Yellowstone camping

[antiqfreq]

Okay, so whose been to Yellowstone and where did you stay?

Which entrance is the best (beauty vs close to your campground of choice)?

I get on the NFS website and I get really confused - I want to see it all!

We don't need hook ups, but some of the CG's don't allow generators and we want to be able to use ours and also we'd need a dump station, so now we are starting to limit ourselves. Also, our fiver is almost 31' long, so that is another limitation.

Given all those above items - which entrance should we go in and which CG should we stay at? It probably isn't happening this year - but hopefully next!

Gotta plan those big outings WAY ahead of time.......

Jo

[roger]

We stayed in town just outside of the west gate entrance,there's a camp ground about two/three blocks away,very clean,full hook ups,no pool though,walk to town.
One of the best things about it is your only a couple mins. to the park and you can drive the upper loop of the park (north) and relocate(camp grounds) to the south to do the lower loop. This made the biggest difference on the trip. You can burn up so much time driving,being so close to the west gate entrance helped a lot w/food, laundry and close to town to shop. This camp ground was about the cleanest one we stayed at while out for three and a half week trip. It's on the south edge of town and a couple blocks from the west entrance-West Yellowstone
Have fun!

[tehachapatch]

We stayed a week at the Fishing Bridge CG which is in the center of the park so everything was equally a long ways to drive. Even a week wasn't long enough, but the West entrance was the best since I was fishing and photographing wildlife. Check out Madison CG if you want to use your genset.

[antiqfreq]

Today we head to Nevada and next week California - we are slowly making our way around the country and hopefully when 'ready' we can find a site at Yellowstone.
As soon as we get 'close' to knowing our dates - I will get on the internet and see IF anything is available. I'll keep the Madison CG in mind!
Thanks,
Jo

[Sillyme]

Originally Posted by antiqfreq

Okay, so whose been to Yellowstone and where did you stay?

Which entrance is the best (beauty vs close to your campground of choice)?

Given all those above items - which entrance should we go in and which CG should we stay at? It probably isn't happening this year - but hopefully next!

Gotta plan those big outings WAY ahead of time.......

Jo,

Dear Jo

We were at Yellowstone last year and truly enjoyed it. We stayed at the KOA just west of the town and the west entrance and truly enjoyed it. We had a Class C rental.

But inside the park, there is the Fishing Bridge Campground. It is designed for hard-sided units only with a maximum length of 40'. You can run your gen fm 8am to 8pm. They have water and sewer and for unknown reason, they don't offer electrical hookups for 2010. Probably doing some upgrading. But you have your generator!
Here's one link: http://www.yellowstone.net/camping/fishingbridge.htm

And should you wish to make a reservation, here's a link for that: https://yellowstonerv.resrv.us/ycn35/form/

or the official link for reservations: http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisi...ellowstone.htm

Every entrance is nice but for different reasons. The east entrance from Cody would take you directly to the Fishing Bridge Campground on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. I hear the view going downhill is quite amazing. It's the only entrance we didn't use.

I hope this little bit of info helps. Good luck!

Sylvie

[Jca3]

We have stayed in most of the campgrounds in Yellowstone. The park people will want to stick you in the next available slot because they don't have computers which show them what is available. (at least 3 years ago they didn't). At fishing bridge they put us right in the middle of a row of trailers. Our slides were nearly touching when the entire upper region off the camp was completely open. We stayed one night then went down and asked for another spot. Up at the top a grizzly momma and baby came out of the trees right behind us so there is a reason you have to have hard sides at Fishing Bridge. It was fine as we went inside and took pictures of her as she hung around eating the grass for about an hour. This was the last weekend in May - the first week it opened for trailers.
The same with Madison campground. They stuck us in a spot so small we had to park the truck next to the trailer and could barely get out the door. The entire back end of the campground was open. We only stayed there one night and left, but walked the river. Very pretty. Saw elk and bison. People were using generators at Madison. Really annoying as they were so close together. I have always wanted to ask what they needed them for? We go a week on our two batteries.
We have stayed at Monmouth hot springs twice. A nice walk of the geysers there and the campground is nice too.
Either entrance is fine. The fun of Yellowstone is driving the park and seeing the animals especially if you go early in the year before all the people. The animals have not headed into the back country to get away from the chaos.
Our favorite is Signal Lake in the Tetons. We stay there and drive up to Yellowstone now. The Tetons are much more scenic. Gorgeous country with moose and elk in the campground.

Since the first post was a number of years ago. I hope you made the trip.

[JeffS]

We have been to Yellowstone on 3 occasions. Each time, since we are coming from Michigan, we have come through Cody ,as I recall we stayed at the Ponderosa?? RV Park, then into Yellowstone on SR 14/20. Cody has the incredible Buffalo Bill Historical Center (takes 2 days to really see) and Trail Town.
We have always stayed at Fishing Bridge and found it to be a good central location from which to explore the park and fly fish. On everyone of our trips we have also stayed at Colter Bay in the Tetons.

[Fred_M]

We have spent a lot of camp time in Yellowstone. We have come to like
Madison campground. Ours is a 27FT TT but have seen the larger 5ers in
as well. We use our generator on what we call "camp maintenance day".
Every three or four days we fill and dump tanks, charge batteries and
sometimes laundry. For laundry, there are a couple of places in West
Yellowstone. One has free Wi-Fi so you can catch up on the computer
while you wait for the cloths.
Also, every few weeks we move into "Grizzly RV Park" is West Yellowstone
to clean up everything, including us. It is only a 14 mile trip with the TT.
You could stay at "Grizzly RV" and commute in to the Park as well.
I am getting long-winded. Sorry about that. - Fred.

[antiqfreq]

We DID make it to Yellowstone....went thru west entrance & stayed at Grizzly RV park about 3 nights.....then headed out the east side to Cody, WY and stayed at Ponderosa RV Park for about 3 more nights to do the old western town, see the old hotel and of course the museum - that took 2 days by itself!

Hope anyone who gets out west gets to do all this & more !

Jo

[JeffS]

So where to next Western Travelers? Devils Tower, Rushmore, Badlands (I believe Wall Drug still gives a free coffee & doughnut to Vets).

[Cougarfamily]

Originally Posted by antiqfreq

We DID make it to Yellowstone....went thru west entrance & stayed at Grizzly RV park about 3 nights.....then headed out the east side to Cody, WY and stayed at Ponderosa RV Park for about 3 more nights to do the old western town, see the old hotel and of course the museum - that took 2 days by itself!

Hope anyone who gets out west gets to do all this & more !

Jo

When we went last July, we entered at south entrancee and drove to the west entrance, stopping at Old Faithful on the way. Only saw the park that one day. DW and I agree that sometime after kid leaves home, we are going to go back as stay a whole week. Really enjoyed what little we did see.

[Fred_M]

Antiqfreq, when did you finally get to Yellowstone? We do nature photo
as a hobby and spent three weeks in the park Sept of 2012.
For anyone interested, Grizzly RV Park had free coffee and donuts in the
recroom every morning. - Fred.

[jaydeb]

Jeff, we are trying to plan a trip to Yellowstone this spring. We are thinking about staying in Cody, Wy. and taking day trips to see everything. My question is, we have 14 days that we are trying to do this in. How long, or how far do you travel each day getting there? If you stop along the way, where do you stop? Just trying to figure things out without trying to do to much, and be to tired to enjoy our trip. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks, Jay

[campingcpl]

Originally Posted by jaydeb

Jeff, we are trying to plan a trip to Yellowstone this spring. We are thinking about staying in Cody, Wy. and taking day trips to see everything. My question is, we have 14 days that we are trying to do this in. How long, or how far do you travel each day getting there? If you stop along the way, where do you stop? Just trying to figure things out without trying to do to much, and be to tired to enjoy our trip. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks, Jay

We live in northern Indiana and it took us 4 days to get out to Yellowstone. We took a northernly route (we stopped to see family in northeast South Dakota). As for the route you would take I would say it would probably take you about 3 days depending on how far you want to drive in one day. My wife wont drive pulling the trailer so I do all the driving and personally I can only do about 10-12 hours (about 500-600 miles depending on how fast I drive) before I have to stop. My guess would be your first stop would be Omaha, NE. (about 600 miles). We usually just stop for the night in a rest area or truck stop for the night. But if you wanted to stay at a campground there is a nice KOA on the east side of Omaha that I have stayed at before. Then I would say your secound stop would be Rapid City, SD (about 530 miles) and again there are several nice campgrounds in that area to stay at if you decide to. Your last stop would then be Cody, WY (about 400 miles) and I would recommend going the southern route around the Big Horn National Forest (take US 16 off I90). US 14 is passable (if they haven't had any snow) but is really steep and really winding and has some really long pulls. US 16 isn't as bad but still has some steep and winding parts. I hope this helps you out. Have safe travel and a fun trip. We loved it there!

[JeffS]

Jay, the route campingcpl mentioned should get you there the fastest.

When we travel the trip is as important as the destination, geezers. So since you ask here is how we went the last time:
Cedar Rapids, IA - Czeck & Slovak Museum (some great Czeck restaurants) Wife's heritage.
Mitchell, SD - just a pass through to check on the status of the Corn Palace murals.
Wall, SD - why not see Wall Drug if you haven't - plus take the loop through the Bad Lands.
DON'T Bother with Deadwood - personal opinion.
Hill City, SD - Rushmore & Crazy Horse - Wind Cave is a worth while side trip.
Devils Tower, WY - another great side trip.
Cody, WY - the museum takes 2 days but is a must see, also Trail Town just outside town.
Yellowstone is fantastic but don't skip Grand Tetons. You might even want to go into Jackson for the gun fight and hanging (assuming they still do it).

[EricLynnAllison]

We stayed at the Flagg Ranch which is inbetween Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Full hookups.

[jaydeb]

Thanks for all the input. We really do appreciate it. We got our reservation confirmation today. We will be staying 10 days in Cody, Wy. we will tour Yellowstone, Tetons, Jackson Hole, plus local sights in Cody. I have been before when I was a kid, but my wife and son have not. I know I am trying to squeeze a lot in in just a few days, and would like to take my time getting there, but They really want to see and do a lot out there and I am going to make it in 3 days.

[curlyfungirl]

Originally Posted by antiqfreq

Okay, so whose been to Yellowstone and where did you stay?

Which entrance is the best (beauty vs close to your campground of choice)?

I get on the NFS website and I get really confused - I want to see it all!

We don't need hook ups, but some of the CG's don't allow generators and we want to be able to use ours and also we'd need a dump station, so now we are starting to limit ourselves. Also, our fiver is almost 31' long, so that is another limitation.

Given all those above items - which entrance should we go in and which CG should we stay at? It probably isn't happening this year - but hopefully next!

Gotta plan those big outings WAY ahead of time.......

Jo

We love Yellowstone. We stay at the Grizzly Campground. It doesn't have a pool but who needs one when you can swim in the rivers. They are nice and warm from the geisers.

[antiqfreq]

We definitely did go to Yellowstone & did stay at Grizzly RV Park,

then drove on to the east entrance and stayed in Cody, Wyoming for a few.

Jo