Jenny Lake

ASLA 2021 Honor Award

Timeless Style, Rejuvenated Experience

Jenny Lake
Grand Teton National Park

A thoughtful revision of the Jenny Lake visitor area created a welcoming, stewardship-focused experience for visitors of all ages and abilities.

  • ASLA 2021 Honor Award

    "Jenny Lake, the most popular destination with Grand Teton National Park, accommodates more than a million annual visitors, with devastating effects due to its overuse. Now, guests benefit from a new plaza and visitor center, with new trails that can accommodate more people—and a broader range of abilities—while restoring resources and establishing safer, more easily navigable and accessible paths to the lake. These reconfigured one-way traffic trails, which use dry-laid stone to provide stable descent, reduce human impact from erosion and improve visitor flow. Benches throughout the park provide welcome places for respite, with embedded didactics promoting thoughtful mental activity."

    - 2021 Awards Jury

Learn More

Brought to life by a visionary public-private partnership, the Jenny Lake Renewal Project was guided by a multitude of needs.

As one of Grand Teton National Park’s most beloved and heavily visited destinations for nearly a century, this distinctive location demanded a careful approach. Our team sought to renew the Jenny Lake area with a dedication to sterling environmental stewardship, creative and welcoming spaces that compel visitors to connect with the landscape, and increase the accessibility for visitors of all abilities.

Embracing timeless styles of craftsmanship reminiscent of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Era, and utilizing features that seamlessly echo the geology, natural history, and native vegetation of the Jenny Lake Area, we created an award-winning constellation of exhibits, paths, and facilities.

The thoughtful transformation alleviated multiple problems including visitor congestion, lack of logical flow and access to backcountry thoroughfares, destruction of native vegetation and wildlife habitat, harmful erosion due to overuse, and limited accessibility for visitors with specific needs.

Ultimately, the visitor experience at Jenny Lake now reflects the place itself — the Crown Jewel of the Grand Teton’s strand of alpine lakes.

With effortless access, intuitive flow, and careful integration of human-designed elements into the surrounding landscape, the Jenny Lake Renewal Project has made this popular destination more fulfilling and enjoyable than ever before.

Related Work