Driving through Yellowstone from West Entrance to Cody, WY with 45 footer

[wildmanbaker]

As Lt. said, the Gland loop road, from Canyon village, to Tower Junction, is pretty tight.

[lenkerb]

We host the Buffalo Bill State Park from May thru Sept..it is about 40 miles outside the east entrance. We are 18 miles west of Cody (Cody Stampede Rodeo every night June 1 thru Aug 31) So much to see in this area....The state park has electric and water hookups for $22 a night plus a dump station on the way in and out...you'll need a rest after driving through Yellowstone! Safe travels!

[gjgross]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

gigross,
As has been stated, you'll have no issues. Yours or, your buddies I should say, 45' unit is not the only one that's been on those roads in that park. Taking a coach, just about any coach through those parks is not the most effecient way of seeing the attractions but, if you're just cruising through, well, not a big deal. The grade on the eastern side of the park, heading down to the east entrance, is one SERIOUS grade.

Lots of exhaust or Jake braking is in order. We have done the "all the way around" loop too. What a pain in the betoot. I made the decision to go around the park 'cause we'd been to Yellowstone quite a few times and, I didn't want to deal with the slow roads and the potential Bison blockades. So, around the park we went, and finished up at Cody. What a bone head move that was. Lots and lots of extra, non pleasing miles, just so I didn't have to go through the park.

Needless to say, I won't be doing that again. Going through the park would have been probably around 1/4 of the mileage. So, speaking from experience, yep, you'll have no issues going through that park, other than the zillions of cars and or Bison posing for pictures in the middle of the road. Good luck.
Scott

Thanks. Glad to hear from someone that has tried the trip around and not enjoyed it. I'm sure we'll make the trip through the park. We are not in a big rush so a few bison stops isn't a big deal.

[gjgross]

Originally Posted by lenkerb

We host the Buffalo Bill State Park from May thru Sept..it is about 40 miles outside the east entrance. We are 18 miles west of Cody (Cody Stampede Rodeo every night June 1 thru Aug 31) So much to see in this area....The state park has electric and water hookups for $22 a night plus a dump station on the way in and out...you'll need a rest after driving through Yellowstone! Safe travels!

Thanks. Good to know. We don't have a place booked for that area yet and I noticed the activities looks fun for the kids in Cody. We only booked Yellowstone Holiday RV park on the West side July 13-17 and need a place in Cody on July 17 before going to Devils Tower and eventually Mount Rushmore. We'll probably have a couple family that need a cabin or Hotel which is why we picked the Yellowstone Holiday RV park since they also have cabins.

[Bahamaniac]

Does anyone know when Yellowstone usually opens? We are trying to plan a trip and would like to beat the crowds.

[soundsuperio]

When in the [ark with the toad there is great critter viewing in Hayden Valley.
We came up from Grand Teton to West Yellowstone in August, the road is tight but easily doable in our then 40 foot with dolly and toad. Note that the northern loop in some places is closed to motorhomes larger than class B.

[BigSkyBob]

Stay off the Chief Joseph Hiway and the Beartooth in the coach. Nice trip in the toad. If you take the toad up the Beartooth be sure to do the Mount Washburn overlook, awesome experience.

[Isaac-1]

We did Yellowstone last August just before the big solar eclipse in our 28 ft class A, and my biggest concern were all those oncoming Cruise America class C's with their tires 6 inches on my side of the double yellow line (at one point we counted 8 Cruise America coaches in a row going the other way down the road, and at least 25 of them in the visitor center parking lot at Old Faithful ). My second biggest concern were the narrow lanes with no shoulders, on those places with chunks of asphalt missing out of the white line to the edge of the outside of the lane with steep drop offs. I never had a tire go in one of those holes, but know many were within a couple of inches. On some parts of the loop there is 6-12 inches of pavement past the white line, though on much of it there is none. We entered the park from the south through Grand Teton, spent 3 days in Yellowstone, and exited to the east through Cody, there were some steep parts, but nothing so bad as to make me concerned in our gas coach, just take it easy. Coach length will greatly limit parking options, though there are a few pull outs where a large coach pulling a TOAD can stop. Campgrounds (we had 1 night each at Grant, Canyon and Fishing Bridge) in the park were tight with our 28 ft coach, I can't imagine getting through most of the camping loops with anything much larger even if there are long enough sites.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Bahamaniac

Does anyone know when Yellowstone usually opens? We are trying to plan a trip and would like to beat the crowds.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Explore this whole site... lots of good information.

[wildmanbaker]

Twogypsies link is a good one. The opening and closing date are dependent on weather. Having been there in early June, some of the roads were not open, or even recommended for 4WD vehicles. We snowmobiled Yellowstone for several years, and some of the roads they list as "open all year", are yea, if you have a snowmobile, or snow cat. After the middle of June, you should be alright road wise. If you go earlier, check before you enter.
Good luck and enjoy!

[TXTiger]

Also be aware of the route from Cody to Mt Rushmore. Others will join in with good directions.

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by gjgross

We plan on going to Yellowstone this summer with a few families. One has a 45 footer and plan to go from the West entrance to Cody so we can eventually get to Mount Rushmore. Are the roads through Yellowstone easy enough for the trip? Going around seems like a lot of extra miles that I would rather not drive. Google maps won't even route you through the park to see the difference in time or miles.

Don't miss it - Beautiful Drive.

If the traffic is an issue then just start earlier - beat the crowds - why would anyone miss this Drive?

JMHO,

[JWBranning]

Originally Posted by gjgross

We plan on going to Yellowstone this summer with a few families. One has a 45 footer and plan to go from the West entrance to Cody so we can eventually get to Mount Rushmore. Are the roads through Yellowstone easy enough for the trip? Going around seems like a lot of extra miles that I would rather not drive. Google maps won't even route you through the park to see the difference in time or miles.

We have a 43’10” Monaco Diplomat, basically 44’, and pulled our toad behind the motorhome so we were pretty close to 60’ long and had no issues at all going through the main park roads except for delays due to bison crossing the roads, which we thought was interesting to see.

Not sure if you plan on stopping to see any sites w/in the park but… The only issue we ran into was when attempted to go into the parking area for Old Fathfull to find a parking place. We ended up having to disconnect our toad to park the motorhome. They have big rig parking areas but can’t handle the toad connected. Also, the parking areas are very busy so you may have to drive around a few times to find a spot to park the motorhomes. 😉

[twogypsies]

We've driven our 40' MH and toad through the park multiple times. No problem.


One time the ranger cowboys were on horseback rounding up bison to move them from one side of the road to the other side. Naturally, traffic was stopped but what a neat experience to have the cowboys and bison walking right alongside our motorhome.