Targhee Creek

I pulled up around 7pm and it was the best view somehow , loved the spot wide open before the trails of the pass. I wasn’t near the creek, but the flies were unbearable despite using spray of all kinds . Night time was enjoyable when they went away but it was hard to enjoy while being attacked in the eyes and face .

Stayed here after visiting Yellowstone. Not much to it, but it’s a place to camp. Show up too late and you’ll have to stay at the trailhead parking lot.

This was a beautiful spot with a decent selection of places to be. The road is very rough with many potholes though. If the weather is good it would be a great place to be! We went while it was raining…..would not recommend . It was incredibly muddy and had lots of standing water. We did see come bears and elk from our site which was fun! Basically, good weather is recommend! Bad weather…don’t go here.

Nice sized relatively level grassy sights along the mile and a half road to the creek. The road is quite rough but I did fine in my small two-wheel drive SUV. Very quiet and secluded. Good cell signal.

I enjoyed boondocking here in my tent. I had good cell service with Google FI wireless. Also I was able to get by the road and make it in my Honda Accord. Nice place even had a bear box for food storage.

Easy to find, a little rough road getting in but a great spot, relatively private. No bugs when we were there. It’s just the campsite and a fire pit. No bathrooms, water, electric. We pulled in a pickup just fine and saw a few campers at other sites

Nice little spot just off the highway. Close to Yellowstone.

We couldn’t get a spot down by the water but there are plenty of spots along the road.

Only complaint was the flies were crazy during the morning but tis the season.

Came up on July 5th and got the last spot available - it overlooks the road though and has minimal privacy. The other spots along the road looked great but there were a fair amount of people and some of the sites were very close together!

Will have to try to come again on a less busy weekend

After a bunch of great reviews, decided to minivan camp here with my family. We were able to camp at a large open flat spot with a few other car campers. Even had a rock fire pit. Overall felt pretty safe and had some gorgeous views. This was a great first find from The Dyrt! Will stay here again when visiting Yellowstone - it’s very close to the West Entrance. Only downside is mosquitos, but seems to be common around this area. Road was a little rough but nothing most vehicles can’t handle.

Good cell service with AT&T, was able to stream a movie

We stayed 6 nights here June 2024 and used this as our base for visiting Yellowstone and the surrounding area. Road was a bit rough but we were able to find a spot along it each night as we returned in our Sprinter Campervan from our activities in Yellowstone. The first site on the right is the best! Large and level. There is a cell tower close to site and we had excellent reception on both Verizon and AT&T. Check out the rodeo on route 20 between West Yellowstone and this site. Well worth the visit.

The water this time of year is too high and too cold for us to swim/wade in but our dogs love it! Plenty of space to spread out and enjoy a private camping experience!

This is a great base camp for staying at Yellowstone! It was 25 minutes from the West Yellowstone entrance. The entrance to it comes up very quick on the road and people can get really aggressive on the connecting highway. We stayed at the most private site, most of them are more open. The road is bumpy, I was fine with my AWD Subaru but a regular 4 door would have to be really careful. We heard moose in the distance one night and you can hear cars very lightly sometimes. The wildflowers around the site and forest coverage was great.

Turn on FR 057. The end of the road is about 1 mile in. There are two very nice spots at the end of the road right along the creek. Across the bridge from the road closed sign there is also an excellent tent spot right along the creek. There are also at least 6-7 spots on the way in, as well as the large trailhead parking spot that others have mentioned. We got luck and got the best spot along the creek as a family was about to leave when we pulled in midday on a Monday. It was absolutely beautiful and very secluded at the end of the road. The spot is 12 miles from West Yellowstone entrance. Excellent Verizon service was a bonus that we don’t get at a lot of dispersed sites. Highly recommended!!

This is a great place. I took first one open while driving up the dirt road but wasnt to tough to find spot.

Lots of sites available. Approximately half have provided bear boxes. Sites are the end of the road are along a beautiful creek. Water rushing sound is fairly loud, relaxing for some, but not for us. We stayed at the trailhead. Beautiful views, provided fire pits. Road is a littleeee rough coming in but nothing even a passenger car couldn’t handle.

Rough road entering site. We made it safely with 2WD. Most cleared spots filled with other campers as we drove in. We parked by the Targhee trailhead clearing (3 other vehicles present in spot)- We had ample room to ourselves. Fire ring available. Gorgeous gorgeous views! Patrolled by police.

Great dispersed camp area . Rugged 2 track with established ( flat clearing with rock fire ring) camp spots on both sides. We camped at the very end of the track, about 2 miles in, on the edge of a beautiful rushing stream. Site was level and had a bear box , very peaceful. Other sites were occupied on the way in, area was clean ( no trash) and there was a large group area and trail head just before the end. Area is about 9 miles from the West Yellowstone Park gate. No facilities/ dispersed, so be prepared to pack in/ pack out.

Rough drive to a spot. We made it without incident and thankfully didn’t have to drive too far to find a spot. We landed at a group camp site at the trail head and had a lovely view of the mountains. Also we had cell service the whole night through Verizon.

Road is a bit rough, but a few sites available for dispersed camping

Nice location for checking out Yellowstone. We stayed here for 3 nights, as stated the road in is pretty rough but is manageable if you go slow. There are a few campsites along the road and a large site at the trail head. The site we stayed at was about half way up to the trail head. We use T mobile and seemed to work good. Will stay here again when in the area

This was a very nice area with big private spots! The road to get to these spots was rough, but that keeps it from being a place where everyone goes.

This site is about 20 miles west of Yellowstone in Idaho. Great spot with easy access. Beautiful views and the blue mountains in the distance at sunset make this site a crowd pleaser. Gravel roads on the way in get a little more rough the further in you go and down towards the creek. About 8+ sites off gravel road including a group site. There are also a few dirt roads closer to entrance that may lead to more but we didn’t go up since they were a little closer to the road. The traffic was a bit loud at times but as the night went on and the traffic died down and this was a beautiful area overlooking a meadow. Unfortunately, a few people have forgot the importance of leave no trace and therefore be careful of the toilet paper scattered throughout this site.

The road to the campgrounds are a bit rough, but if you have an SUV/Truck you’ll be just fine. Upon arrival Most of the campsites were already taken, so this spot is a bit popular. But we managed to find a spot at the very end of the gravel road. (turn around point also) At the end of the Road there is an amazing creek and trail. Such a beautiful place. Very quiet and friendly neighbors. Had a visit by the friendly park ranger, who checked near-by campfires. Make sure if you plan to leave camp, that you put out your fire completely. Decent cell signal at camp site (Verizon). Great place to camp.

We originally wanted to stay farther south in Idaho after leaving Jackson but we weren’t happy with the location. So we got on route 20 and started driving towards west Yellowstone when we came across the small Targhee National Forest sign. Fearful we weren’t going to be able to find a spot, we drove in anyways. We ended up going left up the second hill and found a nice big sight over looking the road and a cow pasture. The traffic on the road died down around 1030 which left us with a quiet star filled night in the valley. Later the moon rose up and lit up the mountain faces just enough.

Very close to West entrance! Plug in directions to the Targhee trailhead. Google maps took us down the wrong road to a dead end. Lots of wild flowers! There’s about 8 single spots in the beginning that are singles with fire pits. In the middle of the road there’s a meadow that if you don’t get lucky with a single spot you can park next to neighbors. The road ends at the creek. We got one of the front spots and got to enjoy the view of the sunset over those blue mountains. Not terrible mosquitos since it wasn’t super close to water.

Perfect location, about 20-30 mins West of Yellowstone. There are some cool spots if you’re lucky enough to snag them. Nice 13 mile trail nearby, we saw some wild strawberries!

We stumbled upon this place when we couldn’t find anything else and it was wonderful. If you plan on hiking, bring bear spray.

If Yellowstone is booked solid, you will likely find that every campground within a very wide radius of the park is full too. This Trailhead camping is free and open. Remember, this is bear territory, follow all bear safety guidelines. The road leading to the area is pretty well maintained.