Yellowstone trip

[Trout_Guide]

We are planning our first big trip in out 23' tt and wanted to go to yellowstone national park. Does anyone have any suggestions, tips or things that we should know about bringing a trailer into the park. Places to go or avoid? Was planning at least a 2 week trip. We have never done the off grid camping before but hoping to get a handle on that to be able to do some of that as well. Thanks for any help.

[Trout_Guide]

Wow! A lot of great info and thank you CloudDriver for the detailed itinerary. That is perfect and appreciated. This will give us a great layout to do out trip. You guys are all awesome.
Thank you 🙂

[CloudDriver]

A number of suggestions for your comnsideration:

X3 on the Buffalo Bill Historical Center if you go to Cody. Entrance tickets are good for 2 days for a reason. We stay at the Ponderosa RV Park, which is only a few blocks from the museum.

From Cody you can take the Chief Joseph Highway (route 296) to the Beartooth Highway (route 212) over the Pass and down the Red Lodge. One of the most spectacular drives in the country.

If you need to stock up before heading in the East Entrance of Yellowstone, there is a WalMart on the west side of town. There's also an Albertsons as you come into Cody from the east.

We always recommend taking the switchback trail down the the brink of the Lower Falls. It's at the first parking area on the one way North Rim Drive. Looking over the railing to watch the thundering water fall over 300 feet into the swirling spray at the bottom is unforgettable. Us old folks take a long time getting back up to the parking area, but it's worth it.

Very nice Visitor Center at Canyon.

Old Faithful is only of the many geysers and hot springs in the Upper Geyser Basin. The Visitor Center has info on the other predictable geysers so you can plan you walk around the area. Nearby Biscuit Basin and Black Sand Basin are also worthwhile.

Have lunch at the Old Faithful Inn and experience this historic structure.

Make a day trip up to the Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of the park. This valley has been Called the "Serengeti of America" and has the largest herd of Bison in the Park. It's the only place we have seen wolves, although sightings aren't a sure thing by far. If you have binoculars, or better yet a spotting scope, head further up to Baronette Peak and look for Mountain Goats and Bighorn Sheep.

A stop to see Mammoth Hot Springs is also possible after a visit to the Lamar Valley. Elk are common in the grassy area across from the Mammoth Hotel and in the Fall you may get to hear a Bull Elk with a full rack bugling to attract mates.

Colter Bay RV is the only FHU campground in Grand Teton. We always stay at Gros Ventre at the south end of the Park. There are some electric sites there as well as a a dump and water fill. No reservations at Gros Ventre, but they rarely fill and you should have your pick of sites in the Fall.

IMO the most spectacular drive in Grand Teton is southbound from Jackson lake Junction over the Jackson Lake Dam to Jenny Lake and on the Moose Junction. Morning is best for photography as the sun will be behind you when facing the mountains.

We always recommend taking the boat across Jenny Lake and hiking the trail up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. If you have the time and energy, continue on into Cascade Canyon to be truly "in" the mountains.

A very nice Visitor Center at Moose and on the left across the river is Dornan's, where you can eat lunch on an upper deck overlooking the Tetons.

If you need to restock while in Grand Teton, there are two full size supermarkets on the south side of the town of Jackson, an Albertsons on the left and a Smith's on the right about 1/2 mile further on.

[Tone]

The park has live web camera feeds of old faithful that you can have family look at on line while you are there. Might be fun for those that couldnt make it just a thought Tony

[jdfello]

Don't miss the canyon with the upper and lower falls. Never new how fantastic this area was. It's definitely a full days adventure and that would only scratch the surface. We camped at Bay Bridge and found this very nice and as centrally located as any. What ever you do I know you will have a great experience.

[dave54]

X2 on the Buffalo Bill Center in Cody. It is a world class museum complex. We spent the full day in there, from opening until they chased us out at closing, and we wished we could have stayed longer.

We really enjoyed the Blacktail Plateau Drive. It is unpaved and a little rough so most people pass it by, but the wildlife viewing was great.

The food stops (snack bars) can be a long time between. The distance may not be far, but expect frequent stops along the road for bear jams (traffic jams, where the everyone stops to look at bears or other furry woodland critters). It can take hours to drive only a few miles, so take a cooler filled with eats. Just be careful leaving it in the car if you stop to take a hike. A bear can open your locked car like peeling a banana. Besides... Who wants to eat in a crowded overpriced snack bar when there are ample little picnic spots with tables and restrooms and great views scattered all through the Park.

And extra memory cards for your camera... you will take a lot of pictures.

[wrenchbender]

If you are going thru Cody stop at the museum.If you have time go out the north gate and go thru Cooke City and than on to Red Lodge MT.

[Trout_Guide]

You guys are awesome, Thank you for the tips and typically we do our trips in the fall to help avoid crowds. Have the Tetons and old faithfull on the list and will go to yellowstone lake as well. Is there any other areas that are a must to see? I really appreciate the help. I love this forum and everyone has always been more then helpful, especially for the newbies.

[Dick_B]

Of course you searched this Forum for Yellowstone...

[rfryer]

Yellowstone is a huge park and I’d suggest staying in the park rather than outside to reduce your travel time. Last trip there I put 400 miles on just driving around in the park. At your TT size you should have a lot of options for campgrounds; a few will be off limits. You will be off the grid if you camp there unless you use the RV storage lot – read Fishing Bridge. Both Yellowstone and the Tetons have only one campground with HU’s. Most cg’s allow generator usage, again a few of the more pristine don’t allow them.

Don’t be concerned about dry camping, you’ll adapt fast. It’s just a matter of being more frugal with your resources. I’ve camped for over 50 years and could count the times I’ve used HU’s on my fingers, or at least my fingers and toes. Considering the size of Yellowstone you could pick an area you want to see and select a cg there. Then to see another area just move to a cg in that area.

If you’re in Yellowstone you’ll likely want to check out Grand Teton, too, it’s directly south and spectacular. If you do that you’ll have to decide how to split your time up. I’d suggest a little more time in Yellowstone only because there’s more variety of scenery. Two weeks is a decent amount of time for the trip but I suspect you’ll find it not enough for everything you want to see and you’ll come back again. Have a great trip. A last thought, stock up on food and such before you get there, nothing is cheap in the parks.

[SkiMore]

The park is big consider splitting your stay between multiple places. It will help to reduce the driving and make it a lot easier to see more of the park.

[guidry]

We just came back after a stay at West Yellowstone. I'd recommend later Sept and early October, weather was cold at first but got great. Crowds not too bad. If we did it again, I'd stay at West Yellowstone again then go into the park for part of the time to save some travel. Also, late season time will give you good discounts in most of the stores for shopping as they are getting ready to close for the winter. Some roads close around that time too so watch for those as it will severely restrict or add extra miles to get where you want to go. Take lots of pictures as there is so much to see. I'd also highly suggest ending up driving out the east gate and spend time in Cody, Wy! Awesome drive. We even stopped at Shoshone Lodge and rode horses for a couple of hours in the same mountain ridges you see along the beautiful highway.

[Two_Hands]

Reservations for summer of 2015 are going on right now. We already have reservations for Fishing Bridge RV Campground in July. When we tried to make another reservation at one of the dry camping campgrounds there were no sites left for rigs of our size. In other words, make your reservations now for campgrounds in the park.

[Bumpyroad]

make a reservation at fishing bridge campground for part of your stay. the only place with FHU. then before and after you can bounce around in the other campgrounds.
bumpy

[mbutts]

Allow plenty of time for traveling within the park. It's ginormous in there.

We stayed outside the park and kinda regretted it since it would take us about an hour to get to the park from Yellowstone's Edge campground.