Grand Tetons trip costThe next De Anza Outdoor Club trip to Grand Teton National Park is planned for September, 2009. See Grand Tetons for details.
The info below is from the 2008 trip, but might be the same for 2009.
Club members are working fundraising to subsidize this huge adventure. If all goes as planned, the De Anza owned kayaks (our models are like small canoes) and gear will be transported to the park and the club will pay the park boating permit fees. (2008 canoe rentals: one place quotes $225 a week, $50 a day or $40 each day for multiple days, another says "full day (8 hours): $82", another is $15 an hour. If we only kayak part of our trip we save $200 to $300 per boat.) We also hope to transport a sailboat.
Beginners please note that the kayaks De Anza owns are not the kind you get your legs stuck in, they are more like user friendly small canoes.
Below, trumpeter swans and young moose photos courtesy of NPS:
 
We will have four or five or ... official kayaking days suitable for beginners and plan to do a short to quite long (your choice of distance, with or without a Ranger Naturalist), hike into Cascade Canyon. The official days of the trip will probably be Sept. 6 to 14. Participants can stay for a shorter, longer or much longer trip. Usually people go to Yellowstone National Park as well.
Compare our trip costs below to a few local outfitters who offer (2008 prices)
a 1/2 day kayak trip for $85, a one day kayak tour for two people $250 per person or four people $160 per person,
a one hour guided sailboat tour for six people for $177,
a 1 day/1 night kayak trip for $249, a 2 or more day trip at $305 (2 people) to $210 per person (four people) per day.
a four hour sunrise driving tour $115
The trip cost paid to the Outdoor Club for the Sept. 2008 trip will be $125 members / $150 other students. NO REFUNDS for no-shows.
The trip cost money will be spent one of two ways:
1) (If the club and/or individual drivers can't transport the De Anza owned kayaks), on rental of canoes, and if there is leftover money, possibly on food. Canoe rentals in 2007 were $50 for 24 hours, so the trip fee won't cover a lot of water adventures if the kayaks can't be transported.
2) If the club can transport the kayaks, (if we can fundraise enough money for tow vehicle gas), the club will pay the park boating permits fees, and since we won't need to apply the trip fee towards canoe rentals if we have a moderate sized group that we have enough kayaks for,
each person will get $50 of their gas expense refunded to them after the trip (they must produce receipts and do paperwork)
and $25 of each trip participant's fee will be pooled and split among the people who help with kayak loading before the trip and especially unloading into storage after the trip, and be credited towards a future (within one year) club event.
Why do we charge this load/unload fee? Because on one of our first trips using the De Anza owned kayaks over 20 people went to Lake Tahoe, but only three women showed to help the faculty advisor and spouse unload all the kayaks at the end of the trip.
If they can be transported, the club will provide: kayaks, paddles, drybags, and lifejackets, (which must be worn and strapped securely). If the group can transport the De Anza owned kayaks, the club will pay the kayak permit fees that Grand Teton park charges. Again, all this is if the De Anza-owned kayaks can be transported, if not, we will rent canoes in the park. AND please note that if we have a big group, the first signed up and paid will have priority for boat use, others will need to rent craft.
If we fundraise enough, (or the money will come from the trip fee if we don't have to rent canoes), the club will pay $10 each towards two group brunches after early morning kayaking, and $10 for the pre-hike boat ride across Jenny Lake to cut 2 miles each way off the major planned hike and let people explore farther.
Trip participants are responsible for all other arrangements and costs, including, but not limited to: food, park entrance fees, campsite, cabin or hotel cost, gas and other transportation costs, sleeping and eating gear and other personal gear. (The local outfitters mentioned above also do not cover any of this, except perhaps meals on overnights.)
Before you sign up the advisor must see and approve of your rain jacket/pants, tent, sleeping bag, fleece jacket/pants and long johns. If you don't have a proper rain jacket/pants, fleece jacket/pants and long johns during the trip you will not go kayaking.
 
TOTAL COST???
Since different people will have different budgets:
drive or fly; some may camp, some may get a hotel room / suite, (most usually share a cheap cabin),
... the trip cost will vary.
Below you can find:
The cheap trip,
The not-so cheap trip
The slightly more costly trip, but less driving time also known as the I-can't-get-much-time-off-work trip
and The Expensive Trip
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The cheap trip
See trip cost paid to the Outdoor Club, (above), and add:
Stuff six or more people into a car and split the gas, $160 to $180 each? We have the equipment to help you secure a kayak on top of most cars, (even on a Prius ... for a really cheap trip).
(Depending on trip size, we might be able to transport some camping gear on the kayak trailer, but the club, drivers, officers, advisor, etc. can't be responsible for gear.)
Grand Tetons trip transportation has driving distances and guesses at gas cost (often much lower out of state), previous trip examples, etc.
Split the park vehicle entrance fee, or better yet, find someone to carpool with who already has a National Parks pass.
Don't exceed the speed limit. According to the FTC, "The faster you drive, the more fuel you use. For example, driving at 65 miles per hour (mph), rather than 55 mph, increases fuel consumption by 20 percent. Driving at 75 mph, rather than 65 mph, increases fuel consumption by another 25 percent...If you anticipate traffic conditions and don't tailgate, you can avoid unnecessary braking and acceleration, and improve your fuel economy by 5 to 10 percent."
Another article said that when gas prices are at $4.50, "you can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an extra 30 cents per gallon for gas."
Eat food from home or the local grocery, including peanut butter sandwiches.
(As of June, 2008, the sales tax is 6% (state and county levy), but Teton Village, 7 miles from Moose and 11 miles from Jackson, on the Moose-Wilson road, voted an extra 2% making anything you buy there taxed at 8%.)
Get a Colter Bay campsite instead of a cabin: $18 per night (6 people max.) = $3 each night, (more at Jenny Lake campground, less with a Golden Age Passport). If there are less than 3 people who want to camp the hikers/cyclists walk-in site at Colter Bay is $7 per person per night and would be cheaper than a campsite for a small number of people. This walk-in site would work for people who don't have a vehicle or can park it with the rest of the group at the cabins.
(For our fall trips, no reservations for campsites are needed.)
Club members can rent tents, insulated sleeping pads, dining canopies, stoves, lanterns, etc. with fully refundable cleaning and late fees.
Help us fundraise so you can take advantage of the club paying for a couple of brunches and a pre-hike boat ride.
Bring your own bike and/or fishing gear.
Budget for ice to refill ice chests, unexpected emergencies, unexpected souvenir shopping.
Convince a trip member staying in a cabin or hotel room to let you use their shower or budget $3.50 per shower at the Colter Bay shower house/launderette (2007 price).
The not-so cheap trip
See trip cost paid to the Outdoor Club, (above), and add:
Split the cost of a rental car and gas.
Split the park vehicle entrance fee, or better yet, find someone to carpool with who already has a National Parks pass.
Make your own food but eat out a few meals besides that, including possibly
one really nice dinner ($25-45?) and one really nice buffet breakfast ($11 +?).
Split the cost of a cabin:
four people in a two bedroom, (two double bed), one bath cabin = $189.74 = $47.44 per night each,
six people in a two bedroom, one bath cabin $210.94 per night = $35.16 each per night,
eight people, $232.14 per night or $29.02 each,
ten people (with two extra rollaway beds at $10 each), $273.34, or $27.33 each.
FAQ: Why should I pay for a cabin when I can camp for much less?
Because even when people are behaving courteously towards others, campgrounds are noisy until late at night and again fairly early in the morning. If you share a cabin with others who agree to the same schedule you can get to sleep early, be up before sunrise, (or take mid-day naps if you stayed up late and got up early). That's the reason people on this trip have shared two bedroom, one bath cabins to some extent every year we have gone. (If you get a one bedroom, one bath cabin, you have a shared wall with others that is not thick enough to keep you from missing seemingly inevitable family arguments.)
Plus, interesting fall weather is easier to deal with in a cabin.
Help us fundraise so you can take advantage of the club paying for a couple of brunches and a pre-hike boat ride.
T-shirts, postcards, more film you need to buy, maybe a laundromat charge. Budget for ice to refill ice chests, unexpected emergencies, unexpected souvenir shopping. Bring your own bike and/or fishing gear.
I-can't-get-much-time-off-work trip
is the above The not-so cheap trip, but fly into Salt Lake (two hour flight plus one hour time change), rent a car and drive the last six hours.
If you could only get, for example, the weekend and three weekdays off of work, try this:
Fly out after work on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 9. Get a rental car at the airport and drive through that night.
You'll be in the Tetons, ready to play, by Wednesday. Return home by car and plane on Sunday.
When we looked online at various cheap ticket websites in April, 2008, a September 2008 round trip from San Jose to Salt Lake was going for $224 and people spotted an occasional much lower price. But also check round trip to Jackson - it can sometimes not be much higher, we found $298 in April.
In 2007 a guy who wanted to ride in a carpool one way and fly home at the end of the trip found that the round trip ticket was less than the one-way.
If you look online for tickets, the airport code for San Jose is SJC, for Salt Lake it's SLC and for Jackson, Wyoming it's JAC.
Grand Tetons trip transportation has flight info, driving distances and guesses at gas cost, previous trip examples, etc.
The Expensive Trip
also known as ...Grand Teton National Park on $2,000+ a day...
See trip cost paid to the Outdoor Club, (at the top, above), and add:
Fly into Jackson Hole (Delta $298 to $506 coach, $ 949 to $1,510 first class) and rent a car.
Rent a Harley for $150 or a Mini Cooper for $100 for 24 hours.
Eat out most of the time, including at least one exceptional dinner ($100 - 400?) and at least one extra nice buffet breakfast ($25 +).
Split the cost of a two bedroom one bath cabin between two people ($174.90 = $87.45 each per night), or get a great hotel room with a kitchen, TV, fireplace, (or a suite for $510-654 per night).
Sign up late after twenty other people have first claim on the ten De Anza kayaks, so you get to pay for canoe rentals ($50 to $65 a day for eight days?) = $400.
White water rafting (8 miles...$54 +/-, more with meals) and the poster of you rafting they would like to sell you, see info at: Grand Tetons whitewater rafting,
bike rental (Bike rentals in Moose: (2008) hour $10, half day $25, 24 hours $35, week $180) see also Grand Tetons biking,
horseback riding ($34-$50?), Jackson Lake dinner cruise $57, unexpected emergencies.
Head into Jackson and spend $1,000 to $10,000 or $100,000+ on a painting or sculpture. There are a dozen stores in Jackson ready to dress you to the part of the matriarch of a wealthy ranching family.
A hanggliding flight $169 to $249. A ten mile private balloon ride can set you back $1,200.
A two day yoga / climbing lesson for $495.
A four day private Grand Teton ascent, no experience necessary $1780.
Do you think you can get by without guided fly fishing ($495 for a day)?
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If you fly or stuff a lot of people in a car, you will be limited in what you can bring. If we can transport the kayaks we will also bring your lifejacket, paddle and dry bag(s). We might also have room on the trailer for a tent or small duffle bag (or more gear, depending on how may people sign up). The club and/or the drivers will not be responsible for the safety of items we transport for you.
It can be difficult to coordinate timing of activities if we don't all stay in the same area, so we've all stayed at Colter Bay (cabins or campground) for at least part of the time on previous trips.
If you will be staying in a Colter bay cabin, go directly to Grand Tetons trip equipment for details about the cabins and the logistics of sharing one.
If you want a better room, Grand Tetons hotels, cabins, lodging has details about all the properties in the park, including a description of which rooms on the grounds of Jackson Lake Lodge have the best/worst views.
Grand Tetons trip transportation has driving distances and guesses at gas cost, etc.
Also budget for club equipment rental deposits (which take a while to get returned) and film developing and printing.
Budget for hotel rooms on the way if your vehicle doesn't drive straight through, or if you have an emergency on the way.
Park entrance fees announced in April, 2008 will be $12 per person on foot or bike for a week, $25 per car for one week, valid at both GT and Yellowstone. The National Parks annual pass is $80, good at all National Parks for a year. If you go on our usual Yosemite trips, and plan to spend more than a week in Grand Tetons/Yellowstone, the $80 pass could be a good deal.
The trip is open only to De Anza students/staff. Answers to most questions about how the club works are at: Outdoor Club Basic Info The main rules common to most of our trips, including who is eligible to go, are at: Outdoor Club trip rules.
For details about club events and on how to find us to pay for a membership, sign up for events or volunteer, go to:
Outdoor Club Coming Attractions
We can expect sunny days and rain/thunderstorms, or possibly even a little overnight snow. Interesting weather does not cancel club events. Club activity areas, and all park restrooms or other buildings are non-smoking. Even though there is smoking allowed in Wyoming restaurants, all National Park restaurants, etc. are non-smoking. No alcohol or drug use is allowed during club activities. This is not just a rule written to make the College happy, it is a trip rule.
The trip will only be an official club event while we are kayaking (or canoeing), and possibly a hike or some other sightseeing or a group meal at a restaurant or an overnight canoe trip.
How you get to Grand Teton National Park, where you stay overnight, most meals, most sightseeing, any bike riding, whitewater rafting or horseback riding, going to a movie in town, etc. will not be official club business.
The faculty advisor must be along for all kayak/canoe use, and all safety recommendations by the advisor, park and De Anza
rules must be followed.
For any early fall trip, if you were a student during spring quarter you don't have to take summer quarter classes to go on our summer quarter trips. (Early/Mid September before fall quarter starts is considered a part of summer quarter.) Likewise, faculty don't have to teach summer quarter.
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Grand Tetons trip pages index has brief descriptions of most of the pages about this trip.
Back to:
The cheap trip,
The not-so cheap trip
The slightly more costly trip, but less driving time also known as the I-can't-get-much-time-off-work trip
and The Expensive Trip.
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