Yellowstone/Grand Teton trip

[Wego2gthr]

Is there an RV park situated between Yellowstone and Grand Teton that would allow visiting both from one location?
If not what are suggestions for parks for each location? 40' class A with toad. Need at least water and electric with a dump if not full hookups.
Thanks in advance for feedback.

[oakcreekeric]

We stayed at Flagg Ranch... It was nice.. nothing spectacular.. but we didn't go to visit the RV park.. we were there to visit the parks..

Flagg Ranch is about 5 minutes from the south entrance..

Good Luck !!

[Smitty77]

The in the middle locations still means longer drive times to get to the South end of the Tetons, or the North end of Yellowstone. Doable. But, you will quite often be traveling the same road way multiple times, to go to a new section on different days. Now, great scenery so that is OK, but it does mean more miles, gas, and less time to stay and check that days target area.

I'd recommend breaking the visit up to:

Yellowstone - Madison Campground, or if needed, West Yellowstone (But add another 30-40 mins of travel in/out each day.)

Tetons - Gros Ventre

These two campgrounds are great bases to explore each of these regions.

Best to you, and no fair here if you end up staying in the middle - as it is all great!
Smitty

[UTTransplant]

Smitty has it right. Yellowstone is HUGE. Staying at the southern tip means you have to drive well over an hour (probably two hours) to get to Old Faithful. The best thermal features are from OF north, so it is really hard to get to them. Break up the trip; you will enjoy it much more.

[bonzocfi]

In '05 we stayed at Grand Teton Park RV Resort (now called Fireside Resort at Buffalo Valley), 6 miles east of Moran Jct on Hwy 26/287. It was about 35 miles to both the south entrance of Yellowstone and Jackson Hole.

[marcham]

We camped in Yellowstone and Gros Ventre... Lots of driving, especially in Yellowstone, with the slow moving traffic and occasional blocked roads due to wildlife. Fishing bridge isn't the nicest campground but it's well located for day trips in the park.

[DebbieMH]

Never been ... so, don't go by what I say But, we have reservations this summer for a week at Teton Valley RV in Victor, Idaho and then 2 weeks at Grizzly RV in West Yellowstone, MT. We have a 45 ft mh and towing a Dodge Crew cab - and like full hookups - so those are the reasons we aren't staying more "in the parks". Anyway you go, if it is for this summer, make reservations now.

[richardcoxid]

YNP is about 45 miles E/W and about 65 miles N/S (2.2 mil. Acres total). The figure 8 loop road inside the park is about 140 miles around. The lower loop is 96 miles and the upper loop is 70 miles around and yes, it is bigger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

Whatever time that you think you will need to see YNP you better double it, or to say it another way is that you will see one half as much in the allotted time. The Bison think that they own the road (they do!) and will slow down the traffic to walking speed or less for 1/4 mile or more, the thermal attractions also tie up traffic and with a 4-5 month long summer tourist season that coincides with a 4-5 month long road construction season and a 45 mph radar controlled speed limit it will take about a full day to see each loop and then you will only see the main attractions. In addition to the occasional construction delays they will also sometimes close whole sections of road (for uninterrupted night construction) between 10 PM and 8 AM in the morning, if you are running late and get caught at night in the wrong area it CAN be a LONG way around to your CG! I don't mean to scare you but to inform you of reality. (The entrance stations will have current construction information or go on line.)

Then there is the elevation- YNP ranges from a low at Mammoth- 6239 ft to 7784 ft at Fishing Bridge or higher if you go hiking! Drink plenty of liquids and pace yourself when walking. And again I don't mean to scare you but rather to inform you, after all there was 4.1 million visitors in 2015 (record number)

I recommend that you get up EARLY, leave the CG and be back by 4 or 6 PM have dinner and be sitting in your recliner drinking a cool one when your neighbor drags himself back to the CG at 8-10 PM. Remember that from mid June to mid July in YNP the sun doesn't set until shortly before 10 PM.

Clothing- Especially in the early or late season it is not unusual to have a 30 or even the occasional 40 degree temperature change throughout the day. Dress with easily shed layers of clothing. Also dress in bright easily seen clothing. I am sure that we all have been to a sporting event, parade or Disney World etc. and we blink our eyes and our partner/child has disappeared. My DIL was born and raised in HI, you guessed it, every Xmas, b-day or Father's Day I receive a Hawaiian shirt. One of them is black with 4-5 inch dia. bright flowers. Not many of them in Wyoming and in YSNP, that is what I wear. If your partner has on a Violet blouse and a Orange scarf with a Pink hat I guarantee that she will be the only one within 1/2 mile of you with the same colors. It can save a few anxious moments.

Water- Now I will have to contradict myself, at the altitude of YSNP yes, drink lots of water!HOWEVER, be aware that the flush toilet restrooms are are in the major tourist areas- Mammoth, Canyon, Fishing Bridge, Grant Village, Old Faithful etc. The geyser basins and other thermal attractions areas have only pit toilets. I have seen the pit toilet line at the lower Geyser Basin 20 or more feet long. So be smart about drinking your water and use the major tourist area R/Rs before leaving the area!

Sun- At YSNPs altitude the sun is intense (uv) have and apply sun screen, wear that old floppy wide brim sun hat, wear sun glasses!

If your luck is like mine Old Faithful will have just erupted when you get there and you will have a hour and 10-20 minutes wait for the next one. Tour the O/F geyser basin while waiting for the next eruption. Old Faithful INN is a must see (meals are "OK" also)


We have lived about 110 miles (4739' elevation) from W. Yellowstone, MT for 51 years, go there 3-4 times a summer (normally before Memorial Day and after Labor Day) and haven't seen it all of it yet!

When in the Jackson area I highly recommend seeing the Bar J Chuckwagon dinner show! If you go, MAKE RESERVATIONS and BE THERE EARLY TO PICK UP YOUR MEAL TICKETS/SEATING ASSIGNMENTS! They seat you by when you show up to get your tickets NOT by your reservation number. Tim, their fiddle player has won the "Idaho state old time fiddle contest 7 times and the US open fiddle contest twice". We day trip it there 2-4 times every summer to see them! Disclaimer- We have no financial or other interest in the Bar J only that it will be the best $$ value for your money for your trip! Check out their website.

Bar J Chuckwagon

The only FHU CG inside YNP is fishing bridge, everything else is non-reservesable dry camping. The other posts are correct, because of the driving distance you will be better off staying either at fishing bridge or in W. Yellowstone, MT for a few days then moving to GTNP Colter Bay or to Jackson itself.

[twogypsies]

It doesn't take much effort to more to another spot and that's what I'd highly recommend. Both parks take a lot of driving to explore thoroughly.

For the Tetons with our 40' motorhome we loved Gros Ventre campground - no reservations but we've always got a site. There are 300 sites, water fill and dump station. We can go 12 days without having to dump. The other dry campground is Colter Bay which also has 300 sites. Right next door is Colter Bay RV if you need hookups.

For Yellowstone we've stayed at Mammoth, our favorite; Madison and Bridge Bay campgrounds. There's also Fishing Bridge for hookups. Outside the park our favorite is Baker Hole national forest campground about two miles north of the town of W. Yellowstone. It's right on the Madison River. Awesome!

[MRUSA14]

Originally Posted by DebbieMH

Never been ... so, don't go by what I say But, we have reservations this summer for a week at Teton Valley RV in Victor, Idaho and then 2 weeks at Grizzly RV in West Yellowstone, MT. We have a 45 ft mh and towing a Dodge Crew cab - and like full hookups - so those are the reasons we aren't staying more "in the parks". Anyway you go, if it is for this summer, make reservations now.

Victor, ID is a long drive to either park. Not a good place to stay in my opinion, as it is just not convenient. You will do a lot of driving just to get near something of interest.

[CLIFFTALL]

I stayed in Victor when visiting Grand Teton. It's 27 miles.

[fisher99]

We did the same trip last fall and I would strongly echo the postings of the others here. Yellowstone is a HUGE park and can best be covered from a base camp that is either within the park or very close outside one of the 4 entrances. And although the distance from Yellowstone to the Tetons doesn't seem that far, when you factor in the traffic and speed limits it would be, in my opinion, very painful to try to do justice to the 2 parks from one central campground. Do yourself a BIG favor and see the parks from campgrounds located near each park.

As for parks, I strongly echo SMITY77 and Twogypsies recommendations. We absolutely loved Gros Ventre for our visit to the Tetons (also very close to Jackson Hole which is a fun visit). And be sure to visit Moose-Wilson road (only a few minutes drive from Gros Ventre) at dusk for the excellent wildlife viewing. At Yellowtone we liked Madison campground and also stayed at Fishing Bridge, which, while crowded, is the only site within Yellowstone with full hookups. We also stayed outside the West Gate of Yellowstone at Bakers Hole (recommended by Twogypsies) and loved that campground as well. Just realize that even though Bakers Hole is less than 5 minutes from the West Yellowstone gate, you still have about 25-30 minutes of driving (or more, depending on traffic) after you enter the park just to get to the interior loop road that takes you through/around the park. We did 3 FULL days of driving just trying to hit all of the major attractions inside Yellowstone.

We fully plan to visit these 2 areas again, as they are truly amazing. But there is absolutely no way that I would try to visit both parks from one campground. You would end up extremely frazzled and would not be able to do either location justice.

[CA Harts]

Agree, use two CG to really enjoy your visit. I remember the road construction. Glad I was in a MH but when we arrived at next stop it looked like we've been 4 wheeling in it. More like distruction. We started out early in the day and had many places we visited almost to ourselves. If you stay. Close CG you can always head back there for lunch and a rest before heading out later in the day. I'm sure you'll have a great trip.

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

It doesn't take much effort to more to another spot and that's what I'd highly recommend. Both parks take a lot of driving to explore thoroughly.

For the Tetons with our 40' motorhome we loved Gros Ventre campground - no reservations but we've always got a site. There are 300 sites, water fill and dump station. We can go 12 days without having to dump. The other dry campground is Colter Bay which also has 300 sites. Right next door is Colter Bay RV if you need hookups.

For Yellowstone we've stayed at Mammoth, our favorite; Madison and Bridge Bay campgrounds. There's also Fishing Bridge for hookups. Outside the park our favorite is Baker Hole national forest campground about two miles north of the town of W. Yellowstone. It's right on the Madison River. Awesome!

X2

Good advice - splitting it up will still require a lot of driving.

BOL,