Name: Amphitheater Lake
Rating: 4.8

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Dogs No Dogs

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Lake · River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Overview

Not overly technical, this hike offers stunning views from Amphitheater Lake and Surprise Lake, a must-see side trip.

Description

Starting from the Lupine Meadows trailhead/parking area, Garnet Canyon Trail contours southward, across Glacier Gulch Creek, and then turns west ascending a semi-steep fall line. Shortly after heading west, the trail is intersected by the Bradley Lake Trail, stay straight (right) here to continue on Garnet Canyon Trail.

From this intersection, the trail switchbacks five times, popping in and out of the trees multiple times. Be sure to take a quick look back at Bradley and Taggart Lake below, as well as Sheep Mountain (11,239') and its "Sleeping Indian" formation across the Jackson Hole Valley. Just after the fifth switchback you'll reach an intersection with Amphitheater Lake Trail - turn right.

Once on the Amphitheater Lake Trail, you'll switchback lazily four more times until the trail hits a steep segment, switchbacking ten more times very sharply. The top of these switchbacks brings you to a nice, gently sloping area that plays host to both Surprise Lake and Amphitheater Lake. These two glacial lakes sit just below Disappointment Peak (11,618') and Surprise Lake features a backcountry campsite (permit required).

History & Background

Early mountaineers thought the slopes leading to Amphitheater Lake would continue to the summit of Grand Teton (13,775'). When they reached the top of the ridge they were disappointed to find it actually ended at the summit of now named Disappointment Peak (11,618').

Contacts

Land Manager: National Park Service - Grand Teton National Park

Shared By:

Tom Robson

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.8 from 83 votes

#2

in West

#45

Overall

4.8 from 83 votes

5 Star		77%
4 Star		22%
3 Star		1%
2 Star		0%
1 Star		0%

Recommended Route Rankings

#2

in West

#2

in Wyoming

#45

Overall

18 Views Last Month

11,442 Since Jan 29, 2016

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Photos

Surprise Lake plunge - Grand Teton rising above. Brrrrr!

Jan 15, 2016 near Moose W…, WY

Jan 21, 2016 near Moose W…, WY

Jan 15, 2016 near Moose W…, WY

Awesome view of the local fauna and valley around the Tetons. Taken on the switchback op to amphitheater lake.

Mar 8, 2020 near Alta, WY

Standing on the outlet of Amphitheater Lake with Surprise Lake below

Sep 27, 2020 near Alta, WY

Oct 28, 2020 near Alta, WY

1 Comment

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

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Add Your Check-In

Check-Ins

Sep 2, 2024

Jacob Bobeck

Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes with Megan. 5.3mi — 4h 21m

Aug 27, 2024

Nathan Knuth

9.9mi

Aug 27, 2024

Justin Knuth

Jul 28, 2024

Gretchen Kroh

to delta lake 6.5mi

May 19, 2024

Tom Herr

Epic hike through the snow only to arrive at a frozen lake! Switchback city in a peaceful mountain forest. Saw 3 bears and 2 eagles. 9.9mi

Sep 24, 2023

Private User

Jul 18, 2023

Chris Schade

9.9mi — 5h 45m

Jul 17, 2023

Yevheniia Novotarska

6h 20m

Jul 3, 2023

Private User

Jun 24, 2023

Lara Verbecken

Mar 4, 2023

N T

Sep 27, 2022

Nate B

Sep 10, 2022

Irene Beusch

Aug 21, 2022

Alejandro Cazar

Jul 30, 2022

Chris Blomshield

Jun 23, 2022

Jack D

Great trail. Nice views and saw 4 bears and a moose. 10mi — 4h 15m

Jun 19, 2022

Paul Robinson

We were not the fastest on the trail. Some snow in the 8,500 8,800 ranges more snow above 9,000 to all snow. 9.9mi

Jun 17, 2022

Korbin Terberg

Jun 12, 2022

Brody Armstrong

Great weather and trail. Last mile was pretty snow covered. Used other people's tracks and the trail to guide to the lake. Worth the work. 9.9mi — 4h 50m

May 23, 2022

Mike Patel

Sep 13, 2021

Zac Johnson

Zac and mel

Aug 22, 2021

Adam Socha

10.8mi — 5h 21m

Aug 20, 2021

Connecticut Hiker

9.9mi — 5h 05m

Aug 17, 2021

Marc Daniel

With Mila after a sexy night with chocolate and quick morning sex — 8h 30m

Aug 1, 2021

Laura Knoll

Jul 15, 2021

Lynn Ann

amphitheater lake hike

Jul 3, 2021

Ivan Vo

Jun 24, 2021

Katie Fink

11.2mi — 3h 58m

Jun 24, 2021

Yasmin Palmer

Hiked to Delta Lake instead

Jun 14, 2021

Rick Negrete

Nov 6, 2020

Haden Smith

Oct 6, 2020

Nathan Woollett

9.9mi — 6h 00m

Sep 18, 2020

Adam Wachs

Sep 16, 2020

Ava Larkins

I'm an average 53 yo female who is not an avid hiker. Hubby and I took 3 hours and 50 min up, 2 hours down. Lovely hike! 11mi — 7h 00m

Sep 10, 2020

Garret Ward

So hard but so fun

Sep 6, 2020

Caroline Ulczycki

Aug 30, 2020

Chris Chu

Aug 28, 2020

Bee Bee

Next time do side trip to secret "delta lake"

Aug 23, 2020

Chase Godard

13mi

Aug 22, 2020

Tasya Robbins

Aug 6, 2020

Emily N

12mi

Aug 3, 2020

Tamara Higgins

Jul 23, 2020

Lizzie Clough

Jul 15, 2020

Lucas Fussell

Jul 10, 2020

Scott Piper

Jul 5, 2020

Greg Winters

Made it to Bradley lake

Jul 1, 2020

Charles.Worthington

rained and snowed 9.9mi

Jun 16, 2020

Dennis Chan

started the trail at 5pm. trail clear until garnet canyon junction, where snow coverage becomes 100% about a mile away from surprise lake. trail is… 9.5mi — 5h 00m

Jun 11, 2020

K S

The about a mile of snow hiking toward the top, pretty views. We saw 5 bears! Beautiful day, hike, and bear sightings 9.5mi — 5h 00m

Feb 8, 2020

Susan Schaefer

Sep 26, 2019

Alexander Huber

Starting in 5 Minutes

Sep 21, 2019

Cam Hill

Sep 7, 2019

Thomas Bogle

Sep 2, 2019

Tilman Giese

Aug 31, 2019

Clark Sperry

9.9mi

Aug 31, 2019

Pia Alcanites

With the Webb's- four black bear sightings. 9.9mi — 6h 30m

Aug 28, 2019

Cheryl S.

9.9mi

Aug 23, 2019

Lucy Blackbourn

Amazing hike and stunning views across both lakes. We were lucky enough to see a baby bear (minus the mum) and a bull elk on the way down — 5h 01m

Aug 17, 2019

Amy Rogers

8:30 to 4:30. Hour at Amphitheater Lake. 12mi

Aug 5, 2019

Brandon Bell

Back down from the Grand, via Garnet Canyon. 3mi — 1h 40m

Aug 4, 2019

Brandon Bell

On the way up to the Grand, via Garnet Canyon. 3mi — 2h 00m

Aug 4, 2019

Tessa Dall

Jul 30, 2019

Tyler Hincy

10mi

Jul 20, 2019

Andrea Risen

Jul 14, 2019

Jenna S

Jul 11, 2019

Anni Hurt

Jul 5, 2019

Alexander Villanueva

Jul 4, 2019

Eric Harrill

9.9mi

May 16, 2019

Mariana Mendez Rivera

Oct 12, 2018

Alexander Huber

Trying to beat sunset

Oct 3, 2018

Danielle Wontor

Sep 26, 2018

Olly Bakke

Sep 6, 2018

Daylene York

10mi

Sep 5, 2018

Mike Downs

9.9mi

Aug 30, 2018

Paul Hoffmann

Aug 26, 2018

Richard Thomas

Aug 22, 2018

Annastayzia Wilson

Aug 21, 2018

Spencer Merage

To delta lake

Aug 19, 2018

jeff green

Aug 17, 2018

Brooks Tellekamp

10mi

Aug 17, 2018

Bryan Dunning

Aug 10, 2018

Nikki B

Lantier, Zacherl, Heying

Aug 7, 2018

Jean-Yves Ruchon

Aug 4, 2018

Jackson Ross-Parent

Great hike, easy trail

Aug 2, 2018

Kyle Bass

very hard but great views and saw a bear! 16mi

Jul 31, 2018

Kevin Luo

10mi

Jul 28, 2018

Ben Rubin

overnight back pack 9.9mi

Jul 27, 2018

John Lindvig

Jul 22, 2018

Mags Carvalho

Excellent view! Was hard on my lungs on the way up. 10.2mi

Jul 18, 2018

Vesper Lynd

9.9mi

Jul 16, 2018

Tosia Przybyl

Jul 15, 2018

Drew Powers

Hung out at Amphitheater Lake for over an hour, eating lunch and watching a pro skier bomb the snow chute at top 10mi

Jul 10, 2018

Talia Wong

Jul 8, 2018

Justin Berger

Jul 4, 2018

Alyssia Kraemer

The view coming down is so much better. 10/10 would do again. 9.9mi

Jul 2, 2018

HTeale

6mi

Jul 2, 2018

Bobrunning Running

6mi

Jun 7, 2018

Cameron Cooper

We made it 0.5 mi from the lake but the snow was too treacherous. I sunk up to my waste at one point! Some other people said the lake was frozen. S… 9mi

Jun 3, 2018

Basil Estermann

Sep 16, 2017

Chris Hinshaw

light dusting of snow. 9.9mi

Sep 1, 2017

David L

Sep 1, 2017

Henrique Casagrande

Amazing! Start early the mid section is very exposed 9.9mi

Aug 26, 2017

Mark Rowan

Aug 24, 2017

T Boulet

Definitely a challenging hike, but the lake is such a great pay off! 8mi — 6h 00m

Aug 12, 2017

James Ortmann

Aug 3, 2017

Kyle Payne

11.5 miles

Jul 31, 2017

Clara LeeWays

Beautiful!

Jul 30, 2017

Roxy F

17 switchbacks 12mi

Jul 28, 2017

Hannah Williams

Jul 26, 2017

David Bodine

Jul 7, 2017

Ariel Pribluda

Jul 2, 2017

Bethany Carmellini

Jun 25, 2017

S.G. Thompson

6.5mi — 4h 00m

Jun 22, 2017

Jake Bohnet

Jun 18, 2017

Christian Burghardt

still a lot of snow up there 9.8mi

Oct 7, 2016

nic sev

Sep 12, 2016

Mathew Swanson

Completed in 4 hours & 45 minutes

Sep 8, 2016

Emily Basten

Trail was incredible. Hard work but very rewarding. Gentler incline at the beginning and end, which definitely helped! — 6h 55m

Sep 5, 2016

scottbailey1234 Bailey

Sep 1, 2016

Evan Pennisi

9.9mi

Aug 21, 2016

Kevin Thompson

Amphitheater lake

Aug 21, 2016

Kean Drake

9.9mi

Aug 8, 2016

William O'Sullivan

Aug 4, 2016

Audrey Whitten

Jul 23, 2016

Alex Bryden

7h 00m

Jul 2, 2016

Gwyn Hampton

Jun 3, 2016

Zachary Overbey

Feb 1, 2016

Piper VanOrd

Love the hike to Surprise/Amphitheater Lakes. Took our kids (11, 12 and 15) on an overnight backpacking trip up here. Tough but so worth it! Well... 4.6mi — 3h 40m

Jul 13, 2015

Zack Jensen

Jul 13, 2014

Lily Douglas

awesome. did it with some wonderful ladies :D

Jul 20, 2004

George Whorten Jr

9.9mi — 10h 00m

Feb 25, 1992

Katie Stoller