Boat Rentals in Wyoming — Jackson Lake, Flaming Gorge, Boysen
Two of Wyoming's best boating waters sit inside national parks, which means state registration is only half the permit story. Outside the parks the reservoirs are big, high and windy — Flaming Gorge, Boysen, Glendo, Seminoe — and the invasive-species inspection regime is among the strictest in the country.
Dominant boat types in Wyoming
Notable waters in Wyoming
Jackson Lake (Grand Teton National Park)
The Teton range rises straight out of it; a park permit is required in addition to state registration.
Flaming Gorge Reservoir (Green River)
The Wyoming end is open, windy sailing water above the Utah canyon section.
Boysen Reservoir (Shoshoni)
Wind River country — 76 miles of shoreline right above the Wind River Canyon.
Glendo Reservoir
Sand beaches and warm water; the closest big lake to the Colorado Front Range crowd.
Buffalo Bill Reservoir (Cody)
Between Cody and Yellowstone's east gate, famous for wind and for the canyon that funnels it.
Yellowstone Lake
136 square miles at 7,700 feet inside the park — motorized use is restricted and the water is lethally cold.
Wyoming state boating rules
Wyoming Game & Fish Department — Fishing & Boating- 1
Watercraft entering Wyoming from out of state during the inspection season must be inspected before they touch water — not after launching.
- 2
An AIS decal is required annually for all watercraft, resident and nonresident, motorized or not.
- 3
Boating inside Grand Teton or Yellowstone requires a National Park Service permit in addition to state registration, and Yellowstone prohibits personal watercraft entirely.
- 4
Wyoming sets no statewide boater-education card requirement, which puts more weight on host briefings and on the AIS paperwork.
- 5
BUI threshold BAC 0.08; Game & Fish and NPS rangers both patrol the Teton-corridor water.
What the Wyoming state agency doesn't tell you
PickRV — first-hand context that the official .gov pages skip.
Jackson Lake sits at 6,772 feet and is glacier-fed: the surface rarely passes the low 60s, so a swamped boat becomes a hypothermia problem in minutes rather than hours.
The park boat permit is a separate sticker with its own inspection, and rangers check it at the Colter Bay and Signal Mountain ramps.
Buffalo Bill Reservoir sits in a wind tunnel between the Absaroka ranges; the state park posts wind advisories and the ramp regularly empties by noon.
The out-of-state inspection requirement is enforced at ports of entry as well as ramps — arriving Sunday evening with an uninspected boat usually means waiting until Monday.
Yellowstone Lake looks like an inland sea and behaves like one: afternoon squalls, no PWC, and water cold enough that park guidance treats immersion as an emergency.
Best season
June-September. Peak: July-August. High-elevation lakes ice out late and Jackson Lake never really warms.
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Our scale — honest
Wyoming coverage clusters around Jackson and the Teton corridor, with Cody-area listings on Buffalo Bill and a smaller eastern presence on Glendo and Guernsey.
Wyoming boat rental FAQ
Do I need a separate permit for Jackson Lake?
Yes. Grand Teton National Park issues its own boat permit with its own inspection. State registration alone will not get you off the ramp.
Can I ride a jet ski in Yellowstone?
No. Personal watercraft are prohibited inside Yellowstone National Park. Boysen, Glendo and Flaming Gorge are the nearby alternatives.
Wyoming rules · last verified 2026-05-10
- State rental tax
- 7% · not collected by PickRV
- Boater education
- Not required by the state
- Alcohol aboard
- Open container prohibited in cabin
Yellowstone: rigs >35ft restricted from Dunraven + Beartooth passes