Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea.
And the hunter home from the hill.
R. L. Stevenson (1859-1894)
This inscription from Robert Louis Stevenson's gravestone sums up how I felt the first time I saw Star Valley. I believe the last verse captures a common longing that we humans have - after separation from family and friends whether it is due to work, travel, or military - for a home of peace, tranquility, intimacy and unconditional acceptance.
These were the feelings I had on a cold, winter day in January of 1966! I was a twenty year old, Army Staff Sergeant just back from two back-to-back tours overseas on the way to Afton to meet the girl that had been writing to me for some three years.
Stopping on top of Salt Pass at the south end of the Valley to stretch, I took in the views for the first time of the soaring mountain peaks and wind-swept ridges covered with snow and ice. Today, some forty-plus years later, I still remember how powerfully those verses came to mind each and every time I return to the Valley ... The place I now call home. It is a very special place like no other on earth!
Star Valley is the common name or nickname for a cluster of small communities situated between the Salt River Mountain Range on the western edge of Wyoming and the Webster Mountain Range of Eastern Idaho. This includes Alpine, Afton, Thayne, Star Valley Ranch, Freedom, Grover, Smoot, Fairview, Osmond, Auburn, Bedford and Turnerville.
One theory about the name Star Valley comes from Starvation (Starve) Valley, a name the area gained during several bitter winters in the late 1880s. According to many accounts, settlers lost countless cattle during the severe winter of 1889. That March, over 40 inches of snow fell in forty-eight hours.
The Valley is about 14-miles wide and 50-miles long. The Valley is surrounded by the Bridger-Teton, Caribou and Targhee National Forests. Altitudes range from 5,600 feet to 7,000 feet with the some mountain peaks reaching over 10,000-feet.
Three major rivers, the Salt River, the Greys River and the Snake River meet at Alpine to form the Palisades Reservoir. This reservoir, along with the rivers, streams and mountain lakes provides fishing for Cutthroat trout, German Browns, Brookies, Rainbows and Mackinaw. The Palisades Reservoir provides boating, water skiing and jet skiing. Racinf down from Jackson Lake, the Snake River provides white water rafting and kayaking opportunities
Big game includes Moose, Elk, Mule Deer, Bear and the Mountain Lion. Geese, Ducks, Sandhill Cranes, Trumpeter Swans, Osprey and Grouse are just a few of the Valley's inhabitants. A few miles south of Alpine is the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's Elk Feed Grounds. Here some 1,000 Elk are winter fed.
Over the last 20-years our economy has slowly shifted away from an agriculture-based economy to tourism and businesses and services that serve the growing population. Star Valley is a destination for outdoor enthusiasts that enjoy such activities as fly-fishing, boating, hiking and biking to snowmobiling and skiing.
Today, this once quiet, peaceful farming community is slowly becoming a bedroom community and/or second-home community to Jackson Hole's world class resort. Star Valley has no major employment center(s). The only commercial space is retail and some service related businesses for the residents (banks, grocery store, gas stations - no malls or major shoe-box outlets, clothing stores, etc.).
Star Valley, like Jackson Hole is surrounded by public land National Forest). With little, if any room to grow, and access to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park and several million more acres of National Forest and we have a textbook case of the theory of supply and demand.
Add to this the pressure that the Jackson Market is creating (those that cannot or will not pay the prices) and the end result is a strong demand homes on the Valley (affordability) relative to living in Jackson.
Please accept our invitation to stop and visit our Valley this summer!
Joe Mack - GRI, Associate Broker/Owner
RE/MAX Advantage Realty, 118 S Main Street, Suite 100
Thayne, WY 83127
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