Grand Teton then Yellowstone

[timberloft]

I am looking for some campground suggestions on a trip that my wife and I are planning for August 2014. I have read through many past posts on this topic and believe that I am beginning to get a feel for the campgrounds, but having never been there, I thought that I would solicit input for our particular situation.

We will be bringing our 14' Coleman Travel Trailer (not a popup/hybrid). We want to spend 3 nights in Grand Teton NP and 7 nights in Yellowstone. We prefer to camp inside the parks. We will be bringing a generator, and by the time we make the trip, plan to have added a second battery and replaced the existing camper lights with LED lights. We are not very experienced in dry camping, but think that is something that we want to do on this trip. (My main dry camping concern at this point is killing the batteries with the furnace if it gets too cold.) We plan to arrive at Grand Teton on 8/14/14.

My preliminary thoughts are to camp with no hookups in Grand Teton, then camp with hookups at Fishing Bridge for 3 nights. After that, possibly spend 2 nights each at 2 other campgrounds without hookups before leaving Yellowstone.

Based on this scenario, what campgrounds would you recommend? Since the rates for the different size sites are all the same at Fishing Bridge, should I just book the largest site to give us more room even though I am bringing our small rig?

Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions.

[timberloft]

Thanks to everyone for your input. I plan to book 2-3 nights in a smaller site in FIshing Bridge and likely a couple of nights in Madison now. Will do a little more research before trying to fill in the other nights, or try to fill in when we get there with the non-reservable campgrounds that were mentioned.

[rfryer]

With a 14’ TT you can get into any cg in the park except the tent only. So it more depends on what type of cg you want and how close to the main attractions you want to be. If you like rustic, I’d look at Lizard Creek CG in Teton. Small sites with some on the lake and one loop is no generators. You’ll also find that true in other cg’s in both parks, some allow generators and some don’t. I’ve been to all the cg’s in the Tetons, though, except their version of FB, and have no complaints about any of them.

I pull a 16’ TT and I’ve been there numerous times since the 70’s, mostly in prime time. I never get reservations and only twice have I been bit. Once I boondocked outside the park and got a site in the morning. The other time I got in very late and took a site in Fishing Bridge. That was the pitts, I felt like I was in a big rig storage lot and I was out of there at dawn.

I always dry camp and I sometimes switch to a cg with electric if my batteries getting weak. But I won’t do that in Yellowstone and there are other options. Yellowstone is huge; I put 400 miles on inside the park the last trip. So I sometimes take my battery out and drop it at a service station for recharging while I’m gone all day. I don’t carry a generator but I’m considering just getting another battery to switch off for recharging, I can get the better part of a week out of a battery anyway. But I never run my furnace camping and I’ve never needed it anyway in Yellowstone.

I think you’re on the right track switching cg’s, it will reduce the amount of driving you have to do. I prefer the more rustic types and many are in the north end of the park, less convenient for driving around sightseeing but better for seeing wildlife. But small and a lot of generator restrictions. Norris is a good central location for the loops but it’s mostly tent camping. It does have some small TT sites, though, and no reservations accepted. Grant’s south and I seem to remember it as big, with a lot of people and tighter than I like. The others are a little vague in my memory but you could go on the Yellowstone site and get an idea which ones might work best for you. Have a great trip, if this is your first time it will be quite an experience.

[kknowlton]

Lots of good suggestions. With a 14' trailer, those of us with larger rigs would much appreciate your not asking for a large site in Fishing Bridge. 🙂 I also think your rig would fit into the CG at Signal Mt., which you could consider for the Tetons. It is right along the road, but has a fantastic view of the Tetons; restaurant & gas station right there too, and fairly centrally located for GTNP.

Check nps.gov/Yellowstone for CG information. The larger ones inside the park take reservations (and those would be needed!); some of the smaller ones are first-come, first-served, but sites that fit your trailer might be hard to find in many of them. Not sure I'd take a trailer into the Tower CG - drove thru it there in a car last year and it sure felt pretty "off-road" to me!

If you want to stay at Fishing Bridge, I believe you can make reservations now for next August. In fact, if that's the case, I'd recommend you do that. 🙂

[2gypsies1]

We've stayed in Colter Bay campground (not the full hookup RV park which is right next door) and Gros Ventre. It would be pretty unlikely that you'll have to use your furnace in August, but possibly (you know the weather). Colter Bay is in a forest and further from the town of Jackson if you wanted to do anything there. Gros Ventre has trees but it's more open with mountain views. If you pulled into either one early morning you'd get a site. They each have 300 campsites. Stay nearby the previous night.

Yellowstone: Fishing Bridge is not a parking lot. It's full of trees. We've seen many other RV parks that are just gravel with no trees. That's what I'd call a parking lot. Yes, the sites are close and that's because of the hookups. This happens in most RV parks. It's just fine for your visit.

We also like Madison which has trees but not a thick forest and Mammoth which also has some trees and has a beautiful valley view. Mammoth doesn't have reservable sites. Madison does but again, we got there early one morning and secured a spot without reservations because they always have cancellations.

With your small trailer you'll have no problems finding sites. Have fun planning!

[padredw]

X 3 on Colter Bay.

[Acampingwewillg]

Having stayed at both Gros Ventre and Colter Bay in the Teton's, I liked Colter Bay better but that's just me. Id also suggest you get a spot at Fishing Bridge, its nice to be in the Park.

[jalichty]

I would suggest that you stay at Colter Bay, about 10 miles inside the Grand Teton Park entrance. Their "dry" campground has fresh water and two dump sites with three holes in the ground. Great shade and close to one of the prettiest parts of our United States, Jackson Lake and the Teton Mountain Range. Also, pretty centrally located for traveling in the Park, to Moran entrance or to Signal Mountain, Jenny Lake and out to Moose Entrance and the Craig Thomas Visitor Center and then on the the Moose/Wilson Road and the newest part of Grand Teton, the Lawrence Rockefeller Reserve that was the family getaway, but they moved out about thirty buildings and reclaimed the ground so you almost can't tell where any of the buildings were and it sits at Phelps Lake, I think that's the spelling, which is also very beautiful. If the water isn't too low on Jackson Lake at that time, you could take a cruise that takes you to the base of Mt. Moran for a wonderful "look up" view of a mountain rising about 6,000 feet right out of the lake. Also Jenny Lake has a cruise to a place called Hidden Falls which is very pretty as well, although you can hike to the falls from the visitor center if you like, it's pretty easy. You notice, I haven't said much about Yellowstone, it speaks for itself and is a wondrous place with lots of ground to cover and features to see. We always take a day or two, while in Grand Teton, to go to Yellowstone and see as many features as we can. If you stay in Yellowstone for a week, you will get the chance to see almost all of the easily accessible features and probably will be able to hike to some of the less accessible ones. Just remember, it's a really big piece of real estate. In 1988, the fire burned 1,000,000 acres which was just about 1/3 of the total park area. That's over 1,500 square miles. Most of the burned area has now mostly recovered with tons of trees and undergrowth, but you can still see a huge number of burned trees and ground. And, right now they have, I think, three fires burning in Yellowstone in remote areas.

Have a great trip, if you would like some pictures, send me a private message with your email address and I would be happy to send you some.

[TexasShadow]

For the Tetons, I recommend Gros Ventre campground on the south side of the park, near Jackson. It has water and a dump station, lots of shade and flush toilets, no showers.
For Yellowstone, treat yourself to the full hookup Fishing Bridge, but be aware that this campground is mostly a parking lot, and they cram you in there pretty close to each other, but you're out sightseeing most of the day.
Then changing campgrounds...go up to Tower for a couple/3 days and drive out the NE gate to Cooke City and drive the Beartooth highway to Red Lodge MT.
Then move on down to Madison and take in Old Faithful, etc.
But make reservations for the Yellowstone campsites as early as you can.

[Reader1]

We have been to Yellowstone several times. I personally don't think you need a really large site like you might in other locations. We normally leave the campground first thing in the morning, take a cooler for lunch and don't return to the campsite until evening. For us it is all about the park when at Yellowstone. Have a wonderful trip!

[kedanie]

timberloft wrote:

Based on this scenario, what campgrounds would you recommend? Since the rates for the different size sites are all the same at Fishing Bridge, should I just book the largest site to give us more room even though I am bringing our small rig?

The only real difference in sites at Fishing Bridge is the length. You can get a 30, 35 or 40 foot site. They all have room to park your tow vehicle alongside. There is no reason to book the larger site. The number of larger sites is limited and taking one when you don't need it wouldn't be very considerate of all the other campers trying to get a site there. With a 14' trailer, you will have more than enough room with the shorter sites. Try being considerate. We'll be there in our 36' Motor Coach at that time. Reservations for that time period are already available and advisable.

Keith