The Jenny Lake campground, the first developed campground in Grand Teton National Park, is also the smallest, with a narrow, one lane, one-way road through the campsites and more restrictions on permitted equipment than the other park campgrounds.
Jenny Lake, the Jenny Lake Store and Visitor Center are a five-minute walk from the campground.
The small store offers firewood, ice, a few food items, clothing, souvenirs.
Below, a photo of a display at the Jenny Lake visitor center, the campground is in the bottom left hand area:
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(The map above shows the trash and recycling next to site #49, and you can see the dumpsters in this Google maps 360 degree view of site #49 / #50
Jenny Lake campground has “51 individual campsites, three of which are ADA-compliant sites, and 10 hiker-bicycler sites”.
May 06, 2024 – September 28, 2024
(2024 prices below).
Hiker/Bicyclist Sites (10 of these) $13 fee per person per night for campers on bicycle or foot.
Individual Tent Sites (no hookups) cost $56 per night).
“There is a limit of 1 vehicle OR 2 motorcycles AT ALL TIMES PER SITE. There is also a limit of 2 tents” . . . (“two small to medium sized tents”) . . . “and 6 people maximum per site.”
“Jenny Lake Campground is a tent-only campground. Trailers, campers, and pop-up roof tents are not permitted. Each campsite includes a compact gravel parking space for one vehicle no larger than eight feet high and 14 feet long, a tent pad, a picnic table, a fire pit with metal fire grate, bear-proof food storage lockers, and access to nearby water spigots, flush toilets, and two coin-operated showers. Only two tents are permitted per site.”
“ADA Access: Three campsites are ADA compliant, and feature accessible picnic tables, leveled sites, and leveled pathways to accessible restrooms and payphone. One coin-operated shower is also ADA accessible.”
Advance campsite reservations required
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/gateways/13525
You can not just drive into a vacant campsite and then go looking to see if you can have it for the night, as you might have been able to do elsewhere.
Each morning as reservations become available,
Jenny Lake campground campsites sell out within minutes.
Other Grand Teton National Park campgrounds (see a list below) usually fill later or do not always fill.
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“Campfires – must be contained within a metal fire grate”
“Quiet hours 10 p.m. – 6 a.m. This includes loud voices, sound equipment and slamming doors.”
Grand Teton National park has an announcement that some park visitors seem to not have learned about:
“Be thoughtful of how music may affect others. Operating an audio device, such as a stereo, Bluetooth speaker, radio, or musical instrument in a manner which is unreasonable and impacts park users is prohibited by law.”
Restrooms have (cold) “running water and flush toilets,” “two coin-operated showers.”
The showers, down a side road/path from the campground, (look for the no vehicles road to the left as you leave the campground office/kiosk)
are not actually “coin operated,” you must use a machine to purchase tokens.
The token machine does not always function or might reject your five or ten dollar bill. And there can be long lines of people waiting to use one of the showers. You might be happier driving north to Colter Bay for your shower (and at Colter Bay there is also laundromat (with free wi-fi), a large grocery and restaurants).
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Latitude 43° 45′ 12.0996″ N
Longitude 110° 43′ 11.1180″ W
How to find Jenny Lake campground:
Heading north from Jackson on US 26/89/191, turn left (west) at Moose Junction and continue eight miles north on Teton Park Road to South Jenny Lake Junction.
Turn left (west) into the developed area. The road to the campground is the first right.
Heading south from Yellowstone on US 89/191/287, turn right (southwest) at Jackson Lake Junction and continue 12 miles south on Teton Park Road to South Jenny Lake Junction. Turn right (west) into the developed area. The road to the campground is the first right.
You can download a larger copy of the map below of the Jenny Lake area in the vicinity of the campground (small store, ranger station, visitor center, other restrooms, trailheads for around the lake and up into Cascade Canyon, dock for the (fee) shuttle boat across Jenny Lake, Exum Guides office, start of the multi-use pathway) at: http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/JLVC_map_2010.pdf
Once in the Jenny Lake developed area, the first road to the right is to the campground.
Beyond that is parking and “overflow parking.” All parking in the vicinity becomes crowded between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and you often see cars lining the main road (Teton Park Road).
As you drive up yo the campground office where you used to pay for a site,
you may find a sign announcing that
“STOP. All registered campers must check in at the office”
At the campground office there are displays, including this photo of a bear interested in the contents of a tent:
Just past the campground office as you drive on the one-way campground road, there is a large sign warning of bears:
Which Jenny Lake campsites are the best?
When you choose your campsite online,
Note that there is only one main campground restroom building.
Some sites have much more privacy and space than others.
It is worth considering which site you want,
close to the restroom or with some privacy.
Here is a google maps 360 degree view of campsite #42.
and of #30 and others in that area.
and of 14 and others along that section of road.
and of campsite 12 and the other campsites near it.
When you look at the map at recreation.gov (where you make campsite reservations)
you can more clearly see the space (or lack of space) around sites.
Campsite number 23, for example, is very large with no other campsite directly across the road.
Some of the campsite photos at Recreation.gov make it look like the campsite itself has a view of the mountains, but be sure to note that the photo was usually taken from across the road from the campsite, to get a larger picture of the whole campsite.
But IN the campsite, sitting at your picnic table, trees would block the mountain views.
Each site has a tent pad,
but many are right on the road and will have vehicle headlights shining in your tent at night.
The photos of each site at Recreation.gov can, to a degree, show you which have the tent pad set back farther from the road.
Site 49 could have car headlights aimed at the tent pad from anyone who pulled into the registration and short-term parking area after dark. This photo was taken at the short term parking area, the orange tent is in campsite number 49.
Hmmmmm, this NPS photo shows a tent without the rain fly on. Perhaps a big mistake since storms can come in quite quickly:
There really are bears in the campground, keep your food in arms reach or locked up.
Your safety in Grizzly bear territory
In the photo below, the bearbox (food storage) in the foreground is a distance away from the picnic table.
Please be sure to shut the door to the bearbox each time you access anything, or or you risk a bear or other animal getting into your food and you risk paying a large fine.
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Pets
https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/pets.htm
– “are prohibited on trails, multi-use pathways, and swimming in any park waters…
Pets must be on a leash (six feet or less), under physical restraint, and within 30 feet of the roadway. ”
“Leave your pets at home. Pets are not allowed on trails or in the backcountry of Grand Teton National Park. They may become lost or prey for wildlife, they can also adversely impact park resources. If you need to bring your pet to the park, consider hosting it at a kennel in Jackson during your outing in the mountains.”
“Pets are prohibited from riding in boats on park waters, except for Jackson Lake.”
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A paved trail takes you from one end of the campground to Jenny Lake, a little over one tenth of a mile
Part way along the trail to the lake, is a paved bike loop along part of Jenny Lake all the way to String Lake.
In the map below, the campground check-in office is at the center of the right hand side of the map, a black square with a white tent triangle in it. The You Are Here points to the location of the exhibit this map is from.
When you are at the overlooks (named above at the map at the edge of the lake, and in a photo below)
you will see, at lake level, people on the beach. Please do not climb down over the overlook wall to get to the beach (yes, even if you can do it safely – there are children watching you who might think they can do it too) and as careful as you think you can be, you will destroy vegetation and create more wear on the slope. Be a good role model and use one of the staircases
or walk to near the end of the overlooks area and go down to the beach at the area of of Rock Beach
(see upper right of map above) with wheelchair access to the lake and a staircase up to the trail to String Lake.
Bears that frequent the campground also like using the walkways of the Jenny Lake Discovery trail:
The overlooks are a part of the Jenny Lake renewal project
See before and after pictures at the campaign for Jenny Lake
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There are public showers, laundromat, a museum, picnic area with swim beach, larger grocery/gift stores, marina, Ranger talk/campfire amphitheater at Colter Bay, 19.6 miles north.
There is free WiFi in Grand Teton National Park that anyone can use without a secret code,
available at the Colter Bay laundromat/showers,
the main Colter Bay restaurant, the Moose Visitor Center and in the Jackson Lake Lodge parlor Jackson Lake Lodge vicinity.
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There is a medical clinic on the grounds of Jackson Lake Lodge, ten miles from Colter Bay, near the gas station, open 7 days a week in the summer, usually 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (307-543-2514, 307-733-8002 after hours). No appointment needed. See the map at: Jackson Lake Lodge vicinity 
St John’s Medical Center hospital (24 hour emergency room) is at 625 E. Broadway at Redmond, in Jackson
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This map includes the trail around the Moose Ponds and various routes to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and into Cascade Canyon:
The drawing above is from: https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/geology-access.pdf
You can find a larger copy of the NPS photo map below of Jenny Lake, String Lake, Leigh Lake, Paintbrush Divide, Cascade Canyon, Paintbrush Canyon, Hanging Canyon, Mount Woodring,
Mount Moran, Teewinot, Holly Lake and Lake Solitude at:
https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=2325994
You can print a larger copy of the topographical hiking map below, with Jenny Lake, String Lake, Leigh Lake, Cascade Canyon, Paintbrush Canyon, Holly Lake, Trapper Lake, Bearpaw Lake at: https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Leigh_Lake_topo.pdf
(Jenny Lake Campground is next to the Ranger Station icon at the lower right hand side of Jenny Lake on the map. Jenny Lake Lodge is just above where the letter “O” is on the One Way road designation.)
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You can download a Grand Teton National Park map at: http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/maps.htm
and a map of lakeside trails at:
http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/Lakeshore12.pdf
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It is safer to enjoy a bike ride on a designated bike/roller blade/walk path than on the road with drivers looking at scenery instead of you on your bike, and there is am 8 mile long pathway from the Moose Visitor Center (please walk your bike in the parking lot) to South Jenny Lake. Pets (except guide dogs) are prohibited and the multi-use pathway is closed from dusk to dawn for wildlife and public safety. Grand Tetons biking
Here is a map of the multi-use pathway (paved bike route), the red dotted line, through the south Jenny Lake area. Note that the green lines are paved walking trails. In some parts (green lines and red dotted lines together) they are are shared by hikers, pedestrians and bike riders, but where the line is green only, you should not ride a bike, but might be able to find enough room to walk your bike:
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NASA aerial photo of Teton Range
During a thunderstorm, don’t take a shower or use a sink, including washing dishes. Don’t talk on a land line phone. Don’t use your I pod. Don’t get zapped! Please read Thunderstorm and lightning safety
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Jenny Lake Lodge is not near Jenny Lake Campground (and not on Jenny Lake).
see also:
Grand Tetons hotels, cabins, lodging
June 12, 2015 press release
“Out of concern for public safety, Grand Teton National Park staff euthanized a 3-year-old female black bear on Thursday afternoon, June 11. Earlier in the day, the bear exhibited bold behavior and appeared to have little concern regarding the presence of humans and their activities, which prompted park officials to make the difficult decision to remove her from the population in order to reduce future threats to people and their safety. This is the first bear to be euthanized in Grand Teton this year. Two black bears were euthanized in 2014.
The brown-colored bear climbed into the open—and temporarily unattended—trunk of a vehicle after guests of Jenny Lake Lodge removed their luggage and entered their cabin to settle in for the night. While in the trunk, the bear found food items, which she ate. She then climbed on top of the same car. Witnesses reported that the bear appeared to be trying to gain entry into the passenger compartment. The bear then proceeded to visit other cabins before she ripped into items left in a parked housekeeping cart and stole a purse, which she carried off into the woods. Witnesses also reported that the bear stood on its hind legs and pressed its front paws and face against the windows and doors of several cabins in an apparent attempt to enter.
The bear was estimated to weigh approximately 125 pounds and had no ear tags or other identification that would mark it as a previously captured bear. . .”
Jackson Hole, Wyoming has a map and description of the main streets and how to find the largest groceries, Ace Hardware, REI, Target, UPS, , St John’s Health Medical Center (hospital) (24 hour emergency room), city parks, electric vehicle charging stations and more.
Restaurants in Grand Teton National Park are non-smoking, many others in Wyoming and Montana allow smoking. There are dozens of restaurants in the town of Jackson. They vary from burgers, Chinese, Mexican, sushi, pasta, Italian, steakhouse to four-stars with “an award-winning wine list”. Most lean towards family or casual atmosphere. Grand Teton National park restaurants
includes menus and links to some in town.
Grand Teton National Park
al fresco dining:
There are no gas stations at north or south Jenny Lake.
See a list of all gas stations in Grand Teton National Park.
Was that shaking an earthquake? Intermountain west earthquakes, including
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, are monitored, with a map of recent earthquakes in the last 2 hours, last 2 days, last week, with locations, magnitude, times of occurrence, at
https://quake.utah.edu/earthquake-center/quake-map
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Below this map of campgrounds in Grand Teton National Park are links to webpages with maps and pictures of each of the campgrounds. Some have recommendations for which campsite to choose.
Headwaters campground, near the Yellowstone National Park border, “offers 34 tent sites, 97 full-hookup and pull-through RV sites, and 40 Camper Cabins,
Lizard Creek campground has sites on Jackson Lake, some with views across the water. This “60-site campground sits on the northern shore of Jackson Lake and offers access to the lake waters and views of the northern Teton Mountain Range.” 30-foot length limit.
Colter Bay campground Campsites include “338 individual campsites, 12 large group sites, 10 hiker-bicycler sites, and 13 electric-only ADA-accessible sites.” The campground is open from mid-May to late-September. None of these campsites are on the lake and none have views.
The Colter Bay RV Park includes “112 full hookup RV sites (102 Full hookup pull-through sites, 10 Full hookup back-in sites) including sewer, water, and 20-, 30-, and 50-amp electric outlets. The RV Park is open from early-May to early-October.”
Signal Mountain (86 campsites, no group sites) is the campground with some sites with views across the lake to the mountains. The campground “offers tent camping and pull-in/back-in sites for RVs or trailers up to 30 feet. This campground offers 24 sites with 30 and 50-amp hookups which are popular during the early and late season. The campground is organized in three loops with the first loop mainly offering electrical hookup sites, and the last loop being “generator free”. Tent pads are available at select sites and all sites have picnic tables, fire rings and bear-proof food storage boxes. Parking pads and areas for tents can vary greatly in size and care should be given when selecting a site.”
“Winter conditions can linger at this campground in May. Snow is likely in many sites during early season operations. For this reason, we only guarantee certain sites will be available during May operations. We will release additional sites as we get closer to opening day and depending on snow pack. Some amenities may not be available during early season, such as fire rings and tent pads. Please plan accordingly if you are making reservations for early season.” ” Many sites are small and may not accommodate large modern RV’s or trailers. Roadways are narrow and all sites have back-in access to parking pads (there are no pull through sites). Advanced backing skills are required for certain sites. Please double check the dimensions of your particular site reservation to ensure the site will meet your equipment needs.”
If you book a site your rig will not fit in, they will likely not be able to reassign you to a better site.
Jenny Lake campground is the next one down on the map.
Gros Ventre campground, 4.5 miles from Gros Ventre junction, is the closest campground to the town of Jackson (9 miles +/- Northeast). It has camping for tents and dry camping for RVs. Sites vary in size and can accommodate RVs up to 45ft. 279 individual campsites, 4 large group sites, and 39 electric-only sites, 10 of which are ADA-accessible. It is usually open from late-April to early-October. It has cottonwood trees and sagebrush along the Gros Ventre river. You might see a moose wander through the campground and sometimes can find one along the river.
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For details about our next club trip to Grand Teton National Park, go to: Grand Tetons.
Grand Tetons trip pages index has brief descriptions of most of the pages about this trip.