If you drive down the canyon for a soak today, Thursday, Oct. 22, the gate at Astoria Hot Springs Park will be closed. Wednesday is the park's standing pool-cleaning day, and Astoria scheduled an extra closure for today as well, so the pools are dark two days in a row and reopen Friday, Oct. 23.
That double closure is a small preview of how the park now runs. Since Tuesday, Oct. 13, Astoria has been on its winter schedule, and the change is bigger than it looks on the posted hours. The evening soak is gone and the last session starts at 3 p.m., because the park sits in a wildlife migration corridor and keeps its hours to daylight.
Four Sessions, All in Daylight
These are the winter session times:
- Session 1: 9:00 to 10:45 a.m.
- Session 2: 11:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
- Session 3: 1:00 to 2:45 p.m.
- Session 4: 3:00 to 4:45 p.m.
The pools are open these hours Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and closed every Wednesday for cleaning and maintenance.
In its Oct. 13 announcement, Astoria Park Conservancy said the sessions "shift to match the daylight" because the park "is located within an important wildlife migration corridor," and that it operates from dawn to dusk "to help protect the wildlife that calls this special place home." The park covers nearly 100 acres, and the Conservancy describes that ground as critical wildlife habitat and wetlands.
As the days shorten, the soaking day shortens with them, and the last session ends before 5 p.m.
Why the Afternoon Got Harder to Book
The hot springs page lists the park's busiest times as weekends, holidays and weekday evenings. Winter removes the third of those completely. People who soaked after work in September now have to fit into the same daylight windows as everyone else, and weekends remain as crowded as ever.
Each session is capped at 70 people. Astoria recommends booking ahead because sessions sell out, and walk-ins may be turned away once a session is full. The hot springs schedule page puts it plainly: "Weekend, afternoon, and evening sessions usually sell out in advance." With the evenings gone, those afternoon slots carry the after-work and after-school crowd too.
Session 1 at 9 a.m. on a weekday is the slot least likely to face that crowding. Morning programs are also starting to fill it. On Sunday, Oct. 18, a free kids' mindfulness program asked families to use the overflow lot because the 9 a.m. session was already fully booked.
What a Resident Ticket Buys Now
Astoria offers resident pricing to anyone living in Teton County, Wyoming or Idaho, Sublette County or Lincoln County. Adults must show proof at check-in. Current single-session rates:
- Adult: $26.25 standard, $18.75 resident
- Child, 2 to 12: $19 standard, $13.50 resident
- Under 2: free
A ticket covers the four mineral hot springs pools plus the children's pool and cold plunge, both chlorinated, and it is good only for the session you booked.
The usual workaround for a full session is the annual membership, and that option is closed this year. The 2026 memberships, priced at $425 for adults and $305 for children, are marked sold out. This is the season when a membership is worth the most. Members need no reservations, can stay from one session to the next, and get into sessions that are sold out. In short winter days, a member can stay from 1 p.m. until closing while everyone else gets a single 105-minute block.
For 2027, current adult members get first right of refusal to renew before the public offering, according to the membership page. Astoria has not posted a renewal window or a public on-sale date for 2027, so the membership page is the one to watch.
Non-members have one more option. Astoria sells locals-only digital punch cards in 10- and 20-visit sizes, advertised at a 10% savings. A punch card still requires a reservation, and a missed reservation is not restored to the card. Members who skip a session without canceling are charged the full ticket price. With only four sessions a day and 70 spots in each, canceling a session you can't make frees a place for someone else.
The Mornings Before 9 a.m.
The winter cutoff takes away evenings, and the Conservancy's program calendar is using the early mornings. Several late-fall programs begin at 8:30 a.m., half an hour before Session 1:
- Astoria's Fall Wellness Retreat, Saturday, Oct. 31, 8:30 a.m. to noon. A half-day of expert-led wellness activities, healthy snacks and restorative soaks.
- Morning Meditation Soak, Sunday, Nov. 1, 8:30 to 10:45 a.m. This is the Conservancy's monthly meditation in the soaking pools, guided by Rooted Mind.
- Yoga + Sound Bath, Sunday, Nov. 8, in the cabin. Medicine Wheel Wellness leads a morning of yoga, sound healing and a soak.
Adult members get 50% off the monthly wellness programs. Fall swim lessons also run on weekend and weekday mornings from 9 to 11. They are for children from 6 months to 4½ years and cost $320 plus tax and fees. Families asking about subsidized pricing are directed to the program contact on the swim lessons page. Enrollment changes week to week, so check that page before planning around a spot.
The Corridor Shapes What Gets Built, Too
The habitat that limits winter hours also shapes the park's growth. Astoria is a nonprofit, donor-funded park, and the pools are one part of a larger plan. The Conservancy's park plan for Phase Two lists trails, wildlife-watching overlooks, restored ponds and wetlands, shelters, a picnic lawn, a kiosk and a nature playground. All of these are still planned and not yet open.
One piece of Phase Two is finished. On April 2, 2026, the Conservancy's new workforce housing and facilities building received a certificate of occupancy for two units. The two-bedroom units were offered to local workers through the Jackson/Teton County Housing Authority.
Ticket sales pay for this work. Astoria says 100% of ticket sales go directly to the Conservancy. The Access Fund, the park's program for free and subsidized passes, works through local partners including Voices JH, Camina Conmigo, Coombs Outdoors, Teton Youth and Family Services and Teton Adaptive. Its biggest fundraiser was the fourth annual Amplify Astoria, a late-summer show with The Deadlocks, John Kadlecik, Duane Betts and Jeremy Hoenig. The event reported a 99.4% waste diversion rate, with 0.18 pounds of waste sent to the landfill.
The Drive Down the Canyon This Week
The fall paving on US 89 should no longer slow the trip. The Jackson Hole News&Guide reported that WYDOT and H-K Contractors planned milling and paving between mile markers 120 and 139, with delays of 10 to 20 minutes and about three weeks of work. Astoria told visitors to expect the work through Oct. 16. As of the evening of Oct. 18, WYDOT's Jackson road report showed US 26/89 between Alpine Junction and Hoback Junction as dry, with a falling-rock advisory, and listed no active project in that stretch. Check the same report before driving if the weather turns.
If you are towing a trailer or driving an RV, park in the overflow lot. Astoria requires it for RVs, trailers, boats and campers, and other vehicles use it when the main lot fills.
Hoback Market at the junction is a familiar stop on the way home. Its owner told Buckrail that customers keep buying sloshies even in winter. If you book the 3 p.m. session, you'll be driving back up the canyon right around dusk.
Owning a home south of Jackson means planning around this valley's seasonal limits, from wildlife corridors to winter roads. If you'd like to talk through how those limits play out in a specific part of the south valley, Colby Murphy is glad to help. Work with Colby Murphy.
