Campsites out west too small?

[slewis]

We are heading west this summer and plan to hit the Badlands,Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, etc. In looking at various campgrounds in the parks we are seeing that they will not accomodate anything over 30 ft. Where do you folks stay when visiting these Nat'l Parks? Are their other campgrounds in the area that will accomodate us? (35ft.) Thanks for any info you can supply.

[exav8tr]

The CG inside YNP (Fishing Bridge), will accomodate you and others outside the park, Grizzly Bear for one in West Yellowstone and we stayed at a PA Park about 14 miles from the West entrance. At the Badlands we stayed at Ellsworth AFB. I don't do much Nat'l Park camping due to size and lack of facilities (generally). Don't know about Grand Canyon or Lake Powell.

[capn chris]

I can only speak to Lake Powell. NPS Wahweap CG near the dam and marina is great! Large sites w/great views, concrete pads, and full hook ups. Tour the dam, float the river, and by all means take a guided tour of Antelope Canyon!!! Sounds like a great trip. Enjoy.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

There are several RV parks in the town of West Yellowstone and a couple either direction just outside of West Yellowstone. I know many of our members have stayed at various ones that do accomodate our 5th-wheelers and TVs. I've gone blank at the moment about specific names, but I'm sure you'll get a lot of suggestions very soon.Cody, at the East Entrance of Yellowstone, also has several RV parks that will work for you, too.

If you get farther west, about 2 hours west of YNP, Dillon, Montana, has 3 RV parks that take anything from tents to Class A monsters. One is in town itself, Southside RV Park, and will put you in easy walking distance of nearly everything in town, including a small grocery store. There's also a KOA campground on the river at the edge of town; it, too, has a few spots for long rigs. The other, Countryside RV Park, is about 3 miles south of town, just off of I-15 toward Wisdom. You can see the park from the highway, but it's far enough away that you won't get road noise. The park is wide open with big mountain views and has all the usual amenities, plus easy pull-through sites.

About 20 minutes farther south, on I-15, is Clark Canyon Reservoir and Dam. On the east side of the highway is the privately-owned Armstead RV Park with places for long rigs. As a bonus, there's also a GREAT auto/truck/whatever else you need repair shop there, too. The owner is one of those guys who will cheerfully come rescue you, fix your tow vehicle or whatever else needs fixing, and charge you a more-than-reasonable fee for doing so. We've used him regularly for work on our cars and diesel-powered tow vehicles. All over the area, he has an excellent reputation for his work.

There are free RV spots all around the entire lake, but it's dry-docking only this time of year. Water is available from pumps, if they're not frozen'; there are also toilets at each area. We live on the back side of the reservoir and have a 50-amp hookup for our RV just up the slope from our house. You're welcome to pull in and use that space, too. We have a big lake/mountain view. (Any of you MOCers are welcome to stop by and use that spot. We lived there in our Monty while our house was going up and won't be parking our rig there again for another month or so.) Shoot me a PM if you might be interested, and I'll send you specific directions to our place.

I bet by the end of the weekend, you'll have a list of RV parks for every area you asked about.

Carolyn

[slewis]

Thanks for the info you've all supplied. I have checked the YNP site online and that's where I found that
they basically have no hookups-and are limited in rig size. Carolyn, I really, really appreciate your offer
of your private site. We may just look you up when we get in the area. At this time we don't really have
a date in mind as to when we plan to make this trip, other than summer.
Sandy

[8.1al]

The fishing bridge campground in Yellowstone has full hookups. The sites are close together but acceptable. We enjoyed staying there because of its location. Reservations are a must

[Delaine and Lindy]

West Gate entrance of Yellowstone has RV parks and we had no problem with parking the 5er was 40' plus the Truck. However we try to never use State parks most all we have seen are small and need upgrading and to many trees, trees are terrible for RV roofs. We spent a lot of time in the West and never had a problem with site's in RV parks. We have found that the futher East you go the smaller the sites. GBY....

[slewis]

Totally agree about the trees being bad on RV roofs. We have found that there are more campgrounds as you travel east. Don't know about the size of sites tho. We were in Texas last year and the sites at private grounds were smaller than any we've stayed in previously. Have not stayed in state parks, except here in Ohio.

[Waynem]

There is a CG outside the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that looked nice when we rode through and it will accomodate big rigs. Don't know about "full" hook-up though. In Williams, AZ, 60 miles South of the South Rim, there are CG's. We stayed at Railside. It was adequate for what we were doing, sight seeing.