YellowStone area..Best time to visit?

[VicR]

With two rigs that size

With two rigs that size I would suggest reservations are a must. Used to be that you could get a site first come first serve if you were at the Park bright and early, but the curse of popularity has made that a lot harder, especially for a large trailer. Fishing Bridge RV park is the only place in the park with hook-ups (if thats important to you), but its the most like a parking lot of any campgrounds in the park. Bridge Bay is fairly large and takes reservations, and has a fair amout of flat spots/ pull- throughs - but not near as many trees as it used to! I think Canyon campground takes reservations too, but its been a long long time since I have camped there. An older guide says reservations are also accepted at Madison and Grant, which is closer to Old Faithful.



Yellowstone's roads are set up like a figure 8 so depending on how many days you are going to spend there you'll probably drive the loops anyway.



I second the comment on the O/F Inn. If you get a chance, they run a pretty neat free tour of the place.



Enjoy your trip to America's first park.



-Vic

 

[Jay]

My favorite place

My wife and I usually go about every other year... I would go every year but the wife won't let me!



In my opinion early June (like 1st/2nd) week and late September (3rd week) are the best times. We see more animals in early June but prefer to fish in September. Be sure to check ahead to see which campgrounds are open.



I had hope to be there the second week of June this summer... but the trip may have to be delayed until September.

 

[Reddog1]

I plan on going to Yellowstone Sept 03. I live in central Calif. I will have 9 days total. I also hope to see the Grand Tetons.



I am thinking going in on the west side of Yellowstone, do the park, exit out the south end.



I would appreciate your input on the following:



1. I have a 35 ft 5er and a 11 ft slide-in. Which do you recommend I take, and why?



2. Is it practical to camp in a central location (5ver) then tour the park? Would it be better to camp on west side, explore, then move to east or south side, explore?





Wayne

 

[richardcoxid]

Have you tried-



http://www.statetrailer.com/ They have a very good mail order dept. Their prices seam to be equal to or less than C/W.



Also try any/all the RV supply outfits in the Dallas area. There must be many.

 

[richardcoxid]

Sorry I was making a post to another sit and put it in the wrong place.

 

[Jay]

Wayne...



Either one will work. You will find more campsites available to you with the slide in camper... particuarily in the campgrounds on the North side of the park.



We normally stay in one campground (Grant Village in September or Bay Bridge in June) and drive around the park. Yellowstone is very large so there is a lot of distance to cover. There is one campground with full hookups located at Fishing Bridge…we’ve not stayed there as the sites are too close together for us.



I would suggest reservations, at least for the first night or two as Labor Day week is still pretty busy.



There is also a private campground, Flagg Ranch which is between Yellowstone and the Tetons.



Enjoy!

 

[VicR]

Wayne,



I wish I had your dilemma on which rig to take! Seriously, I think I would take the slide-in, but only if you can drop it at the campground and use it off of the truck (some brands don't take well to this). I would suggest picking a central campground to base out of in Yellowstone and Teton and dropping the RV to drive around. A lot of the pull-outs and parking lots are pretty small and you are not going to want to tote 11' worth of slide in all over the parks. If you can't drop the slidein, I would suggest the 5th wheel for that reason. You would want to make reservations though because thats a mighty big trailer for most of the campgrounds there and you would be really limited as to where you could park it.



-Vic

 

[Reddog1]

Thanks for the response guys. If you think of anything else, let me know. I am still in the planning stage.





Wayne

 

[WyoJim]

Reddog1..... Take the slide in and leave it on the truck. I have been going to Yellowstone with a slide in a couple of times a year since 1969 and I have never took it off. All of your conveniences are with you all the time, especially your lunch and your wifes own clean personal potti.



One of my trips is always September and I have never made a reservation yet until I got there. The Maddison Campground is nice and is close to the loop roads. They can tell you at the Park entrance gate what campgrounds have vacancies. There are National Forest Campgrounds out of Cook City and West Yellowstone. Mammoth Campground is first come first served with a self sign in box. You can sign in there some time during the day or on your way out to see Gardner and your site will be there waiting for you to come back. If it is full there are commercial campgrounds in Gardner. If they are full there are places on the way to Jardine and at Jardine to pull over and park for the night. And there are National Forest Campgrounds out of Jardine.



You won't want to miss Beartooth Pass out of Cooke City and there are campgrounds all over on that trip.



I would want to see West Yellowstone, Gardner, Cody and Jackson for sure. Eat at Bubba's BBQ in Jackson or Cody. And if all else fails Jackson and Cody both have Walmarts to possibly park in overnite hee hee.



Make sure besides your camera that you take binoculars and a spotting scope if you have one. I have seen wolves both at daylight and at dark in the Lamar Valley and between Norris and Gardner. (In September).



To do the area right you don't want tied to any one campground.