Best Dispersed Camping near Cooke City, MT

We arrived to the Yellowstone area in the evening, and since we had been traveling around the U.S. for almost a year, we were well-versed in finding alternative camping options near national parks.

Instead of camping somewhere in the park, we decided to drive through Gallatin National Forest, to the north of the park, until we found a good place to camp. We found a perfect overlook where we pitched our tent and watched the most gorgeous sunset. The best part? No people around for miles and miles.

Dispersed camping in the U.S. Forest Service land is almost always a win: the sites are free and remote; there are usually plenty of available spots; and you get a very unique camping experience. Just remember to look up regulations for the specific area you’re looking at, and don’t forget the toilet paper!

In Yellowstone, we worked our way from north to south, hitting the highlights. Many of the hiking trails were closed due to bear activity, so we stuck mostly to the close sights: driving through Lamar Valley, viewing Old Faithful & many other geysers, seeing Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and spotting wildlife everywhere we went.

You can read much more about our five days in the park on our blog: Switchback Kids (Yellowstone)

Free Camping alongside the road overlooking Yellowstone and Mammoth Spring. After a few miles on this road, the no camping signs stop and it is free game! We scored a nice overlook and enjoyed the view. Way better than a campground on a busy summer day.

I camped here for one night, but would have happily stayed for a week.

I was on a huge hill overlooking all of "The American Serengeti" and it was stunning. Easy drive up and down to Gardiner for groceries. Besides a LOT of gunshots in the area, the campsite was perfect. Located directly off of the National Forest road. There are dozens more sites as you go further up the road but I preferred the view of the first site.

www.welovetoexplore.com

Based on the dispersed camping guide provided by the Forest Service office in Gardiner, you’re not supposed to camp in the spot listed on this site. Take a left off Traveltine road, go past the rock quarry to find good sites

This is a nice place to boondock. There are a few level spots up here, but the road is pretty rough and pretty steep. The view into Yellowstone is gorgeous.

Loved this boondocking area. Lots of spots up Eagle creek road. The road up is a little bumpy but no problem for us. The views are beyond beautiful. I highly recommend!

Perfect dispersed camping. Note it is a windy dirt road, so a pickup or camper van can make it, but don't try a Class A or Class C RV. Our 20 footer made it fine. Also wouldn't want to drive it if rain forecasted as I bet the dirt turns to impassible mud real fast.

The spots themselves are wonderful, some very open, some tucked away along the rocks, all very spread out from each other. Super quiet. I can't believe how quiet it was.

If you want to feel like you are camping on a mountain in the middle of no where, this is it.

Just passed the Eagle Creek Campground on Jardine Road. Take a left and drive in 3 miles on National Forest Road to areas where camping is allowed. There are mile marker signs. These are mostly little pull offs along the side of the road with great views into Yellowstone/Mammoth Hot Springs. There are more than a dozen good spots, but it also seems popular as I saw at least 10 occupied sites on a Monday evening. No cellphone service. No amenities, just the view and personal space. My Honda fit made it up the road no problem.

-free -pet friendly -dispersed campsites -no water, toilets, amenities of any sort -just a fire ring at each site -some good trails -great phone service (Verizon)

We truly loved this place. It was so isolated and peaceful. The camp sites are scattered throughout the trails and are not close to each other. They are easy to spot and not to bad to get to.(if you use the right road on the way up) we were only planning to stay 1 night and ended up staying 3 nights. We couldn’t get enough. Also spotted lots of moose, they are everywhere up there.

I was easily able to drive up the bumpy gravel road in my compact car. The road gets a little rougher going to some of the further spots, but nothing bad. This spot is semi protected in a small gulch but if there was a bad storm in the area this valley side camping spot could be rough with high winds.

Quiet, secluded dispersed sites about 15 minutes outside of Gardiner. No trees so it gets pretty hot without shade. There are random animal bones scattered around the sites from what I assume previous hunting trips, which is a bit eerie. 

I’d certainly stay here again for a couple nights!

We arrived at 5-6 and only came across two available spots on the entire road. Each campsite is fully dispersed and a large distance between each other. Lots of animals in area so keep that bear spray. Great view of mountains.

I gave a four star because when first entering there is a giant stone wall with graffiti and and elk skull bone and hooves lying around, kind of sketchy when wanting to be left alone.

Very much middle of nowhere feeling. Go up travertine and the. Take FS1701 road west for a mile or so. You’ll see a few spots along the way but I liked the ones I found farther west. I was solo and it was a little weird as it felt totally isolated. No tables or toilets but there are a number of spots with fire rings. Was there sept. 18th.

This Forest Service road provides tons of neat pull offs and campsites! The view up the road is DROP DEAD GORGEOUS... you can see Mammoth Hot Springs in the distance! The road is pretty well maintained and windy. A lot of the pull offs have a fire ring pretty close to the road. No bathrooms or amenities. But this space is worth it. All free, gorgeous camping just outside of Gardiner and Yellowstone National Park!

Very close to the north entrance to Yellowstone. These spots were as described here. We saw the pretty little overlook spot, but it was too small & windy for us. We went further down the road (it turns more west) & saw the graffiti wall & went past that to a great secluded spot. It does seem to be used by locals to dump their hunting carcasses & for target practice, but you can't beat the price of FREE. We did sleep in the truck my husband has customized to be our 'hard sided camper' & has a good night's rest. It was quiet & dark & a little cold - perfect for sleeping!

Drove through a few open gates but there were clearly dispersed sites in this area. Nice flat sites, road was rocky and bumpy but not bad. Quiet area until a group of teenagers started a loud party at the site next to us

There is no single designated campsite area but there are multiple spots along this road.

If you are looking at online maps it looks like there are lots of little roads you can go off and find a spot. You cannot. All side roads are locked as there is a quarry there. If you continue down this Red Quarry Rd you will see multiple little campsites right off the road you can park or camp at. They each had a fire pit and that was it. Beautiful area. If you don't see any just keep going I promise you will find at least 3 in the first mile or so. 

Does have Verizon service. Road is bumpy but manageable. Wouldn't bring an RV though.

We were driving into Yellowstone from Billings and wanted something that would give us early access to the park. This was perfect. A nice pull off with several options to park a van, tent, or small trailer or RV. We fell asleep to the sound of the river and were into the park within 20 minutes the next morning. We were able see moose and a bear because of the early access to Lamar Valley. Wish we could have seen the surrounding area in the daylight but we got in late and were out early. From what we saw we highly recommend it!! It is dispersed Forest Service camping so you will need to have all of your own supplies and be sure to leave no trace (including your poop)

I would definitely come here again. 15 min to Yellowstone NP entrance. Nice dark quiet spots. ZERO amenities for ZERO dollars. We were driving a minivan and tent camping. The dirt roads were easily passable. A small RV would be able to find a spot here. It’s bear country and you’re on your OWN. You can indeed tell folks like to party here. There’s graffiti on some of the rocks. Our camp site had toilet paper and garbage all over it. We had to take ten minutes to pick up all the garbage before we could enjoy it...but once we did we had an AMAZING view and the whole place to ourselves! Highly recommend....but make sure you arrive with daylight so you can actually FIND a spot (nothing is marked...it’s sort of DIY camping).

Looked to be 1-2 dozen sites there. We didn’t scope the WHOLE place out...but the first site is WOW AWESOME looking. We saw it, loved it, scoped out the rest for 10 minutes than came back to that first campsite to set up and look down and the minions below!

Camp among wide meadows, lush forests, towering peaks and wildlife

Yellowstone National Park's back-country site 2S1 is definitely the most amazing back-country site our Venturing Crew has backpacked to this summer, and we have been to quiet a few. Back-country site 2S1 is located along Slough Creek in a beautiful valley where Sandhill Cranes calls fill the valley in the evening and early morning. It is a 4.3 mile hike along the Slough Creek Trail to the spur trail for site 2S1, then a.6 mile hike to the campsite. Being.6 miles from the trail would usually mean solitude, but this site appears to be a popular fishing location as well as their was always someone fishing in the area. But don't worry, the campsite is fairly hidden from the creek and those fishing were very considerate. The campsite has numerous flat locations to pitch a tent. Their is a pole suspended between two trees for handing your food, but you don't need to use it as a bear proof locker has been placed at the site. A rock fire ring is available for fires and has large logs on two sides to sit on. Plenty of firewood is available in the form of large trees that are scattered on the ground through out the area, just find one of the older ones that are rotting and pull them apart and in a few minutes you have a nice pile of wood that will start easy. You don't need much wood at any one time on the fire to have a nice hot fire as this dry rotted wood really burns hot. If you are planning on having a fire be sure to bring a container to bring water from the creek to put it out with, as you are at least 50 yards from the creek. The view is amazing from camp, a wondering creek going though a wide valley with steep mountains on each side. In the evening we were treated to the alpine glow on the mountain tops for a good 15 minutes. Do you want to see wildlife, well we say plenty on this backpack trip. Hundreds of bison on the drive to the trail head, watched a black bear munching on various vegetation 100 feet from the trail, a young fox walked right by us on the trail, squirrels, chipmunks, a badger, sandhill cranes and other song birds as well. To get to back-country site 2S1 start at Slough Creek Trail head(2K5) and hike the 4.3 miles to the spur trail to the campsite. You will have one hard climb right of the bat, the first.7 miles is a steep climb, after that it is a easy hike. A warning, don't be shocked when you see lots of tourist heading out on the trail completely unprepared. We are talking about hiking in flip flops, no water, no bear spray, and this on a steep trail to start where we spotted the bear along the trail edge.8 miles in.

Ranger review of the Morsel Spork XL

We have been using the Morsel XL spork with out Scouts on several backpacking trips this summer and the unanimous opinion is a big thumbs up. We have used our Morsels with MRE's, and they truly out perform compared to the plastic spoon those meals provide. With backpacking dehydrated meals we are able to get out every little bit out of the corners of the bag without getting our hands messy. Bowls, cups, and plates, no problem getting to all the food, which makes clean-up after a meal easier. The variety of colors is helpful as well, as we can give each scout a different color so no one confuses their Morsel with anyone else, and we can quickly figure out who dropped theirs or left it laying around. The Morsel Spork XL is now our go to utensil for our backpacking adventures.