Yellowstone

[pinesman]

We are planning a summer 2016 trip from the Virginia to Yellowstone. We plan to be in that area 5-7 days. I realize we can not see it all in that amount of time, but should we stay inside the park or outside the park and drive in everyday? I pull a 38' fifth wheel with a long bed crewcab truck so finding a space that I can fit in is my concern. If anyone has been in a similar situation with similar time constraints, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[pinesman]

I think today is the first day to make reservations for next summer. Did you get any indication how fast the reservations are coming in?

[retispcsi]

Just booked Fishing Bridge this morning for 2016.

[bman916]

I have a 40' toy hauler with 110 gal fresh tank and 5500 gen. We are staying at Madison Campground inside the park this June. This place has a dump station and water when you pull in. Spending 3 full days in the park then another 3 in Jackson Hole Wy on the way home

[RuthieT]

We are staying at Bridge Bay for 4 nights and we are getting 2 sites and just using one for our truck to park, since our trailer is 40ft

[Norskeman]

That big of a rig -
Rocky Mountain RV Park & Lodging, LLC
14 Jardine Road
Gardiner, Montana 59030 USA
877.534.6931 / 406.848.7251
Web: www.rockymountainrvpark.com


This is where we stayed in 2013. Pull through with full hookups.

[littlemo]

Definitely advise staying in the Park. FB most centrally located. You won't be able to make reservations yet but find out the earliest you can make them and follow through. It is an awesome trip!

[MPond]

If you can get a large enough spot inside the park then sure, why not do so? But staying outside the park isn't as bad as many people make it sound.

We stayed at Grizzly RV in West Yellowstone for 6 days and drove in each day. The first day we sat in traffic during the "rush hour" - around 9am. The following days we intentionally started earlier or later (8am or 10am) and traffic wasn't a problem at all.

[John_S_]

I have stayed in the park and out of the park and I try to visit every other year. I would say to stay in a the park at Fishing Bridge. You are going to be out all day anyway and there are neat ranger talks near there at night. The campground is not a fancy place but it has hookups and depending on when you go there can be snow and cold and you will be happy you have them.

[Matt_Colie]

This is a real simple question to answer. The drive from the RV parks in West Yellowstone as said is about 17 miles one way to the junction with the south loop road. It is another 10 miles to the Norris junction that is the meeting between the north and south loops.

Yes, Fishing Bridge is a tight park and it is not cheap. It is the only FHU in Yellowstone. In our case, it was not worth the fuel and time to stay outside the park. Your Mileage May Vary.

If we had a towed, it might have been worth booking in West Yellowstone. One thing to be sure of is that it is worth the effort and expense.

Matt

[GeoBoy]

Stay at Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone. We went to Yellowstone NP in mid June, just before schools let out and it was fine. No real traffic tie ups and 7 days should be perfect, depending on your interests. West Yellowstone is pretty centrally located, has all the services you could need and not at resort run prices. Call Mark at Grizzly RV and make your reservations.

[kknowlton]

We have stayed both at Fishing Bridge and at Grizzly RV in West Yellowstone; both CGs have FHUs. Grizzly is more pleasant to stay at, IMO, but it does require a 28-mile roundtrip drive just to get to the Grand Loop Rd. - on the other hand, there is almost always wildlife to see in that distance, and some nice picnic areas, scenery, etc. Fishing Bridge is well-located, pretty central within the park, but the atmosphere is crowded at best, and with a long rig & long TV, you may find backing into a site there to be quite a challenge. (We had enough trouble with a 27' TT & standard size crew cab truck.)

You should be able to make reservations at Fishing Bridge for next year already; at least for the hotels in the park, reservations open on May 1 for the following year (i.e. May 2015 for the 2016 season).

If you're staying 5-7 days in the area, you might consider staying at 2 different CGs. There is enough variety in the park that you'd get a different "feel" from 2 separate CGs. Of course, you would spend some of one day just moving from one CG to another. 🙂

[GBuilders]

Fishing Bridgr is tight but it works. Any where you camp you will spend the day driving. West Yellowstone has some very nice parks and it's within a few hundred yards from the west entrance.

[2gypsies1]

Here is some information and pictures of Fishing Bridge RV in the park itself. Note that you will park your truck next to your RV, not in front of it. The park has lots of trees so I wouldn't call it a 'parking lot'. I've seen worse. You'll be out all day anyway. This is the only campground with hookups in the park. There are many more without hookups.

Fishing Bridge RV

[time2roll]

You need to CALL and make reservations. Click and reserve is 40' maximum combined length. The phone reservation will get you in a larger space on request. I recommend staying in the park. Fishing bridge with hookups seemed a little too urban to me.