Is this the most gorgeous free camping area in the country? If it’s not, sitting on the BTNF’s Jackson District directly across from the main peaks of the Teton Range and Grand Teton National Park, it is at least ONE of the most gorgeous free camping areas in the country.
It is understandable that Shadow Mountain’s location so close to the Tetons and Grand Teton National Park makes it THE most popular free camping area in Jackson Hole. First-come/first-served, its popularity means that it fills up very quickly—even by 10 a.m. most days.
Shadow Mountain is a “Designated Dispersed Camping Area,” designed to protect natural resources from overuse and bad behavior (think improper food storage, abandoned campfires, and leaving human waste and trash). Here there are 51 numbered sites, most of which have a steel fire ring.
You must be in one of these 51 marked/numbered sites. You cannot camp randomly along the road, or pull off the road onto a random flat spot not designated as a campsite.
Most sites have Teton views. (The best views of Grand Teton National Park aren’t necessarily inside Grand Teton National Park!) Since this is an area in which black and grizzly bears live, food must be stored inside a hard-sided vehicle.
Although we work with the BTNF to place volunteer camping ambassadors at Shadow Mountain to help educate campers about food storage and putting fires dead out and have installed vault toilets at the base of the mountain, problems with human waste and campers leaving trash persist. These problems seem especially bad this summer.
Between May 1 and Labor Day, there is a 5-day maximum stay limit in any 30 day period at Shadow Mountain.
The lower campsites are usually melted out from winter’s snow by early May, but snow can persist at higher sites into June.
If you get to Jackson Hole too late to get a spot at Shadow Mountain, consider camping for a night at Moran Vista, which is less than a 30-minute drive from Shadow Mountain. To get to Moran Vista, go back out to U.S. Highway 191, turn right (north) and go for about 12 miles to to Forest Road 30290. Turn right here and go 1/4 mile off the highway to the Moran Vista Camping Area. While only a large parking lot, its location is unbeatable, it is also free, and it rarely fills up.
If you’re set on camping at Shadow Mountain and arrive after 10 a.m., stay at Moran Vista one night and then head over to Shadow early the next morning to see if any sites have opened up.
A digital reader board at the turn off going into Shadow Mountain is updated in real time to say when sites there are full.
Learn more about camping on the BTNF here.
