Lava Mountain Lodge

Lava Mountain Lodge sits at about 7,200 feet on US-26/287, out where the highway between Dubois and Jackson climbs toward Togwotee Pass. That address is the whole proposition. You are not staying in a town, you are staying on the corridor, roughly 55 miles from Jackson and around twenty minutes from Dubois, with Shoshone National Forest on the doorstep. For some trips that is exactly right. For others it is a long dark drive back after dinner. This page is mostly about telling those two trips apart.

What you get

The property runs wider than a roadside motel. There are ten rooms in the main lodge, a set of cabins, and a multi-bedroom house that groups rent whole. Behind that sit RV hookups and camping spots. On site there is a restaurant and bar, a convenience store, a gas station, guest laundry, a gym, and event space the owners put at roughly 4,750 square feet across two rooms with capacity around 100.

The two room types the booking engine exposes directly are the Lodge Two Queen Room, which sleeps four with a private bath, flat-screen TV and wifi, and the Grandview Cabin, which adds a full kitchen, a living room with a futon, and a loft with crash pads. Published room counts range from ten to twenty depending on which listing you read, which is a fair signal the inventory has been reshuffled recently. Call if the exact configuration matters to your group.

What the address actually buys you

Winter is the clearest case. The Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail runs through the immediate area and the lodge has groomed trail access from the property itself, plus a snowmobile repair shop and a rental fleet of sleds and ATVs the current owners have been building out. If your trip is a sled trip, staying on the trail system instead of trailering out of Jackson every morning is worth real money and real hours.

Summer is a different argument. Moran Junction and the eastern gate into Grand Teton are about 45 minutes west over the pass, and the Wind River country and Shoshone National Forest open up to the east. If you are driving the Yellowstone loop rather than basing in Jackson, this is a sensible overnight in the middle of it. If you want to walk to dinner and be in Grand Teton at sunrise, it is not.

Check the date on the reviews before you trust them

This matters more here than on most pages. The property sold on 28 February 2025 and was renovated the same year. The restaurant was renamed from the Wilderness Boundary to the CD Trail Bar and Grill and given a new menu. Management confirmed all of that publicly in March 2026.

The consequence is that the review pools are split down the middle and the big ones sit on the wrong side of it. Expedia and Hotels.com carry close to 300 reviews averaging 7.2 out of 10, and almost all of them predate the sale. TripAdvisor's property listing has been reset and now shows a handful of 2026 stays, all five stars, all referring to new rooms and new management. The restaurant listing, which was not reset, sits at 4.5 from 33 reviews.

Neither number is a lie and neither is much use on its own. What you can reasonably conclude is that the place was rough for a stretch, that money and attention have gone into it, and that the sample of post-renovation stays is still too small to draw a firm line under. Read the 2026 reviews and discount anything older than spring 2025.

Things to weigh

There is no front desk. Check-in is by smart lock, with the code and instructions emailed the day before arrival, and you are expected to register online in advance. It works fine when it works. If you land late, tired, on a phone with no signal, it is less charming.

Which raises coverage. Campground records for the property report T-Mobile as strong and Verizon as absent. Do not plan on a Verizon phone pulling up your check-in email in the parking lot. Screenshot it in Dubois or Jackson.

There is no pool and no hot tub, which some people expect at a mountain lodge at this price. Standard rooms have been listing in the region of $235 to $311, so this is not a budget bunk. It is a mid-tier rate for a property whose main asset is where it stands.

The pet policy is genuinely unclear. Travel Wyoming lists the lodge as dog and horse friendly with free corrals for guests, while the Expedia listing states pets are not allowed. Ring and get an answer before you drive up with a dog in the back.

Before you go

The lodge has fuel and a convenience store, which is more than most of that stretch of highway offers, but it is not a grocery run. Load up in Jackson or Dubois. In winter, WYDOT plows US-26/287 over the pass and keeps it open, but blizzards close it for days at a time, so check WYDOT conditions the morning you drive rather than the night before, and bring something with four-wheel or all-wheel drive. Elevation is worth a thought too. You are sleeping at around 7,200 feet and the pass tops out at 9,655, which is enough to flatten sea-level visitors on their first night.

Other similar businesses

The closest direct comparison is Togwotee Mountain Lodge, further west toward Moran, larger and more resort-shaped, with its own guided snowmobile operation. Hatchet Resort sits lower down the corridor in Buffalo Valley and puts you closer to the park gate. Turpin Meadow Ranch is the upmarket option in the same valley if the trip is about the lodging rather than the mileage. And if you are staying at Lava and want a guided day rather than your own sled, Togwotee Adventures works the same trail system.

What it comes down to

If you are riding Togwotee, this is a sensible place to sleep, and waking up on the trail system is the point. If you are running the Yellowstone and Grand Teton loop and want one night in the middle instead of doubling back to town, it works. If you want Jackson, stay in Jackson. The property has clearly had work done and the recent guests say so, but the post-renovation record is still short, so book it for the location and treat everything else as upside.

FAQ

Do I need four-wheel drive to stay here in winter?

Not legally, but the operators recommend four-wheel or all-wheel drive and it is sound advice. The highway is plowed and stays open in normal weather, but you are at 7,200 feet on a pass road and conditions between the lodge and either town can turn while you are at dinner. A front-wheel-drive car on all-seasons will get you there most days and strand you on a few.

Is this a practical base for Grand Teton, or only for Yellowstone trips?

It works better as a Yellowstone-loop stop than as a Grand Teton base. Moran Junction and the park's eastern gate are about 45 minutes west, so a Teton day means a real drive each way. If Grand Teton is the whole trip, Buffalo Valley or somewhere inside the park puts you closer.

Can a group take the whole property?

Yes. Full property buyouts are one of the things the current owners actively market, alongside weddings, corporate retreats, wellness retreats and family reunions. There is a multi-bedroom house on site and roughly 4,750 square feet of event space. Buyout and event enquiries go through the form on the lodge's own site rather than the booking engine.