Grand Teton Reports Increase in Hiking and Camping

Grand Teton National Park hosted an estimated 755,762 recreation visits in July 2020. This is a 3% decrease compared to July 2019. Park statistics show, however, that July 2020 has the fourth highest number of recreation visits on record for the month of July. More data on National Park Service visitor- use statistics is available at https://irma.nps.gov/STATS/.

Visitors to Grand Teton National Park are reminded to plan ahead, pack patience, and recreate responsibly. The park highly encourages visitors to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local and state authorities, by maintaining social distancing guidelines and wearing a face covering when in buildings and high-visitation outside areas.

Most hiking trails in the park have increased daily traffic and all campgrounds in the park are filling earlier each day when comparing this summer to previous years. In general, hiking use in the park has increased approximately 13% and camping in concession-operated campgrounds increased 2% with backcountry camping up 13% in July 2020 compared to July 2019.

Here are some things to expect when visiting Grand Teton this year:

* Be prepared for parking lots to fill up early. Jenny Lake, String Lake, and Colter Bay are popular destinations at the park. Arrive early or late in the day to avoid crowds and park in designated areas only. If an area is crowded, please consider an alternate area or activity.

* Campgrounds are filling daily, most before noon. Surrounding USDA Forest Service camping is also filling on a daily basis. Come prepared with a plan for finding a campsite, and alternate plans if camping sites are not available. Camping in the park is only allowed in designated sites.

* A permit is required for all backcountry camping in the park, and some advance planning. Permits are issued on a first-come, first-served basis no more than one day before the start of a trip. Visit https://cms.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/back.htm for more information.

* Expect wait times at park entrances, visitor centers, Jenny Lake shuttle boat, high-visitation areas, book stores, etc.

With more than 240 miles of trails meandering throughout the park, hiking is the absolute best way to see Grand Teton National Park. In addition to the hikes listed above, the park offers a wide variety of outstanding hikes that take-in the best scenery the Tetons have to offer. If you do plan to visit Grand Teton this year, please note that our hiking website also offers a wide variety of accommodation listings and other things to do to help with all your trip planning.







Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

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