Devils Tower and the Grand Grand Teton Campsite Quest

Waking up early from our campground in the Black Hills National Forest we were able to hit the road pretty quickly.  Our target for the morning was Devil’s Tower National Monument.  We headed up to the Monument and were unfortunately greeted with overcast skies and light rain.  We made the most of it by driving around the area and taking multiple pictures from afar.  

It is remarkable to see a large igneous intrusion rising out of practically nowhere, as well as the gigantic prairie dog village!

Following Devil’s Tower, we headed south to the Grand Teton National Park.  This was a good 7 hours of driving through the changing Wyoming landscapes.  When we set off, the ground was void of trees and expansive and within 2 hours of the Park, we started to see larger geological formations and eventually we could make out the snow-capped peaks of the Teton Mountain Range.  

We pulled into the Park around 4:30 and we noticed the sign at the front gate which identified only one campground as open.  When we inquired with the ranger at the booth, she mentioned a few campsites available about 10 miles away on Forest Service land that were an option if we were “self-contained”. We interpreted this as … we have water, we have food and a tent, we are self-contained within this vehicle. This is definitely an option for us!" We made a quick stop at the Visitor’s Center to get some hiking ideas and overheard this “self-contained” Forest Service campground was hike-in only. We were not about to hike in our entire setup. Back to the drawing board – let’s try for that only open park campground.  When we pulled into the campground about an hour later, they were just putting up the “Campground Full” sign. After a little map research, we determined there was another campground on Forest Service land about 8 miles back the way we’d come from. The entire drive to the campsite, we were waiting for a slew of cars and campers coming the other direction, indicating the campground was full. We finally made it to the end of the paved road, where the campground was located and found a beautiful campsite on a lake with a tiny view of the Tetons through a break in the landscape. We also met a fellow camper who would hook us up with a great motel in downtown Jackson Hole for the following night.

We settled in and quickly; cars were driving past multiple times – the entire campground was full.  We cooked up some pasta and identified our hike for the following day.  We planned to hike from Lupine Meadows to Surprise Lake but we wanted to stop at the visitor’s center to double check our planned route, as well as check out the stickers and postcards, our determined memorabilia from this trip.