As usual this was a great place to camp. Site 1 is the most private but furthest from the bathrooms, Site 2/3 are closest together, Site 3 has the very best flat pad with the table, ring and still room for a 10x10 tent or shade tent area. Sites 1-4 have shade, sites 5-8 do not.
Hosts are friendly and helpful, bathrooms cleanish, stalls in good shape.
Trail #800 is pretty sketchy these days due to excessive water erosion. 3' deep and 8" wide troughs to walk along with so much overgrowth it's hard to navigate.
The trail heading North out of the parking lot is great, well maintained and also has hidden 7 dwarfs along the trail to try and find. We did it four times just to make sure we found all 7.
The good - the staff is great, very helpful and responsive. The place is well kept overall, although the bathroom spiders were pretty impressive themselves and its all pretty aged. I did have a few scalding/freezing moments when someone flushed a toilet and I was showering but it was our first shower after 4 days in Yellowstone and it was lovely.
The park has a nice table and grill, full hookups and nice shade but the spots are very tight so you'll need to be handy with backing and leveling around the tree trunks.
The bad - holy mother of big rigs. The traffic going by at all hours is SO loud. SO SO loud. None of us could sleep and we were all pretty cranky. I guess you balance easy access with highway and truck noises, but be aware that it's an issue.
Side note - breakfast at the Black Bear Cafe (0.8m) was delicious, down home goodness and recommended for cranky bad-sleep travelers to perk up.
Also the Star Plunge was awesome, great facility, great hot springs and the slides were a huge hit. We were warned to avoid Teepee hot springs as the slides are very rough and will remove more layers than you'd like.
They had a drive-thru style check-in that was super organized and helpful. We had an easy pull thru spot with good clearance, clean bathrooms that are heated and plentiful shade. Campground was quiet and it was a short walk down to the spectacular Jackson Lake. No hookups in the campground but pumping station and water was available.
Great stopover on our way to Yellowstone but one day in Grand Teton was just not enough.
Thankfully we had a reservation here after Lewis Lake didn't pan out for us. Sites are really close together but it's still quiet and pretty and very well shaded. Bathrooms are clean and heated. No cell service for Tmobile or Verizon.
Nearby Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is spectacular and there are many small hikes with breathtaking payoffs. It's not to be missed and this is a great spot to take it all in.
Campgrounds is also near gas station, grocery, restaurant, visitors center, etc. It has what you need.
We'll be back.
We planned an entire weekend around staying at Lewis Lake only to discover after we'd claimed a good spot and gotten settled in (as directed) that they wouldn't allow us to stay because we had a 21' rv trailer and 17' Tahoe (both parked within the parking pavement and completely off the road) because we exceeded 25'. Getting kicked out on a busy weekend with literally no place to go was less than cool.
Campground has no views, sites are super packed together and the rangers patrol often but the location is great, lake it beautiful from what we saw and it seems like a great place for first come, first served if you have a tiny rig or a tent.
Call for reservations! We were struggling to find a spot this past weekend and secured the last pullthru spot by calling from weak service at Grants.
Campground has no gas but the bathrooms are clean (and warm!), dishwashing station is great, water and dump station. It's alongside a gorgeous river valley for lovely walks and it's very quiet.
Quiet hours 8pm-8am. No hookups. Plentiful shade.
We do the boat-in camping 2-3 times a season for the past 7 years or so. The coves are great but it's a bit of a gamble as sound travels so well and yahoos are prevalent. If you get one party boat who plays music medium-loud until 1am you are going to be grumpy and your kids will be super fun the following day.
The water also will go from so far above the trees that there is no shade to so far below that you're hoofing your gear 100 yards from the boat in the mud up to your campsite. Just be flexible and you'll have fun.
Kids have a blast swimming, kayaking and just goofing off. Adults chill and drink and fish. Most spots do not have bathrooms (bring a shovel, bag/remove your solid waste and keep it clean) or any other facilities except a fire ring.
This was full over 4th of July 2021, no surprise but seemed quiet and it was very pretty. Sharing some photos of sites that had nice river access for kids and good shade.
We lucked into an awesome spot over the 4th of July, arriving Thursday afternoon - Sunday. The restrooms were clean and well stocked, the campground was incredibly quiet because of the rushing river sounds and it was beautiful. We stayed in #9 and 10 on the East loop. Site 10 is very wide but doesn't have much shade BUT if the river is high this is the best spot for kids as there is a large rock in the middle of the river that creates a gentle pool/gulley right in front of this spot. There are great trees all around for hammocks and shade. No hiking from this location unless you swim first and don't mind a rattlesnake or two but nearby Mountain Park has a nice hike. We will be back.
We also scoped out sites 19 and 20 which had a sandy area along the river that would work well for kids.
Site 8 is GORGEOUS but has a huge rock dropoff that would be terrifying with small kids. No great tent spots either except right on the trail but if you have a small RV the views sitting on top of the rocks are stellar.
Friendly, great hosts keep it all well maintained. No cell service from any of the carriers.