A depressed economy and natural disasters have persuaded more than 400,000 Puerto Ricans to leave their Caribbean island home since 2017. Some are making new lives for themselves in Jackson Hole.
You can’t approach an elk on foot without scaring it (and you shouldn’t because approaching large wildlife is illegal and dangerous). But you can take a horse-drawn sleigh ride into the middle of the herd wintering on the National Elk Refuge.
You never know what wildlife you’ll meet when you get off the beaten path in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in winter, but you’re almost guaranteed to see few (if any) other people.
Ski touring, like other forms of mountain adventuring, can be an exciting way of seeing and connecting new and old places—just plan carefully and know your level of risk.