Grand Tetons Camping

[Bionic_Man]

Planning a trip for the first week of June. We prefer the state/national parks over the commercial campgrounds. Grow Ventre and Coulter Bay look interesting on line, but I am concerned that they do not allow reservations.

We will be arriving mid day on a Friday with a 32' 5er. What are the opinions on the likelihood of being able to get a spot? Or two (we will have at least one other RV in our group).

Electricity would be a nice to have, but not required. We would be fine dry camping.

[djgodden]

moved...

[floridacamper]

Colter Bay Village has the only full hook up RV park in Grand Teton National Park that accepts reservations. I just made reservations there for a couple nights next spring. That's two night there and four nights at Madison. Figured I had better get the full hookups since we wont have showers at Madison, maybe a quick Navy shower in the camper but I doubt it since we have very small tanks.

[Jerseydevil]

We did not RV here, but stayed in cabin, but Headwaters at Flagg Ranch had facilities. Located in GTNP and only 2 miles from south entrance to Yellowstone.
If you want to boondock Grassy Lake road had some isolated sites.

[jalichty]

Unfortunately, if you are planning on staying at the Colter Bay RV Park, you had better work on your reservations now for next year. We have been camping at Colter Bay for over 50 years and I have never driven past the RV Park entrance without the sign saying full. The full sign rarely goes up at the campground but the later you come to the campground, fewer choices of spots to camp are available.

[bikendan]

Rangerman40 wrote:
We stayed at Colter Bay this summer. Full hook ups and I was literally 1min from the shores of Jackson Lake.

there are two Colter Bay campgrounds, one is the RV park with hookups and the other is the regular no-hookups campground.

the RV park will require reservations while the regular campground doesn't.

[russkerri]

Are you talking about the Colter Bay Village RV Park? If so, it does allow reservations. We stayed there last summer and had our spot reserved months in advance. We found it to be a lovely campground with lots of nice pine trees and walking paths to Jackson Lake, which is stunning.

There is also a Colter Bay Campground, so you have to make sure to get the right one. It looks to me like the campground doesn't take reservations.

We didn't venture into the other parks, so I can't offer any comparisons, unfortunately.

[Rangerman40]

We stayed at Colter Bay this summer. Full hook ups and I was literally 1min from the shores of Jackson Lake.

[jalichty]

CloudDriver, no ruffled feathers, I have camped at Colter Bay for over 50 years and had to go to Gros Ventre for a week about two years ago and was disappointed compared to Colter Bay. the campground is nice and open, we had two moose stroll through our campground while we were there but there are no showers, general or grocery store and no restaurants. So, I just really talk up Colter Bay whenever I get a chance. Plus, when we go to Colter Bay, we also tow our boat as we fish most of the time we are there and it only takes us about 10 minutes to get the boat hooked up and ready to put in the water there as opposed to about 45 minutes coming from Gros Ventre. So, different strokes for different folks. All's fine.

[Bionic_Man]

Thanks for the feedback. We may target GV. But nice to know we won't be stuck in a commercial campground.

[floridacamper]

I really appreciate reading these reviews, thanks to all.

[CloudDriver]

John,

Sorry if I ruffled your feathers with my post comparing our personal experiences between Gros Ventre and Colter Bay. I wasn't trying to bad mouth Colter Bay, it just isn't our favorite for a number of reasons. We have used Colter Bay less than 10 times, so our experience may not be typical or comparable to yours. Lots of folks must like Colter Bay, as always been pretty full the times we have been there.

I ended my post with a suggestion to the OP to try Colter Bay, since he has already been to Gros Ventre. Personal experience is the best way to make a comparison and he may prefer Colter Bay for the reasons you mentioned.

BTW, we have used the two restaurants at Colter Bay on a number of occasions and love the Pizza at Leeks Marina. We also use Colter Bay for doing laundry, the reason we spent a night there this past June.

[jalichty]

For those who are complaining about no view from the campground at Colter Bay, do you stay in your RV all day and never venture out to see the Park. The shoreline of Jackson is no more than a 10-minute walk from any campsite in the Colter Bay campground. Not only that, but it's a whole lot quicker to get to the lake and a possible cruise if you are in the Colter Bay Campground than in Gros Ventre. If you don't carry anything to eat or drink in your RV while going to these campgrounds, then you should stay in Gros Ventre as it's much closer to Jackson and the grocery prices are a bit lower there than they are in the Colter Bay area, but having to drive to Jackson and back might make the price differential a bit smaller. For those of you who eat out, there are two restaurants at Colter Bay and Leek's Pizza has some of the best pizza in the country along with a gorgeous view on the lake and the Tetons from the outside deck. Won't probably see as much wildlife in Colter Bay as in Gros Ventre, especially Moose, having not seen a moose at Colter Bay during the 50+ years we have been going to Colter Bay to camp and fish. Also, if you wish to take a day trip to Yellowstone, it's way closer to do it from Colter Bay, we have done that many times, take off pretty early in the morning, take a tour of part of Yellowstone, and then get back fairly late and have a great evening meal and libation around the campfire if you wish. Both campgrounds take the Senior Pass so it's pretty inexpensive to stay there, $13 per night. And it is true they don't take reservations, but if you show up around 10:00 am, checkout time is 11:00, you can almost always find a suitable spot. And, it is not true that most of the campsites are in the sun all day long. Some spots the sun will hit the RV in the morning up until noon or so and then the trees take over and shade the RV the rest of the day into the evening. Some spots don't get any morning or noon sun, but you get a bunch in the afternoon. However, everything usually cools down by the time a person gets ready to go to bed so it's not a big deal. We have never used our AC at Colter Bay if that means anything. If you haven'g guessed, I love Colter Bay and try to refrain from saying anything bad about Gros Ventre if at all possible. If you have any questions, PM me and I'll try to answer you promptly.

[bukhrn]

Electric is available in GV, in D loop only, without reservations get there early & wait for someone to leave. Even in the heat of July, we loved GV.

[2gypsies1]

CloudDriver nailed it! Gros Ventre has a more 'open' feel being able to see the mountains. Colter Bay you see nothing but thick forest and RVs around you.

As stated, if your main reason for a stop is for boating and fishing then Colter Bay.