How to book Gros Ventre Campground in Grand Tetons NP

Wayne

Wayne

Administrator
Staff member
www.nps.gov

Gros Ventre Campground - Grand Teton National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

camping, campground
www.nps.gov www.nps.gov

We are wanting to book an electric hookup site in Gros Ventre Campground next August. The sites are reserved through Recreation.gov, but only six months in advance. There are only 39 electric sites, so they go very quickly.

I can see no way to book an entire week, other than booking a day at a time at midnight six month beforehand. If you want to stay for 5 nights, you'll be staying up until midnight 5 nights in a row and hoping you can click the 'reserve' button quickly enough. That's annoying, but what's even worse is trying to get the same site every night.

Any ideas?
 
stay in the public lands ( aka National Forest Service campgrounds or NFS dispersed camping) outside the park for darn near nothing and drive to the park is probably easier than getting reservations.. just bring some gas for a genset.

thedyrt.com

Best dispersed camping in Grand Teton National Park

Explore the best dispersed campsites near Grand Teton National Park! See real photos & honest reviews to plan your perfect getaway.
thedyrt.com thedyrt.com
 
MSCH said:
stay in the public lands ( aka National Forest Service campgrounds or NFS dispersed camping) outside the park for darn near nothing and drive to the park is probably easier than getting reservations.. just bring some gas for a genset.
Click to expand...
I never thought of that! I'll bet we could snag a spot. It sound like some have a small charge and some kind of bathroom available.
 
Wayne said:
I never thought of that! I'll bet we could snag a spot. It sound like some have a small charge and some kind of bathroom available.
Click to expand...

I think for the most part those places are fairly empty.. because there are 2 levels of National Forest Camping.. regular old type campgrounds and the dispersed camping which just means parking on a dirt area somewhere. They may or may not have a dump station or electric at the real campgrounds but it is an alternative.
 
I tried to reserve a spot in Gros Ventre last night, but couldn't stay up until midnight. I checked at 5:00AM this morning and all electric sites were already taken. It's either stay up until midnight and roll the dice or find some other place to camp. I'm sure people are reserving with bots, which shouldn't be allowed, but it's what it is.
 
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. Get a bot if that's how the game is played.

How do you make sure you can get your bigazzrig into these dispersed camping spots and there are spots big enough to fit? You may be happier on a non-electric site in the campground than out in the dirt.
 
Azjeff said:
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. Get a bot if that's how the game is played.

How do you make sure you can get your bigazzrig into these dispersed camping spots and there are spots big enough to fit? You may be happier on a non-electric site in the campground than out in the dirt.
Click to expand...

when you aren't sure you can make it, since the dispersed stuff tends to be on the sides of forest service roads, basically google earth it first and then you just leave the RV on the side of the road and go ahead and look if it seems iffy....
if it starts to look like 2 ruts in the woods, you probably dont want to take your trailer there. :)
 
I ended up reserving a site no hookups site in Gros Ventre. They have potable water and a dump. We can likely make it a week on our 100 gallon fresh water tank. If we need to fill or dump, I'll just pull the trailer to the station. The reservation is in a circle that allows generators, which is nice because it will get hot in the afternoons if the sun is shining.
 
MSCH said:
then you just leave the RV on the side of the road and go ahead and look if it seems iffy....
if it starts to look like 2 ruts in the woods, you probably dont want to take your trailer there. :)
Click to expand...
If I have to unhitch and drive around to find a safe place to take the trailer I shouldn't be there.
 
Azjeff said:
If I have to unhitch and drive around to find a safe place to take the trailer I shouldn't be there.
Click to expand...

I wasn't really talking about safe places here as in might get robbed if we get out of the vehicle...
I was talking about being unsure about a campground that involves going down a forest service road and getting back out again.
I always keep in mind the idea most forest service roads are used by at least Class 7 dual wheeled 2 wheel drive medium trucks
so if they can do it, I should be able to with my trailer.


judging by some of your previous commentary it does sound like are not the adventurous type,
and are probably on the passive side about doing this sort of thing.
so any advice I offer to Wayne is probably outside your wheelhouse and maybe you should ignore it.
 
I meant safe for the truck and trailer. I'm plenty adventurous, come hiking or mountain biking or trail riding in the Jeep with me sometime. I'm just not interested in finding out what my outfit is capable of negotiating and I'm not going to pinstripe the trailer because I thought it would fit past the bushes or tree limbs. Last summer we drove back 10 miles of rough forest service road that I'm sure trucks you mentioned drive every day. It took over an hour to drive. We love to talk about how poorly RVs are put together, they sure aren't meant for that. We went there because that's the spot that was picked before we got there by the people we were meeting.

Just different ideas and expectations. I'm not interesting in spending time repairing something out there that could have been avoided. You're correct that I'm not adventurous when it comes to wondering if the gas in an out of the way gas station is clean or if we can find a camping spot at the end of the day.
 
Last edited:
jj
Azjeff said:
I meant safe for the truck and trailer.
Click to expand...
lets go back to the start. Wayne had a case of target fixation on a specific spot that is unavailable.
I suggested alternatives.
you said what about this or that.
I said Google Earth is your friend..
you are way overthinking my advice to Wayne.. and now we are sidetracked.. :)


in a nutshell my advice is there are COE BLM NFS, state forest, city campground, county fairgrounds, etc all over
that allow RV's and these are alternatives if a person makes the effort to find them.
but a person has to find them .. they are there if they look.
 
MSCH said:
city campground, county fairgrounds
Click to expand...
We have used many of those and Wal-Mart parking lots, Harvest Host sites, etc. We now avoid Wal-Mart parking lots, as nothing good happens there after midnight.
 
Wayne said:
We have used many of those and Wal-Mart parking lots, Harvest Host sites, etc. We now avoid Wal-Mart parking lots, as nothing good happens there after midnight.
Click to expand...
I doubt there are any Walmart's near Big Boobies National Park..
least I don't remember any.. but there are federal lands....
same around Yellerstone.. plenty of off grid stuff if you can't get on grid..
same down here in the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamps.
plenty of the old style campgrounds out in the Fed Lands, but most people don't like to go without electricity and pressurized water, even for a couple day..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top