Best Equestrian Camping near Bridger-Teton National Forest

This free campsite is part of the Blackrock Ranger District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and about 10 minute drive from U.S Hwy 26 on Buffalo Valley Road (then about 100 yards on a dirt road).  This an awesome secluded spot right off the road in route to Turpin Meadows campground (which is paid camping).  There are other campsites along the road but you will more than likely have neighbors parked right next to you.  

This location will give you privacy without the road traffic or neighbors parked near you.  You can stay at this site location for up to 16 days.  There is a designated fire pit and the site overlooks the Buffalo Fork River.  With a short walk you are able to see the Grand Tetons from the site.  We were woke up by bugling Elk one of the mornings we stayed and saw a about 30 head coming into camp another night across the river.   You will pass by many a handful of ranches in route to this location.  We would have stayed longer as the site is absolutely beautiful overloading the valley  There is no Verizon cell phone service at this location or other amenities.  

Video link: https://youtu.be/z30Oiwi5eHw  

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Turpin Meadow Campground was a happy stumble-upon for us. We went to the Tetons and had no idea how crazy busy it would be, so were forced out of the park to find a place to stay. 

Truthfully, this campground wasn't much, and was kind of difficult to get to (at least the way we went in). It fulfilled all that we wanted it to do though. A place to park our car and utility trailer for the night and wake up early to go into the park. There was water and vault toilets on site, so that was nice. 

This is actually right next to (or apart of?) an equestrian park with lots of horses and horse corrals all around. It was truthfully a little spooky hearing the horses start to whinny in the middle of the night, but we got over that.

Stayed in mid-June when Yellowstone and Teton were brimming with tourists. We had booked a back-up RV spot near the south entrance to Teton, but after looking at it just filled our water there and left (it was basically an open field with 50 of your not best friends in RV's blasting music). Took a chance on Pacific Creek. All of the dispersed camping was taken, but the campground itself, which is at the end of the road, was about empty. For $10 we got a spacious site, table and fire ring. Water was available as were pit toilets. Looks like a great equestrian campground and we saw a few parties with horses. Make sure you make use of the bear boxes, as we saw plenty of bear prints and other sign within 200 yards of our site. Lovely trails leave right from here. The camp host is a Swiss ex-musician and all around nice guy.

This is about Cottonwood Campground, not just the group site. It's pretty small, about 16 (?) sites. It's about 8 miles up the road from Hwy 89. The road is mostly one lane, though a little wider in some spots, so if you are towing, hope you don't encounter someone coming the other direction. There are some potholes all along the road, so if you're towing, it's slow going. 

The campground is about 1/4 mile or less from the lake. Group camp is up the right hand fork (not towards the lake). The Group site is large, with room for several tents. When I was there a church group of about 18 people with 5-6 tents was there. The sign says it requires reservations. There are 2 pull through sites up the right hand fork; the rest are back in or walk in. The walk in sites do not have tent pads or even room for a tent so I'm not sure what you would do there. The left fork goes to an equestrian area with a couple of non-equestrian sites also.

Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. I collected a lot of trash from fires rings.

There were vault toilets that were very clean to start with, though a camper pooped on seat in one of them, so gross. I don't know why people are so filthy sometimes.

There are trailheads from the CG and from the south end of the lake.

No signal on Verizon.

I enjoyed staying here.

Campground Review: As you enter the forest boundary, there is a sign alerting you to road damage. The road is pretty rough getting into the campground. You will encounter some pretty significant potholes and washouts. Just take it slow, you’ll be fine. Also, the campground is not on the lake, it is about a 1/4 mile from the lake. The campground is quite nice back in the trees. There are 2 separate forks, one for equestrians and the other allows off-road vehicles.

I camped at site 13. It was near the water supply and a couple sites away from the restroom. It was also very close to the ORV trailhead. The only bear boxes are located by the restroom, which I though was unusual. I just made sure any food items were stored away in my vehicle and locked vs storing in the bear box. The campground was about half full on a Friday. The group site does require a reservation. The site I occupied had a small iron fire ring with a grill component. Some other sites had much larger cement fire rings. The lake is spectacular! it is the prettiest shade of teal. There is a boat dock at the far end of the lake. Near the parking area there is a beach area where you can kayak and paddle board from. The lake has brown and cutthroat trout. They were jumping like crazy in the evening and the fly fishing was excellent! I used my favorite yellow caddis. It was a little more difficult from shore but the boaters were killing it. I could have easily spent the whole weekend up here. My reason for visiting this area was to get away from the madness of the Lincoln County Fair that I was in the area attending and supporting my kids in 4-H. I prefer the solitude of camping in the forest ca the commercial campground at the fairgrounds.

This campground is recommended it you are interested in the following: horseback riding, fly fishing, kayaking, paddle boarding, canoeing, hiking, ORV, wildlife viewing. Something for everyone!

Gear Review: Humangear http://www.humangear.com/ Quick Bites, Go-Tubes, FlexiBowl. As a Ranger with the Dyrt, I occasionally receive gear to field test while camping. While planning for this trip, I brought some easy dinner items to quickly toss together. Prior to leaving, I mixed up some sauce at home and transported it in my GoTube. It was perfect! The opening to the soft silicone container is nice and wide. I added some chili sauce, soy sauce, and Sriracha to the tube and replaced the lid and shook it to mix. The lid has a nice mechanism that will lock the lid to prevent it from opening during transport. When squeezed, the contents are very controlled and there is no drip once you release. I used the FlexiBowl to mix up my concoction at camp. I emptied a tin of canned chicken int the bowel. The top inch or so of the bowel will fold down to create a wider opening. I used my Go-Bites spork to mix the sauce i brought with the chicken. I ate this on crackers. It was delicious after a long day. Pardon my dark demo video, it was 9 pm when I got around to eating. Prior to having the Humangear Go-Bites double ended spork, I had a light my fire spork. I was doing a side by side demo of the strength and barely put any effort on the ends of the light my fire sport and it split in two. I'm a fan of the Humangear eating utensils. I have also use the DuoBites which are a fork and spoon that slide into each other for transport and so they stay together. I really like both utensils that i have tried! I also have to throw in a GREAT word for the Humangear CapCap! This is a huge step up in my Nalgene game! I don't know how i got by without one! No more spills down the front of my shirt! Bonus!

Mid week during mid September and everything was pretty full, so we made the trek out of Tetons and up to this site. The sign at the road says trailhead, but if you keep making your way up, you’ll get to the sites. Bear boxes, rock fire ring, nice pit toilet, a frame to hang food, and horse camping too. Appears to be 4 established sites and a possible dispersed site near the horse area. It was very quiet and peaceful. There’s a map at the front showing all the trails that Box Creek connects to. Also, we saw dumpsters on the road in/out, not far from the turnoff.