Hatchet Teton View Dispersed Camping

Hatchet Teton View is a lovely remote campsite on Forest Service Road 30160. The spot is wide enough for 3 trailers if you all know each other and don’t mind being cozy, but two is more comfortable. You have great views of the Tetons although you’re farther away than spots like Shadow Mountain or Lower Teton View/Upper Teton View. This is definitely a remote spot - you’ll want to come with everything you need if plan to stay for a few days as it’s good way down the mountain to the nearest store or gas station or laundry. (The nearest one is called Grand Teton RV Resort, and the next closest is Colter Bay inside of Grand Teton National Park.) We personally love that kind of seclusion but I realize that it doesn’t appeal to everyone. (So my 5-star review might be a 4-star for someone else.)

There are a lot of forest service roads in this area which make for great hiking trails. Do carry bear spray and make noise as the Hatchet area is known to be Grizzly territory, although we didn’t see any bears the week we stayed there.

There are two ways to access this site. If you’re pulling a trailer we recommend the longer way as the climbs are more gentle: heading east on Hwy 26 go 7.7 miles past the Blackrock Ranger Station and turn right onto Flagstaff Road. Follow the road for 11.5 miles and you’ll see the campsite on your left. The campsite is officially on Forest Service Road 30160 (Flagstaff Road turns into 30160). The shorter way is to turn onto Forest Service Road 30160 at the Hatchet Campground (just a few feet West of the Blackrock Ranger Station) and travel 4.5 miles up to the campsite. This way is steeper and if you’re pulling a trailer I would recommend a 4-wheel drive for sure.

Super bonus: blazing fast Verizon LTE service up here! This was great for us as we were “on the clock” while we stayed here. If you come up the longer 11.5 mile drive to get the site you’ll pass through many areas that do not have strong cell coverage, but don’t panic. When you get to the western edge of the loop the coverage kicks in again.

AudreyAirstream has all the details of relevance. We accompanied them to this location. It was fantastic. Especially the Verizon speeds being out in the middle of literally nowhere with an amazing view of the Tetons. We ran a speed test with booster and omni antenna and pulled 21mbps down. This tower is not nearly as overloaded as the towers closer to the Tetons.

It's pretty far out of the way, so you’ll want to come fully loaded to stay for a few days as it’s good way down the mountain to the nearest store or gas station or laundry.

But overall, if you're working on the clock, and like privacy and nature, this is the spot for you.

At the top of a somewhat nerve-wracking 11-mile dirt/gravel road lies a paradise so quiet and beautiful it makes you a little weepy. Not only are the views amazing, but I've probably heard 2-3 cars drive by during an entire day—that's it. We arrived on a Monday and there were 2 other tent campers here when we arrived and we felt a little bad for parking our Airstream here, but there was plenty of room for us all. Could have fit one or two more tents, but definitely not another trailer or RV.

The cell service isn't all it is cracked up to be, but still extremely usable. We've been getting about 1.1-2.6 mbps down and 1.6-2.8 up with our booster (on Verizon). My husband was able to do video calling with his clients via Zoom perfectly, but FaceTime hasn't been working. Downloading/uploading files takes a bit longer than normal, but certainly fine. We've both been able to work from here without problems. Just a little patience.

All in all, it is a dream up here and worth the journey. Just know that you risk not being able to find a spot here, so have a back up plan just in case.

We scouted this at the end of June 2017 in the hopes of finding a nice spot.

The "easy route in" from east end of Flagstaff Rd / FR-30100 looks like it's gone. At the GPS location for where the turn should be, there is no intersection, most of what you could imagine as the road is behind a guard rail, there's a snow plowing marker right where you could think you see traces of an old road. We didn't drive it from the FR direction, but it seems like the road no longer meets US-26, at least not there.

Entering the "steep route", just west of Blackrock Ranger station and past the little campground, access road is good where level, but hills have washboard. A little twisty turny and wooded but we thought we could dare it with our 38" motorhome, if the reward would be a week of boondocking bliss.

The campsites seem to have been completely swallowed by winter. We saw *nothing* to turn onto at the GPS coordinates given. We saw a few other spots with firerings, that I'd classify as car camping only, and even then high ground clearance recommended:

- start of FR-30162
- ~200ft further on FR-30162
- start of FR-30170

If you really trust your ability to not get stuck on the ditches between the road and the campsite, some of those might work for a class C or a light trailer, but I wouldn't recommend trying unless you're prepared to shovel to get out.

Google Maps has no clue about the smaller roads, go get a free Motor Vehicle Use Map from the nearby Blackrock Ranger Station.

Note: I didn't camp here. I did scout it out it out end of May 2017. Just happened to glance at the reviews today and noticed the review below about the turnoff for the long way in being blocked and needed to correct it.

I know exactly what the previous reviewer is talking about as far as what appears to be the turn in to the long way in being blocked by a guard rail. Google Maps will direct you here, but if you look at the map you will see there is another legitimate entrance.

ENTRANCE TO LONG WAY IN LOCATED HERE: 43.812258, -110.178892

At the time I visited (end of May 2017) this entrance was still covered in snow due to the hellacious snow fall Winter 2016/2017. But it's definitely the correct way in for the 'long route'.

As far as the location of the actual site, it is as marked by the Google Maps 'pin' shown in Campendium. It's not large, but it's definitely the correct location.

I would also concur that the short way in (entrance by the ranger station) is doable, but definitely washboardy as of May 2017. Some steeper sections but should be doable if dry.

I drove up here in a 25 foot Class C and had no problems with the road whatsoever. I drove about three or four miles up to what appeared to be the third campsite. It has a fabulous view of mountains on three sides. Of course it overlooks the Tetons. Who needs a minute he's with views like this!

Such a peaceful place, to see the Tetons awaken in the morning glory sunlight... absolutely amazing. Road condition was maintained in great condition. Mosquitos were swarming in late June. I’ll keep this asa go to spot. No road noises only the sound of the mountains.

We didn't get the chance for the view due to the fires, but we got some a couple close hills (not the tetons) and might be worth coming in the future. The smoke right now is insane.

The problem was that someone (or multiple someones) left all their dog poop all over the camp site! I know that this isn't your backyard but please please remember you still need to pick it up because other people have to avoid it now. The other issue is that all that poop attracts tons and tons of biting flies. We also all got bit by mosquitoes. :(

There was also one spot that had some toilet paper in it because someone thinks that its ok to leave used toilet paper sitting under a rock two feet from the fire pit. Gross! :( come on, people! Be better.

The dust from the road does blow into site but that's common, especially during drought conditions.

The road is a very washboard one lane but there are a few pullouts. Luckily, we were right by a pullout when we were going down and another rig was coming up otherwise that would not have been fun. ;)

Edited to add: Don't know if it had anything to do with the washboard road or just total coincidence, but we did have our Expedition's throttle body break and have to get it replaced ($$$) while we were there (Jackson is 1:15 from here) and we also got a flat tire on one of the connecting FS roads. We had an awesome few days lol.

Oh, and the smoke did clear so we could see the view! Just FYI, at some point in the future (years?), the aspen trees will block the view since there's already a couple trees that block one of the mountains.

We had 2 bars of Verizon (no booster) and, of course on the day I needed internet for a work meeting, it was intermittent and being a problem. I ended up sitting a chair in the road trying to get signal enough for the meeting...so keep that in mind if you absolutely need internet, it might not be reliable all the time.

Also, we agreed that this is probably not where you'd want to stay if you were going specifically to see GTNP or YNP since it would take you too long to get down the mountain and all the way to the main sites in those parks to make it worth it. This site is good for exploring the National Forest, not the National Parks.

Saw this location here and had to try to stay here. When we arrived there was a camper parked in the area but we risked it. They never returned. The view is unbelievable. The road twists and turns so I would not recommend for those pulling RV’s.

besides the extremely persistant mosquitoes, it was beautiful. when you enter the grounds, there are campsites at the bottom of the viewpoint, then you take the dirt road to the pin on the map. the pin is the best spot if you’re lucky enough to grab it since it looks directly at the Tetons, but there are plenty of other spots that are very distant from each other. only a few miles from Grand Teton National Park which leads to Yellowstone National Park as well.