Yellowstone

I agree with wanting to stay in the Park if you don't have to have hook-ups. Getting up and going to bed surrounded by wilderness sure beats staying in one of the towns.

We were in Yellowstone in May 2016. Days were high 50's low 60's. Nights dropped into high 30's. We stayed in Madison.No hookups but generators allowed during certain hours. Crowds were light. All roads were open but snow was along roads in the southern end of the park and Yellowstone Lake had some ice on it.We felt it was a great time to be there.

I like to stay in the Park. No commute. Then you can hear the wildlife at night. You wake up already there.

Don't bother with short sleeves. Probably a nice time to be there but most of the Park is around 8000 ft. which can be cool in mid-summer.

I have been going to Yellowstone since 1955. A great place to visit, but the two best times are May and early June for the babies, and Sept and Oct for the elk rut.

The cooler wetter weather makes the Park less attractive to the seething hordes of people. In an RV you have a nice warm place to sleep at night. Be ready for some cooler weather and rain. It might snow a little at night, but will go off quickly.

The wildlife is actually much easier to see in cooler wetter weather. You will get to see all the babies, especially the little red buffalo calves romping all over the place.

Mid May is kind of early, the second week of June is better. Stay at Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone. Make your reservations now.

Henry's Lake CG West Yellowstone, or Teton Lodge RV cg south entrance.

Henry's lake will charge you extra for the toad, even if declared on the web during reservation.

There is this handy site called weatherspark.com -- they publish great graphs of weather statistics for many locations -- just scroll through this link and you will see what a wealth of info is available.

We use this all the time in trip planning -- what are the chances we will have sunshine for our solar panel? Clear skies for stargazing? How cold does it get at night on a certain date? And so forth.

West Yellowstone weather stats

If hookups are a must, check the rv parks in West Yellowstone.

May is really early for Yellowstone. Yes, it'll be open, but snow can be feet deep. Lots of trails may not be accessible depending on the winter weather and how much snow melts by then.