YellowStone

Bakers Hole is a great little first come first served,Campground, some sites have electric, there is a water fill, but no dump station, there is one in W. Yellowstone (for a fee), as well as laundry & pay shower facilities.It's a great place for touring the west side.
Ivylog is right, it fills up, so get there early & wait for someone to leave.

Thanks! All the feedback is great. I am definitely going to plan a to stay a few different sites for ease of what area of the park I want to enjoy, and avoid as much traffic as possible. Thanks!

I just got back from a week at Fishing Bridge. Tight sites, but it's just a place to sleep. You spend all your time away exploring anyway. If I could do it again I would stay at 3 or 4 different campgrounds around the park to make driving easier. It just takes forever to get anywhere there in the loops.

I don't recommend any of them, to crowded and to close together for our tastes. We just returned from three weeks in the west and stayed at Buffalo Crossing RV Park just outside the west entrance in west Yellowstone, MT. Worked very well for us. Everything we needed was within walking distance. The west park entrance is 1/4 mile from the RV park.

I also recommend getting started touring the park early, early. I mean like 5:00 am. We were up at 4:00, headed into the park by 5:00 and back at the camper by 2:00ish every day we were there and we always beat the crowds. Between about noon and 5:00 pm it gets really crowded at most of the sites and traffic can back up for miles.

We were fortunate to get a site at Baker's hole last July. Loved it! We overlooked the Madison river and spent 3 days driving into the central and northern area of the park. We had already done the southern loops from Colter Bay CG in the Tetons. We did snag one of the electric sites so we didn't need the generator, and used a "water thief" to fill our fresh water tanks from the camp's water pumps. Only a couple miles North of West Yellowstone.

Ivylog wrote:
:W:WBakersHole is a terrible CG ... Way to far out of the park :W:W:W Keep recommending it and I will not be able to get in.

We enjoy that terrible campground, too but we've been to Yellowstone many, many times and that terrible campground is nice to tour the outside surroundings of the park. Besides, the river sites in that terrible campground are too hard on the eyes with all that scenery to view.

If you've never been to Yellowstone, I'd highly recommend you stay IN the park itself for the best overall experience and to enjoy some of the ranger programs. Madison and Mammoth are our favorites - Mammoth doesn't accept reservations so you need to stay outside the park nearby the previous night and get to Mammoth in the morning when folks are leaving. If you can get a site on the east side of the loop you'll have very nice views of the valley and river below. There's also a hot spring area in that river to enjoy...ask about it.

We were there in mid May. We stayed in Madison because it was one of 3 open and was centrally located. It was decent but there was no privacy between sites. And, there are no services there. Mammoth Hot Springs is in the northwest corner of the park.It appeared to have more privacy than Madison and there are services in Mammoth ,gas, food and things to see. Plus you are about 5 miles from Gardiner ,Mt where there is also gas, a grocery store and several restaurants.So maybe split your time between the 2. I would also recommend eating at the Old Faithful Inn.Beautiful building and good food. Meals from about $12 to $30.

Bakers Hole Campground We spent 2 nights there in June and three nights over the 4th of July weekend. Nice place with some sites adjacent to the Madison River.

We also used Rainbow Point Campground about 4-5 miles further from West Yellowstone on two occasions because Baker's Hole was full both times when we got there late in the day. Only downside to Rainbow Point was that there is about 2 miles of washboard road going in.

Both of the above are good locations for touring the lower loop of Yellowstone.

We also used Colter Campground just beyond Cooke City for three nights to visit the Lamar Valley and Tower/Roosevelt areas in the northeast portions of the Park. Nice campground with great mountain views. Good location for driving the Beartooth and/or the Chief Joseph Highways.

Thank you everyone for your input! My research I found Madison/Bay Bridge. But now I must consider Bakers Hole ;);)

I figured this group probably would have various inputs for different reason, and I wanted to hear them.

if you can get in :)
Madison is very shady, set inside a forest of lodgepole pines. water and dump
Bridge Bay has a large open area on a slope, and a large area set in trees. water and dump
Mammoth is set on a slope with great views, etc and isn't hard to navigate. water and dump
Norris campground is small and pretty with good shade.

we like Bridge Bay best because we like being close to Fishing Bridge visitor center and Lake Lodge's dining room... decent food for decent price. and because it is kind of centrally located.