How to Get a Alaska Basin Permit

About Alaska Basin

Alaska Basin is in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, not in Grand Teton National Park. Both agencies say so. The Park Service's route page states that the Teton Crest Trail intersects into Caribou-Targhee National Forest at Fox Creek Pass and Alaska Basin, and that since it is Forest Service land, different regulations apply. Recreation.gov's Grand Teton permit carries a division named USFS - Alaska Basin whose description reads: this is not a park service managed camping zone, it is a National Forest Service Wilderness Area along the Teton Crest Trail where people can camp if they wish, and there is no nightly fee charged for this site. So the practical answer is: a Grand Teton backcountry permit is not required for Alaska Basin. The zone exists in the park's system only so that a continuous Teton Crest Trail itinerary can account for that night, and no nightly fee attaches to it. If your whole trip is in Alaska Basin, you need nothing from the national park. What the Forest Service publishes about the basin is short. It calls it a beautiful high elevation basin that holds a few lakes with amazing views, a favourite for hikers who want to do the up-and-over into Grand Teton National Park, gives Sunset Lake at 9,500 feet, and lists its restrictions as, in full, wilderness regulations apply. For the Jedediah Smith Wilderness as a whole it publishes 123,451 acres on the west slope of the Teton Range, and a food-storage line: bears roam Jedediah Smith, so store food in bear-proof containers or hang it high. What we deliberately do not state here: whether a Forest Service permit or registration is required for the Jedediah Smith Wilderness, what the group-size limit is, and what camping setbacks apply. Those figures could not be read from a Forest Service page - fs.usda.gov returns 403 to automated requests and the archived page's entire restrictions field says only that wilderness regulations apply. Call the Caribou-Targhee Supervisor's Office at 208-557-5900 before you plan around any specific rule.

Alaska Basin is the most commonly misfiled camp in the Teton Range. It appears as a selectable zone inside the Grand Teton backcountry permit, which makes it look like park land. It is not. The Park Service says so directly: the Teton Crest Trail intersects into Bridger-Teton National Forest at Teton Pass and Caribou-Targhee National Forest at Fox Creek Pass and Alaska Basin, and since it is Forest Service land, different regulations apply. Recreation.gov's own division for it is blunter still - this is not a park service managed camping zone, it is a National Forest Service Wilderness Area along the Teton Crest Trail where people can camp if they wish, and there is no nightly fee charged for this site.