Yellowstone travel tips

whaler1987 · February 23, 2018

Any suggestions on the best rv parks close to Yellowstone?

2gypsies · February 23, 2018

How about Fishing Bridge right in the park itself? Found these pics online:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/yellowstonenps/sets/72157650747810589

It's certainly not a 'resort' but it's convenient, has full hookups and you'll be out touring all day anyway so you basically only need a sleeping spot.

With our 40' motorhome we have stayed at Mammoth, Madison and Bridge Bay campgrounds in the park - dry camping and also outside the park at Baker's Hole national forest campground about 5 mi. north of W. Yellowstone. They have dry sites and some electric hookups but it doesn't accept reservations. You have to be there early morning for a site.

Chad Heiser · February 23, 2018

We stayed in Buffalo Crossing RV Park in West Yellowstone. It is literally right outside the west entrance to Yellowstone. The sites were gravel with Trex type landings. They were plenty big for our HDT, 5er and Jeep. It is a relatively small park, but very convenient.

SKP099512 · February 23, 2018

We stayed about 4 blocks outside the west gate at Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park, https://grizzlyrv.com/

trostberg · February 24, 2018

The RV parks fill up early in the year so you may need to take what you can get especially if you want electric.

I would certainly not go without reservations unless you can do the first come first serve sites and get their early in the morning. Some are less than 25 ft only.

WILDEBILL308 · February 24, 2018

The big problem is you need to make reservations NOW. You could end up with no place to stay.

I have stayed at Buffalo Run RV Park & Cabins out on 20 a ways as we were visiting some outher places on that side of the park. We have also stayed up closer to Livingston at Yellowstone's Edge RV Park.

The waiting in line for the first opening sounds good till you find out there are 20 people in line ahead of you and they for cast 15 openings.

Bill

OldMan · February 24, 2018

Near West Yellowstone, I'll be over in Idaho at Henry's lake, pulling out all the lunker Brown trout. Love me trout fishin'.

trailertraveler · February 24, 2018

On ‎2‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 7:56 PM, whaler1987 said:

Any suggestions on the best rv parks close to Yellowstone?

Yellowstone is a very large park. If you stay in just one location you will do a lot of driving. What direction will you be coming from and which direction will you go when you leave? If by RV park you mean places with at least electric, the Fishing Bridge RV Village is the only one in the park. There are several commercial RV parks in West Yellowstone and several others further West in Idaho. As mentioned, the Forest Service's Baker's Hole campground has some electric sites. Their Rainbow Point campground, which is further from the Park, also has some electric sites and takes reservations. The West entrance to the park is 16 miles from the grand loop road. There are two commercial RV parks outside the North entrance. Outside the east entrance; there are several commercial RV parks in Cody and two Forest Service campgrounds, Rex Hale and Wapiti, that have some electric sites. If you can dry camp, there are a number of choices depending on the time of your visit and the size of your RV. This web page shows the opening and closing dates of the Park's campgrounds, length restrictions, site sizes and those campgrounds where generator use is prohibited.

Wyo85 · February 25, 2018

Just made reservations at the Buffalo Bill Wyoming State Park by Cody Wyoming I think it's about halfway between Cody and Yellowstone. Reserved six nights in June with electric $97 Wyoming resident.

Kirk W · February 26, 2018

6 hours ago, Wyo85 said:

Just made reservations at the Buffalo Bill Wyoming State Park by Cody Wyoming

The park is located on Buffalo Bill Reservoir and is about 10 miles to the west of Coday and about 20 miles from the east entrance to the park, 66 miles from Fishing Bridge, and 107 miles from Old Faithful Geyser Basin, 98 miles from Tower Falls. You will do a lot of driving as the ease entrance is quite a distance from many of the major attractions and Yellowstone Park is a very large place.

Wyo85 · February 26, 2018

We plan on spending at least two days in Cody believe they have a daily rodeo and an awesome Museum might take a whole day to go through that. Also plan on driving on Chief Joseph Highway up to Red Lodge and then into Yellowstone . I was on that road in the early sixties think it's called Beartooth pass we do plan on doing a lot of driving. Hopefully we will spend three days in Yellowstone sightseeing not much for big crowds though. Main thing I'd like to see is some Grizzlies and some Timberwolves.

Kirk W · February 26, 2018

The Buffalo Bill Museum is well worth at least a day. We have been there twice and hope to get back again to spend more time.

Sighting wolves is very rare and grizzly bears. not that much better. Black bears are seen far more than grizzlies. Even the black bears are not seen too frequently in summer but more often in the fall. What you will see without question is buffalo herds and elk herds. Since the big forest fire in the late 80's both of those animal populations has exploded. If you spend time in the Hayden Valley area you will quite likely see moose and if you go down into Teton NP there are even more of them there. The geyser basin is not to be missed and Tower Falls is also. If up to it, plan to hike to the bottom of Tower Falls. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is also a spectacular scene and so too is Yellowstone Lake. The last time we were in the area we were volunteering not far away and we spent a total of 22 days exploring the park and didn't hike very far into the backcountry. There is a great deal to see there, even if you never saw any animals.

trailertraveler · February 26, 2018

46 minutes ago, Wyo85 said:

...plan on driving on Chief Joseph Highway up to Red Lodge and then into Yellowstone . I was on that road in the early sixties think it's called Beartooth pass we do plan on doing a lot of driving. Hopefully we will spend three days in Yellowstone sightseeing not much for big crowds though. Main thing I'd like to see is some Grizzlies and some Timberwolves...

The Chief Joseph Highway does not go to Red Lodge or over Beartooth Pass. You can do a loop from Cody to Red Lodge, over Beartooth Pass to Cooke City and back to Cody on the Chief Joseph Highway. If I recall correctly it is about a 180 mile loop. From Cooke City you can enter the Park through the Northeast entrance. The Soda Butte Creek area and Lamar Valley are good areas to look for wildlife including wolves and bears. We have seen both there on several occasions, usually feeding on carcasses of elk or bison. Stop at the Lamar Ranger Station. They can tell you where the best chance of seeing them will be.

Wyo85 · February 26, 2018

I'll have to pick me up a Wyoming map in a couple months and really sit down and plan the driving routes I want to take. I was down that Chief Joseph Highway about 25 years ago I remember stopping at a couple National Forest Campgrounds driving through them checking out the bear proof food storage they provided in the campgrounds. We did turn around at the campgrounds and went back to Cody the same way.