Gros Ventre Side by Side Directions
Welcome to our Full Day Side by Side Directions! Starting from our location at 1060 US-89 you will make a right out of our parking lot onto US-89. Continue straight for the next .66 miles where you will pass by the Maverick Gas Station traffic light, the Target traffic light, and then prepare to turn left at the next traffic light (Intersection HWY22 towards Teton Village). There are two lanes that turn left at this traffic light. After turning left onto HWY22 both lanes will merge into each other before you reach the next traffic light in .4 miles. Right before this light you will be taking a bending right onto Spring Gulch Road. You will be on Spring Gulch Road for the next 7.6 miles. Some waypoints along this road would be Cattleman’s Bridge crossing over the Gros Ventre River at 5.8 miles and the Golf and Tennis community at 6.5 miles. You will reach a stop sign at the intersection of Spring Gulch Road and Golf Course Road. At this stop sign turn right onto Golf Course Road and in .47 miles you will reach the Gros Ventre traffic circle. At the traffic circle proceed straight across the intersection towards the Gros Ventre. (If you head North at the traffic circle it takes you to the airport, if you head south at the traffic circle it takes you to the town of Jackson). You are now entering the Grand Teton National Park/ Edge of the Elk Refuge. (You will not need a park pass for this trip). Keep your eyes open! There are usually some wildlife movements for the next 6.6 miles until you reach the small town of Kelly. This is typically where most cell phone services begin to stop working. After taking the bending left hand turn on the main road past the town of Kelly you will continue straight for another 1.08 miles until you cross a small bridge and approach the right hand turn for the Gros Ventre. (If you proceed up a hill or past the Teton Science School you went to far!)
You will know you made the right (right) when you pass a restroom in .4 miles on your left hand side. This is the Kelly Warm spring restroom and is the last restroom for a while! Please do not get into the Kelly Warm spring (it contains flesh eating bacteria and is not suggested to soak in). Continuing down the Gros Ventre Road for another 2 miles you will reach a large paved downhill section. At the bottom of the downhill on your right hand side there is a small parking lot for the park/ forest boundary. At this parking lot there is an opportunity to take a short walk out of the buggy and enjoy “Jump Rock”. This is a rock feature that lets you jump into the Gros Ventre River. Be warned depending on the time of the year it can be a shockingly cold plunge! Jump at your own risk! In .8 miles past the park/forest boundary you will pass the Gros Ventre River Ranch. Please drive slow and watch out for horse crossings. 1 mile past this ranch after going up the hill on your right hand side you will see a small parking lot. We suggest you park your buggy and take the small trail to your right out of the parking lot. Its about a 600ft walk that takes you to a very scenic vista of the Tetons called the wedding tree. (Sometimes there can be a wedding happening at this location please respect their privacy if there is one happening!) 2.20 miles past the Wedding Tree you will reach Lower Slide lakes Atherton Creek Campground. You will find another restroom down near the boat ramp if you need one.
From this point on you will have very limited to no cell phone service. You need to be Backcountry Aware and realize you are heading into an area with greatly delayed emergency and recovery services. You need to stay on the open access road at all times please, do not just drive off into the meadows you can be fined if you are caught off road. Drive slow and enjoy the views. The number one cause of damage to machines is speed and tire punctures due to rocks which can lead to roll overs and costly damage. We strongly suggest you keep the machine within the roads speed limits and make smart decisions.
Continuing down the Gros Ventre road you will now be moving to back country gravel roads. Please be aware the road does narrow a bit and get a bit more aggressive from this point on. Please take your time as there are plenty of blind turns and drop offs coming up! 3.7 miles down the road you will pass the Red Hills Ranch on your right hand side. Please watch out for Horse Traffic in this area. The red hills on your left are stunning! 2 Miles past the Red Hills ranch you will enter the Crystal Creek Campground area. Please drive slow through this area as there are a few blind turns and sharp curves. After Crystal Creek campground you will enter into a vast open landscape with a few options to choose from. (In this area you can explore the Crystal Creek Loop or head towards Crystal Creek itself) For now our mission will be to head to Gunsite Pass so we will continue straight down the Gros Ventre Road for another 6.7 miles where we will reach the intersection of Gros Ventre and FR30410 (Large Sign with Ranch and Forest Service information is at this intersection). At this intersection you want to take a left to head onto FR30410. You will know you made the right left when you cross a bridge in 800ft. This bridge crosses the Gros Ventre River. Continue straight down 30410 for another two miles (you will pass FR30408 on your left (Dry Dallas) first then pass 30409 (Goosewing Ranch on your right)). Gunsite pass continues for another 5.8 miles up a very rocky mountain pass. Please drive slow as you do not want to puncture a tire out here! Gunsite pass has a number of spur trails that can take you to some great picnic spots as well as some great views from the top of the access road. Please drive slow towards the top as there are some steep drop offs! If you do encounter a mechanical issue in this area the Goosewing Ranch does have a satellite phone and can contact the sheriffs office who will get ahold of us. Recovery times for damage in this area can take upwards of 2 hours to reach you via truck. Please do your best to make smart decisions in this area.
When returning down gunsight pass depending on the time of the year you have two options. Heading across the Gros Ventre Bridge or crossing multiple river and creek crossings. If you are in the area from June- Mid August you will need to proceed back to the Gros Ventre road by making a right at the bottom of Gunsite and heading back to the Gros Ventre Bridge. After crossing the bridge at the top of the hill you can take a left and head back on the Gros Ventre road towards Soda Lake. A nice remote lake and a great spot for a picnic lunch. 4 miles down the Gros Ventre road you will find the intersection of 30437 on your right hand side. This is the Soda Lake access road. Continue up this open access around for about a mile and it will dead end you at Soda Lake. Heading back to the Gros Ventre Road you can cross the main road to open access road 30348. This open access road leads to a winter Elk Feeding ground 1.68 miles down the road. Watch out for cows in this area. This will dead end you into a river crossing where during the beginning of our season (June- Mid August) the river might be to deep to cross or might be running to fast. Please check with the front desk agent during checkout to see if the river is crossable. Typically if it is not crossable you can head back to the Gros Ventre road and make a right and check out the rest of the Gros Ventre Road which dead ends in the Little Cow Creek Area in about 6 miles. Here you will turn around and head back the same way you came in.
If you are at the bottom of Gunsite Pass in (Late August- Oct) you should be able to do the multiple creek crossings and river crossings. Please check with the Front Desk staff during checkout to see if the crossings are open. When you reach the intersection of 30415 (Gunsite Pass) and FR 30410 continue downhill. (If you made a right on 30410 you would head back to the bridge) You will pass a few private ranches on your right hand side. Proceed 2.6 miles until you reach 30411 (Elk track Ranch Rd) on your right hand side. There is a bit of a zig zag here please see pictures! You will cross a small stream during the 1.6 miles until you will reach 30438 on you right. This road leads you down through the riverbed until you reach the first river crossing. At this river crossing you are looking for a rock shelf that crosses the river at an angle. Please do not drive up the river. It gets very deep and can sink a side by side! Please cross only at the shelf! After crossing the first river crossing you will continue down a narrow hillside trail system please go slow here. In .7 of mile on your left hand side you will see trail 30430. This is a short trail that can take you on top of the plateau for a great view of the valley. This trail access on the plateau only goes for .5 of a mile before it turns into a 5oin or less trail system. Please turn around before the 50in trail network as our side by sides are to wide! When you come back down the short hill make a left and head towards the next river crossing. The next river crossing is typically the largest and is .6 miles down the trail. Similar to the last river crossing get out and look at the river. You will notice a rock shelf 50 feet down river. Typically when you enter this crossing you want to drive downstream (in the water) rougly 25-50 feet to the shelf turn left cross the river drive the 25 yards back upstream and exit on the other side! Fun times! There is an old abandoned homestead to your right hand side that is cool to check out as well. This area is an elk feeding ground in the winter and typically contains cows in the summer. Continue up 30438 until you reach the Gros Ventre Road. Here you can go straight across the intersection to 30437 to the remote Soda Lake (2 miles) , turn left and head to Little Cow Creek (6.5 miles) or turn right and head back towards Lower slide lake and Jackson. Your choice! Please see photos and maps for more information
You have now explored our Full day Side by Side self guided adventure! Throughout your trip make sure to pay attention to your time. From the very back of Little Cow Creek to Jackson can take over two hours! You need to be passing the Gros Ventre Traffic circle by 4:10 at the latest in order to return to Jackson full of fuel by 5pm. Retracing your steps you can find the Maverick gas station on your right hand side before returning to the shop make sure to fill the side by sides with 91 octane. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you have!
To Get A Better View of the Following Images Right Click and select “Open Image in New Tab/ Window”