Grand Teton - Yellowstone Visit Guidance

Yellowstone is BIG. 50 miles between key features. You can see it in a day (one hot spot looks like the next) or you can take a life-time and not see it all. The same goes for Grand Tetons.

Your idea of using a small C is very doable for site seeing without a toad. We've been to Y'stone a number of times and we always stay at Grizzly RV Resort in West Y'stone with full h'ups and it's right in town. I suggest spending all the time you can looking at Y'stone as the others have indicated there is more to do than a summer could fill. We live in southern Kentucky and always take the MH out West but your idea will save time. :B

I forgot to mention we don't toad so we always rent a car in West Yellowstone before we arrive. Doing it this way has worked for us for many years.

Myself, I'd stay in the lodges/motels and get around in a car rather than trying to get around and take in all the sights in an RV. I think you'd end getting to enjoy the park more that way, and cost wise it will probably work out about the same when you factor in fuel costs, RV rental, spot rental and most importantly the frustration cost of trying to get to some of the sights and park with an RV. Traffic and parking can be quite difficult in the busy July/Early August time frame. I think you'll find you end up driving considerably more miles than you're probably currently expecting. It's a huge area.

Should you choose the RV route, I don't think I'd worry to much about hook ups. In the Yellowstone/Teton area you'll want to get out and explore every day, so I wouldn't think you'd have any issues keeping the batteries charged, or swinging by the dump station when the tanks need emptied/filled. The only full hook up site in Yellowstone is Fishing Bridge, and it's like camping in a parking lot, with the exception of maybe a buffalo of two roaming by once in awhile. Many of the other campgrounds are better spread out, and offer a little bit of a "Camping experience" Another plus would be the ability to stay in a different campground every couple days which is a plus in getting to see such a big area in the relatively short amount of time you have.

You're in for a great adventure.

More great ideas that we had not considered. Thanks so much for your comments. We are looking at all the ideas.

Another option:
Since you're not going until next year and you're flying, why not just rent a car and make reservations at the lodges in YNP and GTNP. You won't have anything with you on the plane but clothes and cameras, so you'll have to stock up when you get there if you rent an RV. The lodges are pretty spectacular, and there's places you can't get to in an RV. Signal Mountain in GTNP and some side roads in YNP come to mind.

We went to Yellowstone last year and stayed at Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone and Colter Bay RV Park in the Tetons. We really didn't spend much time in the campsite in Yellowstone so it didn't matter that it was essentially a parking lot for RV's (we did appreciate the FHU's). Colter Bay RV park is a beautiful campground, IMO, we added days on to our Teton stay we liked the campground so much, though I would agree, I would add a day or two to Yellowstone. You can see the Tetons in 2 days. Also, I would consider renting a car from a town close by, (Make sure it's not Jackson though, everything is 5 times the price there.) driving an RV around Yellowstone might be challenging. They have parking for RV's at the sights, you just have to be lucky enough to get one.

RE: Renting a Tow Car.

One might check into renting a car in one of the close by towns, such as West Yellowstone or Jackson. If you have someone able to drive the rental car & one the Class C, it would work fairly easily. In doing a cursory check there were several rental car sites in W Yellowstone & Jackson both.

One could rent on in each town to use in touring the park near them. Or rent one in one town & drop it off in the other. Maybe.

We had a small Class C for about 10 yrs. From '97 to 2005. They are somewhat easy to set up & take down. Not too hard to drive around to see things (never took it to Yellowstone), usually had a tow with it, but did do solo once or twice.

Traffic in Yellowstone can get pretty tight, especially in the pullouts (parking lots) for exhibits & sights. Saw someone take out a side mirror at one. At times they have very large tour buses pull in as well. But with a little patience & a lot of caution, one could see most of the 'drive by sights' without much trouble.

Always see many rental RVs in the campgrounds & on the roads up there.

If having to drive the MH in each day, IMHO, I'd just as soon camp inside the park. One could chance campgrounds once or twice as well inside the park. Then you wouldn't have to recross the same route each day.

If having to 'de-camp' each morning anyway, it wouldn't take much time to dump the gray tank & fill with fresh water. Driving would keep the batteries topped off from using them to dry camp.

If needing TV or wifi, this wouldn't work. Not much if any in the Park itself. Might have TV in Tetons & find a hot spot for wifi there.

If touring with the MH, you will always have your own bathroom & eating area with you & your own fridge. Ha! One could even take an afternoon nap, before going to the next site to see what's happening.

Any of the campgr'ds in the park, such as Grant, Canyon, Bridge Bay, Mammoth, Madison etc., would be ideal. It is a big place takes some serious driving to see the place. Much easier to do so in a more central location. Drop down to the Tetons before you leave, it is neat and somewhat different.

This Site Clicky tells about each campground (down by "Click on a Campground Name Below to Take an Interactive Tour"), if the chart has DS for Dump Station in the Features column it has a dump station. Ha! Grant Village, Canyon, Bridge Bay, Madison & Fishing Bridge have them. One could use Mammoth or Norris (ones a generator can be used) & still dump in one of the other places.

In the Tetons: Gros Ventre Campg'd or Colter Bay Campg'd. We stayed at Colter Bay Campground, the one without hook-ups in mid-June 2010 and once before some years ago. The Colter Bay Visitor Center and Indian ArtsMuseum by the Colter Bay Campground is really neat.

I have heard good things about Gros Ventre Campground...get more animals walking by or close by, etc. Nice views. It seems to be named after me as well, (from French: big belly). Actually, the French used the term Gros Ventre, for a local native population/people which was mistakenly interpreted from their sign language. Instead, the Gros Ventre people call themselves by the autonym A'ani or A'aninin, which means "white clay people," or more loosely "ourselves, our people, us, we," etc. The French is pronounced "Grow Vaunt."

Both Gros Ventre & Colter Bay have dumpsites.

We stayed at Mammoth Campground for 2009 visit to Yellowstone. It has some very large spaces in it, almost any size RV could fit. But can't make reservations, but we have never done so in the four visits we have gone there over many years.

We stayed at Grant in 2010, pretty large campground, all sizes of RVs. Bridge Bay looked like it would be a nice one to stay. We did stay there in '86.

Leonandlisa wrote:
We just went to Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago, my wife and our 6 year old son. We stayed in the West Yellowstone KOA and were very please with it since it had full hook ups and it also had a firepit for a fire every night which is part of my camping requirements.

West Yellowstone has a Bear and Wolf exibit, $10 per adult for a two day pass, they had 8 or 9 bears and the same amount of wolfs. They would provide a schedule of when they were feeding them and other activities, it was very fun to watch for all of us. Since it was right next to the Yellowstone entrance we stopped in before we were going into the park or on our way back.

Another stop we did was a 45 mile drive up to Big Sky for a scenic float trip with Raft Montana, they had more aggressive rafting trips too for those that wanted them, but we just wanted the views and experience, we all had a blast and we would highly recomend.

On our way back to Vegas we drove through Yellowstone and the Tetons through Jackson, what an awesome view, we only had a week to stay, including travel, and that wasn't enough time for either park.

The only thing I would throw out there is; if you have a motorhome you have to disconnect and put everything away everyday for the daily adventures, also parking at some of the attractions would be very tight with a motorhome, some of the scenic routes at Yellowstone had restictions for anything but a car or a truck, if there was anyway to have a tow behind car it may be much easier, just my opinion.

I am sure you will have fun either way.

Leon

Thanks for the information. I agree, I hate having to disconnect and reconnect so that I can go sightseeing. I had considered renting a tow behind as well for the MH and might do so. The flexibility would probably be worth the extra expense.

We just went to Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago, my wife and our 6 year old son. We stayed in the West Yellowstone KOA and were very please with it since it had full hook ups and it also had a firepit for a fire every night which is part of my camping requirements.

West Yellowstone has a Bear and Wolf exibit, $10 per adult for a two day pass, they had 8 or 9 bears and the same amount of wolfs. They would provide a schedule of when they were feeding them and other activities, it was very fun to watch for all of us. Since it was right next to the Yellowstone entrance we stopped in before we were going into the park or on our way back.

Another stop we did was a 45 mile drive up to Big Sky for a scenic float trip with Raft Montana, they had more aggressive rafting trips too for those that wanted them, but we just wanted the views and experience, we all had a blast and we would highly recomend.

On our way back to Vegas we drove through Yellowstone and the Tetons through Jackson, what an awesome view, we only had a week to stay, including travel, and that wasn't enough time for either park.

The only thing I would throw out there is; if you have a motorhome you have to disconnect and put everything away everyday for the daily adventures, also parking at some of the attractions would be very tight with a motorhome, some of the scenic routes at Yellowstone had restictions for anything but a car or a truck, if there was anyway to have a tow behind car it may be much easier, just my opinion.

I am sure you will have fun either way.

Leon

Thank you all VERY much for your guidance and advice. The information you all have provided will be absolutely invaluable.

It sounds as though the distance from some of the private campgrounds to the parks is fairly big. It is lie that at the North Rim GC as well, about 40 miles as I recall, but a beautiful drive.
We will not have a separate vehicle and so any driving that we will need to do will be in the "C". Since FHU seems to be at a minimum unhooking and rehooking won't be much of a problem. I assume there are "dump sites" available in the parks.

Please keep the comments, guidance etc coming. I can use all the intel I can get.

Just a personal comment; I am continually amazed and gratified at the kindness of folks on this site to take the time to share so much of their experiences.