JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — One check of the gateways into town at night and it’s evident many visitors are choosing to spend a night in Jackson Hole along the roadside. North of town, south of town—the side of the highway looks like Bish’s opened a remote RV showroom or a pop-up Flying J was opened.
Are these travelers priced out of Jackson and choosing to forego a $400 to $1,000 or more a night hotel room for a night’s sleep in their SUV? Or maybe they are ahead of schedule and their hotel reservations don’t start until the next day.
Local law enforcement has been as busy as they ever have checking up on reports of illegal camping. A town ordinance prohibits and overnight “camping” in Jackson. It doesn’t mean you can’t put the seat back and sleep, technically, but anything that looks like camping is going to draw the attention of police.
Lt. Russ Ruschill, of the Jackson Police Department, said overnight camping hasn’t been any worse than any other year, but it certainly becomes a thing every summer.
“We are not writing any more citations this year. In fact, we really don’t arrest people for it. We just try to inform and get them moving along,” Ruschill said.
Just outside town limits, many overnighters have been noted parked along the highways into Jackson. Again, so long as people are not setting out grills, propping up tents, or doing other things typical of making camp, law enforcement has been generally hands off.
Parking vehicles, boats, campers, trailers, and such continues to be an issue in Jackson. Side streets fill up quickly and permanently with stuff that would otherwise be in the garage or driveway.
