Next summer SC to Yellowstone?
We hope to do this next summer with our 2 teenagers. We will be able to take 21 days. Is this reasonably doable? Would love your suggestions on routes and itineraries and even cg recommendations. We...
Forum Discussion
Can it be done, sure, should it be done, maybe not. The issue as I see it is your 5th wheel, and also the allowed time. We did Yellowstone and the big solar eclipse last summer in our 28 ft class A, and due to our timing and being relatively late making reservations (5 months out), we ended up staying in 3 different campgrounds in Yellowstone (Canyon, Grant, and Fishing Bridge). These campgrounds may be huge, but the individual sites are tight, built for smaller non-slide RV of an earlier era with most sites 30 ft in length, and very few over 35 ft long. Also the individual camping loop roads are very tight, this combined with people shoe horning RV's into pull off spaces would make access with your 5th wheel nearly impossible. I remember one point driving around one camping loop where I almost had my wife get out and guide me past a narrow point between a tree and the corner of a trailer, instead I inched by at about 3 mph with the mirrors clearing on each side by inches. (I store my coach in a shed with 11 inches of clearance through the doorway, and this felt tighter than that).
So unless you could score one of the handful of 40 ft sites at Fishing Bridge you will likely find yourself at one of the RV parks or campgrounds outside of Yellowstone, on the east side that would probably mean 50 miles away in Cody WY, or perhaps in Grand Tetons national park to the south. Either way would put you hours away from many of the attractions in Yellowstone.
Now as to the time, you really need at least a week to properly see Yellowstone, we did it in 4.5 days last summer, and only saw about half of the main attractions, the problem is the place is so overwhelming, if you rush through it you find yourself going blah at the 3rd amazing waterfall of the day. Columbia, SC to Cody, WY is a 2,000 mile drive, personally when traveling in my motorhome I like to limit my driving to under 300 miles per day, though when traveling across the expansive distances out west will push that to 400, and occasionally 500. Though when I do 500 I always look back saying I should have stopped 100 miles ago, in a 5th wheel with kids, you will probably have more set up and tare down time than I do each day. So best case, you are looking at 4 solid 12 hour days on the road just to get to the entrance to Yellowstone, stopping only for fuel and food. Adding a couple of tourist stops along the way, and it is easy to push this to 7 days of travel each way out of your 21 day schedule, even this keeps that grueling driving pace, just with some breaks to see a couple of things along the way.
So unless you could score one of the handful of 40 ft sites at Fishing Bridge you will likely find yourself at one of the RV parks or campgrounds outside of Yellowstone, on the east side that would probably mean 50 miles away in Cody WY, or perhaps in Grand Tetons national park to the south. Either way would put you hours away from many of the attractions in Yellowstone.
Now as to the time, you really need at least a week to properly see Yellowstone, we did it in 4.5 days last summer, and only saw about half of the main attractions, the problem is the place is so overwhelming, if you rush through it you find yourself going blah at the 3rd amazing waterfall of the day. Columbia, SC to Cody, WY is a 2,000 mile drive, personally when traveling in my motorhome I like to limit my driving to under 300 miles per day, though when traveling across the expansive distances out west will push that to 400, and occasionally 500. Though when I do 500 I always look back saying I should have stopped 100 miles ago, in a 5th wheel with kids, you will probably have more set up and tare down time than I do each day. So best case, you are looking at 4 solid 12 hour days on the road just to get to the entrance to Yellowstone, stopping only for fuel and food. Adding a couple of tourist stops along the way, and it is easy to push this to 7 days of travel each way out of your 21 day schedule, even this keeps that grueling driving pace, just with some breaks to see a couple of things along the way.
