Yellowstone in late September

This year that will be a terrible, terrible time to be there! (That's because we are planning to be there & are trying to avoid THE CROWDS!)

Looks like they are closing earlier now. We were there a couple years ago and kind of closed the camp grounds, later Closures, Mammoth camp ground had a heard of Elk bed down a-mugst the campers. Campers were surprised when they awoke in the morning. No problem with the animals, guess they do it all the time. Also the Rut was on and they were in the town square during the day, with the dominate Male keeping vigil on them, the cows. Very interesting to say the lest. And yes there was a lot of people then to.

Generally speaking September is less crowded than high summer by a considerable amount. However we were there 2 years ago and I swear you'd have thought it was July. A lot of traffic, and a lot of people. We were really surprised since it was the last 2 weeks of September.

autiger74 wrote:
DW and I have a chance to be in Yellowstone the last 3-4 days of September. We have been a few times before but only May-June. What can we expect to see or not see in late September?
Thanks for your help.

Late September;

See - More animals - Beautiful Sunsets - Cool Crisp Nights - Fewer Campgrounds - More Parking spaces open - Golden Aspen.

Not See - As many Young Tourist - As many other Campers - Much Traffic

Might See - Snow - Road Construction

Advice - GO - Stay longer than 3-4 days - this is the best time (Maybe October) to be in Yellowstone!

BOL,

On Edit - don't forget - warm layers - CAMERA with lots of memory, and a tripod - Flash Light - Pack in all your needs if the stores are not closed they are sold out.

BOL,

kknowlton wrote:
Another possibility for late September is Grizzly RV in West Yellowstone. We stayed there toward the end of September one year. FHUs, nice place to stay, only a few blocks to the park's west gate. Great alternative if the other CGs are closed, or if you like private CGs with nice facilities. The fall color should be about at peak then, I believe. It sure was nice when we were there at that time.

We too have stayed at Grizzly RV, a couple of times, while waiting for a spot at Baker's Hole. Nice thing about Grizzly is that they have a late season rate which is cheaper, at this time of year, and I love that they have laundry facilitates and free coffee and cocoa in the morning. Personnel at Grizzly are top notch. And if you have dogs, there's a great walking area outside the perimeter fence, just be careful of wildlife.

enblethen wrote:
bobsallyh:
Which sites have electricity?

This site may help you. Most sites have E, but it may be hard to tell by the CG map. You should be able to search online for this information, I would think. Here's a link to the site.

Also, depending on where you're parked, you may be able to access a close by faucet using a "water thief", which is what we were able to do while we were there.

We stayed there at different times in 46 and 20 - pull throughs and both had E. I'm assuming that the ones with the green dots are E, but I could be wrong. Those are listed as easy access. We've seen some big rigs in there, including ours. A lot have satellite access which is why we picked 46.

BTW, I searched for a specific list of which sites have E and all internet sites only say 33 have E.

bobsallyh:
Which sites have electricity?

We are in Bakers Hole as I am typing this. Bakers Hole does close in the fall according to the weather.

We were there in mid to late September and had a ball. The weather was incredibly nice and no crowds. We had no reservations, but had no trouble getting into four different park campgrounds.

Here are some pix and notes about our visit.

Enjoy your trip!

WxToad

We were there last year in late Sept, early Oct. We had a little snow the first few days but then the weather was great! A few stores in West Yellowstone started closing but DW got great close-out deals. No big crowds and traffic was a little lighter. But, there may be some road closures for work crews.