I am bringing a small scout troop through the area towards the end of June. We are planning on doing dispersed camping for a couple of nights while we tour the park. Nothing fancy just room for 4 tents close to the vehicle. The more I look into it it sounds like this may be hard to do with all the pressure. Can anyone provide any information on this? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Drive from Red Lodge to Cook City over Beartooth pass and go in the NE entrance on the way in or way home. That stretch of road is way better than a week in Yellowstone IMO. There is a couple alpine lakes up there to camp at too but it might be restricted to hard sided campers due to the grizzlys

It would be a good ride but check out Emerald lake campground. There is a lot of campgrounds around on government land I this it’s just as pretty as Yellowstone Park. Look up Custer Gallatin National Forest for places to camp.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/custergallatin/recarea/?recid=60863

Bring pepper spray.

And toilet cleaning supplies if youre in the tourist areas. A lot of the foreign tourists are disgusting.

I worked as a wrangler helping take people on horse and mule pack trips through the park. Camping for us was strictly regulated at prereserved designated camp site. Maybe cause of the livestock. Don’t know if pedestrians are allowed to disperse camp in the park. There are areas to camp just outside the park on USNF. West Yellowstone (Madison River and Hebgan Reservoir)
North of the park Gardine and bear creek. North east around Cook City and Redlodge? Wow stretching the old memory banks been a long time. As others have said bear spray is a must and keep a clean camp including hanging all food from a bear pole. Rangers will issue a citation. Hear it’s pretty spendy. Be safe and have great time. I’m sure if you do a little digging you can get definitive answers from the park rangers and they are the ones that’ll be giving tickets or not.

West Yellowstone in the summer looks.like an Asian town.

Thanks guys. We are camping a few a couple nights down in the lower half of the Bridger Teton National Forest so the boys can do some fishing. Wanting to move closer to Yellowstone to avoid making a 3 hour drive both ways. I have talked to some rangers and poured over some maps and it seems there is very limited dispersed camping and the campgrounds fill up pretty fast.
None of the 5 boys making the trip have ever been west of the Mississippi and the Boy scout troop has never had an outing outside of Maryland or the surrounding states. I just want to show them some real America before the liberals finish destroying what was once a great organization.

I'd stay out of the parks, just my opinion. Plenty of other cool parts of the state that aren't overcrowded and commercialized. Go camp up the west fork of the Madison. Great country not many people and not as regulated .

The main purpose for visiting Yellowstone is to see old faithful and some wildlife, mainly grizzly. If anyone can recommend a particular area for wildlife watching we may just swing in for the geysers and leave. Would make it a lot easier.

First don't listen to all the nay sayers on here. Sure there's lots of great places to see in the west but that's not your goal. Take the young men to Yellowstone park. It's something they will remember the rest of their life. You might be able to camp at different entrances of the park if you can find a place so you do not have to return to one spot. Why don't you contact some local boy scout troops around the park. I know there is one in Jackson hole area. Might get some help there.

Wildlife in the park are harder to see in the summer.SO many people. You will need to talk with a park ranger to see if there is anyplace to view grizzlies. In West Yellowstone there is a grizzly bear sanctuary where you can pay and see grizzlies but they are in a controlled environment. There is a lot of cool stuff to see in the park not just old faithful but you should see that. Keep in mind that the park will be very crowded as you are visiting the prime time plus there are many more people traveling now.

huntmd94; if you drive up from the Tetons all the way through jelly stone to the north entrance, you will be in the town of Gardiner. Sorry I spelled it wrong, like I said deep in the memory banks. Any way in Gardiner about the third or fourth road north of the park entrance to the east off Main Street is Jardine road. The town of Gardiner literally sets on the park boundary and the mining town of Jardine is a short, distance up the mountain probably less than ten miles. As soon as you get out of Gardiner you’re on National Forest and dispersed camping next to your vehicle is the norm. Pick a flat spot to flop and you might even be in one of my old campsites.
As far as wildlife there are a lot of bison between Gardiner and Cook City. If you devide the square that is Yellow stone vertically into thirds the eastern edge of the western third and the western edge of the central third has a lot of the stuff people go there to see. And there is a ton of critters large and small just about everywhere you look.
And being as your going in late June you might bump into the salmonfly hatch on the Yellowstone River . Which if you don’t know is a world famous event if you’re a fly fisher person. It is the only time of the year when a person of ordinary skill has a legitimate chance to catch a ten pound trout on a fly rod. If it’s a little too tame between Gardiner and Jardine just keep going up the hill from Jardine and the USFS road will take you to the edge of the Absoroarka/Beartooth Wilderness boundary. Some more of my old stomping grounds during elk season. Our base camp was 21 miles in from the trailhead at bear creek. Have fun I sure do miss those mountains.

As someone said above, take in the Beartooth highway

There are 6 million visitors to Jellysttone every summer. I had to make camping reservations a year in advance and there were 500 campsites in our campground. On blacktop. I'll go out around Jellystone. No way I'd camp on the ground with boys. Grizzlies are worshiped in the park.

Twenty years ago I could not enter the park pulling a utility trailer. Better ask ahead of time.

My grandson is going on a ten day pack-in hike in Glacier this summer with members of his troop.

If you’re looking to dispersed camp in the Jackson area look at Mosquito Creek just south of Wilson or the Pritchard Pass, Red Top Meadows area south of Munger Mountain. Further south there are lots of areas around Alpine.

June will not be as busy in Yellowstone as July but till busy. Bears will be very active.
Go in to Yellowstone from Cody and then make your way down through Jackson after your tour.

For a more laid back trip through some pretty mountains on the way home, take I-80 to highway 130, Saratoga exit to Saratoga. Neat little town with western feel.
Take Highway 130 over the Snowy Range. Great spots to stop and hike around , should be snow up high in late June.
Good spots to camp down below the summit anywhere on the forest, dispersed camping is abundant over here.

Thanks guys, you all have given me a bunch of info to sort thru. I will have to spend a few evenings with the Delorme. We are spending a night or two camping down below Alpine along the greys river on our way up coming from the Grand Canyon.