RV parks for Yellowstone

I have watched numerous people vouch for the Grizzly Campground in West Yellowstone, and many others appear appalled at their rates.

There are two other campgrounds in West Yellowstone that everyone should consider. The "Wagon Wheel Campground" and the "Rustic Campground". Both are immaculately clean and well groomed, and less money than Grizzly. The Wagon Wheel is in easy walking distance to town, and the Rustic is just about 1/4 mile further away. Both have cabins you can rent that would make you proud to call your own. The campgrounds are older, narrower, don't have pools and stores, but they are wonderful places to stay and spend a few days.

We have stayed at both campgrounds for the last 37 years, and will stay there again. Tom and Dorit at Rustic, and Ken at Wagon Wheel take a huge amount of pride in providing a beautiful experience for everyone who stays with them. They are a family that owns both campgrounds and rely on return customers and word of mouth.

Please check them out. They are both great!

Check out Rainbow Point CG on the banks of Hebgen Lake, about 15 miles outside West Yellowstone. Beautiful, in the trees, affordable and only 15 minutes to the park. Great fly fishing on the lake too.

The link in the post above did not work for me try Campgrounds Outside Yellowstone.

Here is a list of campgrounds outside of Yellowstone, if you scroll down, you will find the South entrance, and distance to the entrance. Options are pretty limited, as other posters have noted, Flagg Ranch is close, but expensive (as is pretty much everything in the area, especially private CGs), the forest service campgrounds are generally better suited to smaller campers than 35' and have no services, plus many are closer to GT than Yellowstone. Inside the park options have been covered by other posters.

The OP hasn't mentioned what kind of amenities they want, or hookups, which further limits options.

noe-place wrote:

Veebyes wrote:
Had a look at Grizzly rates. WOW! I'll take dry camping in the trees thankyou for 1/3 the price. Lots of genny gas can be bought for the difference.

You get what you pay for. You want cheap then of course you get cheap.

Yeah, I guess. We did 5 days, over the July 4th holiday, at Gros Ventre in Grand Teton last year. At least 50' to next site on one side, 75' to next site on the other & at least 100' to sites behind us. The nights were cool so there was no need for air even if power was available.

Didn't get to hear the noises of neighbours. Didn't get to have a wiff of some sewer nearby. Didn't get to hear the drone of air conditioners. Didn't have to worry about the smoke from my fire bothering anyone. People were very concious about genny noise. Most were run for very limited time periods. I only burned less than 3 gal in 5 nights. Didn't miss not having a pool, a laundry, cable TV, a conference room, dogwalk or playground at all.

The fhb at Colter Bay runs over $55 a night, at least last summer. You can get into the "dry" camping area for less than $12 per night if you have the Senior Pass for national parks. It's not cheap, it's inexpensive.

Veebyes wrote:
Had a look at Grizzly rates. WOW! I'll take dry camping in the trees thankyou for 1/3 the price. Lots of genny gas can be bought for the difference.

You get what you pay for. You want cheap then of course you get cheap.

I am continually amazed at the comments saying it's just so far to travel from Colter Bay to Yellowstone and back to tour Yellowstone. It's about 45 miles from Colter Bay to the South Entrance to Yellowstone and then you get to drive past the Lewis River Canyon, whatever it's called, past Lewis Lake and up to Grant Village, which takes about another 25 miles. Total, about 1 1/2 hours to the junction at Grant. Then, take your choice to go to Yellowstone Lake and up to Canyon, over to Norris and back through Old Faithful and back that evening or, go to Canyon, up to Mammoth, back down to Norris and Old Faithful and back to Colter. Either tour can be done easily in a day, if you start out pretty early, we leave around 7:00 or so in the morning and get back by around 7:00 or so in the evening for a late, relaxing supper in the campground surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Unless a person wants to take long hikes and spend a lot of time at the features in Yellowstone, a person can get a wonderful experience hopping up to Yellowstone and back on a day trip.

We have stayed at Fishing Bridge, nice location and yes a little tight for sites. We just needed a place to stay and basically sleep and clean up. We were not at our camper that much.

kamperkomic wrote:
...I am planning on making a long trip to Yellowstone this August. Looking to stay somewhere near the south entrance to the park...

As usual there is a lot of differing opinion on where is best to stay in Yellowstone. Of the campgrounds that will accommodate an RV of your size, Grant village is the closest to the South entrance. From the Park Map: Grant Village is less than 22 miles, Bay Bridge about 35 miles, Fishing Bridge over 40 miles, Madison 55 miles and the West Entrance 69 miles.

If you want hookups, Fishing Bridge and West Yellowstone are your choices. Traffic can be slow anywhere in the park, but coming in the entrance gates can be slow as well at peak times.