Yellowstone

[greener]

Looking for campground suggestions for next year. Any good tips?

[scattershot]

Grizzly Capmground in West Yellowstne, Montana. Great campground, right outside the west entrance to the park. The CGs in the park itself are old and crowded, with very tight spaces, so I'd give them a pass.

On a side note, allow yourself plenty of time to see the park, it's BIG!

[HamRad]

Grizzly CG in West Yellowstone is by far the nicest one in town. It is also the most expensive. There are several other nice ones in town. Just look around or check your books. We stayed at one on the west side of town.... Don't remember the name but it was OK. We'd stay there again. There are also a couple of CGs in the park itself. Most do not have hookups but Fishing Bridge does have some spots with hookups. You are very close together in these spots. The non hookup places you tend to have much more space. You will need reservations if you are in season.

HamRad

[exav8tr]

We stayed at a Passport America park 14 miles from the West Entrance to the park. It is called Valley View Laundry and RV Park. Nothing fancy but only $20.00 night compared to 58 at Grizzly. A weeks stay saved me quite a bit to use for the extra fuel. They are right on the main road and a little noisy but what the heck. We drove into Fishing Bridge and not sure I could get my 3400 in there, then, very crowded and close together. There are a few others near Henry Lake that are a little further off the beaten path. We were gone from the camper everyday so it didn't really matter about any amenities. FHU with 50 amp was all we needed.......Good laundromat also. As others have said, make sure you allow enough time and the East Entrance and exit is beautiful. I pulled my 3400 through the park the last day there and was greeted by beautiful scenery of the Shosone National Forest.

[sreigle]

We stayed at Red Rock Campground just north of Henrys Lake at Island Park, ID. We were there a month and really liked the quiet. It's 5 miles (paved road) off the main highway and a lovely setting.

However, it's also 23 miles from the west gate to Yellowstone. When we arrived at the park, diesel prices were reasonable. While we were there, Katrina hit and diesel prices went through the roof. And have continued upward. So that distance to anything of substance could be a drawback to this park. If that's not a concern, then I'd very highly recommend Red Rock RV Park. They have a good wifi, by the way, but you'll have to drive a mile down the road to get a cell signal. And if you don't have satellite, forget TV. The park butts up to a mountain. We got one snowy PBS station, period.

[Carl n Susan]

Having just spent a week in Yellowstone, I think I would do it differrently next time. We stayed at Lionshead RV Park about seven miles out from West Yellowstone. Decent place with good Wi-Fi and a "stay 7 pay for 5" fee program. There is a KOA about six miles out of town that looked fine too. Grizzely RV Park is the nicest place we saw but it comes with a price.

The real problem we found was the distance from where we stayed to the areas of Yellowstone we wanted to see. The seven miles to the entrance gate is just a start. It is then ~ 16 miles to the Madison Junction. We found that to be the western boundry for the areas we wanted to spend extended time exploring.

We spent most of the day inside the park enjoying its myriad sights. However, once we returned to the RV, which we tended to do in the late afternoon, we stayed there. The hassle of getting back to the scenic areas (due to the distance and the slow speeds allowed) and then returning to the RV in the dark, out weighed our desire to take in the evening activities (specifically watching the appearance of wildlife as dusk approaches). Consequently we feel we didn't experience the full Yellowstone adventure.

Next time we will stay at Fishing Bridge. It is located in the center of the park and minimizes the distance to the various regions. It is the only place in the park with FHU. At $36/day (no discounts) it is competitively priced with the RV Parks in West Yellowstone. It is ugly, crowded (although there were several large Montana's, Hitch Hikers, and similar 5th wheels there when we visited), and largely a parking lot with occasional rows of trees (did I mention it was ugly?). But we don't intend to spend much awake time in the RV so it will work.

[rames14]

We stayed at a real nice place just outside of Cooke City. I don't remember if we had hookups or not, but nice sites. We are going to head out there next week, so I'll try to get the name. The nice thing about Cooke City is the proximity to Pebble Creek and the Lamar Valley for watching wildlife. Last summer we saw 4 wolves feeding on a dead buffalo. Gruesome, but it was true nature. Unfortunately, too dark and far away to get pictures.

[Ed Benson]

Just North out of West Yellowstone is the Forest Service campground "Bakers Hole". It's right off the highway, plenty of good sized sites and 30 amp available at about 1/2 the sites. There are central water hydrants, but no dump available - several in town though. The hosts are friendlys and it is a short drive back into West Yellowstone and the park entrance. You're in some tall trees at most of the sites, so satellite is sometimes sketchy - but you're there to see nature anyway!

Enjoy

Ed

[AFChappy]

Since you will be coming from PA, you might check out the CG in Gardiner, MT which is at the North Entrance (2 miles) We stayed at the Rocky Mountain RV park and the place was nice and convient to Yellowstone. You might check out Fishing Bridge in YNP - http://www.travelyellowstone.com/. While it might be tight, it is more in the central part of the park and will save you a lot of traveling around yellowstone.

You might also check out RV Parks Review http://www.campgroundreviews.com/ for individual reviews of the various CG.

Want more info on Yellowstone, you might check out the following forum for YNP - http://www.yellowstone.net/forums/

[DHenry]

We stayed in the Grizzly RV Park just last week and it is a beautiful park with all the hook-ups including WiFi. A little pricey but very nice. Now were we are at in the Grand Tetons is a different story for another post, but the two do not compare for the same price.

[David and Jo-Anna]

We arrived in Yellowstone yesterday. We are staying in the park at Fishing Bridge - we have full hook-ups for $40.00/night. VERY VERY tight spaces - but very doable. Not pretty (as Carl and Susan said), but right in the middle of the park making it easy to explore the.

We just finished a walk around the thermal hot springs and had some small hail falling on us - guess summer is over, expect some snow flurries tonight.

[rldriver]

Henry's lake state park is a very nice place to stay. It's a few miles south of West Yellowstone and I think they had power and water but you should check to make sure.

Make sure you lock every thing up and night in all the parks as they continue to have a lot of problems with things walking away after dark. They came into our camp site and decided they wanted our barbecue more than we did and it was gone in the morning. People leave there fishing poles and tackle out and it's also is gone in the morning.

Have fun as it's a great place to see.

[bob n pam]

We just left Fishing Bridge and second what David and Jo-Anna said about the campground. It is very convenient to see all of the park.

Pam