hour ride that begins at 5:10 a.m.

Commuters are arriving home as late as 8:30 p.m.

START Director Bruce Abel did not return phone calls seeking comment on the service.

Gale Luna, a START supervisor, said there’s been a small uptick in ridership on the buses this week that are taking about three hours to travel from Driggs to Jackson.

“Call volumes from commuters about the service have gone up about 50% since the weekend,” he said.

With the tourism season typically in full swing this time of year, some residents like the light traffic through the Potato Belt.

“Traffic is definitely down,” said Brett Johnson, a manager of Walters Produce Inc., a potato processing operation that runs a lot of 18-wheeled trucks carrying potatoes.

“Most of the traffic was due to tourism,” he said.

While the Potato Belt traffic along SR 33 is lighter than usual, the traffic picks up from Idaho Falls to Jackson.

Tow truck owner Hammond is pulling his hair out in the traffic.

Traveling to Jackson wasn’t so bad when he left mid-morning Wednesday, but returning as the rush hour picked up around 3 p.m. took more than two-and-a-half hours, he said.

Related to the extra miles that he’s driving, Hammond raised the price on towing a car from Driggs to Jackson from $375 to $525 with the same charge billed to customers who want cars hauled on a return trip.

“It’s my time and gas that I have to charge for,” Hammond said.

Jesse Fritsch, co-owner of Elements Building Specialties in Driggs, said she’s pushing a lot of work off because of the road being out to Jackson.

Her business sells appliances to new construction builders near Jackson.

“We’re definitely rescheduling things because of the landslide,” she said. “It’s added to our overall costs because we have to travel around the loop to get to Jackson.”

Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.