We took the Ember up to Colter Bay for six days in September, and it turned out to be the trip where I finally saw the Milky Way. Six amazing hikes, and a week of elk and bison sightings, but only a bronze grizzly bear. Here is what we did, what we would do again, and the gas station situation you need to know about before you drive out there.
Home Base: Colter Bay RV Park
It is wooded and genuinely quiet, and the siting is what makes it. From our site, we could walk to the swim beach in about eight minutes, straight onto the Heron Pond and Lakeshore trailheads, and over to the visitor center, which is small and very cute, and where we found out there was a ranger astronomy talk that week. We went days at a time without moving the truck, and on a trip where almost everything else involves driving somewhere, that was great (and vastly preferred by us).
The one thing I wasn’t prepared for is how dry it was. My eyes hurt by day two, and we ended up running the kettle constantly just to put some moisture in the air. Bring a humidifier if you can fit one, and bring lots of moisturizer. I thought I knew dryness, living in Colorado, but this was a whole new level of dry. The temperature, however, was great, perfect fall weather, cozy.
The Night We Saw the Milky Way
I had (unsuccessfully) attempted astrophotography before (I’m looking at you, Zion and Bryce National Parks), but it was either not the right moon, or it was cloudy, or the light pollution was too much. I was determined to get it this time. I checked in with the Photo Pills app and found out the moon would be at a near-perfect stage. Now I needed the weather to cooperate. We got down to the beach at Colter Bay around 8 pm, which turned out to be a bit early, but we set up the two-person camping chair we had picked up at Costco, pulled a huge blanket over both of us because it was already frigid, and waited for the sky to catch up. The following night, we decided to arrive later so we didn’t have to sit and wait so long, but ended up with twisted ankles and close (fall) calls. The surface of Colter Bay beach is very rocky, so you can imagine the challenges of carrying and setting up equipment in the dark. I’d rather arrive early, in the daylight, and have longer to wait.
The nice thing about Colter Bay RV Park is that you can walk to the beach in about eight minutes without touching the truck. You put the buildings behind you, sit down, wait for your eyes to adjust, and then at some point it is just there: a pale band running across the whole sky and down into the Tetons
Not long after we set up, another couple came down the beach with their own gear, and we ended up talking for hours in the pitch dark without ever seeing each other’s faces. They walked me through my settings, told me what they were running, told me where to point. Honestly, most of what I now know about shooting a night sky I learned standing on that beach from two people I would not recognize in daylight. If that is you reading this: thank you, and I hope you got your shot too.
We ran two cameras. I was on the Nikon working the core, and Dennis spent the night fiddling with the GoPro until he got the nightlapse working.
A few things nobody warned us about:
- Dress for twenty degrees colder than you think. Even with the chair and the blanket, we were cold
- Arriving at dusk gives you enough light to see up and see where you are going, but you’re going to have to wait a while.
- Headlamps were the way to go, and red mode if yours has it
- Bring a warm drink. I wish I had brought a nice tea while we waited.
- New moon matters more than anything else you can control.
We found out later that the National Museum of Wildlife Art unveiled its Grizzly 399 monument that same evening at 5pm, on 9/9, a date they chose as a nod to her number. So while the park was saying goodbye to the most famous bear in the world, we were eight minutes’ walk from our campsite waiting for it to get dark enough to see the Milky Way.
Grizzly 399: The Queen of the Tetons
399 was born in 1996 near Pilgrim Creek and lived to 28, which is remarkably old for a grizzly. She raised 18 cubs over those years, and she did most of it in full view of the road, which is why so many people around the world know her. At some point, she had close to 50 photographers following and photographing her and her cubs. Then in 2020, at 24 years old, she had quadruplets, which nobody had really seen a bear her age do before. 399 realized that if she stayed close to the road, male grizzlies would not approach her and her cubs. This strategy enabled her to be a prolific mother bear, and a good number of the park’s grizzlies are her descendants today.
Heartbreakingly, she was killed by a car on Highway 26/89 in Snake River Canyon in October 2024. That November, her ashes went back to Pilgrim Creek, where she had spent most of her life. The same strategy she used to protect her cubs, the nearness to the road, cost her life. Drive slow out there.
We read about the monument before we left home and made the museum our last stop. It is called Against All Odds, by the sculptor Jocelyn Russell, and it sits near the front entrance on the Sculpture Trail at one and a half times life size, with 399 standing over her four quads and looking out past them.
The museum is worth the ticket on its own. We went in meaning to spend an hour, and while the museum is not large, it was full of gorgeous wildlife art.
The Hikes
Cascade Canyon — 10/10
Grand Teton is one of our favorite national parks, and the hiking is most of the reason why. The range rises straight out of a flat valley, so you get that view from almost everywhere, and you really cannot go wrong here. We got six hikes in, and only one of them was a dud.
Six miles and about 1,100 feet, reached by the Jenny Lake shuttle, and easily the most gorgeous hikes we have done in a while.
We took the boat, and it runs every 10 to 15 minutes, no reservations needed, and it is $20 round-trip per adult. It drops you near Hidden Falls; you climb to Inspiration Point, and then the canyon opens up and keeps going.
Our advice: go early and keep going once you pass Inspiration Point, the best is ahead. We finished around 2 pm, and the Jenny Lake lot was absolute chaos by then.
Heron Pond and Swan Lake — 9/10
3.1 miles and 320 feet, with the trailhead at the south end of the visitor center lot, so there is no driving involved at all. It has the best moose odds within walking distance of the campground, and it stays pretty the entire way around.
String Lake — gorgeous
We did this one at 5 pm on our second-to-last day, and the water was still enough to hold the whole Cathedral Group in reflection. Short, easy, and absolutely worth the detour.
Taggart Lake Loop
We squeezed this in on our last morning before driving into Jackson for the museum, and it turned out to be a lovely way to close out the week.
Colter Bay Lakeshore Trail
2.6 miles and 85 feet out to The Point, flat and easy, and right there at the campground. We walked it at lunch, and it is also exactly where you want to scout in daylight if you are planning to shoot astro that night.
Christian Pond — 4/10
3.5 miles and 490 feet, but it was covered in horse poop. That was compounded by the fact that I had not eaten enough before we set off, so I bonked about halfway through and was pretty done by the end. It is supposed to be the wildlife hike, and we barely saw anything. Skip it unless you have a specific reason to go, and whatever you do, eat something before any afternoon hike; don’t be like me.
What We Saw
A bull elk, right off the road with his antlers up, grazing in the grass as though we were not there at all. September is the rut, so we had been listening for bugling all week and never heard a single one. A moose, half buried in foliage, which is more or less how you always get them.
Bison, a whole herd of them behind a fence line with the range sitting behind that.
And no bear at all. We spent a week in her park and never saw a grizzly, and that is the completely normal outcome. 399 was the exception rather than the rule, and that is most of the reason people loved her so much.
🚫 What to Skip.
The gas stations near Elk Mountain, Wyoming. The Conoco and the Shell are both disgusting and both wildly overpriced, and they are this way because there is a long stretch of Wyoming with nothing else on it, so if you don’t plan, you have to stop at either. Fill up in Rawlins or Laramie instead.
Christian Pond, for all the reasons above.
Bringing the e-bikes. There is not much in the way of bike paths up there, and the driving lanes are narrow enough that you would not want to be out in them. Save the weight and the hassle.
Scheduling anything at all on a drive day. We rolled in late, leveled, hooked up, loaded the fridge, and that was correctly the entire day. We need decompression time after driving, and we seem to need to relearn this every single trip.
Eating Plant-Based in the Park
Everything was cooked in the rig, because Grand Teton is not a place you go for vegan restaurants, and we knew we would be bringing it with us.
- Meat-alternative burritos with Trader Joe’s frozen corn, tomatoes, salsa, flour tortillas. The frozen corn was unreasonably good. Made enough for lunch and dinner
- Frozen mandarin “chicken” with green beans, brown rice, and edamame. The orange sauce made it
- PB&J for the drive day.
- Mac and “cheese”, Beyond burgers, and Trader Joe’s plantains for the first night
- Tofurky deli sandwiches on sourdough with mayo, tomato, lettuce, and vegan cheese
- Easy-Waffles (also from Trader Joes) and berries most mornings
Six days, six hikes, one bronze bear and one galaxy. It’s one of our favorite parks for a reason; we will be back.
More photos from the trip over on Instagram.
TL;DR – Grand Teton by RV
- Colter Bay RV Park = book it. Wooded, quiet, and you can walk to the beach, two trailheads, and the visitor center easily accessible.
- Bring moisture. It is bone dry. Lotion, lip balm, eye drops, and a humidifier.
- Cascade Canyon = MUST DO. 6 miles, take the Jenny Lake boat, go early. Keep going once you pass Inspiration Point.
- Heron Pond + Swan Lake = 9/10. 3.1 miles, zero driving, best moose odds near camp.
- String Lake = gorgeous. Short, still water, Cathedral Group reflections.
- Taggart Lake Loop = a good last morning.
- Lakeshore Trail = easy and right there. Also where to scout for astro.
- 🚫 Christian Pond = skip. Covered in horse poop.
- Grizzly 399 Monument = go. Against All Odds at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson. The museum is worth a half day on its own.
- Astro at Colter Bay Beach = do it. Eight-minute walk, new moon, dress for 20 degrees colder than you think.
- 🚫 Elk Mountain gas = skip. Fill up in Rawlins or Laramie instead.
- 🚫 Leave the e-bikes home. Not many bike paths, and the driving lanes are narrow.
- Plant-based friendly if you cook. Bring it with you; there is not much out there.