National Elk Refuge in winter
— — a herd that walks down out of the snow.
Not only on a wall.
“Each winter several thousand elk move down from the high country into the flats north of Jackson, drawn by exposed forage and a long history of supplemental feeding. From late December into early April the refuge runs horse-drawn sleighs out into the herd. Riders sit quiet. The bulls have shed or are about to, the cows are pregnant, and the breath of the herd hangs over the snow in a long pale band. from the studio
National Elk Refuge in winter, 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.
The National Elk Refuge covers about 24,700 acres of valley floor immediately north of Jackson, Wyoming, between the town and Grand Teton National Park. Congress established it in 1912 to protect the southern Jackson Hole elk herd, which had been starving on shrinking winter range. The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In a typical winter five to eight thousand elk descend from the Gros Ventre and Teton ranges to use the refuge as their lowest winter ground, alongside bison, bighorn sheep, trumpeter swans, and bald eagles.
Sleigh rides run from roughly mid-December through early April, weather and herd location permitting. Tickets are sold at the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center on North Cache Street in Jackson, and horse-drawn sleighs leave from the Miller Ranch site on the refuge. Mornings are cold, often well below zero Fahrenheit, and afternoons warm enough that the snow softens at the surface. Bulls shed their antlers from late February through March, and the annual Boy Scout antler auction in May is funded almost entirely by what they leave behind.
The refuge entrance and visitor center sit on the north edge of Jackson, easy walking distance from the town square. Sleighs run mornings and afternoons through the winter season at a per-person fee, with reduced rates for children. The drive along Refuge Road is open in summer and gives a long quiet view of the Sleeping Indian and the Gros Ventre range. Photography is best from the road and the visitor center pull-offs; visitors are asked to stay in vehicles or on sleighs to keep the herd undisturbed during the hardest months.