๐ฟ๐ฌ๐ช Summer Pastures of Gudauri, Georgia.
Located in the Greater Caucasus Mountains at around 2,200 meters above sea level, Gudauri is known for its mountain landscapes, alpine meadows and grazing livestock during the summer months.
Just east of Jackson, Wyoming, thereโs a 287,000-acre wilderness where you can find grizzlies, wolves, elk, moose and bighorn sheep without a tour bus in sight.
Itโs called the Gros Ventre Wilderness, and it sits inside the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Most people coming through this part of Wyoming head toward Yellowstone or Grand Teton. Gros Ventre is different. Once you enter the wilderness, there are no cars, tour buses or bicycles. You travel on foot or horseback.
That matters in a place known for wildlife. Elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep and black bears all use this country. Grizzlies, wolves, mountain lions and bison are here too. Wildlife biologist Olaus Murie considered the Gros Ventre especially important as calving habitat for the Jackson Hole elk herd.
The landscape helps explain it. Gros Ventre has large stretches of lower-elevation habitat, with river valleys, forests, meadows and mountain slopes that give animals room to move between seasonal ranges.
People are relatively scarce too. Forest Service documents have described Gros Ventre as lightly visited compared with nearby wilderness areas, and recent monitoring found encounters between groups generally well below management thresholds.
Thatโs notable considering Jackson is right next door.
The wilderness was designated in 1984 as part of the Wyoming Wilderness Act. Nearly four decades later, its lack of roads and motorized travel is still a big part of what makes it different from the national parks nearby.
You might spend hours walking here without seeing another group. You may see elk tracks instead, moose in the willows, bighorn sheep on a slope or bear sign along the trail.
There are no roadside wildlife jams because there is no roadside.
Yellowstone gives millions of people access to one of the best wildlife landscapes in North America. Gros Ventre gives you another way to see part of that same ecosystem.
You have to walk into it.
I write about places like this in the Timeless Traveler newsletter. If you like finding the places people drive past on the way to somewhere famous, join us.
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