Crazy Yellowstone

Echoing what others have said--don't stay in a hotel inside the park. The lodging is both crummy and horribly expensive--they charge whatever they want, since they know they'll sell out. The park concessionaires have twenty-year renewable absolute monopolies!

The border towns are a better bet: Gardiner and West Yellowstone (Cody and Cooke City are not really practical alternatives). Everything in those towns is also decrepit and insanely overpriced (even a combo meal at McDonald's costs $12!!!), but at least you have some selection. And if you're in West Yellowstone, you're actually closer to some attractions than you might be if you had stayed inside the park (Gardiner--not so much).

Really, the only way to experience the park without being bled white is to camp. Stock up on supplies beforehand (the camp stores have sky-high prices and poor selection) and then set up camp and enjoy the park. Grant Village is probably the most central location, and it has showers, which are included in the campsite fee.

That fee, by the way, ain't cheap, but it IS Yellowstone. It's by no means too early to reserve a campsite--they'll be mostly gone by March.

chuckbear wrote:
We were in Yellowstone a few months ago. The crowds are absolutely insane. Every lodging and campground is completely full and even finding a parking space around the major attraction areas is almost impossible. Unfortunately we found the same situation in most of the well known NP's out west on this last trip. It was so bad we started looking for smaller less well known parks because it was just not fun anymore. Chuck

For every overcrowded national park in the west, there is a corresponding nearby area that is often just as beautiful, much, much, much, much, much, much, much cheaper, far less crowded, and can serve as a base for exploring the nearby national park. Yellowstone in particular is surrounded by National Forest lands. The campgrounds on Hwy 191 just west of the park (between Bozeman and West Yellowstone) are wonderful (and cheap!) and there is plenty of guest lodging in the Island Park area, south of West Yellowstone.

I went to Yellowstone one year in June. I stayed in a couple National Forest campgrounds between the park and Cody. One was primarily for horses and 5 bucks a night but there were No horses there, another one almost across the road for around 9 bucks a night with a Geezer pass. I had pulled into a Electric site and didn't even know it until I got to the pay station but for a couple bucks more who cares. Never even plugged the cord in. They also had bear proof food boxes there.

We camped at the Buffalo Bill S. p. North Fork CG one time in tents, is was a little strange watching bears eating right on the other side of the river, then crawl into a tent.:B


I don't want to stay outside the park and drive all that distance every morning and evening, My wife and I are kinda the tour guides this time as I am taking my 77yr old Dad and stepmom, she has never been and it was 1976 when my Dad was last there when our family went on " THE BIG WESTERN LOOP TRIP".



I guess what I was the most taken back with when I talked to the reservation girl was 2 full years in advance is what it takes to get into Old Faithfull Inn, I mean I have been on the phone 1 year to the day to get reservations in popular CG's in some of the big parks, but the 2 year thing was crazy.

I don't want to stay outside the park and drive all that distance every morning and evening,

Absolutely. I've stayed at the Old Faithful Inn as well as cabins in YNP (forget where, it was many moons ago on my honeymoon and oh ya, we broke a bed!) and I've stayed in many nicer places elsewhere BUT would stay in the park again. Comfort is somewhat secondary to location. It's amazing to walk out the front door to go to the geyser and have to stop because there's a buffalo in your way. A hotel in a border town is just that-a hotel. A property in the park boundaries is a very different experience.

Crowe wrote:
I don't want to stay outside the park and drive all that distance every morning and evening,

Absolutely. I've stayed at the Old Faithful Inn as well as cabins in YNP (forget where, it was many moons ago on my honeymoon and oh ya, we broke a bed!) and I've stayed in many nicer places elsewhere BUT would stay in the park again. Comfort is somewhat secondary to location. It's amazing to walk out the front door to go to the geyser and have to stop because there's a buffalo in your way. A hotel in a border town is just that-a hotel. A property in the park boundaries is a very different experience.

The main loop is a couple of circles. No matter where you stay, you have to drive those circles to get to the next attraction. In my opinion, If you are on the loop near the southern end (Grant Village for example), you are further away from most of the main attractions than if you are staying in either Gardiner or West Yellowstone. From West Yellowstone it is 10 miles along the Madison River (great animal viewing at times) to where the entrance road meets the loop (Madison Junction). From Gardiner, it is five miles thru the Gardiner River Canyon (even better animal viewing) to where the entrance road meets the loop (at Mammoth Hot Springs). Both West Yellowstone, and especially Gardiner, have more than their fair share of large mammals coexisting with the Homo Sapiens. It isn't like you will get a secluded spot inside the park (does not exist, sites and hotels are designed to keep the human footprint to a bare minimum, hence tight quarters). Plus, neither West nor Gardiner would ever be considered a concrete jungle metropolis.

We got a cabin at Lake Lodge for 3 nights, at $131.00 a night, it is close to canyon where we will spend alot of time hiking, and fairly close to the Old Faithful area, we probably won't go up to Mammoth as it didn't really do anything for us the other times we have been, we will go to Lamar valley for part of a day, and probably walk up to the top of Washburn.

when we leave we will go out the northeast to Red Lodge.