yellowstone campgrounds?

rstoro wrote:
We were just there in August and stayed at Grizzly Rv park in west Yellowstone very nice park and only 1 mile from the west entrance. we were able to see everything we wanted to from there. We came in from the south all the way from Georgia.

r & s

Since you came from my direction which route did you take?

We were just there in August and stayed at Grizzly Rv park in west Yellowstone very nice park and only 1 mile from the west entrance. we were able to see everything we wanted to from there. We came in from the south all the way from Georgia.

r & s

Yellowstone Edge north of Yellowstone then eat at Chico Hot Springs Resort

You said you were coming thinking about coming in from the East and now you are considering coming in from I-80 WAY to the South. A bit of clarity might be helpful. Where do you plan to be before you head toward Yellowstone. Maybe we could give you the best route from that location.

Grizzly or Mammoth would be good choices. Coming in from the east is not a problem. That's the way we came in at 55 total length. No issues. There are some I believe some rural state side of the road campgrounds as you get close to Yellowstone on the east side that had some big rigs in them. We ended up squeezing and I mean squeezing into Fishing Bridge. It was awful, we'd never stay there again.

If you are trying to stay at the south entrance, there are a couple of choices near Teton ?National Park. I came up with http://yellowstonerv.com/rv-camping-site/ on a Google search. Never stayed there, but it looks like it fits your criteria.

The farthest-south CG in YNP that can accommodate RVs is Grant Village (no hookups); otherwise for the "south end" you would need to camp outside the park at Flagg Ranch (since renamed - not sure of the name of it now) or (better, IMO) Colter Bay RV Park in Grand Teton National Park. That makes for a long drive each day into the park. East entrance has a similar problem - a long drive into the heart of YNP from anywhere you can stay outside of it; the farthest-east CG inside YNP is Fishing Bridge (not "flying bridge"), which is an RV park, FHUs but very tight. Great for convenience but not for ambience, IMO.

The park is enormous - you'll spend an entire day just hitting the briefest of highlights for each of the two parts of the Grand Loop road in the park. Plan to spend several days in the park and base-camp in one or two spots. It will take you several hours to get between CGs because of traffic and wildlife (i.e. buffalo in the road, etc.), so plan accordingly. You could consider a base camp on the west or south sides (Colter Bay, Grant Village or Grizzly are good choices) for a few days and then on the north side (Mammoth - no hookups - or a private CG such as Rocky Mt RV Park in Gardiner, just outside the north entrance) for a few days, spending 1-3 days exploring each part of the Grand Loop. Another possibility is Fishing Bridge for your entire stay, since it's pretty centrally located - but again, no ambience, very tight sites. And should a car rental be needed, there are no rentals within the park - just in West Yellowstone, Gardiner, Jackson or Cody.

All entrances into the park except the northeast are RV-friendly, but some are more challenging than others. West entrance is by far the least mountainous driving, but all (N, S, E & W) are do-able. Just take it easy, and the driver may need to forego sightseeing in order to improve concentration on the road. :) People do drive through the park in big rigs with toads or trailers, but I don't recommend that except as a way to get to whatever CG you're planning to stay in. Otherwise, use your toad, tow vehicle or a rental car for the sightseeing.

I am coming from Louisiana so I would like to stay out of the park in a nice campground with full hookups. So, there are no great campgrounds on the South side? Then do I skirt the park and go to the West side or drive into the park to get to the West side? Is the East side ok if I stay out of the park but drive my toad in. I read the roads into the park from the East are steep?

just stayed in the koa west of yellowstone, thought it was a good place. KOA also has another site just west of the one we stayed in, toward Molus pass.

Flagg Ranch at the south entrance is a OK CG but only 20A power. It's enough as it's cool enough that you do not need AC. If you are into boondocking, PM me.