West Tensleep Lake

Nice Campground tucked away next to a mountain lake. We spent 5 nights in site 01 and really enjoyed it, and we will come back but not stay as many days in the future. The gravel road is long and fairly rough, but just take it slow and you’ll have no issue.
Some specific notes:
1. Site 2 is by far the best for campers who need max sun for solar panels, and is the best site for larger campers or trailers with slides. It’s pretty wide open. Site 1 has the best “waterfront”, however its next to the entrance and the public launch for kayaks…does lead to some noise and traffic that other sites dont have to deal with, including a consistent parade of UTVs. We had to chase the sun with auxiliary solar panels during the day in order to keep the batteries charged.
2. The lake itself has clear water, but a very muddy bottom - not really a hard pack. Specifically the trails headed north next to the lake’s feeder stream leads to some fantastic isolated spots to relax near a mountain stream. Lots of people used inflatable kayaks or SUPs on the lake and they seemed to work well.
3. The camp “host” was a great lady who is based down the mountain at one of the other campgrounds. Every morning around 8am she would pick up the garbage (you can leave by your site post if you are gone) and has firewood for sale. I would guess this practice is standard every season.
4. Be mindful of the size of your trailer. We had a Black Series HQ19 and its very responsive and easy to maneuver when backing in, and site 1 took a couple of attempts to back in where I wanted it. Really big rigs (over 26’ etc) may have some challenges getting into site 1 due to mature trees on either side of the site entrance.
5. The altitude kicked our butts for the first few days, and I didnt realize its much higher than where we stayed near the Tetons in the past. VERY quiet at night…not used to that.
6. Very clean vault toilets, and well water was great.

Campsite 9 is spacious. It’s close to the pit toilets but we couldn’t really smell them but we were there in late August.

the host is great. a sign saying she's at deer park would be helpful, but other than that perfect.

Beautiful lake with mountain views, and the campsite we had was roomy enough for our TT and our son's tent. Downside was the very busy weekend we had booked. All sites filled, vehicles coming and going, noise, and even day-use people hauling kayaks and paddle boards to the lake between our site and the next. Considering the long wash-boardy drive in, I was surprised to see all the activity.

One of our favorite campgrounds

As usual, there is plenty to do in this area and the camping crowd seemed relaxed and well behaved. The campsite host (from Island Park) makes several passes through each day-she does a great job of keeping things in order / maintaining cleanliness (pit toilets -garbage pick-up completed daily). Water from the well is cold and refreshing! Great area !!!

Great spot next to the lake. Clean campsites, good drop toilets, and great views.

Nice campground with beautiful campsites right on the lake. The campsite that we had was perfect, not too close to neighboring sites and had a nice picnic table and campfire ring with grill grate. Even had a huge log right by the fire pit to sit on so chairs weren't needed. Plenty of trails nearby and the views were amazing. Also vault toilets were clean and water pump worked great for potable water. Will definitely visit this campground again!

Despite the tentsite feeling like I was in a fishbowl, the campsite was clean and huge.
A hike to Tensleep Falls was incredibly beautiful as was kayaking and flyfishing on the gorgeous lake.

West Tensleep Lake is one of my favorite places in the world.