***Traveling out west*** Need Suggestions

[Juliecece]

Hi-
We have plans to take a two-week trip from Cincinnati out to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone next summer. We have a 31' travel trailer, 4 kids, 2 adults, and a dog... and an extended cab 2001 Chevrolet Silverado. We're a little nervous about having enough space to pull in and out/set up at the national parks. I have been researching RV rentals, mostly for the ease during a long trip with four kids, but husband doesn't think an RV is practical in that way because you have to take it and park it on our excursions. Can someone share their experience with me? Is it a pain to pack up an RV and drive to do the sight seeing we want to see? What are we up against? Pros/cons of each? preference? something else I'm not thinking of?
Thanks in advance,
Julie

[JBledsoe]

.

We live closer than most of you so we visit the parks more often. However, we never camp inside the parks, we stay in one of the campgrounds in West Yellowstone and drive in each day. It's much easier to deal with the traffic in the pickup when not towing the trailer.

[BarabooBob]

My wife and I recently took 2 daughters and 2 grandkids on vatacion for 16 days. It was the idea of the 2 daughters. My wife and I drove our little RV and the daughters drove my wife's Grand Marque pulling our pop-up. When I agreed to this trip, I informed them that we would ALL wake up at 7:00 and the tires would be turning down the road by 8:00. They agreed but the one daughter later regretted that agreement. We went from Wisconsin to the Badlands, Black Hills, Big Horn Mtns, 3 days in Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Craters of the Moon NP, Glacier, and home. 16 days, massive memories. The grandkids don't remember the getting up early, they remember the great memories. One of the daughters has taken friends on these road trips and her friends want to do more.

[greyhook]

BarabooBob wrote:
My family and I have travelled from Wisconsin to the Rockies on several trips. We go from Baraboo, WI to the Badlands onthe first day, hike and goof off there on day one. Day 2 & 3 is sight see in the Black HIlls. Day 4 get into the Bighorn Mtns. Day 5 get to Yellowstone. Spend 3 or 4 days there. Head down through the Tetons, maybe a raft trip, take our time getting home. That is a relaxing 16 day trip for us. If we are wanting more travel, we push a little harder and hit Dinosaur NP, Rocky MTN NP and head home. My kids grew up traveling like this and love it. They are grown now and still do it with their friends and families. We call it taking a ROAD TRIP not a destination trip.

YES! Exactly.

[BarabooBob]

My family and I have travelled from Wisconsin to the Rockies on several trips. We go from Baraboo, WI to the Badlands onthe first day, hike and goof off there on day one. Day 2 & 3 is sight see in the Black HIlls. Day 4 get into the Bighorn Mtns. Day 5 get to Yellowstone. Spend 3 or 4 days there. Head down through the Tetons, maybe a raft trip, take our time getting home. That is a relaxing 16 day trip for us. If we are wanting more travel, we push a little harder and hit Dinosaur NP, Rocky MTN NP and head home. My kids grew up traveling like this and love it. They are grown now and still do it with their friends and families. We call it taking a ROAD TRIP not a destination trip.

[greyhook]

It's worth it to us to have those dedicated "travel days" We make the most of our time out West. I realize there's not many people who can do what I do, that's why I make a very good living at it--I drive tractor trailer. Once we get "out there" we do take our time. Perhaps the day will come when I won't have to or don't want to do that but it really affords us the most time where we want to be instead of taking an extra week and paying for more CGs. The space inside our C is more than enough--we have no slides, which we've found take up a lot of space and weight. Not cramped in the slightest.
I won't go into the trip we did couple years ago all the way across. For that one I did take 3+ weeks but we logged over 6400 miles(not including the rental car). We visited 10 NPs and it was done at our own pace which consists of leaving the Park when the consensus is "we're good with this one", lol.

[allen8106]

I personally recommend staying outside of Yellowstone Park. The campgrounds are way to cramped for much of any size rig due to the way they pack them in. We parked our 34' 5th wheel in an RV park in West Yellowstone and drove in each day. This worked well for us.

[RwaSmith]

Last year we put our camper and Culter bay full hookup sites for 2 weeks. It was great. As an FYI campfires are not allowed.

Our camper is 35 feet long and we pull it with a 3/4 Suburban and we had plenty of room

[Lantley]

dodge guy wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:

greyhook wrote:
It can be done with days set aside for some serious driving, like 750miles/day on the way out and going back home--but it's worth it to us.

At an average 50 mph that's 15 hrs of driving. :E We've done a lot of long distance traveling / camping but there's not a chance I'd do 15 hrs behind the wheel, then have to do it again the next day. 😞 Our last Yellowstone trip included the Badlands and RMNP, all in a little under 4 weeks - just what we needed so we weren't rushed.

I’ve done a max of 14 and that is pushing it. And no way I would do that back to back. I towed from Chicago area to Stone Mtn GA. 14 hours. The next day we drove to Disney. Even an 8hr day after a 14 is hard.

Dodge guy I've followed some of your travels and I concluded living in the center of the country has it advantages. I applaud you for making it to lots of great destinations all over the country.
Sort of weird in that there are not too many attractions located in the center of the country worth driving 2 days for.
However the center is a good launching point to see the rest of the country.
I've been up and down the east coast,but not very far west simply because my marathon driving days are past me. The thrill of driving a 600 mile day is gone!
In order to make west in a relaxed manner from the east coast I believe it takes 3 weeks which I don't have. I know many would disagree with the 3 week requirement, but I do not consider towing multiple 500-600 mile days in a row a vacation. With that in mind I spend my vacations closer to home which gives me a better relaxation time vs. windshield time ratio.

[dodge_guy]

SoundGuy wrote:

greyhook wrote:
It can be done with days set aside for some serious driving, like 750miles/day on the way out and going back home--but it's worth it to us.

At an average 50 mph that's 15 hrs of driving. :E We've done a lot of long distance traveling / camping but there's not a chance I'd do 15 hrs behind the wheel, then have to do it again the next day. 😞 Our last Yellowstone trip included the Badlands and RMNP, all in a little under 4 weeks - just what we needed so we weren't rushed.

I’ve done a max of 14 and that is pushing it. And no way I would do that back to back. I towed from Chicago area to Stone Mtn GA. 14 hours. The next day we drove to Disney. Even an 8hr day after a 14 is hard.

[SoundGuy]

greyhook wrote:
It can be done with days set aside for some serious driving, like 750miles/day on the way out and going back home--but it's worth it to us.

At an average 50 mph that's 15 hrs of driving. :E We've done a lot of long distance traveling / camping but there's not a chance I'd do 15 hrs behind the wheel, then have to do it again the next day. 😞 Our last Yellowstone trip included the Badlands and RMNP, all in a little under 4 weeks - just what we needed so we weren't rushed.

[Lantley]

greyhook wrote:
We just got back from Yellowstone. We have a 31ft. Class C. We're from Western NY(Buffalo) and our vacation lasted 16 days. We stayed in Badlands for one night and did some hiking. From there we drove through Custer State Park and stopped in Deadwood for dinner. After that, we "Wallydocked" in Gillette Wyoming. The next day, we crossed the Bighorns--great scenic ride. That night and the next we stayed in Cody(Ponderosa CG) and took in the Museum of the West and the Rodeo. Then it was 2 nights in Yellowstone at Fishing Bridge. Traffic IS manageable in Yellowstone. With a little patience, driving the 31ft MH around the park is the best option for us. Bathroom, food and everything was with us. Got to see 9 wolves!! Then we moved on to the Grizzly and Wolf discovery center in West Yellowstone and dinner before driving to Arco, Idaho for Craters of the Moon. Stayed there 2 nights and circled back to Jackson and stayed in Colter Bay for 3 nights before heading home. It's me, my wife, our 12y/o and 14y/o daughters and 2 dogs. This was our second trip to Yellowstone(and other parks). It can be done with days set aside for some serious driving, like 750miles/day on the way out and going back home--but it's worth it to us. We had an awesome time and you will too.

Sounds like a good trip. But too much driving for me.I think this is a good example of where a motorized RV shines over a towable.
The class C lacks space when set up vs. my fiver but it is much easier to set up and break down. The ride would als be more enjoyable
I'm a day or so farther away. I see it as 3-4 days drive each way.
Half my time would be spent behind the windshield.
I would want 3 weeks vs. 2 weeks to make the trip viable

[greyhook]

We just got back from Yellowstone. We have a 31ft. Class C. We're from Western NY(Buffalo) and our vacation lasted 16 days. We stayed in Badlands for one night and did some hiking. From there we drove through Custer State Park and stopped in Deadwood for dinner. After that, we "Wallydocked" in Gillette Wyoming. The next day, we crossed the Bighorns--great scenic ride. That night and the next we stayed in Cody(Ponderosa CG) and took in the Museum of the West and the Rodeo. Then it was 2 nights in Yellowstone at Fishing Bridge. Traffic IS manageable in Yellowstone. With a little patience, driving the 31ft MH around the park is the best option for us. Bathroom, food and everything was with us. Got to see 9 wolves!! Then we moved on to the Grizzly and Wolf discovery center in West Yellowstone and dinner before driving to Arco, Idaho for Craters of the Moon. Stayed there 2 nights and circled back to Jackson and stayed in Colter Bay for 3 nights before heading home. It's me, my wife, our 12y/o and 14y/o daughters and 2 dogs. This was our second trip to Yellowstone(and other parks). It can be done with days set aside for some serious driving, like 750miles/day on the way out and going back home--but it's worth it to us. We had an awesome time and you will too.

[BizmarksMom]

SoundGuy wrote:

BizmarksMom wrote:
You can totally do this trip with the truck and trailer you already own. And I would definitely set the trailer up somewhere and day trip in the truck. West Yellowstone has several campgrounds that can accommodate you. You'll fit in a lot of forest service campgrounds, too, but with that many people you'll probably want hook-ups.

If I understand the OP's original post correctly she's talking about a 2019 summer trip, in which case Fishing Bridge campground in Yellowstone is where most would want to head with a large trailer & wanting services ... however, Fishing Bridge will be closed next year for the entire 2019 summer season. That's not to say they couldn't find a suitable dry site elsewhere in the park but if that doesn't work for them then they're going to have to reserve outside the park and drive in each day.

West Yellowstone is a town outside of the park with lots of RV campgrounds and services. Gardiner is another such town. Yes, this would mean driving back into the park each day. I don't know about everybody else, but I prefer to use the equipment I already own and am used to when on a long trip.

[westernrvparkow]

dodge guy wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:

afidel wrote:
It's actually the fishing bridge that is being replaced, work starts this October and will last through at least 2019, possibly longer depending on weather conditions.

Although some may doubt it the fact is that not only is the bridge itself being rebuilt but facility improvements to Fishing Bridge RV Park will keep this campground closed throughout the 2019 season. :R

Interesting! I hope part of the improvements is going to be repaving? It can use it.

It is my understanding the they will be renovating the buildings, improving the campground roads, redesigning the sites and upgrading the utilities. I believe the plan is to end up with larger sites, but since the footprint of the park cannot be enlarged, there will be fewer sites. The work is being funded by Xanterra, which is the concessionaire for the park, under the terms of the concession contract they completed a few years ago. I would also expect that rates at the newly renovated Fishing Bridge will rise significantly since Xanterra is not a charitable organization.