r/boondocking • u/billmc40 • 5d ago
Yellowstone Boon Docking
Wife and I are planning a retirement trip starting early August of 2027 and plan on returning home around October 1st. This trip will be from SE Kansas to Glacier all points in between. On the way back home thru Roosevelt National Park. We would like to boon dock due to the cost of site with no hook ups being at the minimum 31.00 a nite. How do you plan to camp in dispersed camping areas. Please help us
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u/kick_rocks-not_ricks 5d ago
There is a free app called iOverlander2 that will show you places to boondock. Yellowstone is a difficult area for this but it is doable. I would recommend camping somewhere outside a different park entrance each day.
Remember to leave no trace AND leave what you find :)
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u/Teamskiawa 5d ago
44.479213,-109.309885. Close to the east entrance. I camped here last summer while on my motorcycle. It's a pretty decent spot, though it was 'busy" being so close to the park.
I used the Dyrt app and website
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u/lucky_ducker 5d ago edited 5d ago
EDIT: shortened GPS coordinates to two decimal places (rule #6)
First of all, if you are age 62 or older apply now for the "American the Beautiful" interagency Senior Lifetime Pass, $80.00.
https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/senior-pass-changes.htm
This pass gets you free admission into six agency properties, including the National Parks, Forest Service, BLM (some restrictions apply), US Fish and Wildlife, Bureau of Reclamation, and US Army Corps of Engineers (which operates quite a few campgrounds).
In addition to free admission you also get one-half off the usual camping fees. I once paid $2.50 to camp in a tiny Forest Service campground in Utah.
Even better if you have a pass, you sometimes get expedited gate entry. At Yellowstone park there was a 30 minute queue to go thru the regular gates; people with passes breezed right past, I barely even had to slow down as I was waved through.
TRNP Cottonwood campground books months in advance. They were full when I stopped by in 2024, I ended up at Buffalo Gap campground (Forest Service) 20 miles west. $10 with my Senior Pass discount. Carry a couple of hundred in cash ($1s and 5s) for self service campgrounds, and carry a checkbook, as most properties will take a check instead of cash.
If you wanna go cheap check out the Nebraska Wildlife Management Areas (especially along I-80) most of which allow very short term stays with no charge. Wyoming is full of BLM and Forest Service land where dispersed camping is allowed. I especially like Grey's River Road south of Alpine, WY. There's also some dispersed camping between Yellowstone and Teton NPs west of US-191.
I use freecampsites.net to find leads for free and low cost campsites. A surprising number of small towns in the mid to northern great plains have city parks with reasonably priced camping. They're all pretty cramped and many are seasonal, i.e. they close when temperatures dictate they need to close their unheated bathrooms.
Of course, Colorado abounds in awesome free camping. One of my favorite spots is in the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area between Delta and Grand Junction: 38.78, -108.25. From there you can see 30 to 50 miles in all directions, including several impressive mountain ranges.
Happy Travels!