Campsites In Grand Teton National Park Are Now Reservation-Only
There is much to experience in Grand Teton National Park. A mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America, the peaks rise from 6,450 feet in Jackson Hole valley to the mountain peak of Grand Teton at an elevation of 13,770 feet.
The park is a popular destination in the summer. It has something for everyone to enjoy including hiking, horseback riding, mountaineering, fishing, boating down the Snake River, backcountry camping, and so much more.
The diverse terrain is home to wildlife, including moose, elk, black and grizzly bears, bison, and antelope. To truly capture all the park offers, it would only make sense to stay at a campground in the park at least overnight.
Campground reservations at Grand Teton National Park
Changes have been made with selecting sites at campgrounds in Grand Teton National Park. Gone are the days of first come, first serve campsites. Instead, all park campgrounds are moving to online reservation systems like Recreation.gov.
According to a statement from the trip planning and reservation platform,
“Visitors will now have the ability to plan ahead with confidence and know they will have a place to stay and camp when they arrive, improving the visitor experience, and reducing wait times and associated traffic congestion at park campgrounds. The reservation system will streamline the camping process, allowing park visitors to check the availability of sites in real-time and receive immediate confirmation.”
Campgrounds in Grand Teton
Visitors wanting to reserve a site at one of the park campgrounds listed below for this 2021 season will be able to do so via Recreation.gov beginning January 26, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. MST.
- Colter Bay Campground
- Gros Ventre Campground
- Jenny Lake Campground
- Signal Mountain Campground
- Lizard Creek Campground
Reservations can be made for stays up to July 26, 2021, and then on a rolling 6-month basis afterward. Campsite reservations are predicted to fill up quickly, so Recreation.gov insists that campers make reservations as soon as booking opens.
Other than Recreation.gov, reservations for the campgrounds listed above cannot be made anywhere else, including the Grand Teton Lodge Company website or call center.
Note: According to the National Park Service, “Campgrounds which have previously been reservable, including the Colter Bay RV Park and Tent Village, as well as Headwaters Campground, will continue to be reservable at gtlc.com or by calling 307-543-3100 for the 2021 season. However, reservations for these areas will transition to Recreation.gov for the 2022 season.”
How to make a reservation on Recreation.gov
To make a reservation on Recreation.gov, you must first have an account. You can create an account by clicking the Sign Up button on the homepage’s upper right-hand corner via the desktop version. You can also use the Recreation.gov mobile app. Once you have secured an account, make sure to confirm your login and password.
This is a huge destination spot, and campers will try to book immediately. Customers are encouraged to do the following to help ensure successfully booking on the dates of their choosing:
- Sign in to your Recreation.gov account before the 8:00 a.m. MST reservation release.
- Have a plan in place. Have dates picked out for your stay and select your preferred campground(s). You can find information on all park campgrounds here.
- Book online through Recreation.gov only.
Plan your trip to the Grand Tetons
Need more convincing to book a campground at Grand Teton National Park? Check out the video below featuring all of the fun visitors can join in on.
Make sure you plan an RV-friendly route to ensure a safe and enjoyable ride to the Grand Tetons. You can easily map out your route and find more points of interest on RV LIFE Trip Wizard and with the RV LIFE App.
See also: 51 Unforgettable Places to See on an American Roadtrip
This is so upsetting, what a terrible decision. It breaks my heart. The best part of traveling west is the freedom you feel and the excitement of getting your camp spot. It’s not fair that they are allowing people to book up to 6 months in advance, it gives no one else a chance. It’s taking away traditions for family’s, couples, and people all over the world that have been coming there for years! Everyone knows you have to be there early to get a campsite, the early bird gets the worm is how it’s always been and it’s the way it should have stayed. I’m very disappointed, my boyfriend and I have been coming here for years. It’s our special spot and where we hoped to say our vows. This year we won’t even get to stay in our special campground at signal mountain and with no proper notification that the park switched to making reservation only camping we have no way to book for the rest of the season. It brings me to tears writing this, it’s not right it’s not how it should be. Most people cannot plan a trip up to 6 months in advance and due to the high demand for a spot that is how it will be, people will book that far ahead and camping at the Tetons will be like a lottery or the hunger games with the odds not in your favor. It takes apart the adventurous spirit and rips it to shreds, no more spontaneous camping trips to the park and families won’t be able to make memories one campsite at a time. It should have stayed first come first serve basis, if your there you get a site if your not, you don’t get one. It’s not right that campsites will be reserved for people who never show up and the people who are there get denied a spot. Families and people from all over the world come to this gorgeous, majestic place and this year there will be a lot of tears and a lot of disappointment because no one will know that the policy changed. I stumbled across it by complete accident ! My boyfriend called me today and just was able to give me dates for his summer vacation approved for work in August. I looked on the Tetons website to look at pictures of signal mountain campground because I was excited to go and was thinking about our past memories and trips there only to be 100 percent disappointed. I would anticipate the park loosing revenue over this, what family is going to take a family trip there knowing there is no place to camp anymore. At least the way it was before you came in the morning , you came early and you knew eventually you could get a spot.
Very Disappointed in this decision. The thrill of the Tetons was the ability to leisurely travel out west and know that Camping in the Tetons would be available. Now the rat race begins. Scalpers and no shows will book and hold reservations. Last minute trips will be a thing of the past.