Kelley Guard Station
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 19 of the next 30 nights read 15:23 UTC
- Sites
- 21 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Kelley Guard Station is a historic Forest Service guard station built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. Located about 45 miles north of Kemmerer, Wyoming, along the Big Springs Scenic Backway, the cabin attracts overnight guests year-round and provides convenient access to hiking, mountain biking, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. Big Springs Scenic Backway is a 68-mile road that boasts magnificent mountain views, wildflowers covered meadows and river valleys where grazing sheep may be spotted. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, fishing and off-road vehicle riding are popular summer activities in the surrounding area. Snowmobiling and cross country skiing can be done right out the front door in winter.
Facilities
This rustic two-room cabin sleeps four people on two bunkbeds with mattresses. The kitchen is equipped with a propane stove, refrigerator that is shut off when not in use, propane lights and a small wood stove for heat. A picnic table and campfire ring are located outside the cabin. Water is not available at this time . Guests should bring water for drinking and cooking. Outside vault toilet avalible year round with seasonal water faucet located outside. Some dishes, pots, pans and utensils are provided, however the presence of these items is not guaranteed. No linens or bedding are provided. Recommended items to bring include food, bedding, dish soap, dish rags, toilet paper, garbage bags and a flashlight. If firewood is on site, this is a courtesy but is not guarenteed . If wood is available, please only use what you need. Always be prepared to collect locally or bring to site from local resources.
Natural Features
The cabin is perched on a grassy space surrounded by a stand of mixed conifers at 8,200 feet in elevation. Kelley Creek flows beside the guard station, offering a serene soundtrack of flowing water. Moose, elk, eagles and sandhill cranes are among the wildlife likely to be seen. An abundance of wildflowers color the landscape in summer. The Bridger-Teton National Forest offers more than 3.4 million acres of public land for outdoor recreation. With its pristine watersheds, abundant wildlife and immense wildlands, the forest comprises a large part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states.
What the agency tells you
A combination is required for entrance into this facility. You will receive the combo via email at a later date
Winter access is by snowmobile only on a 10-mile trail
Summer access is on gravel and dirt roads; high clearance vehicles are strongly recommended. OHV requires the Wyoming State Registration both winter and summer. Click here for more information Wyoming State Trails
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Only potable water is available during summer months, but is NEVER guaranteed and no water is available in winter months
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack it in, pack it out' facility
Please clean cabin before leaving; cleaning supplies are NOT provided other than a broom and mop.
Pets are allowed, Never leave unattended. Please clean up after them both inside and outside. Do NOT allow them to harrass the wildlife.
No cell phone coverage available
Privately owned horses and livestock are ONLY allowed in the corrals IF there are no other horses in them. No private horses, livestock or members of the public are allowed in the pasture behind the corrals and cabin. Forest Service horses may be present in this pasture and the Forest Service will hold no liability for any harm or damage from interaction with these Forest Service animals.
No smoking allowed
Bears frequent the area; be aware of bear safety
Beware of poisonous chemicals used to control rodent population, Do not leave mouse traps set when you leave
Bedding and toiletries are NOT provided.
Click here to learn more about the Bridger-Teton National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 2 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 2 of 2 campsite records
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- Shower/Bath Type states a shower on all 2 of this campground's campsite records
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 15:23 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 15:23 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:23 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 sites · the site map
All 2 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 2 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| KEGS | CABIN | cabin nonelectric | 197 ft | $60 |
| Scan & Pay | S&P Site Type 0 | type not stated |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Scaler Guard StationBridger National Forest · 16 miAllred Flat CampgroundBridger National Forest · 17 mi
La Barge Guard StationBridger National Forest · 18 miFrom Kemmerer, WY, follow U.S. Highway 189 north to the junction of Wyoming Highway 233 and Ham's Fork Road. Turn left on Ham's Fork Road and drive about 38 miles (the first 19 miles of this road is paved) to Ham's Fork Campground. Just past the campground, take the left fork in the road and cross Ham's Fork River. Drive about 2.5 miles to Green Knoll/Forest Road 10198 junction and turn left. Then drive 3.8 miles to Nugent Park/Forest Road 10069 junction and turn right. Drive 0.8 miles to Kelley Guard Station Road and turn right. The guard station is about 1/2-mile from the junction.
Winter access is by snowmobile only on a 10-mile trail.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cokeville, WY
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Kelley Guard Station is in Wyoming’s at-large congressional district. Its representative, Harriet Hageman (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyHarriet M. HagemanU.S. Representative · Wyoming, at-large
- Your senator, on the same appropriationCynthia M. LummisU.S. Senator · Wyoming
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn BarrassoU.S. Senator · Wyoming
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Kelley Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming
Dear Harriet M. Hageman, I’m a constituent in Wyoming, at-large. I tried to camp at Kelley Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 1 of the 2 campsites the agency files at Kelley Guard Station, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Kelley Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kelley Guard Station. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Kelley Guard Station (Bridger National Forest, Wyoming) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Kelley Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming
Dear Cynthia M. Lummis, I’m a constituent in Wyoming. I tried to camp at Kelley Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 1 of the 2 campsites the agency files at Kelley Guard Station, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Kelley Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kelley Guard Station. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Kelley Guard Station (Bridger National Forest, Wyoming) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Kelley Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming
Dear John Barrasso, I’m a constituent in Wyoming. I tried to camp at Kelley Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 1 of the 2 campsites the agency files at Kelley Guard Station, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Kelley Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kelley Guard Station. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Kelley Guard Station (Bridger National Forest, Wyoming) via campanac.com