Hoback Canyon
— — a river road between two walls of pine.
Not only on a wall.
“The canyon US-189/191 takes south of Jackson Hole, following the Hoback River for about twenty miles up to Bondurant. Steep timbered walls on either side, the river running green at the bottom, pull-offs every few miles where fly fishermen wade in. In autumn the aspens turn high on the slopes and the canyon holds the colour like a cup. — from the studio
Hoback Canyon, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Hoback Canyon is the river canyon cut by the Hoback River as it runs roughly west from the Wyoming Range to join the Snake River at Hoback Junction, about twelve miles south of the town of Jackson. US Route 189/191 follows the canyon for around twenty miles, climbing gradually from about 6,100 feet at the junction to 6,500 feet at Bondurant. The canyon is part of Bridger-Teton National Forest. The river and pass were named for the trapper John Hoback, who guided Wilson Price Hunt's overland Astorians through the area in 1811.
The Hoback is a classic Western freestone river — clear, cold, and falling steadily through a bed of cobbles and large round boulders. It is managed as a wild trout fishery for native Snake River cutthroat, with rainbow and brown trout mixed in. The runoff peaks in late May and June and the water comes into shape for wade fishing by mid-July, when it drops and clears. The lower canyon also runs as a Class II-III whitewater stretch in early summer, with commercial trips put in near Astoria Hot Springs.
The canyon reads differently in each season. June is high water and green willow. August is wade-fishing weather and warm afternoons. The last week of September brings narrowleaf cottonwood and aspen yellow up the side draws, and by mid-October the canyon has thinned to bare branches. Winter closes the side roads but US-189/191 stays plowed as the year-round route between Jackson and Pinedale. Bondurant, at the upper end, often records some of the coldest winter temperatures in the lower 48.