Box Creek Trail Head, Wyoming

[topgun2]

On my recent fly fishing trip to Wyoming I stumbled upon a Forest Service "de-commissioned" campground.  My destination was fishing the Buffalo Fork River and I knew that there was a large Forest Service campground (Turpin Meadows) at the end of the paved Buffalo Valley Road.  I also knew that there are numerous boondocking sites on this road.  However, when I arrived I found the Turpin Meadows campground FULL and even the availability of many of the boondocking sites were hard to come by.  So, as I headed west back toward Moran Junction I saw a small sign 9/10th of a mile west of Turpin Meadows for Box Creek Trail Head.  The 3/4 mile dirt road ends at the trail head where there are 8 campsites.  The Forest Service took away the picnic tables but left the bear boxes.  While the pit toilet is not "serviced" by the Forest Service (this means that it is not cleaned nor do they provide TP) the campers using this facility do sweep it out and the result is that it is in better shape than the average.  There is water but it is marked that it is not potable, however, both potable water and trash disposal can be done at Turpin Meadows.  During the week I camped here it was never full and most nights there were only three of us staying there.  It is super quiet but certainly be "bear aware".

So, if you are in the Grand Teton area and want to get away from the crowds but still want great hiking and/or good fishing without a long drive on a dirt road, you might want to consider Box Creek.  There are stunning views of the Tetons from many of the hiking trails, from the river and from the drive west on Buffalo Valley Road.

GPS:  N 43 degrees 51minutes 42.5 seconds,  W 110 degrees 17 minutes 39.0 seconds

Bill

 

[Overland]

Nice find, Bill

[SeaDawg]

Really nice! Thanks for sharing the coordinates.

[John E Davies]

Thanks Bill, pretty pictures, here it is on Google Maps:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/43°51'42.0"N+110°17'39.0"W/@43.8617956,-110.2969969,2759m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d43.8616667!4d-110.2941667

Whenever I see horses and also know that there are bear, moose, deer and free range cattle around, I think TICKS. Is that a problem this time of year?

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

[topgun2]

JD - 

Two months in mostly the same terrain and not one tick.  No moose either but there were cattle, deer, bear and a few horses.  Box Creek campground does have small corals for horses and while I was there a very nice guy and his two horses were camped at the other end of the campground from me.  He asked if I minded him letting his horses graze and since I do like horses I didn't have any problems with it.

Interestingly while I was fishing the Buffalo Fork River one day I was walking across a fairly large sandy area that had a bunch of animal tracks in it.  One of those tracks was from a medium sized grizz and was fairly fresh.  The disturbing thing was that there was only one track - front right paw.  I never could figure out how in the world that bear got just one print in the sand since it was not near the water and too far to jump from the clump of willows.  Strange!

Bill