Grand Teton National Park itself has several established paid campgrounds, but no free boondocking sites. If you’re looking for free camping, you can stay in Bridger-Teton National Forest, right beside the park.
There are three main boondocking areas: from north to south there is Spread Creek, Toppings Lake dispersed campsites, and Shadow Mountain. Even though these are free campgrounds, you’re still limited to staying within a designated campsite. Each area has a 5 day camping limit. The only option of the three with a bathroom is Toppings Lake, which has one pit toilet.
Toppings Lake Dispersed Camping
Coordinates 43°45’50.3″N 110°33’25.7″W
5 day camping limit
Because of the availability of a bathroom, we chose Toppings Lake Road as a base to explore Grand Teton National Park. The main camping area is a dirt parking lot about half a mile from the main road. There’s a separate parking area designated for tent and van campers just behind the RV lot. This whole area was on a bit of a slant, so bring levelers.
We tried driving to the upper sites with our 13’ trailer, but found the road too rough and difficult to turn around on. We ended up sacrificing seclusion for accessibility and staying in the parking lot area. The road to the upper sites was busy with van and tent campers coming and going.
Bathroom
There’s a single pit toilet located in the main parking lot. It was moderately clean, except for the many flies swarming around the ceiling. The toilet was cleaned and maintained by a volunteer, but still ran out of toilet paper one day. Due to how busy this area was in August, there was often a line in the morning.
Cell Service
After staying in Yellowstone National Park, we were getting used to weak or non-existent cell service. While there are still a lot of dead zones in Grand Teton, it is quite a bit easier to find pockets of cell service.
Toppings Lake had about two bars with Verizon, but signal strength varied throughout the day. At night we were able to stream movies, but at other times we struggled to load a website. We found the signal was better on the main road, as well as at the Signal Mountain Lodge and general store.
Location in Grand Teton
Toppings Lake Road has a very central location, with Mormon Row 13.5 miles to the south, and Oxbow Bend 9 miles to the north. The closest grocery store is Dornan’s Moose Grocery Store, also 13.5 miles to the south near Mormon Row. They have a deli with some to go options, as well as a liquor store and a gas station.
Get Your Campsite Early
Toppings Lake is a very busy camping area during the summer. During the day most campers cleared out to explore, but at night we were packed in like sardines. In any other boondocking situation it would be considered impolite to park that close to another rig, but that’s what you get in such a popular area. We recommend arriving in the morning if you want one of the better sites up the hill.
Final Thoughts
Grand Teton is absolutely beautiful, and Toppings Lake was a good free camping option for us. Although it was busy and we weren’t able to drive up the dirt road to find a quieter spot, it was still worth the free price tag! Having a some cell service and bathroom in the area makes things easier for us as well.
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