Off road places near Yellowstone

[Thor730]

Hi everyone! I am new to this. I am taking my family out West this to Yellowstone and some other national parks. I want to know if anyone could guide me where I can find some dirt roads/ light off-roading out west. The rig we are taking is a 2017 Jeep jku (stock) with Goodyear duratracs on it.

 

[James Deaton]

Down below the Tetons, near Jackson.

James

 

[Timberdan]

There is a lot of wheeling near Dubois Wyoming. Lots of free camping, miles and miles of dirt roads. South of Jackson there is some but I’ve never explored it. Between Jackson and Idaho Falls nothing too exciting. There is a fair amount west of the park, but am just getting to know it. Will you be arriving in Jackson on 191 from the south or Highway 26 from the east?

 

[Thor730]

We will be arriving from the east. Still planning everything... thank you for the info!

 

[titicaca]

On the east side of Grand Teton NP/Jackson drive the Gros Ventre Road (pronounced Grow Vont) near Kelly, WY. I only spent one night out there and felt short changed.


Nice river, fishing, lakes, red hills, multiple trails. There are developed camp grounds but the dispersed camping was much nicer. Views of the Tetons!

 

[ru108]

Here's a route you could take if you were going up from I-80. http://wyomingnaturalist.com/html/dirt/sec_7_9/S8_T4.html
And here is the link for the entire online version of Wyoming Backroads Guide http://wyomingnaturalist.com/html/dirt/dirt_book.html

I lived in Etna (in Star Valley, just south of Alpine) from 2006-2015 and drove the first route a bunch of times for work as a Sheriff's Deputy doing forest patrol in the summer (most all of it is within Lincoln County) and with the family on weekend outings. It runs from Labarge in the south to Alpine in the north through the Bridger-Teton National Forest. From Alpine, you then get back on the pavement and follow US 26/89 up Snake River Canyon to Hoback Jct then left to Jackson and then through to the south entrance of Yellowstone via Grand Teton NP.

I didn't see what time of year you were planning to go, but if you're planning to take as much dirt as possible, I wouldn't suggest trying any of it until at least late June. There are places through there at altitude that may still be holding snow in mid-July (or later depending on how bad the winter was), so make sure you contact the Forest Service offices in the areas you plan to go to check road conditions and closures.

My avatar pic was taken in Grand Teton, along a two track that I can't remember the name of for the life of me right now, the year before I had to move kicking and screaming back to Louisiana. Man, I miss that area....

Hope the links give you some ideas!

 

[Timberdan]

I too was a Sheriff Deputy in the Dubois area and would spend a lot of time on the back roads. East of Dubois there isn't much due to the Wind River Indian Reservation. Once you leave the reservation there is lots of dirt roads to explore.

Just east of Dubois there is the EAST Fork Road. Lots of spurs to explore.

North out of town is FS 285. This road has a couple of FS campgrounds (Horse Creek and Double Cabin) lots of spurs to explore and plenty of free camping.

West of town there is Union Pass (Dunoir) heads south which will take you to the Pinedale area and allow you to do the route in the above post. There are many spurs and free camping all over this area.

If you continue over Togwotee pass (pronounced Toe-ga-tee) towards the parks there are many side roads that all wander around with varing levels of difficulty.

There is usually an abundance of wildlife to see including grizzly bears so keep your camp clean and be bear aware.

I would like to state what Ru108 said about the snow. I just drove from Alpine to Hoback then south to Pinedale. There is a ton of snow It some roads my not be open until June.

The closest major grocery stores are in Riverton or Lander. Dubois has one but when I lived there it was sometimes called the Food Museum.

 

[Timberdan]

Double Cabin

 

[Mustdoug]

Several outside Cooke City Montana. A couple of easy to moderate trails leading to old abandoned mining sites. I camped out at Daisy lake as well. It also outside Cooke.

 

[Mustdoug]

 

[Thor730]

It will be Mid July when we go! Thanks for the info. Are there any other suggestions anyone has. Like best way to store food when park bear boxes are not available. I am an avid backpacker and know to string it up.

 

[Mustdoug]

The pass we took was called Daisy Pass Trail. There are several trail branches off it that that had snow on them at the end of June some nice flat places off the trail to set up camp on both.

 

[titicaca]

... Are there any other suggestions anyone has. Like best way to store food when park bear boxes are not available. I am an avid backpacker and know to string it up.

You don't have a hard-top on the Jeep? It is a normal practice pack up food and kitchen items and store it in the car. With a soft top this is a very interesting challenge.

 

[Timberdan]

Some of the more expensive coolers are bear proof. Storing your food in there would be similar to a bear box.