Headwaters Campground & RV Park

I ended up spending 2 nights here during the July 4 campground, because I got too lazy to try the free camping around the area on a holiday weekend. It was a bit expensive for my taste, but a nice campground.

Basically, everything you expect from a not really roughing it in the slightest (even for tent campers) campground. They're not really my thing, and I tend to avoid them, so I'm not really sure what to say, but no one else has reviewed it yet.

I was in a tent-only spot overlooking the valley behind the campground. It's an awesome view, and is pretty cool, if you can snag one of those spots. You're kinda packed in like sardines, though. I was surrounded primarily by RV sites otherwise. I'm use to a lot of space to myself, but this was probably totally normal for this type of campground, so I'm not going to ding it too much (this is why I usually avoid them).

Other than getting a little confused at the layout of the campground the first day, and the roads all being a bit tight, everything about it was pretty great. All the RVs made it around just fine, but I saw a couple have to think about it with confused expressions at times, but they may have just made the same confused mistakes I did. There's the noise of a full, tightly packed campground. Which actually wasn't too bad: I've been in boondocking spots that are worse for noise than this! Everything was super clean, and even the tent sites were pretty flat.

The lodge has a full convenience store, gas station, restaurant, gift shop, etc.

There is absolutely no cell service, and no wifi. A piece of paper said that the lodge has limited wifi, but when I was checking in, someone asked the counter for wifi, and they said no. So, I'm going with there's no wifi.

I would stay here again if I make the same stupid mistakes again. Hopefully I won't, but it is a nice campground, overall. Just not my kind of campground (my ideal kind of campground is usually prime boondocking, so....).

We stayed here for 6 nights May 23, 2018
I have mixed feelings about this campground. There are positives and negatives.

Positives: The staff was extremely friendly and helpful
There is a gas station, convenience store and propane right on site.
The campground is beautiful- full of trees etc.
The location is great for visiting the Tetons, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole etc.
The sites are spaced pretty far apart from each other.

Negatives: The roads in the campground and the sites need work! Potholes galore and
sites are not level. It was raining when we pulled in- so we had to set up in
big, deep puddles.
The price is outrageous! We have camped all across the US and have never
paid so much for a campsite. Price should be $40 tops. I know...location.
The Lodge, restaurant, gift shops were not open during our stay- even for the
Memorial weekend! Not open until June 1- which was a huge disappointment.
Absolutely NO wifi or cell service- but we knew it going in.

We would stay here again if we needed to and could afford it. If we are going to pay $74 plus taxes to camp- the roads need to be great, sites level, amenities open.

We stayed here for one night so we could have full hookups before we moved on. We especially needed our sewer hookups. Well...the sewer pipe is a good foot above the ground! Our hose connection on our trailer sits lower than that! This made the sewer basically unusable for us. We did "dump" by letting the hose fill up, then lifting the hose starting at the trailer end, then repeating the process...what a joke. The grounds were very nice. Bathrooms were nice and clean. There is a store, gas station and restaurant across the way. You can even fill your propane here if needed. You will want your bug spray as the bugs get bad if the breeze stops. It is a very nice place...just the issue with the sewer connections. There is no cell service here, but you are out in nature...enjoy!

Stayed here from June 11th though the 16th, 2018. Met our son and his family and his in-laws. We RV ed, son stayed in a furnished cabin, and his in-laws stayed in a sleeping cabin 8x8’ non electric or heat. So, we were able to get a good sense of the total picture here. The rv sites are a little bumpy but not too bad, leveling wasn’t needed, but I’ll agree with the previous reviewer that the sewer connections are high, a support system is needed unless you want to raise and lower your hose to get it drained. Bring a jacket, it’s cold in the mornings and evenings. The site is located in a mountain basin so you’ll have to go dark, no tv signal either no phone, no wi-fi. Headwaters is a pricey place to stay, and reservations are strongly recommended, we made ours in February, so check in was a piece of cake.The rv sites were all pretty full and I did see rvers who pulled in looking for a site turned away, and if I recall correctly they have a max size for rigs wishing to use their sites. Check out their website. All of us, regardless of accommodation were pleased with the experience at Headwaters. You need to be “bear aware” because they are native there, you’ll need bear spray and bug spray. I feel that Headwaters is a destination in itself, and not a very good place to pull into just for the night. The fishing was good also!

Spacious sites with tall trees make you feel like you are right in the middle of the National Parks - and you almost are. Even though you are remote enough to have no cell signal or WiFi the campground has a small grocery store and gas station on site. There is also a gift shop at the Lodge next door and a restaurant where you can eat if you don't feel like cooking on the camp stove.

Sites are pull through and ours offered full hookups. Tent sites and cabin rentals are also available. Every site we saw was nestled under tall pine trees and had fire rings and picnic table. There is a 24hr shower house facility in the center of the campground and also laundry facilities near the main check in station.

While the campground is among our favorites the real reason you visit is for the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Within a few minutes we were in either Grand Teton or Yellowstone exploring all they had to offer. If you can find availability in this campground we highly recommend reserving a spot!

Paying $75 a night for what amounts to a “run of the mill” State Park type of campground was disappointing. But given the late time of the year (late September) a lot of the CGs inside Yellowstone were closed for the season so we didn’t have many choices. The CG facilities are nothing special but everything worked. The sewer hookup was weird and required that you make your effluent run uphill, but we got it to work. There is absolutely no cell service or internet here, zero, ziltch, nada! Even the supposed WiFi at the lodge did not work and the desk person admitted that it never does so they don’t even advertise it. There is a free telephone in the lodge that can be used to make phone calls if you need to do so (that was a nice touch!)

We came here’s to visit Yellowstone and found that Headwaters is quite a distance from all the usual attractions in the park (but it was late September so most CGs in the Park were closed.) We could recommend Headwaters to anyone who wanted to visit Yellowstone and/or Teton and who could not get a site inside the desired National Park. Basically, consider it a place of last resort to visit either park.

The place is very quiet, however!

We stayed 7 nights in 22 ft TT May 28-June 4, 2019 and would stay again. Two miles from S ent of YS and a bit further to Teton. Nice and quiet despite CG being full. Roads inside the park were still full of pot holes, but was not a problem. Sites fairly level, sewer drain too high. Bathrooms/Showers clean. Laundry facility connected to check-in cabin could use some sprucing up. ZERO cell service.

Pretty nice location for accessing Yellowstone & Tetons if you want a single home base. We did this to access Tetons only & stayed in Yellowstone itself for that. I think $81 a night was expensive for a site that barely fit our 17' trailer. Not a ton of privacy despite heavy trees, but we did have electric hookup. Bathrooms were nice - clean & hot showers. Still, pricey. At $50-60 a night, I might be more complementary.

My take: Don't look at distance to the park entrances. Typically you don't stay at the park entrances. You drive. I recommend staying a few days in Tetons (lower) & then stay nearer the middle of Yellowstone. Not sure this location is all that great (just my opinion).

Nice, wooded sites that are level. Roads are full of potholes, but we were able to maneuver the camper without issues. Laundry and facilities are clean and well maintained. Staff friendly and helpful. There is a gas station, restaurant and gift shop in walking distance. We stayed for 5 nights to experience both Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Drive from camp to Old Faithful lodge is about 1 hr, then count on at least 40 min to travel in between main locations in the park. Drive from camp to Colter Bay in Tetons is about 40 min. If you don’t mind the drive, this is a good place to set up base. Price is high, but to us was worth the securing of a reservation compared to first come first serve in the parks. Take a bug zapper- mosquitoes can be bad. There is NO cell service in the area. Yellowstone has decent service on the east side and spotting on the west. Grand Tetons has better coverage than Yellowstone.

We stayed here with a group and the campground did a nice job of keeping us together. The roads need work. Any rainfall will create puddles that make walking down the roads sort of like playing Tetris.

The sites are about 20' apart. Most sites are pull through and accommodate large trailers. There was plenty of shade.

The bathroom and showers are nice and well maintained. The water supply was turned off twice during our stay. The water pressure was low the entire time. Electricity was fine. The sewer dump pipe at each site was quite tall. Taller than the output pipe on my trailer. The dump pipe had two openings, one on top and one on the side close to the ground. My connection didn't work on the side opening due to how close it was to the ground so I was forced to use the top opening.

The Wi-Fi at the lodge was poor. I could get text messages through but that was it. There is ZERO cell service. The Phillips 66 at the nearby lodge had a better price on diesel than I paid in Rock Springs.

The campground is just too large for me and the price is high.

The campground needs to provide lessons on how to start and maintain a fire. The smoke was so bad that visibility was severely limited. Maybe it's the type of firewood that is sold.

If you're exploring Grand Teton National Park, consider a campground that is more centrally located within the park. Once we got to the southern areas of GTNP, the drive became tedious. Traffic wasn't too bad. The paved roads within the park are excellent!