Roads within Yellowstone okay for towing travel trailer

Woodswalker wrote:
Wishin,

I too am planning to be in Yellowstone, Grand Tetons in June. Belonging to a Women's RV group, I have had a lot of insight from members who have been there done that as have the folks on here. More that one has told me that Fishing Bridges sites are very tight. Not much room to maneuver. That being said, I booked reservations at Grizzly RV park in West Yellowstone and am going to do my sightseeing from there and then move down to Teton Valley Park to do Grand Tetons. Fortunate to have one member of group as a native of Jackson, and is going to show me the Tetons up close. You might want to do some checking on campground in that area. My thoughts are that even if it's a bit more expensive, it's worth it. I will be coming in from Livingston and down to West Yellowstone by way of Bozeman. Am originally starting from Michigan Happy Travels.

I looked at Fishing Bridge pretty closely by google images and it looks open enough. There are lots of RV's in the image much larger than our 29' trailer so I think we'll be fine. More open than many places we go. We're staying at Colter Bay Village RV Park in the Tetons. We're really looking forward to it, thanks for the insight and have a great trip yourself!

Wishin,

I too am planning to be in Yellowstone, Grand Tetons in June. Belonging to a Women's RV group, I have had a lot of insight from members who have been there done that as have the folks on here. More that one has told me that Fishing Bridges sites are very tight. Not much room to maneuver. That being said, I booked reservations at Grizzly RV park in West Yellowstone and am going to do my sightseeing from there and then move down to Teton Valley Park to do Grand Tetons. Fortunate to have one member of group as a native of Jackson, and is going to show me the Tetons up close. You might want to do some checking on campground in that area. My thoughts are that even if it's a bit more expensive, it's worth it. I will be coming in from Livingston and down to West Yellowstone by way of Bozeman. Am originally starting from Michigan Happy Travels.

CloudDriver wrote:

Wishin wrote:
We've since changed our plans some and are going from Glacier, then to Grand Tetons, then back up to Yellowstone, it actually ends up being less miles this way and we have the trailer on the park roads less.

Coming down from Glacier to get to Grand Teton without going through Yellowstone gives you two routes. One includes taking route 22 over the Teton Pass to Jackson. We have done that route in our Class C and will never do so again. 10% grades and sharp curves, nearly burned up the brakes. The much better route is 26 from Idaho Falls to Alpine Junction then north through the Snake River Canyon to Jackson. No significant grades, although it is a climb in the Canyon.

X2 on 2gypsies suggestion of Gros Ventre campground. That's where we always stay for the Tetons.

One other thought - There are two large supermarkets as you enter Jackson from the south, a Smiths on the left and an Abertsons about 1/2 mile further on the right. Stock up before heading into the Parks as groceries are much more expensive in the Parks and there is less variety available. Also, we have found gas to be less expensive at the south end of Jackson. If you need it, there is a Shell gas station with propane on the right about 1/2 mile past Albertsons.

I think we still plan to cut thru the south west corner of Yellowstone on the way to the Grand Tetons, it will give us a little more time in the park. We won't be able to stop at everything we see but we can catch what we miss later now that we gained an extra day later.

Thanks for the suggestion on the by-pass route if we decide to do that. Also, thank you for the suggestion on groceries. You're at least the 2nd person to suggest getting groceries ahead of time. We'll be sure to stock up between Glacier and the Grand Tetons.

Jim Shoe wrote:
Wishin,
A couple of things to keep in mind. Montana is the 4th largest state in size and 44th in population. If you get off the interstates, you'll be passing through small towns that may have only one gas station and your rig might not fit. On my trip to Alaska, I stayed on I-15 N from Great Falls to Sweetgrass, MT. and still nearly ran out of gas trying to find a station with pull thru pumps since I tow a Jeep 4 down and can't back up. There's a gas station at the border into Canada that was Very busy.
Second, the Badlands loop road is only 40 miles long. Certainly worth a drive through. Several turnouts to pull over and walk around. I stopped at the gift shop on the way out. They have shaded benches next to the door. Also a sign warning folks to look under the bench before sitting down. Rattlesnakes like the shade during the day. I don't know if they were just joking, but I looked first.

Thanks for the advice on Montana. We used to have a lot of issues with getting gas back when we towed with our wagon, as it only has a 21 gallon tank. We're much better off now with the Suburban with a 38 gallon tank. Still a good idea to be safe with gas options. We'll have to do more research, we can get in and out of most gas stations, but some are quite tight in the country if they are an older smaller station. We do enjoy driving thru the country side and seeing the small towns if it works out however and isn't much more if any time consuming.

We are still going to the Badlands, and will even stay the night there. We'll take our time driving in one evening, and driving out the next morning. We should get to enjoy some of it that way.

Wishin wrote:
We've since changed our plans some and are going from Glacier, then to Grand Tetons, then back up to Yellowstone, it actually ends up being less miles this way and we have the trailer on the park roads less.

Coming down from Glacier to get to Grand Teton without going through Yellowstone gives you two routes. One includes taking route 22 over the Teton Pass to Jackson. We have done that route in our Class C and will never do so again. 10% grades and sharp curves, nearly burned up the brakes. The much better route is 26 from Idaho Falls to Alpine Junction then north through the Snake River Canyon to Jackson. No significant grades, although it is a climb in the Canyon.

X2 on 2gypsies suggestion of Gros Ventre campground. That's where we always stay for the Tetons.

One other thought - There are two large supermarkets as you enter Jackson from the south, a Smiths on the left and an Abertsons about 1/2 mile further on the right. Stock up before heading into the Parks as groceries are much more expensive in the Parks and there is less variety available. Also, we have found gas to be less expensive at the south end of Jackson. If you need it, there is a Shell gas station with propane on the right about 1/2 mile past Albertsons.

Wishin,
A couple of things to keep in mind. Montana is the 4th largest state in size and 44th in population. If you get off the interstates, you'll be passing through small towns that may have only one gas station and your rig might not fit. On my trip to Alaska, I stayed on I-15 N from Great Falls to Sweetgrass, MT. and still nearly ran out of gas trying to find a station with pull thru pumps since I tow a Jeep 4 down and can't back up. There's a gas station at the border into Canada that was Very busy.
Second, the Badlands loop road is only 40 miles long. Certainly worth a drive through. Several turnouts to pull over and walk around. I stopped at the gift shop on the way out. They have shaded benches next to the door. Also a sign warning folks to look under the bench before sitting down. Rattlesnakes like the shade during the day. I don't know if they were just joking, but I looked first.

Thank you everyone for all the great advice so far. We've since changed our plans some and are going from Glacier, then to Grand Tetons, then back up to Yellowstone, it actually ends up being less miles this way and we have the trailer on the park roads less. Leaving from Yellowstone before heading back east also allows us to get to Devils tower quicker which means we'll be seeing it at night instead of in the morning which moves up the next day so we can do the Badlands in one night as we won't get there so late.

My next question has to do with traveling out to Glacier. We'll be coming across N. Dakota on I-94. Does it make sense to stay on I-94 or cut thru Montana on 200 and 87?

Thanks.

Make sure you take good drinking water to Yellowstone. The water there has a lot of sulfur in it. As I remember the hot water heater did not like the water at Yellowstone either.

From Glacier drive 191 to W. Yellowstone and on to Fishing Bridge. Towing your 26' RV through Yellowstone will be no problem. I'd advise to get to your campground and then begin touring.

If you could knock off 1 day for the Badlands and add it to Yellowstone that would be advisable. Badlands is basically a drive-through park unless you do extensive hiking in the high heat.

For the Tetons, we've always enjoyed Gros Ventre campground in the park.It doesn't accept reservations but there are 300 sites and rarely fills except on July 4 weekend. If you can get there by mid-afternoon you'll get a site. Nice open view sites with spaced trees and buffalo/moose roaming the campground. It's close to Jackson if you need a city fix or major grocery shopping. Definitely take the gentle float trip down the Snake River in the park. You just might see a moose in the water with you. We have! We love the Tetons and there are nice easy hikes to gorgeous places. Have a great trip!

About 2 years ago we went thru yellowstone from the north to the south with our truck and TT (24 ft) Had no issues with the roads and yes some of the pull outs will allow for both but most really dont. Get to your campground and drive the suburban around instead. Tetons are the best IMO as is Jackson. Home of the National Elk refuge has a great visitor center to boot (2-3 hours to tour walk around) and Jackson itself has some nice walk around areas. We stayed at the old KOA there I think its just a private now. They did offer rafting trips!