National Parks trip

Make Yellowstone & Tetons reservations NOW. The parks are less crowded than in midsummer, but they are by no means emptied out. In addition, some of the CGs inside the park close after Labor Day. (Outside the park most are likely to remain open at least through most of September). Glacier's season usually ends fairly early, so be sure to check on season closing dates there as well (and I'd recommend reservations there too.) Good CGs for Yellowstone: the only CG inside the park with any hookups is Fishing Bridge, which is centrally located, but sites tend to be tight. (On the other hand, you'll probably spend all day & into the evening driving around the park to see the sights.) Outside the park, we like Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone; it's close to the west gate of the park, very nice, clean & plenty of room for all sizes of rigs.

Since we need hookups, we have chosen Colter Bay RV Park for the Tetons. For your size camper, if you can deal w/o hookups, you might consider Colter Bay or Gros Ventre CGs (not to be confused with the RV park) - Signal Mt CG will be too small for your camper, however. (Sites too short.) IMO there aren't any other private CGs that pass muster in GTNP and Jackson - of course, that's our personal taste.

If you can, be sure to allow at least 3 full days for Yellowstone and 1 full day for the Tetons. If you are active & enjoy hiking & other outdoor activity, add a day (minimum) to each park. For Glacier, I'd recommend allowing at least 2 full days, and 4 would be better. If you can, divide your time (and your campground bases) between west & east side of Glacier; they are very different from each other. Remember you cannot pull your trailer over Going to the Sun Road; you'll have to go around, on US2. It's a nice drive too, but doesn't compare. The red bus tours, if still operating when you are there, are wonderful, worth every penny, IMO.

Have a fun trip!

We really liked Many Glacier campground on the east side of Glacier NP. This is a no reservation campground so arrive around 11 AM to grab a site. In Yellowstone, Madison Campground worked well for us. We stayed at Coulter Bay RV park in the Tetons but would try Gros Ventre next time. For Mount Rushmore we loved Custer State Park's Game Lodge campground!

We stayed 8 days each at each park and felt we didn't have enough time.

Good luck on your trip!

You could take the Adventure Caravans Grand Circle tour of the Western Parks which takes up the entire month of September OR just look at their itinerary to see where they go. That tour does not cover Yellowstone or Glacier or Tetons.

Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone and Colter Bay RV Campground in the Tetons. As mentioned above make reservations six months ago. We enjoyed our stay in the KOA on the west side of Glacier. Have a great trip.

We are currently on the way home from an extended visit to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. We left home in NJ on May 25th and expect to be home again this coming Saturday. We never make advance reservations when we travel and had no problem getting campsites in the Grand Teton and Yellowstone area. We mainly use first come-first served campgrounds as we find it easier to get a site in them than in reservation campgrounds. We did get a site for one night in Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone and two nights in Rocky Mountain RV Park in Gardiner by calling a week ahead. We didn't even try to get sites inside Yellowstone this year as it was crazy crowded.

So where else did we stay?

Five nights - Baker's Hole Forest Service Campground 3 miles north of West Yellowstone.

Two nights - Rainbow Point Forest Service Campground about 8 miles North of West Yellowstone.

These two locations were good for touring the lower loop of Yellowstone.

Three nights - Colter Forest Service Campground (hard side RVs only due to bear activity in the area) 2 miles beyond Cooke City.

This location was ideal for visiting the Lamar Valley and Wolf watching. If you are interested, there is a Wolf den about a mile from the entrance road to the Slough Creek campground. We saw Wolf pups and adults, plus heard howling for the first time.

For Grand Teton, we always stay at the Gros Ventre campground. We spent 19 nights there in June. In many trips to the Park we have never had a problem getting a site at Gros Ventre. We also spent one night at Colter Bay campground (not the Colter Bay RV Park).

In addition to mainly using first come-first served campgrounds, we find that not needing hookups makes it easier to get campsites without advance reservations.

We found the west side of Glacier to be much more attractive the east side desert. You will need reservations.

Great article can be found in the August issue of Trailer Life magazine, pages 38-42, written by Lisa Ballard. I'm sure it will address most of your questions. It provides an excellent account of a similar trip on US Rte 89, north through Wyoming and Montana (also known as the National Park Highway). This route takes you through Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. The author provides excellent advice on where to stay, things to do, and a list of those things you need to know before you go (permits, maps, and fuel stop recommendations).

Trailer Life offers tempting travel destination trips in each and every issue. Not all are practical, or of interest to me, but Mrs. Ballard has succeeded in adding this trip to my bucket list!

Glacier NP, we loved Rising Sun campground on the east side, near St. Mary. No reservations. We arrived at 10 a.m., and got the last available site. Also a decent campground at St. Mary. They take reservations, but lots of sites available when we were there in early August three years ago.

We preferred the east side, as it is far less crowded. Also recommend the Red Bus tour.

There a nice RV part in West Yellowstone on the edge of town we like. Book it NOW!