Planning a Trip to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Craters of the Moon

We are planning an August trip to Yellowstone and have made reservations at Fishing Bridge Campground. We are planning to stop at Craters of the Moon in Idaho and hope to spend a couple days in Grand Teton before heading into Yellowstone. Does anyone have campgrounds or RV parks in Grand Teton to recommend? We would not require hookups, but wouldn't be opposed if they're readily available. I have researched the links on the NPS website for Grand Teton camping. Several RV parks are available, but seem expensive. I don't mind spending the money if it's worth it and would appreciate any feedback that you have.

Thanks

[Bill]

We spent several days based in a commercial campground in Jackson Hole. It was called "The Virginian", I think. The best word to describe it was "Adequate". We don't spend much time in the TM or campground each day, so "adequate" was fine for us - we don't need swimming pools, square dances, ice cream socials, shuffleboard, or nightly fireworks. On the other hand, the NPS or NFS campgrounds near Jenny Lake looked MUCH nicer. Problem is that there are no reservations taken, so you have to show up early in the day to stake out your site. Will your schedule accomodate this?

Bill

Thanks, Bill. At this point we are planning to be in the Jackson area on a weekend and will probably be arriving late in the day so we wouldn't be able to bank on getting a first-come, first served spot.

We are not looking for lots of amenities, but would like someplace scenic, close to wildlife, and have a way for our 12 year-old to expend some excess energy (bike riding or swimming work).

Vickie Richardson

We want to go back to this area in the future with or TM. Tenting was fun, but I bet out of a TM would be better.

[Apache]

We stayed at Coulter Bay campground in July 2 years ago. It did not fill up while we were there. It had nice views of the mountains there.

[wbmiller3]

When we had a popup (and therefore weren't allowed at Fishing Bridge because of the bears) we stayed in a KOA in West Yellowstone. It was nice. This has been >5 but <10 years ago.

We spent a week tent camping at Coulter Bay last July. The campground without hook-ups never filled up, although there were only 3 spaces available one night. Coulter Bay is the only campground in GTNP that has showers, so my DW insisted that we camp there ($15/night). We saw a couple of TMs in the campground, along with many pop-ups and tents. The marina, showers, camper store, laundry, restaurants, and visitor center are all near the campground.
If you want hookups, you need to make reservations now for the summer. The Coulter Bay RV Park with hookups was full the entire week we were there ($49/night). Go to www.gtlc.com for more info and to make reservations online.
We also checked out an outside-the-park camping option at the KOA in Teton Village between Jackson and GTNP. It was a fairly small and intimate campground, with mostly pop-ups and smaller camping trailers. There is a very nice wide asphalt walking and biking path that goes along the road for a few miles just across the road from the campground. I'd suggest calling ahead and getting more info if you're interested. The Teton Village KOA (tel. 307/733-5354) is 12 miles northwest of Jackson. Have a great trip.

Thanks all for the good info. We are arriving on a Saturday and I was not comfortable with the risk of the NPS campgrounds being full. Thanks for the feedback on Coulter Bay RV park - that's where I was intending to make reservations.

We spent two weeks at Signal Mountain last summer and one day at Coulter. We stayed the one night at Coulter so that we could get a good spot at SM the next morning. I think our camp-site at Signal was about an acre large. We had several deer in the woods, lying about every day. Also a bear in the am. Grand Teton is our second favorite park, right after Glacier. If you have the time kayak the Snake from the dam to the first take-out point. The ox-bow has lots of Moosies. We even kayaked right next to a baby bald eagle, the thing was huge!! We were so intrigued by the grown eagle in the tree above (Mom maybe) we didn't notice the baby until it screeched at us from probably 2 feet away.

Have a drink or tapa dinner at the Jackson Lake Lodge, best view ever!

Have fun, we're doing the east coast this summer, but will miss the Tetons.