Boondocking near Yellowstone and Grand Teton

[LarryDel]

Hello. We are visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton in a few days September 18, 2023. We were told there were many places mostly with the National Park Service where you can pull in for free camping. We havd a small 21 ft Travel Trailer. We do not need hook ups. Just wanted to try boondocking and enjoying nature. Any help would be appreciated.

Larry

[agesilaus]

OK,first, we are knowledgeable about this. You can camp at The Tetons in Sept inside the park, we did 10 days a few weeks ago. Check Rec.gov and see if you can book spots. We had to move three times in that ten days.
Otherwise your best bet is Shadow Mountain NF dispersed camping. A very good camp just outside the park past the Mormon Village area. But there are only 15 or so spots there.
Otherwise there is a cg at Slide Lake past shadow mountain to the east. Its rather far out and the last mile or so of road is rough.

There is another dispersed CG at s cg at something lakes near the Triple X Ranch this is a dangerous spot, if its been raining you will get stuck.

For YNP, about 17 miles west of Gardiner is the BLM dispersed CG called Carabella. It is marked a fishing access area but there are 15 or so good spots on the on the Madison River. Good cell phone signal there and at Shadow Mountain. Just to the south, 15 mi from Gardiner is USNF Canyon CG which generally has open spots in the morning. Not a great spot, no cell signal and the road is rock strewn and rough and narrow. We used it will waiting for an open spot at Carablla.

O Outside+- the Cody gate there are several nice NF CG. No cell signal. Around Island Park, west pf West Yellowstone there are many NF dispersed cg.

We have done a lot of camping at these two parks the last few uears. And we got got in Bridge Lake cg in YNNP for five days this year rethought after the Tetons. They are closed now.

The weather can get very bad this time of year.

[TexasShadow]

For Teton: there is a national forest campground at Slide Lake called Atherton. it isn't free, but it's not as expensive as the park campgrounds.
there are some national forest campgrounds outside of Yellowstone, but the only one close to a park entrance is just north of West Yellowstone. Can't recall the name, sorry.

[SuperBus]

I would agree; the surrounding National Forests could work. However, Yellowstone is massive and Grand Tetons isn't all that small either. We just got back from a trip to both, where we stayed in between the parks at Flagg Ranch (National Park campground). It was conveniently located, but it was still an hour from the first real attraction in either park. You may want to keep that in mind depending on the goal of your trip to those parks. If you are further outside in one of the National Forest Parks, it'll be a good drive before you are inside the National Parks at your trailhead, boat launch, thermal feature, etc.

[dave54]

Thermoguy wrote:
I don't think you can camp outside a campground in Yellowstone. Not sure about Grand Teton. Did you look at their websites? They should have camping rules. I know Yellowstone has campgrounds that only allow solid sided trailers, no tents. Did you look for reservations at the campsites within Yellowstone? I'm sure you want to leave your trailer somewhere so you can stop at the sites, it can be hard to get parking if you have a trailer or something that doesn't fit in a conventional parking spot.

Pretty sure that is correct. No dispersed camping inside the NP. However, the National Forests surrounding the Park are open to boondocking. You would have to drive in every day, leaving your rig at your campsite.

[Thermoguy]

I don't think you can camp outside a campground in Yellowstone. Not sure about Grand Teton. Did you look at their websites? They should have camping rules. I know Yellowstone has campgrounds that only allow solid sided trailers, no tents. Did you look for reservations at the campsites within Yellowstone? I'm sure you want to leave your trailer somewhere so you can stop at the sites, it can be hard to get parking if you have a trailer or something that doesn't fit in a conventional parking spot.