Yellowstone second thoughts.

[wtmtnhiker]

I have a trip out west planned for Mid May to Mid June. Planning on making Yellowstone NP one of my last stops before I head home to NH. Be getting there June 5th and staying through the 10th. I have reservations at Fishing Bridge CG which is inside the park. Reading some recent posts and talking to a few campground owners out there it is anticipated that every day there will be 35,000 people visiting the park. They said there would be a 2 hour line at the gates. Having 2nd thoughts about how enjoyable an experience that would be and thinking that I'll make Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore etc my western most stop and head back to NH.
For those of you who have been to Yellowstone recently does my info sound correct? Did you find that the crowds limited your enjoyment of the park? I don't mind getting up and about early even 5 or 6am if that would make the experience a little less crowded.

[BB_TX]

This link shows the attendance by month for the last several years. And the gates they entered by. As many as 20,000 to 30,000 per day entering during the summer months.

https://www.yellowstone.co/stats.htm

[wtmtnhiker]

Thanks to all for the replies. You have convinced me to go ahead as planned.

[Crowe]

There's always going to be some reason to not go somewhere-high gas prices, construction, etc. It's better to work around issues like that than someone gets sick (or worse) and you can't go.

[JoeH]

Go- since you have a site at fishing Bridge, you are in a great spot to get out and about whenever you want and don't have to deal with the entrance gate except when you first arrive. I've never had to wait more than a few minutes at most to get into teh park, but we generally enter pretty early.

[southernsky]

We were there last year at about that time. Entering the park at daylight there was no line at the gate. As the morning went on the park started to get crowded and the animal jam were getting worst. We left the park around noon and the line going in were very long. Most people are late risers so adjust your time in the park accordingly. We spent several days there getting in early and out early.

[pbeverly]

Another thing to consider is there are going to be 3 major road projects starting this year that will cause significant travel issues within the park for two years. We were planning a trip for 2023 and am going to wait until after that now. They were originally going to do these projects one at a time and decided to all 3 at once.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/road-construction.htm

[valhalla360]

I'm sure it's horrible. Please don't go and tell anyone thinking of going not to go.

Those of us who will still be going appreciate your assistance. 😉

[Gonzo42]

IMHO, every American should see Yellowstone NP at least once. I've been there twice. One can not actually see the whole thing, but a week is a good start.

[lbrjet]

You will only be going through the gate once. Don't understand the issue. Yellowstone is a treasure and Fishing Bridge is the best location to explore it from.

[docsouce]

A bit off topic but on the way back, if you haven't already give the Devils Tower a look see.

[Lwiddis]

Go and enjoy from me too but I’d try mightily to avoid the summer months.

[bgum]

The mosquitos were the worst and most aggressive I have seen and that includes the swamp and salt marsh.

The snow melt gives them a chance to breed.

I wouldn't want to visit a park that other people chose to avoid. Therefore crowded indicates something.

[Crowe]

Our first time out there was in that time frame and it wasn't that crowded but that was 1984. I did some quick math. Using a total of 3.81 million visitors (from 2020) and dividing by 240 days (assuming 8 months of heavier travel) that only comes to 15875 on any given day. This was using the total number of visitors including those that visit in the winter so that 35,000 sounds high. There are highs and lows in visitation of course. July and August are the busiest months. It's a long way from NH so if you are already out there go for it. You can always change plans on the fly if you want to.

[Desert_Captain]

We spent 5 days at Yellowstone in June of 2020. We came in from Cody and drove all the way across the park to the Grizzly RV Park just outside of the west gate {in West Yellowstone}. That was a great location and I would go there again. Being just outside of the west gate you can easily access the park if you go early.

When you enter from the west gate you quickly encounter several road options as to which way you want to go and this cuts the traffic down significantly. I agree, see Old Faithful first as it is the biggest draw in the park. Do not try and enter the park from the south. We drove out that way heading down to Grand Teton NP and the back up at the south gate was over a mile and taking an hour or more.

On June 4th we had temps in the low thirties all day with snow flurries so we stayed at our site. The next day it was still cold so we drove the park in our 24' Class C and had no issues finding parking everywhere we went. The next 3 days the weather was better and we rode the park on my Indian motorcycle logging over 460 miles inside the park over the four days. Until you have seen any National Park {but especially YNP} from the back of a bike you have no idea what you missed. Grand Teton NP and the Jackson area were awesome as well.

:C

[Thermoguy]

We stayed at Fishing Bridge a few years back. Staying inside the park is the only way to see it. But, do you think there will be big crowds early June? My guess is those crowds will be after schools out and kids are traveling with parents. Yellowstone and all national parks are over crowded. So, just go and try not to notice all the other people. Hopefully you have a tow vehicle or towed vehicle. We had people next to us in a class C and every morning they had to pack up everything to go drive around the park, and parking can be a **** shoot at some nice attractions. I would hate to have to park anything larger than a truck.