Best National Forest Camping

Aug 24, 2015 | Best Campgrounds

Best National Forest Camping

By Campendium

For our August Best Campgrounds Series, we asked Christine & Brent from Hortons Travels, Jim & Gayle from Life’s Little Adventures and Marshall from Finding Marshall to share with us their favorite National Forest campground. Be sure to check out their blogs!

Turpin Meadow Campground – Moran, WY

horton
Was it because it was our first year on the road (2011)? Total tranquility? Cut off from the outside world (ala no cell coverage)? The moose grazing right outside our rig? I can’t say which of these is the reason why we think of Turpin Meadows so fondly – maybe it all of those and more. We started out with a four night stay before extending for two more nights and then finally extending for another four… obviously we liked it.

moose
Turpin Meadows is just a few miles outside the eastern entrance to Grand Teton National Park. It’s ten miles down a deserted back road, nestled back within the pines set in a curve of the Buffalo Fork river and except for us and the host (super friendly/fellow traveler), it was nearly empty when we were there which for us is always a bonus. Being able to sit outside and hear nothing but birds, the river, and the wind in the trees was fantastic. Nearly every day we saw moose. We were lucky in that many days we woke in the early hours to see and hear Morris the Moose chomping on clover mere feet from our rig. A buddy of his we named Borris visited off and on too. Grizzlies frequent the area but while we were there happily kept their distance.

Add to all that a trail that is accessible from the campground… and that’s why we loved Turpin Meadows. – Christine & Brent, Hortons Travels

Vedauwoo Campground – Buford, WY

Vedauwoo
Vedauwoo Campground, located in Medicine Bow National Forest about 15 miles east of Laramie, Wyoming is a gem of a national forest campground. Set among interesting rock formations at 8,300′ it is a great location to escape the heat and the scenery is wonderful, reminiscent of Joshua Tree’s Jumbo Rocks. We planned to spend just a couple nights there and ended up staying a week. There are hiking trails from the campground and unlimited rocks to climb on. Because this is a well-known climbing area the weekends get crowded but we enjoyed watching the climbers right from our site. Being a mile from I-80 you can hear a little traffic noise, and there is no dump station, no hookups, just water and vault toilets. Laramie, a very nice college town, is just a 20 minute drive for supplies or dining out. – Jim & Gayle, Life’s Little Adventures

Upper Teton View – Moose, WY

teton-view

When looking for a place to stay, I consider the following – location, view and price. Upper Teton View has all three in great abundance.

Location – Located just outside of the Grand Teton National Park and just inside the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Upper Teton View is a prime location to explore Jackson Hole (side note – this is actually what the valley is called – not the town). Upper Teton is about midway between both entrances to the park, and not too terrible of a drive from the town of Jackson. Unless you don’t like taking a drive down a road with unrestricted views of the Tetons and the possibility of spotting wildlife on either side of the road. As in Prong Horns, Elk, Moose, Bison, etc. crossing the road, right next to it, or in the distance. Yeah, the location doesn’t suck!

View – If you are fortunate enough to get one of the prime spots at Upper Teton, you get a million dollar view of the valley and the entire Teton range (the site is located up a hill, thus the great views). Bring your friends as there is space for several rigs with this incredible view. Then again, don’t tell your friends, or anybody, about this spot because I want it to be available next time I show up. Actually, forget you read any of the above – this place needs to remain a secret!

Price – Free, of course! No water. No sewer. No power. So make sure you have solar and fill your water tanks before you arrive. Fortunately there are abundant drinking water fill stations within the park, so getting more drinking water is not an issue. – Marshall, Finding Marshall

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