Yellowstone, '16

[Vinsil]

We are in the planning stages right now. I've never been, a few coworkers have but they are hotel people. I am taking the TC and my family loves the outdoors, animals and hiking. We are thinking early June, kids out of school, snow hopefully mostly gone.....and not many in the park.

Need advice on where to go, stay and what is a must see. I have 3 kids, 11, 8, and 6 yr old boys and two dogs.

Plan to spend 7-9 days there. Advice?


We are open to moving the time frame (I can take vacation whenever) and we are buying a small farm in the spring so might need to adjust for that too.

[JacintoKid]

One other tip that has been helpful to us: there are NF and private campgrounds outside most of the entrances to the park. We like to drive the park (mostly the Lamar Valley) so, we camped just outside the park at one entrance and then drove back through the park and out another entrance. This kept us from having to double back. Also, the NF (and private) campgrounds outside the park are way less crowded. There are boondocking opportunities outside the park as well. Keep this in mind if you're not able to get a spot inside the campground on a particular night.

[HandyRandy]

Lots of great advice about Yellowstone and the Tetons. You can go about anywhere with a TC

FWIW - Lots of folks overnight at the Walmart in Cody. The museum in Cody is well worth the stop, but plan on most of a day to see it all. Their firearms collection beats the NRA museum in Virginia!

Happy travels!

[jefe_4x4]

This is a benchmark thread on Yellowstone for Truck Campers. I noticed that many of the trailer people go to one spot and drive their TV around to see the sites. Since TC'ers are all in one piece, we just drive our little mollusks around to see the sights, since we can. We've been to Yellowstone in about '04 during a rather dry year with an early spring, so arriving there the first week of June worked out fine: before the crowds and the mosquitos. But this timeline is variable as to the way the season worked out, pricip-wise. If you are flexible, that would be a good thing.
We stayed at Henry Lake, a minimal state? campground off Hwy. 20 near the west entrance. Pretty stark, but a good jumping off place that's not in the park.
We also camped at the most minimal campground in Y-stone: Slough Creek up a dirt road to accoutrement-free campsites figuring the TT and MoHo folks would not try that. Not so, trailer breath. A lot of people had the same idea: who would attempt this pulling a trailer? A lot of folks, that's who. We also stayed at Bridge Bay after choking on the prices per stay, and the snooty, "Is THAT your coach?" attitude at Fishing Bridge.

We were in the park only 3 or 4 days and only scratched the surface.
As has been previously said, we way underestimated how big this place is and how many days it takes to see everything. Following this we went south to the Grand Tetons and stayed across the valley up high with a nice view of the Tets.

My only advice is to get there on the edge of the seasons and....
get there and enjoy the place BEFORE IT BLOWS!
jefe

[Mote]

We were there this past September. We stayed at Canyon and Madison. Both were nice campgrounds. We liked Canyon a little better since it has showers and laundry available. Also, at Madison we had no cell service. We needed to keep in touch with family back home.
We kept the camper on the truck the entire time. Parking was never a problem. It was great always having our food, clothes and bathroom with us. I installed a group 31 AGM battery before we left. Between our small 50 watt solar panel and the truck charging the battery as we drove we never had an issue with power. We even ran the furnace thru the night.
I had a small issue with altitude sickness one evening. Besides that with the dry air and cool temps we felt no sinus issues like we do back here in Indiana.
Seeing the pictures here and talking about it makes me want to go back soon. It's an awesome place.

[iwon415]

Bryan - all your pictures were gone from the Yellowstone clicky...

[profdant139]

Two more suggestions -- if your kids can hike a couple of miles, you can have your own private geyser basin -- the Imperial area, near Fairy Falls:



No boardwalks, no crowds. Just watch where you step! The ground that you sit on can be quite warm -- an odd sensation.

And Boiling River near Mammoth Hot Springs is another easy hike -- bring bathing suits and towels and sturdy sandals. Even if the weather is cold, you can sit in the river where the hot springs flow in -- a natural jacuzzi:



If you'd like a few more ideas, check out our blog:

Yellowstone blog post

[Mattyd]

We were there this fall. Our most enjoyable vacation ever. One thing I don't think has been mentioned is if you go out the north entrance into Gardiner MT, the Rocky Mountain RV Park is great place to stay. The cleanest bathrooms and laundry stop on our trip. We can in from the south from Jackson Hole thru the Tetons. Out thru the Beartooth and then the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody. The only "do over" I have it to arrange in advance a half day float fishing trip.

[TNRIVERSIDE]

tragusa3 wrote:
TNRIVERSIDE and others: We have 10 days reserved for late June 2016. Would you mind posting an itinerary that keeps you busy for a long visit?

We took our only long trip out west 2 summers ago and experienced first hand how a park can touch you differently when you have time to sit and take in the quiet spirit of a place. We enjoyed finding beautiful spots to just sit and have 3 hour picnics, etc. HOWEVER, there were a few parks that after 2 days we left early. I suppose every park will speak to individuals differently.

How did you use up the time on a long stay in Yellowstone?

Yellowstone is laid out in a figure 8. Try to divide your time equally in each loop. Otherwise you will use too much time driving over the same roads. We purchased a book "Yellowstone Treasures. The travelers companion to the national Parks." We each highlighted the things we wanted to see. And we were able to see all our list and more. We tabbed each pacge that had a must see on it and removed them as we saw the location.
Worked for us. Enjoy YOUR national park.

PS
Take the time to sit near Hayden Valey early in the morning.

[tragusa3]

TNRIVERSIDE and others: We have 10 days reserved for late June 2016. Would you mind posting an itinerary that keeps you busy for a long visit?

We took our only long trip out west 2 summers ago and experienced first hand how a park can touch you differently when you have time to sit and take in the quiet spirit of a place. We enjoyed finding beautiful spots to just sit and have 3 hour picnics, etc. HOWEVER, there were a few parks that after 2 days we left early. I suppose every park will speak to individuals differently.

How did you use up the time on a long stay in Yellowstone?

[deltabravo]

2BLAZERS wrote:
Following this thread.... so is the park site seeing totally do able with the TC on the truck?

Yes, it is. I was there in September, but in a different rig.

[Vinsil]

Thanks again all, will send out some PM's as well, thanks for the great offers. Noted about the dogs. I'll have to make arrangements, I want to experience the park and hiking is key. We are spoiled here in Oregon and being friendly for sure!


So I'll be making reservations and planning according!

[kayakin]

2BLAZERS wrote:
Following this thread.... so is the park site seeing totally do able with the TC on the truck?

probably. We have been everywhere with ours over the years.

With it on, you can try some of the picnic areas for a picnic lunch instead of just the crowded popular sites.

Make sure the kids do the Jr. Ranger Programs. You'll learn from them too.

I am partial to the Historic Ranger Station Museum at Norris CG. You may want to hike into Boiling River (between Gardiner and Mammoth) for something they will remember- the cold and hot water on each foot. The beach at Lake Hotel- laying in the black sand in the sun.... Nice hike to Lone Star Geyser.... There are always animals in the LaMar valley. Ice Cream at Tower Store.

You can't not have a good time.

[bka0721]

bjohns wrote:
We have been campground hosts in Lizard Creek Campground at the north end of Grand Teton National Park for 5 of the last 6 years. I can tell you that most of our campers have considered Lizard Creek to be the best campground in either Yellowstone or GTNP. There are no hookups, but we have many truck campers come in and stay. From Lizard Creek one can do both Yellowstone and GTNP without too much trouble, and as long as you arrived by around noon, there were usually campsites available. Drop in for a night, and if you like it, extend your stay there. Most people did that. As for wildlife viewing, we had many occasions of bear, moose, deer, elk and foxes, and one year even had wolves in the campground. We had probably an equal number of grizzlies and black bears, sometimes at the same time. You must be especially bear aware in all of the campgrounds, but especially in Lizard Creek. There are sites right on Jackson Lake.
One word of note to all, in 2015 we had record numbers of visitors, as did both the Parks and the commercial campgrounds as well. Next year due to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Parks, numbers are expected to surpass 2015. Plan ahead, stop and get your site early and then sight see after you have a site.

By far, this is the best advice, so far. Next year will be a spectacular year for visitors. Pretty much the week before the 4th of July through the 2nd weekend of August, the two parks campgrounds were filling up early. July alone, the campgrounds were filling by 9 AM, everywhere. Gros Ventre Campground filled 21 nights in a row, before 4PM in July. This campground is the biggest one (450+) and rarely fills, let alone multiple nights in a row. How would I know? Many years working for the Park Service in these parks. Including this last summer, where many of you stopped in to visit with me.

What do I recommend? If you can, go after August 16th, or any time after Labor Day. Don't bring your dogs, as described earlier. What wasn't was the number of Bear incidents we had, including one fatality, as well as 5 goring's by Bison. Leaving a pet unattended, in a vehicle at any time is prohibited. So, if you are tempted to bring them. Make sure they don't bark or stand on the dash of your truck and yap at the LE writing out a Cite.

This site should be on your must visit list to get information on the NPS park sites;

NPS.GOV web site for Planning a Visit to Yellowstone

Logistics is a big thing, as these are BIG parks and requiring a lot of driving in often slow moving traffic of all types. I would split the two parks in Thirds. South Tetons, stay at Gros Ventre Campground, North Teton and Southern Yellowstone would be Lizard Creek (One of my favorite campgrounds) to view both north and south regions of Tetons/Yellowstone.

Central Yellowstone, Grant Village or Bridge Bay. Northern side of Yellowstone, Canyon Village or Madison. There is only one campground that has hookups and that fills up by reservations a year in advance. Be prepared all the campgrounds are heavily tree'd. So if you are looking for Sat Reception or Solar, this is not a park for you to visit for long term exploring. Plan on driving to charge your batteries or generator use, where available.

Hiking, fishing, backpacking, horseback riding and just plain rubber necking is at its finest here.

If you and others are interested in my cheat sheet for those that are interested in exploring the country most visitors don't see, send me a private message. The link below will get you to one of my old TR on Yellowstone and Tetons. Most of the links are still working, but the photo hosting site went belly up.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks Trip Report Clicky

Have fun and maybe you might see me there next summer, again.

b

[GeoBoy]

Grizzly RV Park in the town of West Yellowstone. Give Mark a call at Grizzly and make your reservations early. The wife and kids will thank you for staying there. Beautiful place. Enjoy.