How far ahead do you need to book a campsite in Grand Teton National Park?
For Jul weekends, half of bookings land 90 days+ ahead
For Jul weekends, the busiest month in Grand Teton National Park, half of Recreation.gov bookings were made at least 90 days before arrival, a quarter at least 173 days ahead, and 50% came 90 or more days out (FY2023–2025). Signal Mountain Campground books earliest: half of its Aug weekend bookings came 159 days+ ahead.
Oxbow Bend and Mount Moran at sunrise Photo: Grand Teton NPS / Bonney / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (U.S. National Park Service)
Where campers book earliest
These federal campgrounds draw the earliest Grand Teton National Park weekend reservations. Pin labels are the median days ahead for each campground's busiest month — plan your reminder from there.
Signal Mountain Campground
- Half booked by: 159 days out
- A quarter by: 181 days out
- Weekend bookings: 1,597
Colter Bay RV Park
- Half booked by: 139 days out
- A quarter by: 181 days out
- Weekend bookings: 1,743
Jenny Lake Campground
- Half booked by: 112 days out
- A quarter by: 181 days out
- Weekend bookings: 918
Headwaters Campground at Flagg Ranch
- Half booked by: 74 days out
- A quarter by: 149 days out
- Weekend bookings: 2,861
Lizard Creek Campground
- Half booked by: 68 days out
- A quarter by: 131 days out
- Weekend bookings: 1,180
Lead time is the gap between the day a reservation was made and the arrival date. We measured it for every Recreation.gov booking at federal campgrounds inside Grand Teton National Park or within 30 miles of its center point over FY2023–2025. The median tells you when a typical camper booked; the 75th percentile shows how early the planners got in, and is the safer target if you want a choice of sites rather than whatever is left.
Month by month
Days booked ahead, by arrival month, FY2023–2025. Green bar: weekend (Fri/Sat arrival) 75th percentile; gold line: weekday 75th percentile. Months with under 200 bookings are left out.
| Arrival month | Weekend: half booked by | Weekend: a quarter booked by | Weekend 90+ days ahead | Weekday: half booked by | Weekday: a quarter booked by | Bookings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr | 27 days out | 102 days out | 27% | 12 days out | 68 days out | 491 |
| May | 41 days out | 121 days out | 34% | 50 days out | 125 days out | 25,088 |
| Jun | 74 days out | 157 days out | 46% | 72 days out | 155 days out | 66,226 |
| Jul | 90 days out | 173 days out | 50% | 83 days out | 171 days out | 74,924 |
| Aug | 56 days out | 160 days out | 41% | 49 days out | 158 days out | 68,213 |
| Sep | 30 days out | 122 days out | 30% | 31 days out | 138 days out | 52,095 |
| Oct | 11 days out | 52 days out | 14% | 20 days out | 66 days out | 6,279 |
Jul weekends draw the earliest planners: a quarter of those bookings came 173 days or more ahead. Weekends book earlier than weekdays in Jul (90 days vs 83 days for the median booking). Off-season months book much closer to the date, so a last-minute trip is far more realistic then.
Campgrounds that book up earliest
Median days ahead for Friday/Saturday arrivals in each campground's busiest month, FY2023–2025 (100+ bookings; group-only campgrounds left out).
| Campground | Busiest month | Half booked by | A quarter booked by | Bookings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signal Mountain Campground | Aug | 159 days out | 181 days out | 1,597 |
| Teton Canyon | Jun | 140 days out | 166 days out | 138 |
| Colter Bay RV Park | Aug | 139 days out | 181 days out | 1,743 |
| Jenny Lake Campground | Aug | 112 days out | 181 days out | 918 |
| Headwaters Campground at Flagg Ranch | Jul | 74 days out | 149 days out | 2,861 |
| Lizard Creek Campground | Aug | 68 days out | 131 days out | 1,180 |
| Colter Bay Campground | Aug | 66 days out | 160 days out | 6,304 |
| Colter Bay Tent Village | Aug | 52 days out | 124 days out | 962 |
At Signal Mountain Campground, the typical Aug weekend camper booked about about 5 months ahead, and Teton Canyon isn't far behind at about 5 months. If one of these is your first choice, set a reminder for the day reservations open for your dates.
Individual sites that book earliest
Family sites with 50+ reservations over 3+ seasons, ranked by the median days ahead for weekend arrivals (score years, FY2020–21 left out). Group and pay-on-arrival sites excluded.
| Site | Campground | Type | Weekend median lead | Nights reserved / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 438 | Colter Bay RV Park | RV Electric | 173 days | 155 |
| 19 · Jenny Lake | Jenny Lake Campground | Tent Only Nonelectric | 173 days | 119 |
| 25a · Jenny Lake | Jenny Lake Campground | Tent Only Nonelectric | 173 days | 118 |
| 36 · Loop 2 | Lizard Creek Campground | Standard Nonelectric | 173 days | 90 |
| 2 · Jenny Lake | Jenny Lake Campground | Tent Only Nonelectric | 172 days | 126 |
| 35 · Loop 2 | Lizard Creek Campground | Standard Nonelectric | 172 days | 89 |
| 31 · 1 | Signal Mountain Campground | RV Electric | 171 days | 158 |
| 36 · 1 | Signal Mountain Campground | Standard Electric | 171 days | 157 |
| 22 · Jenny Lake | Jenny Lake Campground | Tent Only Nonelectric | 170 days | 119 |
| 433 | Colter Bay RV Park | RV Electric | 169 days | 152 |
Then vs now
Before COVID (FY2015–2019), half of Jul weekend bookings came at least 85 days ahead and a quarter at least 140 days ahead; in FY2023–2025 it was 90 days and 173 days. The planners are getting in earlier than they used to. FY2020–21 are left out of this comparison.
About this data
Data: Recreation.gov reservations FY2015–2025. These are Recreation.gov's public reservation records (the RIDB historical reservation files), covering every federal campground in the area that took at least 300 reservations in FY2023–2025. Federal fiscal years run October to September, so FY2025 is October 2024 through September 2025.
- Bookings, not occupancy. Each count is a reservation made. Cancellations aren't in the data, so a booked site may later have opened up, and nights a campground was closed simply show no bookings.
- COVID years are flagged. FY2020 and FY2021 were shaped by closures, capacity limits and a camping surge, so we mark them and don't use them for "then vs now" comparisons.
- Lead time is the days between the booking date and the arrival date. Weekend means a Friday or Saturday arrival. First-come, pay-on-arrival sites are left out of lead times.
- Only campgrounds that take reservations on Recreation.gov are included. State parks, private campgrounds and first-come campgrounds aren't in these numbers.
Updated Nov 3, 2026. Distances are straight-line.
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