Granite Creek Road USFS – Camp Review

Where is This?

A very nice dispersed area off ID Highway 189/191 east of Alpine, WY called Granite Creek Road. Granite Creek Rd / FR30500 follows Hoback River. There are a few dispersed sites are along this stretch of water plus a large established campground near the end of the road. There’s also more dispersed along a smaller forest road called Little Granite Creek / FR30505. The entrance of FR30500, was pretty rough and with the rain, we wouldn’t have driving our truck through the first huge water filled pot hole.

The first 1/2 mile of forest road 30500 has many pot holes. Most of the road is just rocky and easy going and then there’s a 2nd stretch that is like the entrance and full of pot holes. Check road conditions if you’re traveling in the winter or shoulder seasons as the forest roads are not plowed and could still be closed.

Getting There

We came in from the west via Idaho Falls, ID. It’s about 1.5 hours to the forest road and then a nice a slow 10 mile drive all the way to the end of Granite Creek Road. It took us over 2 hours from Idaho Falls to the dispersed site we found available.

The Details

• GPS: 43.30116, -110.47584 is our actual camp location
• Easy to locate: Yes; and over 9 miles of forest land with many dispersed sites.
• Public Land: Yes (USFS)
• Stay Limit: 14 days
• Allowed Dispersed Area: at least 150′ from a designated forest road and 100′ (prefer 200′) from water
• Cell: None through the canyon area
• Crowded: Not busy during our early June stay
• Buggy: Not in June when we visited
• Clean: yes, pretty clean
• Would we stay here again: Yes
• Amenities: none unless you want water and trash from the Granite Creek Campground

Granite Creek Road Area

Most camp areas are well above the river and do not have river access.

Waterfall

The Hoback river waterfall was very impressive and unexpected. We just kind of stumbled into it while driving to see the hot springs pool.

Hot Springs

But it has a USFS run Hot Springs pool at the very end of the road. We visited the pool and spoke to the staff. It is $8/pp for the day. Temps in summer are in the mid 90s and over 100F in the winter. They are open 10am-8pm. We thought about returning for a visit the next morning, but decided with the rain and cooler weather, a 90F pool didn’t sound that inviting.

USFS Granite Creek Campground

A nice, hosted forest service campground. Many sites were small but they do have a few that a trailer + truck could fit into. The host were extremely friendly and the sites clean. If we headed back during a peak time and found no dispersed camping available, we’d attempt to fit in. The truck wouldn’t be a problem, but we’d need to also park the Jeep somewhere.

Would We Return?

Absolutely. The area is beautiful and it would be nice to stay in dryer weather. There’s a few hiking trails and the large reservoir near Alpine, WY is also a potential camping area.

Video – Camp Area Review

TBD