Garnet Canyon Backcountry Permit Question

I'm making a trip to the Tetons in August and went online the day the permit system opened and made a reservation for the Caves campsite for two nights (a Monday and Tuesday night in August).

My question: the system would only let me reserve a maximum group size of 3 and there are 4 of us in the group (two tents). I went back on to try to book another spot, but the system (via recreation.gov) updated to show the Caves site sold out for those dates after I had booked the 3 person group size spot.

I called the Jenny Lake Ranger Station and they said that I could show up the day before and try to get a walk in spot but it may be tough.

Did I do something wrong when booking or is there just no way to reserve a spot for 4 people in advance at Caves? Anyone have any advice on how to make sure the 4 of us can get up there without any trouble? We're trying to get up Irene's and the Petzoldt or Direct Exum.. not being able to get a tentsite up there would be a huge downer.

Thanks.

Anyone?

Hi Chris,
I think it's reasonable to go up the day before and get to the ranger office at Jenny Lake with coffee in hand early, be first in line and you should be able to get something. I live here and that's what I do..sometimes you have to get the next lower site at The Meadows, only 15 min below the caves. and the next lower is the Platforms. I prefer to go light and camp lower instead of haulin my gear up. From the Platforms you can access the amazing "Open Book Route" 5.9 super fun. Good Luck, Keith V.

If you arrive at the Jenny Lake ranger station on Sunday morning you shouldn't have too much difficulty getting a site somewhere in Garnet Canyon for Monday and Tuesday evenings. It might not be the Caves but the Meadows and the Moraines aren't that far away.

Thanks all. We're in the climber's ranch the night before and the two nights after so we have some flexibility too. Sounds like we'll be able to make something work.

I'll check out open book for sure!

Weird.

Last year, from our experience at Garnet / Lower Morraines / South Fork, each reserved night on one permit was good for six people.

I wonder if what you actually have is three permits all for the same place and nights with up to six individuals per permitted night. To try to be clear, that would be 18 individuals for each night ... although I am thinking the system would prevent one person from reserving thusly.

The exact wording on the reservation e-mail is "Garnet Caves - GC1, Group Size: 3." The system only let me reserve this one reservation... after I reserved I went back in and there was nothing available.

I seem to remember that the caves site was small, perhaps they are saving the other spots for walk ins?

Yeah - right on, Chris. I just hadn't run across a Teton camp zone with a limitation less than 6 per permit.

Only thing I can think to add is that we did Irene's from the South Fork camp zone. It was a reasonable thing, especially if you can leave climb gear with the party at the Caves so as to not carry it to/from South Fork.

So I would add South Fork to the list of alternatives that includes Meadows and Platform. Bummer to be apart but ...

Just a comparison note.

RMNP has a lot of restrictions on climbing/bivi sites.

For Broadway or Chasm Lake the party size limit is 4 and all must be climbing. NPS RMNP only allows 6 overnight spots for Broadway or Chasm so you have to split that up between permits (4&2, 2&2&2, etc)

land of the free?

Adam Stackhouse wrote:land of the free?

Of course not. You get to pay your taxes. When you get to the park you get to pay the entry fee and then the backcountry fee. 50$ before you even got on the trail.
Add up a 3 day weekend backcountry hike in Grand Canyon for 4 people. Ready to be shocked?!?!

Adam Stackhouse wrote:land of the free?

It was until there were so many of us competing for the same limited number of spots along with that whole let's not trash these beautiful spots idea.

Indeed. I have never seen so many people in a wilderness area, day after day, with rescue helicopters going to and fro 7 out of 8 days.

Rescues under $500 come out of the Rangers budget - lots of those too.

Marc801 wrote: It was until there were so many of us competing for the same limited number of spots along with that whole let's not trash these beautiful spots idea.

That's the intent of land set aside for preservation and passive recreation. Ask people to get out and enjoy the outdoors sans a dune buggy and then be surprised that people do and there's issues with it that government seems to always want to solve by taxing/banning?

Adam Stackhouse wrote:Ask people to get out and enjoy the outdoors sans a dune buggy and then be surprised that people do and there's issues with it that government seems to always want to solve by taxing/banning?

The things is, it's a National Park. And back in 1916 Congress mandated the Parks Service to "promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations... to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations".

If you think it would be better if the area was a free-for-all without any visitor quotas or restrictions, then you should let your elected representatives know that they either need to amend the National Park Service Act, or de-proclaim the land and hand it over to the BLM, US Forest Service or sell it to the highest bidder.

Garnet Canyon is way overloaded even without dune buggies ... IMHO.

Bill Lawry wrote:Garnet Canyon is way overloaded even without dune buggies ... IMHO.

Sorta. But...the Meadows looks a bunch better than a few years ago when it looked pretty overused from excessive camping and foot traffic.

The Tetons...yeah, national park versus say, the wind rivers. No fees. No infrastructure. No rangers. No immediate rescue services. No visitor centers. Different experiences. Variety is good.

And, not like its hard to avoid crowds in the Tetons. Once you get past the Garnet Canyon trail and the Grand...the range just isn't that busy (excepting of course the classic front country climbs).

Eight year old thread bump...

Brian in SLC wrote:

Eight year old thread bump...

And with poor info. 

It seems I set up a tent there just last summer and there were at least two other excellent tent sites down in the trees.