Rendezvous at R Park

Sled, hike, cross-country ski, and hang with a troll at this community park.

//By Emily Cohen

Once a gravel pit, the 40-acre R Park is one of Jackson Hole’s most beloved community spaces. At the intersection of Wyoming Highway 22 and Teton Village Road, R Park—short for Rendezvous Park—is the result of a public-private partnership between Teton County and the Jackson Hole Land Trust. It opened in 2015, four years after the JH Land Trust purchased the property and engaged in a community-planning process to shape how the space would be used. 

R Park is accessible by car, the START Bus, and the Pathways system (which is plowed for brave winter cyclists). It’s open daily from dawn to dusk, and leashed dogs are welcome.

In winter, the park is a hub for cold-weather play—think sledding, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing—and there’s even an avalanche beacon training area. In summer, families come to scramble over art installations, fish along the riverbank or in the stocked pond, or picnic under the cottonwoods. Year-round, local organizations use the park to hold a diversity of events, from a winter solstice celebration (shown here) to concerts and free kayak and paddleboard demos. R Park’s heart is a whimsical interactive sculpture, Mama Mimi, a giant troll made from reclaimed materials.

In winter, R Park is a hub for cold-weather play—sledding, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing—and there’s even an avalanche beacon training area.

R Park’s most iconic feature is Mama Mimi, a 25-foot-tall troll created by Danish artist and environmental activist Thomas Dambo from locally reclaimed materials like recycled wood pallets, steel, and driftwood. Built in 2021 with support from Jackson Hole Public Art, Mama Mimi is part of Dambo’s global network of over 100 trolls, which you can explore via TrollMap.com. Nestled into the landscape, Mama Mimi’s outstretched legs invite children to climb and explore. Originally slated for just three years, it is now a semi-permanent installation. 

R Park is home to the valley’s only free avalanche beacon training area, a crucial resource for skiers and snowshoers who venture into the backcountry. The beacon area is equipped with a control box and eight buried transmitters; users can practice single- and multiple-burial searches, as well as probing, shoveling, and RECCO detector use.

With its gentle slope and wide runout area, R Park’s sledding hill is a local favorite for families with younger sledders. Parking is conveniently close, and the walk to the hill is short—even if your hands are full of sleds and hot cocoa. 

R Park has 3.5 miles of user-packed walking and skiing loops. The R Park dike on the northwest side of the Snake River provides a quiet experience with minimal visitor traffic and the possibility of spotting moose in the ponds and wetlands. Many days, it’s likely you can walk here without the aid of snowshoes or cross-country skis. (But if you do this and find yourself postholing, please stop; the large divots left by postholing hikers ruin the trails for other users.) Because the trails here are mostly flat, they’re great for beginners. Trails wind through meadows, along the Snake River, and around art installations, including Mama Mimi and Flow. A pedestrian bridge at R Park connects to the east side of the Snake River, where you can enjoy a groomed 4.5-mile out-and-back cross-country ski path. JH