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Living in a Camper in Wyoming's Harsh Winter: Yellowstone and Grand Teton


I have been living full time inside my camper in Yellowstone and Grand Teton through the Wyoming winter, and it has come with real upsides and some real challenges. This is the honest version of both, plus whether I am staying much longer, although I might not have a choice, because I think I am stuck.


If you are new here, my name is Matt Zefi. A while back I left my job in New York City to road trip across the country living full time in my camper. Right now I am in Wyoming, where it is blizzarding.


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I filmed this one inside, because it is dropping into the single digits out there. Depending on where you are, that is either freezing or I am being a wimp. Either way, it is cozy in here.


Why winter in Yellowstone and Grand Teton

I could have gone to the beaches of Florida or to sunny Arizona. Here is why I did not.


Wildlife and landscape photography. That is one of the things I do, and in my opinion this is one of the absolute best places in the country for it, at both Grand Teton and Yellowstone. There is an abundance of wildlife here, and viewing them from a distance is always exciting. That is a big part of why these are my two favorite national parks. While I was out here there were three moose in view, two of them massive bulls, with a perfect backdrop behind them.


I wanted to test the camper and test myself. I knew what the weather was going to be. I wanted to see what this camper can take and how long I can go. I also just thought spending a winter in Wyoming and Montana would be an incredible thing to do. I did not plan to stay the entire winter, but I have been here over a month now and we got almost two feet of snow in the last week alone.


The snow scenes. I wanted to be here for them specifically.


I love anything western. Jackson Hole and Wyoming in general are the epitome of the West to me. Jackson is obviously more of a multimillionaire and billionaire area, but I love going around it.


And no, I am not skiing. This is a huge ski area, Jackson Hole plus Grand Targhee right across the range, but I do not ski or snowboard. Which sounds odd for someone who loves mountain towns, though it does mean I am not spending money on an expensive sport.


Why a camper instead of a lodge or an Airbnb

Because I live in this camper full time, and honestly it has been better than a lot of the hotels I have stayed in. But the bigger reason is cost. Staying in an Airbnb or a lodge out here for months, especially in Jackson Hole, would not be possible unless I were a Jackson Hole multimillionaire. Yellowstone and Gardiner, Montana are a little more realistic since rates drop in winter. But I am effectively staying in this area for free.


If you want the background on how I got here, I wrote about selling everything to live in a camper and driving from NYC to Yellowstone towing a camper in winter.


Winter camper living in Yellowstone at a glance


Details

Where

Colter Bay Village, Grand Teton, and the greater Yellowstone area

How long

Over a month so far

Temperatures

Single digits, sometimes below zero

Snowfall

Almost 2 feet in one week

Power

Lithium, fully off grid, no shore power. Battery dropped under 30%

Heat

Propane furnace, with propane sensors that barely work in the cold

Internet

Starlink

Nearest gym or grocery

About an hour each way

Cost

Effectively free camping


The upsides of living in a camper in winter

The landscapes. Even looking out the window behind me it is incredible. Mount Moran is back there, the whole Teton range, the Rockies all around with snowcapped peaks. It is my favorite time of year to be here. This camper has windows on nearly every wall, so it feels like being inside a snow globe. It can be below zero out and I am toasty in here.


Wildlife is easier to find. Tracks show up in the snow, and animals come down into the valleys for the warmer air. Winter is a good time for wildlife viewing here, and the backgrounds you get behind them are hard to beat.


Silence and solitude. There are no crowds. There is almost no noise. I like a balance between busier places and being out in the middle of nowhere, and right now I am legitimately in the middle of nowhere with nobody around.


Availability and price. Things are closed, but what is open is wide open. I am at Colter Bay Village in Grand Teton, a place you have to book months ahead in the summer, and there is nobody here except me. Rates in winter are a completely different world.


The mental reset. It is silent, and the snow dampens sound even further. Walking through the forest here is about as peaceful as it gets, and the smell alone is enough to solve most of your problems. I came from a very overstimulating New York City where I wore noise cancelling headphones something like 95 to 100 percent of the day. Out here I never touch them.


It forces simplicity. I am a slow morning coffee person, and that is pretty much every morning here.


I am learning what off grid in winter actually takes. I am learning that I do not have enough lithium power and that I am probably going to need a generator. Even today my battery is down to somewhere under 30 percent and I am getting very little solar, though the sun finally came out after about a week of full overcast. I clear the panels off every morning.


The downsides of living in a camper in winter

Constant monitoring. I am always watching the interior temperature and the battery, because I am on lithium with no shore power at all. The battery runs the furnace fan, my electronics, my cameras, and Starlink. Everything depends on it.


Propane anxiety. If the propane goes out, I cannot cook and I have no heat. I have backup options and emergency plans, but it sits in the back of your head. I have sensors on the tanks and they barely work in these temperatures.


Snow removal becomes a job. The first five to eight inches were a winter wonderland. Then it kept going, and it is still going. I have been clearing off my car about every hour. Living out here in this climate can be a full time job by itself.


Everything is an hour away. Driving an hour to the gym or the grocery store eats the day. I went a couple days ago and by the time I got back half the day was gone. The gym one is probably my biggest challenge, because starting the day there puts me in a good routine, and at an hour out I am not going daily.


You are at the whims of the weather. I am probably going to try to pull out of this spot and get to a different campground, and I am honestly not sure whether I am stuck. Wyoming wind gets hectic, and I do not want to tow this thing on slick, packed down roads. Planning around weather becomes the main thing you do.


Yellowstone and the Tetons are very different in winter. The Tetons have the ski infrastructure, so there are more people and more open. Yellowstone right now has only the Gardiner, Montana entrance open and no skiing, so there are very few people and very few things open. There are almost no campgrounds available up there except Mammoth Hot Springs, and that one has no electricity, so I would still be off grid.


For more on the deep cold version of this, I wrote up winter RV living below zero in Yellowstone and 10 downsides of living in an RV full time.


Cold weather camper gear I actually use


If you want the full breakdown of the gear that made this livable, that is in 10 RV gear items that made full time life way better. The power setup is in solar generator vs DIY solar and internet is in the Starlink Mini review.


Is it worth it?

In my opinion the downsides are completely outweighed by the upsides. I do not know that I will stay forever. I am in a camper, we can move at any time, and we are about to find out whether we are stuck.


People keep telling me I could go anywhere in the country, that I could be somewhere sunny, and asking why I am staying. It is because I love it. Waking up every morning for sunrise and watching the Tetons come out, there is really nothing like it. I had a very specific vision for what I wanted to do here, and I feel like that is creeping to an end. But I will definitely be back.


FAQ

Can you live in a camper in Yellowstone in the winter? Yes, but expect to be off grid. The only Yellowstone entrance open right now is Gardiner, Montana, and the only campground available up there is Mammoth Hot Springs, which has no electricity.


How cold does it get living in a camper in Wyoming? Single digits regularly and below zero at times while I was there, with almost two feet of snow in a single week.


How much solar do you need for winter camper living? More than I have. I am running lithium with solar only, and after about a week of overcast my battery dropped under 30 percent. I clear snow off the panels every morning and I am planning on adding a generator.


How do you get internet in Grand Teton in the winter? Starlink. It has been a big relief out here, less for work and more because a breakdown with no cell reception is a much worse situation than a breakdown with internet.


Is winter camping in Grand Teton cheaper than summer? Much cheaper. Colter Bay Village needs to be booked months in advance in summer. In winter I was there alone and effectively camping for free.



Let me know down in the comments if you have questions about living in a camper, what it is like in the wintertime, or living in Yellowstone in general. Thanks again for watching, and I will see you out there on the road.

 
 
 

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