Yellowstone trip

[micd]

I thought I'd post my blog that contains pics and info. on campgrounds we stayed at during our Yellowstone trip. It was our first big RV trip and we had a wonderful time! I could hardly believe this luxurious mode of travel is considered camping. :-)

1994 Brave 29RQ RV

Happy camping!
Michelle

[smlranger]

You certainly picked a great location for you first big RV trip. Yellowstone is pretty magnificent, for sure. We went for the first time in 2008 and also visited Grand Teton NP. Can't wait for the opportunity to get back to that part of our great country.

Great blog, thanks for sharing.

[Wizard]

Wow, I think we have some of the exact same pictures from last years trip.

These bring back a lot of memories.

I see that the elk are still staying in the middle of town in that small grassy area.

[leadman]

Very nice. We went to Michigan from az last year and found it was good to drive thru a park first before registering.

[D in Davie]

Thanks for the pictures MICD. We plan on that same trip next spring in our 32 ft class A. We are planning to tow something so that we can camp perminently in one spot for a week. I take it there are no sites in the park with full hook ups. Did you stay in the park and boondock it or did you stay at some commercial sites and do you think we should make reservations? I guess I got carried away with the questions.
Denis

[micd]

Hi Denis,

You will surely have a good time. If possible I would suggest reservations. There are some sights with full hook ups. Here is a link to the info on sights and making reservations. We boondocked in Yellowstone and had full hook-ups in Grand Tetons.

Yellowstone National Park - Campgrounds in Yellowstone (U.S. National Park Service)

If I had to do it over again I would have staggered us throughout the park so that we didn't have to do so much back-tracking while driving. It was too long to do everything around the main loop in one day so we ended up going out, coming back, going out the other direction the next day, coming back etc. The end result is that we covered alot of ground twice and some four times. If I go again I will schedule us one night in all the major areas so we could see them and return to the camp with ease without a long drive back to where we were the night before.

We didn't have a toad but I can say I'm really glad we didn't. The lines at the rest rooms could be long and I just hopped in the RV and had a nice clean one all to myself. Same thing with eating. Just found a nice picnic spot and we were all set. Luckily we found parking pretty easy at all the sights. Only one place it was crowded and later we found out why. When they work on the roads they hold the traffic and then let it through all at one time. This caused some bunching at the sights for those who had been held up.

I'm sure you'll have a great time!
Michelle

[PNWGirl]

That was wonderful Michelle! I LOVE blogs with lot's of pictures and yours was a treat! Always wanted to go to Yellowstone and some day I will. In the meantime, I will look at wonderful photo's like yours.

Thank you for sharing

Sheila

[melmckayiii]

We are planning that trip next year, and I love your sites, so may just have to follow you. haha Great looking trip! New to RVing also.

[micd]

Mel and Tammy,

You will love it! A couple of things I would do differently.

Colter Bay RV Village with full hook-ups was expensive ($58, I think). In addition the water smelled strongly of sulfur and stunk up the whole RV. I would boondock here, use my own water, and get a cheaper site with no hook-ups. I thought the Grand Teton's were spectacular!

Grant Village ($21) is good for Old Faithful and the thermals up that length of road. After over-nighting at Grant I would use the next day to see Old Faithful, the thermals along that length of road and to transition to the Canyon area campground then spend the following day viewing the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the thermals in that area.

The water in Yellowstone did not smell bad so we filled up there. I think we dumped and filled up at Fishing Bridge. The mosquitoes where fierce at Fishing Bridge whereas at Grant Village they were almost non-existent so I don't think I would choose to stay at Fishing Bridge. I have no idea if it is just the dump area or the whole campground so maybe this doesn't apply.

We looked at Mammoth Campground on the North end of the park and while it seemed nice I believe it took no reservations so there was no chance we would get in there. However, we were very happy with our National Forest campground ($7) not too far outside the park on the North side and it is very inexpensive. We got there quite late in the day but still found lots of available sites.

Most all the sites were very pretty. The only one I wouldn't take is the one all the way to the left end as when we walked behind it there were a ton of ants. We took one all the way to the right side and there were no ants at all. However the midway ones on both sides were very pretty and surrounded by large boulders so lots of privacy. There was no mosquito problem at this campground even though you could cross over the road and see the river.

You can park your RV at the upper Mammoth hot spring area and see the best sites. The lower ones seemed to be where most people tried to park and then they had to walk quite far to see the upper loop. It seemed to us that most of the lower ones were dried up but maybe it is a seasonal thing.

I don't know if it is typical for July but we have nice cool weather. As a result we didn't need AC and it was easy to leave the dogs in the RV because it never got hot inside.

After reading this I realize my suggestions are for coming in from the South and exiting the North. Almost none of this applies if coming in from or exiting the other entrances. :-)

Cheers!
Michelle

[Don and Reyne]

We leave for that trip in 10 days from now!!!!! (Hardly counting the hours!!! LOL) Taking four weeks vacation - 2 weeks out and 2 weeks back to Jersey. Thanks for the pictures, gets the juices flowing.

[micd]

Let us know how your trip went when you get back.

Cheers!
Michelle