Parking
Use the Colter Bay Marina parking lot and start at the Hermitage Point Trailhead near the boat launch at the lot’s south end. Follow the signed Swan Lake branch just past the small park service building.
Overview
About Swan Lake Trail
Why go
- Lily-pad shallows and wetland birds for little elevation gain.
Heads up
- Published and mapped mileages differ, so the exact total is uncertain.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Grand Teton map
Full mapElevation6,795–6,870 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Grand Teton alerts
- ClosureConstruction closures and delaysConstruction is causing current road and area closures and delays across Grand Teton; use the signed Taggart Trail detour. - Moose-Wilson Road is closed between Moose and Laurance S.Official details
- ClosureJackson Lake boat ramps closed; Signal launch riskColter Bay and Leeks boat ramps are closed; Signal Mountain Boat Ramp is open, but water is below the ramp edge and loose cobbles make launching risky.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Grand Teton Tour Guide
Your drive to Swan Lake Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Grand Teton National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Grand Teton audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Colter Bay: Lake Views, Artists and Lunch0:00 / 0:32
“Colter Bay's waterfront is ahead, with an easy lake view from the visitor center's deck. Start there to look across Jackson Lake toward Mount Moran.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Grand Teton Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Colter Bay: Picnic Tables and a Pebbly Beach
- Fishing in Formation
- A Stone Tool’s Chemical Fingerprint
- Whiskers Beneath the Surface
- 118 audio storiesacross Grand Teton’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grizzly Bear, Brown Bear, Gray Wolf, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 70 trails, 121 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“…We have been driving around with the audio tour and it has been informational and spot on. The whole family has been impressed. We used it for Yellowstone and Grand Teton.”
Trail guide
Hiking Swan Lake Trail
The short versionSwan Lake Trail is an easy out-and-back from Hermitage Point Trailhead at the south end of…
Swan Lake Trail is an easy out-and-back from Hermitage Point Trailhead at the south end of Colter Bay Marina. The mapped route is about 1.9 miles round trip with roughly 50 feet of climbing. A separate description of this standalone walk lists 2.7 miles, so the exact total is uncertain; check the Swan Lake sign or park map if mileage matters. The payoff is the long, narrow lake, not a summit.
Find the turnStart near the boat launch and follow the Hermitage Point approach past marina views filtered…
Start near the boat launch and follow the Hermitage Point approach past marina views filtered through lodgepole pines. Just beyond a small park service building, take the signed Swan Lake branch left. It climbs gently through a sagebrush meadow and lodgepole forest to the lake’s north end, then follows the shore, briefly leaves it, and returns at a lakeside vista. Turn around there to keep this the single-lake walk; onward paths lead toward Heron Pond and Hermitage Point.
Stay by the waterSwan Lake is long and slender, edged with willows, forest and lily pads.
Swan Lake is long and slender, edged with willows, forest and lily pads. Waterfowl are a frequent reason to linger, and moose also use this wetland habitat. At the vista, frame the reeds and lily pads in front of the open water; that gives the lake a sense of scale.
Make it workAllow about 1.5 hours for the mapped outing and time at the shore.
Allow about 1.5 hours for the mapped outing and time at the shore. This is a low-effort nature walk rather than a workout. Grand Teton does not allow pets on its trails, and the park entrance fee applies.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Grand Teton
172 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
195 sightingsBrown BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
32 sightingsGray WolfMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,816 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
614 sightingsBisonMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
738 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Grand Teton. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
