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Free Camping at Yellowstone National Park

As we drove away from the Black Hills of South Dakota, the wonders of Yellowstone National Park were on our horizon. We never know what to expect when traveling to popular parks during peak season, but we hoped to find an awesome free campsite.

Snake River was pretty amazing and located just a few miles from the park’s southern entrance.

Here’s the Breakdown

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Location: John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway

GPS: 44.097, -110.689446

Date/Temp: We camped here for two nights in early August. The highs were in the high 80s, but the evenings dropped into the mid 40s.

Amenities: The campsite offers an amazingly clean vault toilet, multiple trash receptacles, and two bear boxes. There is no water on site, but just down the road you can get some water from the side of the Flag Ranch store.

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Noise: Our site was very quiet. We were the only RV campers, but many tent campers passed through during our short stay.

Wifi/Cell: There is no wifi or cellular service here unless you have satellite internet. It was a dead-zone for AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verzion.

Grocery/Errands: Your best bet is to stock up on groceries before setting up camp. Once you’re here, the closest options are at Flag Ranch or inside Yellowstone – all of which are overpriced.

Dog Friendly: While we camped here with our pup and saw no signs stating it isn’t dog friendly, it’s been brought to our attention that dogs aren’t allowed here. If you’re seeking official confirmation of this, contact the Grand Teton National Park. This spot isn’t in the GTNP, but it is managed by them.

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Entertainment: Yellowstone National Park is a stone’s throw away. We only explored the park for a day, but there is enough to do there to be entertained for weeks!

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  1. joanne hanley says:

    Is it usually crowded and hard to find a site in mid August do you think??

  2. Hannah says:

    I stayed here back in September and a bear pushed our rig in the middle of the night! :O Lol. Definitely remote with 0 type of service (not even a radio station.) I didn’t know anyone else knew about it, cool to see you guys have stayed there too!

  3. Oh My! That must have been really scary! Kyle could have sworn the same thing happened to us, but Im pretty sure it was just our dog getting readjusted. lol

  4. Mel says:

    Our dogs were allowed at Jenny Lake, NOT on the trails. We stayed at Jackson Lake at Counter Bay and our dogs were allowed. All were NPS. If you have them on a 6′ leash we didn’t have any issues. Our dogs are 60 and 90 pounds. You need to check every campground. But hey, take your cat, elephant, zebra, hippo, python, etc. No one will have an issue. We know places have to have rules and we 100% respect them. Last year we went to Vancouver Island. No one was allowed to leave pets in their cars below. Everybody respected dogs space and didnt see any issues round trip.
    People who respect rules are usually fine.

  5. The thing about the dogs doesn’t sound right. Dogs are allowed in NPs but cant be over 100 feet away from established areas like campgrounds or parking lots and must be on a leash.
    Can not be on trails. Did a ranger tell you that? If not I would ignore it. Every NP I’ve ever been in had signs up about dogs so you would know. 😎

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