Free Camping Collection with

Camper submitted image from Lily Lake - 1

Camper submitted image from Lily Lake - 2

Nature

Camper submitted image from Lily Lake - 3

Roads

Camper submitted image from Lily Lake - 4

People

Camper submitted image from Lily Lake - 5

Animals

Free Camping Collection

Established Camping

Lily Lake

9 Reviews

About

National Forest

Shoshone National Forest

This dispersed camping area has eight camping spots and a boat launch to the picturesque Lily Lake. 16-day stay limit Water: Not available This site is not accessible to persons with mobility impairments No cell service Notes: Boat launch, three shared bear boxes, five picnic tables, but no metal fire rings or grates. No garbage collection

Suggest an Edit

Location

Lily Lake is located in Wyoming

Directions

From Cody, take State Highway 120 north for 16 miles. Turn left onto State Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway and proceed about 46 miles to the junction with U.S. Highway 212, the Beartooth All-American Road. Turn right onto Highway 212 and travel about 0.75 mile to Forest Road 128. Turn left onto Forest Road 128 for about 1 mile to the campground.

Coordinates

44.94500063 N
109.71400028 W

Open in Google Maps

The Dyrt Alerts

Get reservations at sold-out campgrounds.

Learn More

Access

Drive-In
Park next to your site
Walk-In
Park in a lot, walk to your site.

Stay Connected

WiFi
Unknown
Verizon
Unknown
AT&T
Unknown
T-Mobile
Unknown

Site Types

Tent Sites
RV Sites
Standard (Tent/RV)
Dispersed
Group

Features

For Campers

Phone Service
Alcohol
Pets
Fires

For Vehicles

Pull-Through Sites
Big Rig Friendly

Enjoy camping on government land. Limited or no services at this camping area.

PERMIT might be REQUIRED

We curate permit requirements across the US for our PRO members. Try PRO to see if Lily Lake needs a permit.

Try PRO for Free

For information regarding reservations, contact this campground directly.

First Come - First Served

The Dyrt Alerts

Get reservations at sold-out campgrounds.

Learn More

Contact

General Info

Alyson M.

Legend

Reviewed Aug. 21, 2023

Perfect private spot

Make sure to get directions ahead of time, there is no service coming from Yellowstone, luckily we saved the map ahead of time. We pulled in on a Saturday night around 7pm and snagged a spot up top. We didn’t go down by the lake or check out those sites but we saw about 6+ spots up top. All had nice views and were far from the main road. The road was smooth coming up, but looked rough going down to the lower sites/boat ramp.

Month of VisitSeptember

(7) View All

Eric A.

Guide

Reviewed Aug. 18, 2023

Decent disbursed

Better than a lot of the established sites on the Beartooth as it’s pretty spaced out. A couple of notes: • the gravel road leading up to the site is narrow but apparently newly graded so not as rutted as previous reviews stated. • the upper disbursed sites have less shade but more space between neighbors and spectacular views. • do not drive past the boat ramp if you have a larger rig than a van. There’s two really cool sites that direction but no good turn around and you’ll have to back up quite a ways.

We camped downhill closer to the lake. Bear boxes and rock ringed fire pits available. Lots of biting flies and mosquitoes even in mid August. Nice hikes to and around the lake. Definitely Grizzly country so be prepared. No cell

Month of VisitSeptember

(4) View All

Shannon T.

Traveler

Reviewed Sep. 8, 2022

Rough road ahead

Nice dispersed campground. Terribly rough rutted out road to get to the campground. Would not recommend for low clearance cars. The vault toilet is very rank smelling. The sunrise over the lake is worth it though.

SiteNo numbers

Month of VisitOctober

Emily

Traveler

Reviewed Jul. 29, 2021

Beautiful and well kept!

We were kind of skeptical of this campground at first since the dirt road to it was very rough-especially coming in in the dark. Make sure you copy the coordinates in your notes or make note of the directions because we had absolutely no service coming from Yellowstone. There were plenty of campsites open on a Wednesday night in the end of July. In the morning we were able to check out the lake and saw the food storage bins located throughout the campground. There is also a pit toilet near the boat launch. The sites are very clean and well kept. Very quiet campground, I would definitely stay here again. I would have never guessed it would be free, it’s so nice! Lots of mosquitoes though—more than northern MN ;) I had a few bars of Cricket cell service right before entering the campground at the top of the road, but no service at our site.

Month of VisitAugust

(4) View All

Angela G.

Ranger

Reviewed Jun. 27, 2021

Beautiful and quiet

Really nice, quiet campground. The road in is quite bumpy, I would be careful in small vehicles or large RVs. A loop of sites are nice and level. There are a couple more sites in the area that are much more difficult to access. The lake is beautiful and the Beartooth Highway is spectacular. No cell phone service with Verizon, no trash, and one smelly vault toilet.

Month of VisitJuly

(5) View All

Elizabeth G.

Legend

Reviewed Dec. 9, 2020

Beautiful!

Bear Tooth Pass was recommended to us by a local when Yellowstone NP was too packed to enjoy, campsites were full, and we wanted to social distance. I’m so glad we did this because it was my favorite thing we did! I can’t recommend it enough! Nice dispersed campsites with amazing views everywhere. I can’t wait to go back and stay longer! Never really got cell service (verizon) but who needs that when there’s so much wildlife and scenery around?

Month of VisitAugust

(9) View All

Jade G.

Ranger

Reviewed Oct. 27, 2020

Very remote campground with cattle and pretty lake

Lily Lake Campground is pretty sweet, in that it is very private and remote.

The cattle from nearby farms would come by and visit in the mornings and drink from the lake.

Our campsite was on the cliff overlooking the lake, just past the boat ramp.

Great place to stay that is close to Yellowstone, if you have a 4WD vehicle to get to the campsite. Follow signs to Lily Lake, b/c there are several lakes on the turnoff.

Sitelily lake campground at Shoshone NF. Just past the boat ramp on the cliff.

Month of VisitOctober

(18) View All

Jon G.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 27, 2020

The almost perfect week

We made the mistake of taking our TT down to the lake but missed the right turn going to the campground loop, wound up stuck at the boat launch area. DON'T make the same mistake we did. There should be a sign because if someone takes the first left, it is a dead end with no opportunity at all to turn around. We got lucky.

After we got turned around & went back up to the dispersed camping area, we found the ultimate spot & stayed 5 nights. There are several of these spots at the top of the hill. The last night dropped a little snow on the higher elevations so we headed down before it got any worse. We were able to get H2O from the visitors center in Cooke City, just a few miles away. We also did laundry in the Soda Butte Lodge. Kind folks in both places.

The stars were astounding at night. The view of the mountains was incredible. We had no wildlife come through during our stay but did make friends with the local chipmunks & gray jays.

This campground is perfect for exploring the beartooth pass or Yellowstone due to its location. The washboard, winding road to the top is one lane at times so use caution. We had cell signal on the top ridge so that was nice for phone calls if we needed.

We will go back again.

(19) View All

Anna K.

Scout

Reviewed Sep. 22, 2020

Beautiful dispersed site with great views

Take a gravel road to Lily Lake off the southern end of Beartooth Hwy. It's easily accessible by 2wd and RV, but if you'd like to go towards Crazy Lakes (few more large spots there) more clearance is nice to have (some rocks and ruts). Camping spots start well ahead of the lake, some by the edge of forest, some more open but with beautiful views on Abasoka range on one side and Beartooth on the other. Primitive camping only. Watch fire restrictions, if allowed then there are some rock rings created already. I was there in September 2020 and the colours of autumn (aspens) were stunning with the high mountains in the distance. Loved it. Frequent grizzly area so nat'l forests warnings about proper food storage.