Lower Teton View - Toppings Lake Dispersed Campsites #1 - 6

Lower Teton View site is still a very nice place to boondock as long as you can keep it all to yourself. People do like to come target-shoot here (can get a little trashy), but probably would not if you are parked here. It was nice to have such a large area all to ourselves. The dogs really enjoyed the space to roam.

A trail runs right beside the meadow so with a little luck you will get to see some game. We did have a prong-horn pass right by and caught some Moose or Elk tracks in the mud one morning as well. A creek also runs nearby so if you like falling to sleep to the sound of running water, you can have that too.

We did have some party groups camp further up the hill on the weekends. They made some noise, but it was not a huge inconvenience. Considering the quality of boondocking here, I could not find any reason to complain about such a small thing.

A huge plus is that the Grand Teton National Park is quarter mile away - literally with the Moose entrance 15 miles to the south and the Moran entrance only a few miles to the North on the highway. You can be hiking, biking, kayaking, or sight-seeing within minutes of leaving camp.

We had a mini rally of three Airstreams and parked close to the stream on the east side.

In late August the grass is 2-3 feet long in this area (off the Forest Service Road about 300') which means there are lots of mice around. The campers with dogs didn't have a problem with mice though.

It's nice and open so we all were getting strong solar by 9am but you could get it earlier if you stayed closer to the road.

Overnight lows in late August were about 39F so make sure you have propane if you want to run the furnace.

15 miles to the north is the Colter Bay area which has a laundromat, well-stocked grocery store, free dumpstation and water fill at the campground and propane at the RV-only park. The town of Jackson is approximately 30 miles to the south.

Originally we intended to stay at the Upper Teton View, but it was full. So we stayed here instead, and we're happy we did. We ended up having two fellow campendium users come and hang out.

The lower view makes up a large field with a stream near by and a trail that leads into the woods. In some places, the grass is very low and in other areas it is knee high. We had a problem with field mice, but nothing a few traps didn't solve. If you can avoid it, don't park in the tall grass.

The nights in late August were a bit chilly, and we used a good deal of propane staying warm. There is a propane place in Jackson that does charges reasonable rates compared with Colter Bay. The laundromat in Colter Bay 15 miles to the north is modern and fair priced. The bonus is that the campground has a free dump station and potable water. Just tell them at the gate you want to use it, and they'll wave you through.

Overall, this is a great free site. The only downside here was cell tower congestion. With our booster and omni antenna we were averaging 1mbps down on Verizon. And sometimes it was almost unusable. Around midnight though, we were getting speeds of 15mbps down. So, just be aware, it's a popular area and the speeds may change with the time of year.

We were headed to Upper Teton View, but it wasn't open yet due to a snow drift blocking the road (late May). We stayed at the bottom of the hill instead. The views were still fantastic, but the area is much less level than the upper area, so we had a heck of a time getting our motorhome close to level, even with all our wood blocks and supports. Trailers might have better luck getting level since they can pivot on their axle (in which case this site would be a five star spot). The area got quite crowded, but fortunately most people were considerate about generator usage, and many had solar. We did hear some shooting nearby one day and found lots of broken clay targets all around the area. We walked up the road to Upper Teton View and can see why that's definitely a "five star" spot, with even better views and a very level plateau. There were plenty of places to walk our dog which was nice since there's not much he can do inside the national park. With our booster, Verizon worked well during the day but was very slow in evenings. AT&T had good signal but was only 3G so it was always slow. The only other downside to this spot is that it's midway between the north and south entrances to Grand Teton, so you need to do a fair bit of driving just to get into the park. But given the price, view, and dog-friendliness, we'd gladly stay here again (if we can't get into Upper Teton View).

Several websites say it's closed until June, this isn't true. We stayed early to mid May and had no problems with snow or mud on the roads. A ranger said they usually open the upper view on may 1st but since there was more snow this year they opened it late May.

Some nights it was only 3 RVs others it was 15 total in the lower Teton view but was still pretty quiet.

We got permission from several rangers to dump for free in the Colter Bay Campground and used this place as well as the Jenny lake Campground for water.

If we're going to be off grid in national forest, I don't like being 10' from other rigs or tents. This place was way too crowded. Traffic on the dirt road all day and night. We had tent campers set up not 10' from our door! This spot is simply too popular for our tastes. The view might be pretty, but the crowds are nasty.

Because of the amount of traffic here, we cannot recommend this place.

We were hoping for the Upper Teton View campground, but the gates we locked due to snow pack. The Lower more than sufficed. Camping is dispersed and it’s easy to find some space. We ended up with a few Airstreamers while we were there, plus a coulomb of awesome folks visiting from Europe. The views are amazing. The access to Grand Tetons and South Yellowstone are perfect. And it’s FREE!

We first stayed in the Upper Teton View area for one night because we had our hearts set on it. The road up there from the Lower area was too rough for our liking, and we got better signal with AT&T in this Lower area so we moved our motorhome back down the hill for our last couple of nights where we loved our view and stay.

We agree with the recommendation of parking the RV in the Lower area, and then, if possible, driving up to the upper area to scope it out to make your own decision, or just to take in those views.

We personally would have rather have just opted for the Lower Teton View where views are still great and the drive in and out each day is bumpy, but much easier on our vehicles.

We could make calls and send texts from the Lower Teton View area. We had to head into Jackson or pick up WiFi in the park to the Signal Mountain Lodge area to work on our computers. What an amazing place The Grand Tetons is and this is a nice location within 15-20 minutes to 2 entrances to the park. We will be back!

We intended to go to Upper View, but it was crowded and I thought the road was too much to travel up. We found a spot between two other campers and had a great time.

This has been one of the best boondocking sites I’ve encountered mainly due to the view and easy access for our giant 37 foot trailer. Although there are no toilets, water or hookups, we stayed until we ran out of water. And even then we filled up a few containers of free water at a Shell station in Jackson to extend our stay to check out Teton Village.

The road in is gravel and bumpy but it’s less than a quarter mile, which made it easy to venture out each day. No road noise, but could hear campground people coming and going each day, particularly for those checking out Upper Teton.

As for Upper Teton, you drive through Lower Teton and the road up is certainly pretty bad, but I’ve driven worse. Our Verizon signal was decent in Lower Teton so we felt no reason to drive up. It’s an easy walk as well to check it out before attempting.

Most amazing of all was that this site was at least 5 degrees cooler than Jackson so even during the dead heat of summer, we didn’t need AC. Definitely would come back.