Yellowstone and area suggestions..
Hi all.. been awhile for me but were back! .. bringing the blended family on a big trip.. looking for suggestions for the wow factor where to stay .. 4 kids are ages 10 to 15.. 30' toy hauler with bic...
Forum Discussion
We have gone to Yellowstone 4 time over the years & have never had a reservation.
DesertHawk's Tetons/Yellowstone Recommendations. Click on the link by the same name to get to it. An old post.
Near Bismarck and/or Mandan, ND, Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is interesting. FortLincoln.Com
North of Bismarck on US 83, The North Dakota Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center between Bismarck & Minot at Washburn. Not sure about overnighting, but neat to visit, nice place to take a break. Pretty vista.
Not far from Washburn, which is north of Bismarck, the Knife River Indian Villages Nat'l Historic Site was very interesting.
:) What I have on the Black Hills Area of SD.
We have only stayed in the State Park campgrounds & at a Nat'l Forest CG. Not a lot of places to dump there however.
Never been to this one, but many people give it rave reviews: Rafter J Bar Ranch Resort - Hill City.
http://www.rafterj.com/
There is also a private Horse Thief RV Resort which is also close to Hill City.
http://www.horsethief.com/
Many RV parks in & around Custer as well. RV Park Reviews Custer, SD
Don't forget the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Aug 5-11. A heavy use time in the BlackHills.
We really enjoyed the Glass Blowing Studio between Hill City & Keystone. Black Hills GlassBlowers - Keystone
We saw someone waving at a glass blowing shop when riding the Hill City Tain; we went back to see it, a neat place, friendly people.
Deadwood is northwest of Custer.....lot of History happened there, but is more of a Gaming Center now if into gambling. We stopped once years ago, when out kids were young; I wanted to see where Wild Bill Hickok was killed. We did go to a melodrama while there, but mainly just walk around some. It was just starting to become a gaming center at that time. Not stopped since.
:h Traffic in Yellowstone (as well as Black Hills) 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.
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.
DesertHawk's Tetons/Yellowstone Recommendations. Click on the link by the same name to get to it. An old post.
Near Bismarck and/or Mandan, ND, Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is interesting. FortLincoln.Com
North of Bismarck on US 83, The North Dakota Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center between Bismarck & Minot at Washburn. Not sure about overnighting, but neat to visit, nice place to take a break. Pretty vista.
Not far from Washburn, which is north of Bismarck, the Knife River Indian Villages Nat'l Historic Site was very interesting.
:) What I have on the Black Hills Area of SD.
We have only stayed in the State Park campgrounds & at a Nat'l Forest CG. Not a lot of places to dump there however.
Never been to this one, but many people give it rave reviews: Rafter J Bar Ranch Resort - Hill City.
http://www.rafterj.com/
There is also a private Horse Thief RV Resort which is also close to Hill City.
http://www.horsethief.com/
Many RV parks in & around Custer as well. RV Park Reviews Custer, SD
Don't forget the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Aug 5-11. A heavy use time in the BlackHills.
We really enjoyed the Glass Blowing Studio between Hill City & Keystone. Black Hills GlassBlowers - Keystone
We saw someone waving at a glass blowing shop when riding the Hill City Tain; we went back to see it, a neat place, friendly people.
Deadwood is northwest of Custer.....lot of History happened there, but is more of a Gaming Center now if into gambling. We stopped once years ago, when out kids were young; I wanted to see where Wild Bill Hickok was killed. We did go to a melodrama while there, but mainly just walk around some. It was just starting to become a gaming center at that time. Not stopped since.
:h Traffic in Yellowstone (as well as Black Hills) 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.
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.
