Featured in The New York Times, Teton Valley is a beautiful destination.

“I’ve toured all over the U.S. and never really found a place I wanted to come back to again and again,”

But the valley and its largest town, Driggs, have a way of roping people in. It often happens the first time they get a clear view of the rugged and hypnoticTetons to the east.

The Teton Valley — 15 miles wide and twice as long — is cupped between the Big Hole Mountains to the west and the Tetons to the east, straddling the Idaho-Wyoming border. Along the valley floor, at 6,000 feet, the Teton River and its tributaries ramble through sagebrush, cottonwoods and irrigation lines.

About seven years ago, as people priced out of nearby Jackson, Wyo., looked elsewhere to build their second homes, a resort building boom started that has transformed the valley.

“Now we’re working on the fifth gated golf course community,” said Reid Rogers, president of the Teton Valley Chamber of Commerce.

From Driggs, it’s just a 15-minute drive east to trailheads that lead into the wildflower-filled gorges of the Jedediah Smith Wilderness area. Head in the other direction, and you’ll find a network of single-track trails well-suited to mountain biking. And the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks are just 45 and 90 minutes away.

Residents like to say that the billionaires are forcing the millionaires out of Jackson and into Teton Valley.

The average sale price for a home has leapt from about $248,000 in 2004 to $326,000 last year, according to multiple listing service data compiled by Sotheby’s International Realty in Driggs.

“People are coming from everywhere to get their little part of the West,” said Tom Clinton, a partner in Potter Clinton Development, which is behind the 780-acre Teton Springs Resort near Victor and five other resort and housing projects throughout the valley. These range from a residential subdivision near Driggs to a resort with lots of up to 14 acres adjacent to a golf course designed by Greg Norman.

Typical second-home buyers are baby boomers involved in outdoor sports, generally professionals nearing retirement or already there.

Open land and building lots account for about half of all sales, as is evident at Potter Clinton’s Teton Springs, where lots are marked with red and white signs bearing the names of their buyers: “The Horns, Cedar Rapids, IA” or “The Riggs, Sharon, CT.”

In 1998, the assessed new construction for the year totaled $3 million, said Mr. Young, the county commissioner. That figure is expected to reach $300 million this year. Roads continue to finger into the foothills, ending in cul-de-sacs of modern log homes.

The weekly Teton Valley News keeps track of the number of new homes and subdivisions approved by the county. There were 4,500 approved lots in Teton County in 2004, Mr. Young said. If all pending building applications are approved, and Mr. Young expects they will be, there will be 16,000 lots by next year. “We grow subdivisions, not crops,” said Ms. Anderson, the bookstore owner.

LAY OF THE LAND

POPULATION Teton County, which covers the valley, is home to 7,838 people, and Driggs, the county seat and largest settlement, has 1,253 people, according to 2006 estimates by the Census Bureau.

SIZE The county, with its three towns — Tetonia, Driggs and Victor — spread out along Route 33, is about 450 square miles.

WHO’S BUYING Active baby boomers from across the country.

GETTING THERE Commercial flights go to Idaho Falls Regional Airport, not much more than an hour’s drive to the west, or Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming, 45 minutes east over the Teton Pass.

WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING The Pines Motel & Guest Haus (105 South Main Street, 208-354-2774) in downtown Driggs is a 100-year-old log cabin that has simple rooms for between $45 and $90 a night. For full pampering, there is the 4,000-acre Teton Ridge Ranch (200 Valley View Road, Tetonia; 208-456-2650), which emphasizes outdoor activity. In winter, double-occupancy rooms range from $545 a night to $2,500 a night for a five-room lodge.