Shadow Mountain Dispersed Camping

We stayed here for a few nights in Oct and it rained for half the time we camped. The road in was bumpy when we got here but got worse as the rain came down. Most of the campsites that we could get to with our camper are right next to each other, but there are actually 20 something campsites. Most are in the mountain. Overall, the views are awesome and the location is good for sightseeing. It was about 20 minutes off the main highway and paved up until the camping entrance road.

By far the best camping views of the Tetons. If it had rained 4x4 is needed. Other than that get there early because the good ones fill up quick.

This place is awesome! I can't believe they have this free camping available so close to Grand Teton National Park. Since it is so nice it will likely be busy.

When we arrived on a Thursday evening in September 2024, the initial loop by the bathrooms was totally full. We continued up the dirt road for a bit until we found a nice secluded site we liked amongst the trees. There were plenty of other open spots we saw too farther up the road, but the more you go, the rougher the road gets. We saw a black bear and cubs on the road too so be bear aware and lock up your food! We also had a large bull moose walk through our camp at 6am. Really sweet encounter but just be safe if you camp here!

We stopped here on 7/27 at around 9am and found plenty of open spots. I even managed to drive up the mountain effortlessly in my 24 civic sport hatchback(however wouldn’t recommend going up the entire mountain, we walked up the rest of the way to scout more spots and my low clearance car probably won’t have made it, so we stopped at this site 5) . No problems getting up it, if it rained that would be a different story so just check the weather. Our campsite was gorgeous and stayed there for 2 nights. Each night we did wake up to people who crashed at 3am. Unfortunate downside of this place is those people who show up late and see your spot it big enough for another and either wake you up or don’t ask to see if they can stay.

This place was great, except for the SUPER dusty roads. A lot of weekend traffic kicking up loads of dust. Hopefully they get start to get a water truck to spray the roads occasionally would make a huge improvement. Otherwise still an outstanding campground. Vault toilets just around the corner. Sites are pretty tight but plenty of room for a big rig, though it will be blocking your neighbors view of the Tetons, but it’s to be expected in a popular free site. Just down the road from Mormon Road and the Pink house (beautiful) approx 20 min from the park entrance. Tons of bison just up the highway toward Moran

Great spot to camp, with proper camp sites and a vault loo. We arrived at around 14:30pm and all spots were taken so we just parked on the side of a larger site. Most sites are quite big and can fit multiple vehicles. There’s a tent only area if you drive a bit further on past the first loop which usually has some spaces.

Great sites, relatively close, feels like a campground but very clean. Extremely dusty.

This campsite was amazing!! The drive and view were incredible. There was tons of clear postage of free camping for a 5 day limit! It was super close to Yellowstone and grand Tetons. There were lots of campsites right off of the road but we decided to drive up a little. The split road takes you to two separate campsites. We went left and were able to grab a Mountain View in open air. We passed a couple of other spots that had lots of shade as well and a little more privacy. We ending up have the whole spot to ourselves for the night. Highly recommend this site. It also had a metal ring fire pit and bear box at every site!

Incredible site with insane views of the Tetons. You are pretty close to neighbors, but the views makes it all worth it. We arrived around 2PM on our first day and all sites were full, we came back around 8 the next morning and found one site available for us to take.

We got so lucky and got an amazing view. Road is easily doable. If it rains - the top of the road is a mudpit. Slid out in four wheel drive in the wrangler. It gets crowded and spots are gone by 4-6pm. Friendly reminder only park and camp in designated spots. We saw several people camping directly in front of spots that said no camping and no overnight parking. You will be the reason this gets shut down :)

Easy to get to and navigate within the camping area. If you have a low clearance car or something that doesn’t have AWD I would not recommend attempting to get to the higher sites but the ones at the entrance would suite you well. I would listen to the other reviews on this site because the sites do fill up early. I arrived around 3 pm and there were only 3 or so spots left.

Couldn't get up to the sites on the mountain in a 2WD low clearance VW, but got a nice site at the base with great views of the Tetons. Pretty buggy in the evenings

Stayed here for the last leg of my two week road trip with my buddy. Easy site to find with a great view of the Tetons. Pit bathroom available and the trailer site has room to turn around in. Only reason I’m giving 4 stars is due to road conditions. MASSIVE pot hole right in the tent only entrance. I avoided it, but myself and everyone camping got a laugh out of the people who hit this thing. No bugs, but it was October so be wary summer campers!

We went in July and it was packed!! We came in at sunset and we drove around for over a hour trying to find a campsite. Everywhere was full but a lady let us stay on her site since it was really big. But everything was perfect! Best views ever!!! I would definitely recommend getting there early to get a spot!

This free dispersed site was absolutely unreal. We met the most amazing people and go to watch the sunrises, sunsets, thunderstorms and rainbows over the Tetons each and every day. Truly an amazing experience and I hope everyone can make it out here some day. We stayed at site #9 and honestly I think it’s the best site on the entire campground. Everyone was wondering how we snagged it and I said “get there earlier in the morning” haha. Enjoy:)

Great views! Typical campground, limited options. I’d get here before 1 pm if you want a spot. I got lucky with my spot and got here at 2 PM. Seems like most people leave at 9-11 am when theyre done. Great views of the Tetons and close to the National Park if you can snag a spot. It’s free for 5 nights, then you gotta move camp!

Edit:

My first night in some car alarm went off at lime 12 am which was annoying.

Here I am drinking beer tonight and one of my neighbors biked up to me to ask if I saw a bear. Apparently it was going around camp and bothered these two girls who set off their car alarm to try and scare it away. I say this just to say be smart. Be safe out there people!

Got here at 11am and all the spots were filled by 3. It has really great view and access to a restroom (which is super clean)

The campsite was easy to find and a great place to rest each night after full days in the park. No bears or signs of bears, but that may have been due to the screaming group of 3 girls who showed up asking to share sites with people and proceeded to yell until 11pm that night and begin again at 6am

There are several sites (I think around 50?) on Shadow Mountain, however, they are typically all filled up! :) At any of the sites, it is very buggy, but so beautiful! The road up is pretty rocky but it's manageable. There are ambassadors who came up and talked to us multiple times, just warning about the bears and ensuring we are set up to camp properly. We did not have any run-ins with bears, but others in the area at other sites definitely did! I would definitely recommend this site!

Coordinates are accurate to location. The lower spots are more freed up than the higher up spots. This place gets busy after 5pm. I have Verizon so I had cell service. I have never experienced mosquitos and flies like I did here. Bring as much mosquito repellent/fly traps as you can. We had multiple people drive up to us and alert us that their was a grizzly bear below us than 20 min later another person alerted us they saw a grizzly above us. We couldn’t really sleep because of the anxiety, I had a pistol and still was not able to sleep through the night.

Road is easily accessible all the way up. Some of the camp site access roads are rougher than others but saw plenty of 2WD, sedans and trailers on the road. VERY popular location so sites become limited pretty early in the day. We had people trolling by our site already looking to hold a spot just after sunrise. Very helpful camp ambassadors. Will tell you where open spots are if you see them riding around in sxs. Misquotes were worst I’ve ever experienced… but we still had a good time. Bring plenty of spray and keep your tent closed. Absolutely worth it. Easy access to Tetons and Yellowstone.

Hard to beat the views. Road is pretty rough and many of the sites are not at all level. You must stay is designated sites. No toilets except for the one at the south entrance, before heading up. Road is very rough. Might be treacherous if wet.  I visited in mid-October. Thursday night was fairly open /unoccupied. I stayed in #4. Fairly level. Beautiful views of Grand Teton. The FS was doing prescribed burns so it was pretty smokey for a while. Friday night started checking out sites at about 4 pm. A lot of the good sites were taken (e.g., #9 and #10), but ended up at #17. Nice and level but right next to the main road. Only a couple vehicles passed by so wasn't bad. Great views of Mt. Moran. Sites #18 and #19 were still unoccupied in the morning.

This place has Disney World level crowds. The camp sites are mega crowded and the road is in deplorable condition. It has an absolutely fantastic view of the Tetons but over all I’d say just find somewhere else to go. Absolutely not conducive for privacy in any way whatsoever.

There are about 35 dispersed sites on the way up and down shadow mountain. Most sites are “reserved” with a camp chair pretty early so head up the hill and pick your site before going into the park. And snap a pic of the famous barn on your way! I stayed at site 22 the first night and 16 the second. 22 had pretty bad views and horrible mosquitoes but was very secluded. 16 had the best view of them all (reserved it on the way down around 7am) but has a lot more traffic as it is right off the main road.

Great view, close to everything within the park, campsites are in a good distance to each other, restrooms got cleaned. Don’t get there too late otherwise it till be full.

I really like the shadow mountain area and have stayed here multiple times. You can stay in the main area in the bottom if there’s room, or you can drive up the NF road until you find a cool spot you’re happy with. I’ve done both. It’s a great spot not far from the National Park entrance, and it’s free!

Shadow mountain dispersed campground is free and has quick access to Jackson. The views are spectacular (especially at the higher sites, we stayed at the top in 16.) There’s two entry points for the campsites, both are pretty rough but totally doable, we hauled our 23’ camper up the entry towards Dubois but went up and down the other way multiple times that takes you past the Mormon Row Cabins. We drove to Yellowstone South entrance from the sites through the Grand Teton National Park, was just over an hour to the Yellowstone entrance and another hour to Old Faithful or Hayden Valley depending on which direction you go in the park. Can’t recommend these sites more, simply awesome.