Yellowstone in September

It is 18 miles from West Yellowstone to Madison.Then another 18 miles to Old Faithful and I believe about 31 miles to Mammoth Hot Springs from Madison. Staying outside the park means alot of extra driving.Yellowstone is about as big as the state of Rode Island.

Favorite time of the year in Yellowstone thus far, though I would like to do a winter trip. It's on my bucket list!

5 nights in Gardiner last early October. Crowds were fine and buffalo jams still made travel times sometimes pretty slow. Will likely stay in W. Yellowstone 4-5 nights this October also. Travel times and distances from Gardiner to many Yellowtone locations are long. Hoping that W. Yellowstone will be more convenient. Will look at Graizzly as some have recommended.

Grant Village has good cell service. A friend used his cell service as a wifi and was very satisfied with it. Pretty nice place on the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake and right at a junction to travel around the Park.

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We were there in May. There is cell service near Old Faithful and up near Mammoth Hot Springs. I have Sprint and my wife has Verizon. We both had cell service in those areas but she had data more often than I did. Mammoth Campground is open year round and is very close to Gardiner, Wyoming.There is a small but nice grocery store in Gardiner that sells beer,wine,firewood and other grocery items. And the Cowboy Lodge and cafe is a good place to go for lunch. We stayed in Madison, because it was more centrally located. But the sites at Mammoth appeared to be more secluded.I would suggest staying in the park at least one night just for the experience. yes, things will be closing, but there is still enough open to make it worth your while. Have dinner at the Old Faithful Inn. Food is good and not too expensive. It is supposed to be the largest log structure in the world and the lobby is very impressive.We saw a mother grizzly and 3 cubs on the road from Norris to Canyon.

Last year we left Indiana the Friday before Labor Day. We stopped in Wall SD and then Cody for a few days. We arrived in Yellowstone the Wednesday after Labor Day. We stayed four nights in the park and did have reservations at Canyon campground. I know our campground was full. Not sure about the others.
This was our first trip there so I don't know how crowded it is during the summer months. While we were there it didn't seem to bad. We only got stuck in traffic once and that was due to buffalo in the road. The only place we couldn't find parking was the trailhead for Mount Washburn. Everywhere we went it easy to park and the trails weren't crowded. It was an awesome trip.

We like it there the best 2nd week in Sept - right after Labor Day. We stay at Grizzly as well. Good choice - not cheap, but none of them are. Crowds are down but not gone. We always would get out early to beat the crowds / traffic.

kknowlton wrote:
Grizzly is great as a base camp for Yellowstone, and may very well have sites available after Labor Day with a 2-3 week advance notice. They offer Wifi but have limited time available to campers; if you can bring your own hot spot, especially if you have Verizon service, that should work a little better for your daughter's homework situation.

The park is still crowded - September has been "discovered" over the last decade or so - but it's still less busy than during the peak summer months. Some of the facilities (hotels, restaurants, etc.) in the park will close right after Labor Day, but enough will be open that you can find what you need. Weather is usually good that month; it may freeze overnight, but that's not a problem if you are prepared for it.

I'd second this info, October is even starting to be discovered, but IMHO, it's a great time to get into the best park in the world.

Add to the fact that the Aspen are going to be changing - end of September, early October, is just a bonus - might even catch a little SNOW.

The best trip we ever had was the end of October - start of November - Indian summer - Hard not to love it when the Buffalo outnumber the People.

Don't forget the Tetons they are pretty nice when you are the only one staring at those Rocks.

BOL,









Just had to add a few pictures to make it more interesting, from our trip in Late October/November.

Yes the campground in Yellowstone start closing in Sept, this year Fishing Bridge will close on the 18th of September

We were there in Mid September 2014 and enjoyed it - note many gift shops and restaurants will be closed
Campgrounds Opening 8am Closing 11am
Fishing Bridge RV Park May 6 September 18
Canyon Campground May 27 September 11
Bridge Bay Campground May 20 September 5
Grant Village Campground June 19 September 18
Madison Campground April 29 October 16