If I have a day or two to visit Yellowstone..,.

[RedJeep]

Hello friends. We're from Portland but are in New Mexico with my family (wife & 11 yo kids). We have a 35' class A towing a car. Our schedule is a bit unpredictable but at the end of July we'll be heading back to Portland. We typically drive through Moab, SLC, Boise to get home. We are considering a drive through Yellowstone. My questions:

Is it even possible to visit Yellowstone on short notice? Is it too crowded to bother? Zero chance of finding a place to park/camp w/ a 35' Class A?

What would you see if you only had an afternoon or a day or two to visit?

Is it possible to just drive through and see a few things and then camp outside the park?

We did a similar sort of excursion last summer at the Grand Canyon. No reservations. Found a RV campground in Williams and then drove into the Grand Canyon for the day. That worked fine for us, but I am familiar with that area.

I realize more time is required to fully appreciate a location like Yellowstone, but schedules sometimes don't afford us many days to play.

Thanks all!

[Wadcutter]

RedJeep wrote:

What would you see if you only had an afternoon or a day or two to visit?

There's a story a ranger at Yellowstone tells.
He was asked by a tourist "If you only had 1 day to spend at Yellowstone what would you do?"
The ranger replied "I'd just sit down and cry."
You're not going to really see Yellowstone in a day. Sure, you can drive the main roads, probably not all of them in 1 day with the traffic in July, but you won't really see Yellowstone. You don't see Yellowstone from the road. You have to get out and walk the trails, as many trails as you can.

[2gypsies1]

I'd suggest staying in one of the non-reservation campgrounds in Grand Teton Nat'l Park - Colter Bay is closest to Yellowstone and do a day trip into Yellowstone. I'd not normally recommend day tripping into Yellowstone because it's more driving in this large park but your main concern is getting a campsite. Colter Bay and Gros Ventre campgrounds in Grand Teton each have 300 non-reservable sites and we've always gotten a site with our 40' motorhome. No hookups but you can surely survive that for a couple days. They have water fill and dump stations. As a backup keep 'calling' (not doing it online) the Yellowstone reservable campgrounds as you approach the area and there might be a chance for a cancellation that you can snag.

If day tripping pack your cooler so you don't waste time in the park restaurants. Plan to leave the campsite early.... by 7am and you'll see more animals that way and will have a lot less traffic, especially for Old Faithful. Check for Old Faithful's eruption times and head for it first, if convenient.

[Isaac-1]

Sure it can be done, at least part of it. We did Yellowstone in our 28 ft coach last summer without a TOAD the week before the big solar eclipse. Parking at Old Faithful was possible, it is a giant parking lot, though we did end up about as far away as one could be from the geyser parked in 2 regular spaces end to end, not a designated RV spot. In general we were able to get into most of the RV accessible parking lots to see attractions, though some of them required circling through at walking speed multiple times to find a parking spot, people in cars were making their own parking spaces along the entrance to the parking areas and even on the edge of the main loop road. The one major exception to this was the Geyser Basin area just north of Old Faithful, this area had cars pulled off on the side of the main road parked over half a mile from the pull off points for designated parking. Other areas like the Canyon rim drive loop we had to take 3 times through the one way 2 mile long loop before managing to get any of the RV parking. The Geysers at west Thumb was much of the same, looping through the packed parking lot repeatedly waiting for a space to open up, this was not an RV only thing, people in cars were doing it too, of course there are far more car spaces than RV spaces. Also the commercial tour buses also hog the RV parking spaces, using coordinated blockading actions to save them for the next commercial bus (something I think the park rangers should not allow).

[CA_Traveler]

Reserve a site in W Yellowstone and drive the south loop. If you see a buffy chasing a tourist you're in the right place. :B If you see a buffy sleeping on the road - well just wait. :Z

And if you have time drive the north loop.

BTW The larger Wood Buffalo in Canada/Alaska are well adapted to that harsh climate, while the plains buffys not so much.

[Busskipper]

RedJeep wrote:
Hello friends. We're from Portland but are in New Mexico with my family (wife & 11 yo kids). We have a 35' class A towing a car. Our schedule is a bit unpredictable but at the end of July we'll be heading back to Portland. We typically drive through Moab, SLC, Boise to get home. We are considering a drive through Yellowstone. My questions:

Is it even possible to visit Yellowstone on short notice? Is it too crowded to bother? Zero chance of finding a place to park/camp w/ a 35' Class A?

What would you see if you only had an afternoon or a day or two to visit?

Is it possible to just drive through and see a few things and then camp outside the park?

We did a similar sort of excursion last summer at the Grand Canyon. No reservations. Found a RV campground in Williams and then drove into the Grand Canyon for the day. That worked fine for us, but I am familiar with that area.

I realize more time is required to fully appreciate a location like Yellowstone, but schedules sometimes don't afford us many days to play.

Thanks all!

Yes - Yes - Yes

First come first served and yes you can get in. https://www.gtlc.com/rv

But my question is could you run up the San Juan's in Colorado and Cool down on the way up?

Have you thought about Dino NM with 11 YO's?

Maybe the water at Flaming Gorge - then up through Alpine - Jackson and Tetons before YNP?

Lots of Options.

Not trying to steer you away from Moab as it is full of options - But HOT and Crowded - When our Kids were young water was almost always the center of most of our travels so tried to put you near or on a few Lakes and Rivers.

MAP - Lots of Water on this route

Best of Luck, just one more option,

[Lexx]

We just went through Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago. We stayed at West Yellowstone KOA, which I do not recommend. They really pack the coaches in tight. And the aisles are really tight for turning.

If you approach the park from West Yellowstone, you can do much of the park in 2 or 3 days. On one day do the Upper Loop, and the next day do the Lower Loop. You'll see most of the sights this way.

Know that Old Faithful has big crowds and you may have to wait an hour or more before either erupts again if you just misses it when you arrive.

Don't sweat it if you don't get it all in. There's a lot to see.

[ThomBoles]

We were there early this year. While you could drive an RV through I'm not sure you'd have extremely good luck always finding a place to park at the attractions that you want to see. We were in Fishing Bridge -(Full hookup) but I'm guessing you'd be hard pressed to find a spot there with short notice.

Last year when we visited we had a campground up on the North side of the park just outside of Bozeman, MT but it was an hour drive south to the park.

[NMDriver2]

Go see the Tetons and day trip to Yellowstone.

[Crowe]

Is it possible to just drive through and see a few things and then camp outside the park?

Yes on the see a few things in the park. I've never camped outside but we were able to get a Kamping Kabin at the Mountainside KOA on somewhat short notice (although we had to cancel). There will be crowds, yes, but take a look at the park map and decide what you'd like to see. Old Faithful would be at the top of my list plus the geyser basins. Pick one section, see what you can see and if you have additional time just keep going.

[2chiefsRus]

You can drive through in your rig with car in tow but don't expect to be able to stop and park as you go through. On one of our visits to Yellowstone, we drove up from Tetons into Yellowstone and out the west entrance to West Yellowstone. It is a beautiful drive even if you don't have the time in your schedule to stop. It a drive through visit is all you have time for, then I would suggest trying to time it to drive through around dawn and shortly there after to give you the best chance to see wildlife from the RV and possibly be able to park somewhere along the way.

[BB_TX]

You can drive thru and see a lot of the features. In a car. But many of the parking areas to see those features are small and tight. Some have RV parking. Some don’t. Likely as not the RV spaces will be occupied by cars. But that time of year they will all be crowded and very difficult for a large RV.

I would try West Yellowstone for 2-3 nights and drive the toad to sightsee.

[GeoBoy]

Try to get a site at Grizzly RV Park, perfect for you rig, call now.

[Ed_C]

Call some campgrounds. There are lots in West Yellowstone. It will be crowded, but It's Yellowstone!

[IBcarguy]

I've heard that it is booked solid during the summer months and I've been told if you really want to see Yellowstone, you need more than just a day or two. I have 3 places I want to RV before I die and Yellowstone is one of them. The Oregon coast and the Grand Canyon are the other two and I am planning 10 days to 2 weeks for each trip.

[naturist]

Yellowstone is incredibly popular, and while camp sites IN the park do occasionally come open due to somebody canceling, I wouldn't count on that. There are campgrounds in West Yellowstone as well as between the Grand Tetons and the south entrance to Yellowstone that might be a much better bet. In late July, Yellowstone is going to be packed to the gunnels. I wouldn't even try to drive the entire rig through it. Land outside and take the car.

While there are way too many very fabulous sights to see for a single afternoon, Old Faithful, the Inn there, and the geysers and hot springs around it are where I'd go if all I had was one afternoon. It is possible to spend the entire day there, wandering around seeing incredible things, eat lunch, and minimize your time wandering slowly down the road, as the traffic congestion will have you doing, no matter your plans otherwise.