High School Butte's Trailhead Was Church Land All Along. Now It's Becoming the Town's

Who owns the first stretch of High School Butte? The switchbacks off South Park Loop Road get climbed before sunrise and after school, with the Tetons opening up near the top, and the trail looks like it has always been public.

It hasn't been. For more than 30 years, the Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole let the public cross its land at the base of the butte to reach the trail, according to the Jackson Hole Land Trust. That land is a 3.74-acre parcel, per the Land Trust's program page. Public access was never written into any law or easement. It was a neighbor's courtesy. In roughly two weeks this fall, the money and the votes came together to make that courtesy permanent, from three very different sources. The paperwork is still catching up.

Three Owners, One Set of Switchbacks

High School Butte looks like one piece of land, but it's really three layers with three separate protections. The Land Trust's program page lays them out.

The upper layers were already protected. The weak link was the bottom, the piece every hiker crosses first. The parcel starts at the corner of South Park Loop Road and South High Country Drive and runs partway up the slope, as the Jackson Hole News&Guide reported. If that parcel had sold to a private buyer, the protected habitat and the wild summit above it would still be there. The easy way up would not.

Why the Church Decided to Sell

The sale started with a staffing problem. The News&Guide reported that the church had struggled for years to house its employees and had lost several valued staff over a decade or more. In 2024 the Jackson Town Council approved the church's plan for 21 townhomes across the street from the butte parcel.

The congregation raised $8.5 million for the project. That covered seven homes. To pay for the remaining three in Phase 1, the church chose to sell the High School Butte parcel.

That decision is what put the trail's future in question. Residents started asking about access when the church announced the sale and the buyer was still anonymous. According to the News&Guide, the church said it hoped that buyer would keep the trailhead open. In a later article, the paper reported that the church had deliberately looked for a buyer who would preserve community access, rather than one who might build. Land Trust Vice President Liz Long said the Land Trust had been talking with the church about protecting the trailhead since it bought its own 18 acres in 2020.

The development potential was always modest. Town planning allowed one single-family residence on the parcel. Still, one house on the right corner could have ended the shortcut most of Jackson uses to reach the switchbacks.

Where the Roughly $1.2 Million Came From

News coverage gave the asking price as roughly $1.4 million. Land Trust President Max Ludington told the News&Guide the nonprofit planned to buy the parcel for about $1.2 million. Three funding streams closed the gap.

1. $750,000 from Teton County's SPET land-conservation fund. County commissioners voted unanimously in late September 2026 to allocate this from specific purpose excise tax money. Teton County voters approved $8 million in SPET, a penny of sales tax, in 2022 for land conservation opportunities, including wildlife habitat, open space and public access.
2. A local family's $100,000 gift, which unlocked once the public logged 1,000 hikes.
3. Additional community fundraising, plus a Land Trust board member's pledge of $1 for every hike past 1,000.

The SPET share shows how the fund works. As of late September 2026, Treasurer Katie Smits told the News&Guide the county had allocated about $3.4 million of the $8 million, including $2.6 million set aside for a lease on Munger Mountain. Because the tax comes in gradually, the county had collected only $2.6 million so far and spent about $1.1 million, with another $882,500 expected by next July. So every coffee and lift ticket bought in the county over the past few years helped pay for the trailhead.

Liz Long tied the purchase to what voters had approved. "I think this is what the voters had in mind when they passed that SPET initiative," she told the News&Guide. "It's right in town, it's easily accessible, utilized by a lot of the community."

Once the county committed, the Land Trust said it still needed to raise $130,000 from the community. The hike-a-thon came next.

Paying for the Trail by Hiking It

Boot up the Butte ran from Monday, Sept. 28, through Saturday, Oct. 3. Hikers could log a climb at any hour, and the Land Trust hosted gatherings at the trailhead on weekday afternoons and Saturday morning. The goal was 1,000 hikes in six days. The community reached it in less than two.

By Wednesday afternoon, middle schoolers in PE uniforms were eating free ice cream at the trailhead, and the count stood at 1,558 by 4:17 p.m., the News&Guide reported.

"We hit the 1,000-hike goal sometime yesterday evening, which is less than two days of what was supposed to be a six-day campaign. People are really excited about it. It feels very celebratory out there." Max Ludington, Land Trust president, speaking to the News&Guide

The final count was 2,907 climbs by more than 1,000 people, according to the Land Trust's wrap-up. That's nearly triple the goal. The highest individual tally was 34 climbs. The top class, a set of CES PE classes, logged 131. At $1 per hike past 1,000, the board member's pledge covered about $1,900. The bigger effect was showing how many people use this trail. Long described the campaign to the News&Guide as "an activation of the butte" meant "to show how loved it is by the community."

The Land Trust says the campaign raised enough to buy the parcel, plus $30,000 for trail improvements and habitat restoration.

What the Town Takes On

The Land Trust's plan ends with the parcel belonging to the Town of Jackson, so the Town had to agree to take it. In September, Mayor Arne Jorgensen told the News&Guide the land would become a public park, which means maintenance costs for the Town. He said those costs would likely be lower than running a ball field in town.

On the Monday the hike-a-thon started, the Town Council voted unanimously to accept the gift. "Even though we're not supposed to clap, I'm clapping," Councilor Devon Viehman said, as quoted by the News&Guide.

The conservation easement goes on before the transfer. It removes the parcel's development potential, the one single-family home the zoning allowed, so the Town will own land that can't be built on. Commissioner Natalia Macker said at the county vote, as the News&Guide reported, that the arrangement should "put all of that to bed," meaning the worries about access.

What Is Still in Progress

The vote is done, but the deal isn't. As of Buckrail's Oct. 8 report, the purchase was still underway. As of mid-October 2026, these steps remain open:

• Closing. No closing date has been made public.
• The conservation easement. The Land Trust will record it after the purchase. No date has been announced.
• Transfer to the Town of Jackson. This comes after the easement. No date has been announced.
• The $30,000 in trail and habitat work. The Land Trust hasn't said what the work involves or when it will happen. Community Conservation Director Zach Andres said, "Now we turn to the trail work and habitat restoration that will keep High School Butte in good shape for the long haul."

Once the sale closes, the church's proceeds go toward the last three Phase 1 townhomes. The trailhead parcel becomes a town park under a permanent easement, next to the Land Trust's 18 habitat acres and below a privately protected summit.

Deirdre Griffith works on transactions where conservation easements, legacy property and community access are all part of the deal. If you own land with a history like High School Butte's and want to talk through what stewardship could look like, Deirdre Griffith is glad to sit down and hear the story.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.