Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > CAMPING, TRAVEL and TRIP PLANNING > Navigation, Routes & Roads
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 08-23-2015, 09:57 AM   #1
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 36
Need Help Planning Family Trip June 2016 From North Carolina to Yellowstone

Want to start planing the trip now for next summer. As soon as the kids are out of school in June 2016 want to head to Yellowstone then to Mount Rushmore and back to North Carolina. Would appreciate any advise on routes, what is interesting to see. Where in Yellowstone, what to see near and around mount Rushmore.

Will have a 28 foot four winds and plan to spend 3-4 weeks on the trip.

Don't mind boondocking and can spend few night's in an rv park if needed.

Have spent many a night in a Walmart, cracker barrel, Flying J, pilot, rest stop, etc.

We do find small out of the way places unique and interesting.

Would appreciate any help and advise you could offer.

Thanks
Fourwinds28A is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 08-23-2015, 03:27 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
BFlinn181's Avatar
 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 19,925
There's so much to see I don't know where to begin. First, I'd travel out on I-90 when you get to South Dakota. You can stop at Mitchell, SD and see the Corn Palace and other touristy sights. Going west you'll see many signs for Wall Drug in Wall, SD. Let it build kids anticipation for a true icon of tourist trap history. There are campgrounds in Wall and you can use one to stay, park the RV and travel by toad to the Badlands. From there go on to Mt. Rushmore and many CG in that area that are good. Also go down to Chief Crazy Horse Memorial, the Indian museum has really developed in the past decade or so. If you go back north to I-90, it's not too far a loop to detour to Devils Tower if interested. Continue on I-90 to Buffalo, WY and US 16. It's the easier route across the Bighorn Mountains, much better than US 14 or US 14A. At Worland go N on US 20 to Cody, WY. Great museums there: Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody Wyoming Also campgrounds and East entrance to Yellowstone.

If you want full hookups in YNP, the only place is Fishing Bridge Campground which fills up fast when they start taking reservations for next summer. Many folks that want full hook ups go across the park to West Yellowstone, MT which has a number of campgrounds, most like Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park and Cabins

Yellowstone is very large, speed limit is 45 mph within the park. Yellowstone National Park's Maps & Orientation Page Plan to spend a few days at least seeing things. The visitor's centers have been developed into quite good information centers that tell of the history and science of the park. Heyden Valley is the home of buffalo herds, Artists Point gives the best views of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and Lower Falls.

While Yellowstone has many visitors, the majority of them never get out of sight of their car. If you take a hike, in just a few yards you'll escape the crowds and see the real wilderness. Mt Washburn is a great hike to a mountaintop, you'll be on the edge of the caldera and see Yellowstone Lake, the Grand Canyon, hot springs and on clear days the Grand Tetons to the south.

On the roads, be prepared for BHM jams. This is when everyone stops to watch Big Hairy Mammals. Get out your camera and enjoy!

I've been taking folks to this area for Master Ed. classes and tourism since 1982, only a few years I've not done it. Taking kids, if you stop at the S.D. spots on the way out, the unique things will only increase as you go. If you go right to YNP, it's been my experience that the young folks will be tired on the way back and will just want to go home. One year, after spending 2 weeks in Banff, Alberta hiking, a week in YNP, on the way back home the teens we were leading didn't want to leave the bus in the Badlands!
__________________

Bob & Donna
'98 Gulf Stream Sun Voyager DP being pushed by a '00 Beetle TDI
BFlinn181 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 03:34 PM   #3
Registered User
 
Winnebago Owners Club
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Jamestown, NM
Posts: 1,262
If you find yourselves in Wyoming between Devil's Tower and Yellowstone, you should also visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield.
ArmandV is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 05:01 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
BFlinn181's Avatar
 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 19,925
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArmandV View Post
If you find yourselves in Wyoming between Devil's Tower and Yellowstone, you should also visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield.
The Little Big Horn Battlefield is 104 miles N of Buffalo, WY in Montana. It is mostly just open grassland and takes a lot of imagination to see what took place 134 years ago in a shameful battle.
__________________

Bob & Donna
'98 Gulf Stream Sun Voyager DP being pushed by a '00 Beetle TDI
BFlinn181 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 06:03 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
JFXG's Avatar
 
Newmar Owners Club
Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Today? Clayton, North Carolina
Posts: 5,093
Four winds, leaving the PC politics out of it, Little Big Horn is worth the visit. It costs you nothing in time-- it is literally right beside I-90. We're glad we stopped.
__________________
John and Diane (RIP Lincoln, 21 FEB 22) RVM103 NHSO
Fulltimers since June, 2012
2002 Dutch Star 40, Freightliner, Cat 3126,
2004 Element
JFXG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 06:16 PM   #6
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 36
Thanks for the replies.
We are looking for some interesting / different things to see and are open
to suggestions from others who have done a similar trip.

We are always interested in seeing places and people that are out of the main tourist areas.

We do not plan to take a toad. I had thought of trailering our early 90's Isuzu
trooper with 35" super swamper radials to get off the main track and see some wild spots but think it may be more hassle than we want to deal with. Looks like there will be some wild wonderful areas out there to see.

The 28 foot four winds with 7.4 vortec will probably get very poor gas mileage pulling the trooper on a trailer. Can't put the trooper on a car dolly
as the super swamper tires will wear out on the trooper.

Appreciate any and all ideas of where to go, what to see and where to stay.

Thanks again.
Fourwinds28A is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 08:50 PM   #7
Registered User
 
Winnebago Owners Club
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Jamestown, NM
Posts: 1,262
Quote:
Originally Posted by BFlinn181 View Post
The Little Big Horn Battlefield is 104 miles N of Buffalo, WY in Montana. It is mostly just open grassland and takes a lot of imagination to see what took place 134 years ago in a shameful battle.
Maybe it is just "open grassland" to some with a limited point-of-view, but it just may well be a history buff's paradise. (We don't know which category the OP is in.) We went there with reference books on the battle and that made it a fascinating experience.
ArmandV is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 10:00 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
BFlinn181's Avatar
 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 19,925
The OP is taking kids 'after they get out of school.' I am a history buff, but I just don't think most kids would be interested in the Little Big Horn Battlefield. Thermopolis, WY has extinct geyser cones, hot springs to swim in and just outside is the fabulous Wyoming Dinosaur Center with lots to see and dig sites to visit. http://www.wyodino.org/

Split Rock, along US 287, is a famous part of the Oregon and Mormon Trail and had a Pony Express station is in southern WY. Also Fort Laramie, WY and Scotsbluff in NE are all historic sites along the same trails, I've spent time visiting and showing folks.

There are many sights to see in and around Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana, but the site of one of the calvary's greatest defeats at the hands of Indians who had been abused and lied to and had had enough isn't high on my list, or the list of most school age children.
__________________

Bob & Donna
'98 Gulf Stream Sun Voyager DP being pushed by a '00 Beetle TDI
BFlinn181 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-02-2015, 01:19 PM   #9
Member
 
LovetheUSA's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Murphy, NC
Posts: 37
Love all the information in this thread. Planning the same trip from Murphy, NC up as far as Glacier National Park, back down through Coeur D Alene, then Utah, Colorado and along I-40 back to NC. Looking forward to this once in a lifetime trip!
LovetheUSA is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-02-2015, 11:25 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Enjoying the Western States!
Posts: 19,637
I'd highly advise you to stay IN the park itself for the best experience. Also, definitely plan to go to Grand Teton Nat'l Park which is right next door to Yellowstone. They are both completely different. Also each national park has a terrific web site with tons of information on what to do and where to stay, maps and updated road information. Check them out.

Plan Your Visit - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)


http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/index.htm
__________________
Full-timed for 16 Years . . .
Traveled 8 yr in a 2004 Newmar Dutch Star 40' Diesel
& 8 yr in a 33' Travel Supreme 5th wheel
twogypsies is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2015, 12:53 PM   #11
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 36
Thank You for the info and link

Quote:
Originally Posted by twogypsies View Post
I'd highly advise you to stay IN the park itself for the best experience. Also, definitely plan to go to Grand Teton Nat'l Park which is right next door to Yellowstone. They are both completely different. Also each national park has a terrific web site with tons of information on what to do and where to stay, maps and updated road information. Check them out.

Plan Your Visit - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)


Plan Your Visit - Grand Teton National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
Fourwinds28A is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2015, 09:15 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 112
Same basic trip last Sept. So.Dakota was great. See Corn Palace,easy to access and park need 1 hr. Skip Wall drug. See Minute Man Missile silo near Badlands NP and drive through Badlands NP. can do with your MH. Custer State Park was almost as good as Yellowstone but you cannot do it in your MH, take a toad.You will miss a lot without it. Rocky area of Custer SP awesome and be sure to do Iron Mtn road near Rushmore but need toad. Rafter J Bar Ranch CG at Hill City SD and town of Hill City very good. Advise southern route Hill City -Thermopolis-Cody to avoid bad mountains further north. Stop in Cody for western museums. Again to follow a theme--need a toad in YNP. Really limits where you can go without one. Have fun.
Tooth Doc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2015, 10:12 PM   #13
Senior Member
 
BFlinn181's Avatar
 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 19,925
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tooth Doc View Post
....Advise southern route Hill City -Thermopolis-Cody to avoid bad mountains further north. Stop in Cody for western museums. Again to follow a theme--need a toad in YNP. Really limits where you can go without one. Have fun.
I don't know of any easy "southern route" that ties together Hill City, SD, Thermopolis, and Cody. Hill City is on W US 16, which leads to New Castle and Moorcroft, I-90, then US 16 at Buffalo, Ten Sleep and Worland, then on to Cody. To get to Thermopolis you'd have to go W on US 16 to Custer, then S US 385/89 to Pringle, S US 89 to W US 18 until it meets US 20 at Lusk, WY, then US 20 to N I-25. Get off I 25 in Casper at US 26, follow it to Shoshoni, then N US 20 to Thermopolis. That's a long way to avoid some mountain grades (and beautiful scenery)

Also, I've driven all the Yellowstone roads and not found any you can't travel in an RV. Parking might be tight in a few places, but it too can usually be found if you want to walk a few steps further.
__________________

Bob & Donna
'98 Gulf Stream Sun Voyager DP being pushed by a '00 Beetle TDI
BFlinn181 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-08-2015, 03:13 AM   #14
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,818
Just finished a similar trip in early AUG> I wrote a trip report for this forum.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f38/summe...ys-260000.html
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
need help



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
RV Trip Planning PapaBigGuy1 RV LIFE Trip Wizard - Trip Planner Topics 19 08-09-2015 12:43 PM
Phoenix to Glacier NP or Yellowstone 1st 2wks June? Stargazer79 Camping Locations, Plans & Trip Reports 17 03-21-2015 06:42 AM
Trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina Grady Ray Monaco Owner's Forum 1 05-21-2014 12:57 PM
New here, planning a 4 month cross country trip on a job move vi7 iRV2.com General Discussion 5 04-24-2014 07:20 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:01 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.