There's a lot going on in Grand Teton National Park this summer. Several multi-year infrastructure projects that will transform some of the park’s most popular spots are already underway.
Between now and November, the National Park Service is adapting and improving areas like Mormon Row and Taggart Lake to accommodate current and future visitor traffic.
That means visitors will encounter some construction-related delays and partial closures while experiencing the park.
“Many of these projects have actually been 10 years in the making,” Grand Teton Superintendent Chip Jenkins told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s perfect timing, in that sense, because it's become more critical to have these places developed to support the people that want to be there.”
These projects fit into Jenkins’ effort to expand “the Grand Experience” for Grand Teton visitors by building the infrastructure to accommodate a growing number of people, spread them out, and enhance their experiences.
“As we're headed toward the second century of Grand Teton National Park, we're making an investment to support the people connecting with their park,” he said. “You need to have the parking lots, bathrooms, and designated trails to support them.”
A Clear Sense Of Arrival
There are six multi-year projects scheduled to begin or already underway in Grand Teton. One of those is a series of improvements to the Mormon Row Historic District.
The famous group of historic barns and homesteads will be improved with a paved parking lot, restrooms, and shade structures for visitors while rehabilitating sections of the landscape for wildlife.
Jenkins is particularly excited about the improvements to Mormon Row, saying they will give Grand Teton visitors “a clear sense of arrival” and a better understanding of the area's significance.
“Mormon Row is a place where many people go for its stunning views, but they’re often confused,” he said. “Why are we out here? What's the story? With this project, we're going to be able to provide more information to tell this story better.”
The story will be told with new pedestrian pathways, established viewing areas with interpretive panels, and a “visitor contact station” managed by the Grand Teton Association.
The Mormon Row improvements will be finished by 2027.
Happier Trails
Taggart Lake has quickly become one of the more popular places in Grand Teton, but without the essential infrastructure to support its growing visitation.
The renewal of the Taggart Lake Trail and Trailhead will include a paved 140-vehicle parking lot, including a designated spot for horse trailers and campers, vault toilets, and a new trail alignment with a redeveloped trailhead.
To facilitate these significant changes, the Taggart Lake Trailhead will be partially closed in 2026. The trailhead will remain open and accessible, but the more popular shorter route will be closed all summer.
Jenkins said these changes will improve the visitor experience while safeguarding sensitive resources in the vicinity.
Jenkins acknowledged this as one of the many “inconveniences” that Grand Teton visitors will encounter this summer.
Nobody wants to encounter heavy machinery and noise in the otherwise pristine park, but Jenkins hopes they’ll be able to look beyond the construction.
“The joke in Wyoming is that if it's summer, it's road construction season, and that's exactly how the parks are too,” he said.
The important thing is that Taggart Lake will be accessible throughout the summer. The Taggart Lake improvements are scheduled to be finished by 2027.
Better Drive-Thrus
The other multi-year projects are primarily road improvements.
The North Park Road between Leeks Marina and the Lizard Creek Campground is undergoing structural improvements. This will require 15-minute delays between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., and hour-long delays overnight.
Work on a new roundabout on Teton Park Road just north of the Moose Entrance Station is already underway. This will enable more efficient traffic flow from the entrance station to Menor’s Ferry, Jenny Lake, and the Moose-Wilson Road, Jenkins said.
The roundabout will be finished by June 2027. A new, larger entrance station will be built at this spot by 2029.
Meanwhile, Moose-Wilson Road is being realigned to meet with the new Teton Road roundabout. There will be 45-minute delays between Moose and the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve between June 20 and Sept. 7.
Another project that’s already begun is the relocation and improvement of the Death Canyon Road and Trailhead.
The new trailhead will be a mile from the current one and will include vault toilets, a 90-vehicle paved parking lot, and staging areas for the Death Canyon and Whitegrass Ranch trails.
Death Canyon will remain accessible from various trailheads during construction, scheduled to be completed by June 2027.
It’s cause to be excited,” Jenkins said. “It's going to make the experience that much better.”
An illustration showing improvements along Mormon Row, to include more parking and walking paths. (Courtesy National Park Service) 
An illustration showing improvements along Mormon Row, to include more parking and walking paths. (Courtesy National Park Service)
A Grand Experience
Jenkins said these multi-year projects are “a continuation of investments” made in Grand Teton in the last decade. He cited the completed work at the Granite Canyon Trailhead, the Snake River Gateways, and Pelican Creek.
“We’re bringing the infrastructure up to meet current and future needs,” he said. “It’s become more critical to have these places developed. People are visiting and experiencing the landscape in very different ways than they did 10 or 15 years ago.”
While overall visitation to Grand Teton has increased by 20% over the last 10 years, trail use within the park has increased by 40% in the last five years.
This has led to what Jenkins and Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly classify as “microgeographic pressures.”
Jenkins said one thing that’s changed Grand Teton’s visitor traffic, and regular traffic, is the reliability of animal experiences.
Grizzlies used to be a rare sight for people in the park, but now the bears and throngs of people who stop to see them are regularly seen across the landscape.
“We are a place now where people around the world know you can come to Grand Teton and reliably see just iconic species,” he said. “That is changing the way that people are visiting the park.”
Jenkins’ ongoing strategy is to develop and improve Grand Teton’s hotspots to accommodate more people throughout the expanding “busy season.”
Hopefully, that will keep people in the park while giving them more places to spread out, he said.
Additionally, the park is working with the adjacent Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee national forests to expand the scope of experiencing Grand Teton.
“Several places like Mormon Row, Jenny Lake, and the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve are seeing pressure from increased visitation in different ways,” he said. “We're experimenting with how to help people have an awesome time while doing more things over a greater area of the park and the landscape.”
A Centennial To Celebrate
Grand Teton National Park will celebrate its centennial in 2029.
These projects and a few others will be finished in time to celebrate 100 years of one of the gems of the National Park Service, while ensuring it can survive another 100 years of visitors.
Jenkins said Grand Teton's visitation numbers from March and April are similar to the numbers recorded in 2021, the busiest year in the park's history with more than 3,885,230 recreation visits.
People might be deterred or frustrated by so much work being done around Grand Teton this summer. Jenkins said he hopes visitors will look beyond the short-term delays and inconveniences and get excited about the experiences they’ll have during future visits.
“When it's all finished by 2029, it's going to be an entirely different experience for the better,” he said. “This is about what's best for the American people who own and care about Grand Teton, and these projects are going to make a better park for years and years to come.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
