Fitting in Yellowstone Campgrounds...

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
1) I have not camped withing Yellowstone personally. We stayed at a USFS CG on Earthquake Lake during our visit Labor Day 2017.

2) I have several friends who have camped within Yellowstone in recent years - three in 2019.

3) There are two (really three) very different types of campgrounds within Yellowstone, and understanding the differences is important.

The National Park Service operates seven smaller dry campgrounds within the park. Those vary from tight restrictions such as at Lewis Lake where size limits are very important due to the access roads to Mammoth which is very lax on 'size' limitations.

As noted on the link above - Yellowstone National Park Lodges operates five campgrounds - four dry, and FHU Fishing Bridge. I've had friends in a 41' motorhome stay at Bay Bridge with a 17' long toad. Another friend with a 43' 5er stayed in Maidison, another friend with a 45' tag axle DP stayed in Grant Village. All three of these people TALKED to someone with Yellowstone NP Lodges reservations - and did so EARLY - 9 months to a year early. There are not many spaces which would fit their rigs, but the reservations team worked with them. Two of the folks had to adjust their dates to make sure they had a right sized spot.

Canyon is supposed to be tight to get into in places. Not recommended for longer trailers or 5ers.

One person I know was turned away at Fishing Bridge several years ago with a 38' 5er. A compromise was worked out so the 5er was put in the spot, but they had to park their pickup over at the Visitor Center/ Museum parking lot.

Those are people I've personally talked with. Take it with a grain of salt.

Driving through Madison, Grant, Bay Bridge and Canyon in Sept 2017 - I saw several large rigs/ 5ers - many bigger than yours in the first three. Some close to your size in Canyon. Many times it is not the camping spot which limits length, it is the trees which restrict turns and getting into a spot.

The RV parks in West Yellowstone are excellent, and plenty to do in the afternoons/ evenings if you wish. But it is not a 'wilderness' Yellowstone camping experience.

But most important - TALK to the people with YNP Lodges if you want reservations.

I'm willing to go without reservations and TRY to get into Mammoth the next time I go there, hopefully 2021, but I'm willing to fall back to West Yellowstone and pay, and I'm going to go to Grand Tetons with reservations for Colter Bay.

As far as the main roads, we took our rig from West Yellowstone through the park to exit toward Cody, WY. We took the mid-park cut near Canyon rather than doing the lower loop. The only 'tight' spot for the trailer/ traffic was passing Fishing Bridge, but we were able to stop alongside the road and go across the street for a bite of lunch.

NOTHING MOVES FAST traffic wise within Yellowstone. Prepare to avg 20-25 mph while touring the park and traveling from place to palce.

Well said and my thoughts exactly. Having a 35'8" FW, the only campground within Yellowstone that we would attempt is Mammoth. We've driven through them all and it's the turns that we would not attempt even though we've seem some pretty big ones in there. When we go, we stay at Baker's Hole FS CG, 2 miles north of West Yellowstone. Since it's first come first served, we'll talk to the host on what sites are expected to be available, nab a site at Grizzly RV in WY, then drive over the Baker's Hole the next morning to get a site. It's worked for us every time. I know the OP didn't ask for this information, but more is less. If we didn't share this information and he had problems, he'd wonder why we didn't say something. No sarcasm intended.