roadtripper4996542

1. Getting here. After turning left off the Fremont Lake road from Pinedale, you'll cross a cattle guard after which the road is graveled. After you make the right turn to the campground the road is paved again. There is some significant road disrepair in the first 1/4 mile and at 1.7 mi. (dark spots in paving) to slow down for.
2. If so inclined there is a paved bike lane on the west side of the Fremont Lake Road all the way from the lake turn off to Pinedale.
3. There is a great variety of sites.
A. While not tenting ourselves, I am sympathetic to those who were for whom the site offered no decent tent pad. There are other sites that do not initially appear to have a good tent pad but they do exist out the back or side of the graveled area around picnic table, fire spit and bear box.
B. Some sites are very well spaced from others and the road while others are nearly end to end right on/next to the road.
C. There are generously sized sites that are both back in and pull through.
D. Over all the location of the campground along the lake provides a lovely setting and easy access to the lake from day use areas if not the camp site.
4. Arriving early on a Sunday afternoon we had pretty good selection of FF sites for a 35' motor home. We had ample space for our toad once backed in. I was told by a local employee that Mondays provide that best FF availability. We left to spend 2 nights at Trails End Campground and were able to reserve #26 for another night after that. A 1 p.m. checkout time provides time for a leisurely morning and departure.
5. We were in the north end which provided for a very quiet setting.
6. Recommend the Glimpse Lake Trail for quick good views of the lake from the other side and NW of the campground.
7. Do not recommend the Scab Creek Trail to Little Divide Lake which, in our opinion, has a high cost to benefit ratio.

We didn't dare come to JTNP without reservations with a 35' RV so had made some for the Black Rock Canyon campground but didn't want to be that far away from the center of the park. We stayed on BLM Red Cloud Mine Road S.E. of JTNP in order to be able to get into the park before noon on a weekday. The Red Cloud Mine Road was a mistake but positioned us well to get into the park in the morning. We pretty much had our pick of the sites on that Wednesday morning and settled on #17 which was roomy for our RV and toad and put us in the back loop so there was less traffic. Belle Campground is set off the road and is essentially 2 piles of rocks with half of the 18 sites nestled in around each pile. There is good bouldering in addition to Belle within an easy hike south to the White Tank campground. Except Black Rock Canyon, Belle is the closest campground in the park to civilization and is approximately 10 miles downhill to 29 Palms, CA. We could get no Verizon service until we drove out the north entrance to the park.
This campground provided us a great location for exploring the eastern and southern parts of the park as we had reservations for 5 nights at Jumbo Rocks campground following to use to reach out further to the west with our hiking and discovery. Our last 2 nights saw the campground fill up for the weekend but it remained quiet and pleasant.

This is pretty much just a trail head with a couple of parking spots. The USFS has chosen to block off one parking place and let the other one go to weeds leaving 2 with the unofficial circle of rocks fire spit and hitching rail. One site is fairly level and would fit 3 units snugly. The other site has a parking pad that is very unlevel. This site is far enough from the highway to render all but the loudest trucks and motorcycles muted.

Go down behind the Togwotee Lodge and store using the road between them. Take the right fork at the bottom of the hill. Our hitch drug making that turn but no problem. The road is gravel and rock so access is not affected by rain.
Sour grapes. While this site would ordinarily provide a splendid long distance view of the Tetons, the smoke of the 2021 wildfires rendered them very disappointingly completely invisible. Gratefully, it put them within reach for a day trip when we could see them when we got to the bottom of them. Also terribly masked by the smoke we still found the peaks east of the site striking during a day trip to Brooks Lake and hike to Bear Cub Pass.

This makes for a much closer base camp for accessing the Tetons than points to the east. For instance, I'll go slowly and drive my class A rig 1/4 mi. over the road with some holes in it to this site than the 5 miles over a much better forest service road but with washboard to Brooks Lake. Each to his own.