Trip through Grand Tetons and Yellowstone

[Relder]

My wife and I are in the planning stages for a trip through the Tetons and Yellowstone in late June in our 26' TT. We are starting our trip from southern Calif. We would like any feedback on places to stay in/near both National Parks. I have been on the internet looking for RV parks outside the two National Parks but I'm beginning to think I have waited too long to make reservations. One plan would be to just find a spot in one of the centrally located NP camp grounds and drop the trailer,do our sightseeing each day & return to the trailer each night (even though that means more driving). From what I read about the NP campgrounds all but one are for boon-docking. Do they allow generators, have dump stations, available fresh water etc.? Also, any problems towing the trailer on any of the roads inside either park? Any feedback is welcomed.

[spock123]

I have stayed at Canyon campground in Yellowstone, it's been a long time ago. Visit the NP campground website in Yellowstone and it tells about generator use. If you know the dates you should go ahead and make reservations for the campground you want to stay at. They all have dump stations and places to fill up your fresh water tank. If you want full hookups then check out Fishing Bridge. West Yellowstone has a really good campground, Grizzly RV Park

[dbledan]

Had a friend who just reserved a site at fishing bridge in July. May still be time.

Fishing bridge is a very tight campground but the only one with full hook ups. I have a 30ft TT and 20ft truck and there were 2 or 3 campgrounds that could hold us in Yellowstone. I went with full hookups. I would suggest west Yellowstone if staying outside the park. It is closest to most attractions and would reduce your driving time for most.

The national park site has a PDF map that estimates drive times. https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvis...ff_Map2016.pdf
My experience is this is a good estimate at peak travel times.

Reservations are best made by calling the number from the website. http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/
Have truck and trailer size available before you call. Know that check in is I think 1pm and checkout is 11am. There is no place to really drop your trailer other than the camp sites unless you are very lucky so I reserved a site a day early and later so I was not stuck waiting.

All but fishing bridge is boondock. Water is available as are dump stations (in some sites) but not always at the site you are at. Check during reservations for nearby amenities or here https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm

Generators can be used but are restricted. Inverters are suggested if not required 60db limit (note you will likely need to rejet because of altitude while in the park if using gas) and need to be carb compliant. I believe the hours are 8-8.

Plan your route well if not used to altitude and mountains bit may not be a concern for some.

Please double check times for individual sites.

Best of luck and enjoy!

[Brother Les]

Get reservations asap....

[Relder]

Great information, will zero in on exact dates we want to be there and hope to procure a site. We have a 26' TT and a 19+ ft truck with one slide out. Thanks for the tip on generator re-jetting. I have a Honda 2000 with the 2000 companion that i'm contemplating on converting to propane. Iv'e been told that will work better, especially at altitude? Thanks again

[Otegoans]

Hi, We just made reservations at the KOA mountainside resort, near the west gate of the park. Our trip is in August and we booked for a 50-amp pull-thur site. We noticed that the back-in sites were already booked up for that time. Check the KOA and Good Sam sites, and look at the Pull-thru sites. You may not need a 50 amp big rig site, but they might be more available than the lesser priced sites. Good Luck and God Bless!

[dbledan]

Propane reduces power but does not require rejetting because of the regulator.

On my champion 3400 duel fuel I just emailed their support to see if rejetting was needed and the altitude I was at and they mailed me a jet no charge.

I have been a few times but this is the first time with the trailer. The sites fill quickly especially fishing bridge but my friend reserved his last thursday for mid july.

Fishing bridge requires you put away cooking gear when not in use I believe as well as no fires and no soft sided campers because of bears.

[bikendan]

Actually it's dry camping, not boondocking when staying in developed campgrounds without hookups.

We preferred the the non-hookups campgrounds at YNP and GTNP.
Stayed at Madison, Canyon and Grant. No problems using our Honda 2000i for recharging the batteries. Had to shuttle water and use our blue tote tank for gray water.

We drove from SF Bay Area to Washington, then east to Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Get one.

Stayed at Colter Bay regular campground. A few loops are non-generator loops but most allow them. Nice big sites close to Jackson Lake.

Definitely make reservations. We went after Labor Day and it was still crowded and we were so glad we made reservations. July and August are Yellowstone's busiest months.

[gectisme]

We stayed at Colter Bay RV Park in the Grand Teton NP last August/September and it was very nice. I don't think we had sewage hookups but we had water and electricity. There is a restaurant there that has world class pizza, at least it seemed like it after hiking for 4 or 5 hours. (It really was excellent pizza.) It was about 60-70 miles from Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone.

[Mmnsc]

X2 on Coulter Bay RV campground
Stay there for 1 week in July 2016. Had a full hook up site with sewer. Probably the longest pull thru site I ever had. Must have been at least 120 feet long. Great shade also

[tahoe1840]

For late June you are already inside the 6 month booking window for recreation.gov . You might want to consider West Yellowstone and surrounding area. Grizzly RV Park is really nice but pricey. There is also a Forest Service Campground nearby that can accommodate pretty large RVs. One loop has electric. Jackson WY is a nice town and has a few RV parks as well, drive time into the park is not bad.

[jwfrede]

Gro Ventre in the Tetons is first come first served with maybe 30 of the 300 sites having electric. Arrive early, stay at the office and be first in line. I came from the KOA in Dubois east of the park and got up early to be first last July 1 and got a site with elec. Arrive by 7 or so, they show up at the reservation office around 8-830. The fact that I went around early(6:30) and threw some chairs in an open spot didn't matter(even though directions say different). What mattered was the line at the office when the staff got there. This is the best campground to access the south end of the park and Jackson.

For north end of Tetons Colter Bay has full hookups and may still have some openings, I made my reservations in Jan for July.

Fishing Bridge is the place to stay in Yellowstone in June on east side of the park - best chance of seeing bears is along park roads to the east. Allows good access to the canyon, hayden valley and old faithful. If you need full hookups or even elec(Canyon has only about 5 sites that could fit my 25 ft trailer and they were gone by Oct). The spots in FB are tiny and you will barely fit. They took roomy pull through sites like Colter Bay and doubled them up and make you shoehorn your trailer in backwards. Took a dozen tries to get my trailer optimally placed and still had to park my pickup 5 ft from front door of camper. (Or shoe horn it in backing up within 6 inches of the slide everyday). I was out and about all day so no real issue. Not a place for the family to hangout in the campground. Its a disgrace, the park service should be embarrassed.

If you want full hookups to access west side of the park I found a private campground in West Yellowstone best. They fill up around now for July. Madison is a nice campground but no elec. I stayed there also and used my Champion 56 db generator(only the low noise variety are accepted according to their info).

To get easiest access to the Lamar valley the people I met camp outside the park in the Gardner area.

Jeff

[Zargonians]

Some of the National Park campgrounds in both Yellowstone and GTNP are first come first served. We wanted to stay in Signal Mountain in the Tetons, so we left Grizzly RV in West Yellowstone super early in the morning and we were able to grab a decent site at Signal Mountain. Generators are allowed for a few hours each day. Water is available at the dump station as well as several places in the campground. Fill up your freshwater tank before driving into the campground. We stayed a week and had a blue tote to empty our gray tank once or twice. The Tetons are gorgeous!

[camaraderie]

I'll second the Colter Bay recommendation for Tetons...beautiful campground with everything easily accessible. If that is not available....the Virginian RV park in Jackson is centrally located on the bus line making it easy to see the town. Not cheap but good. You can easily visit Grand Teton from there and come "home" at night and there is plenty to do and see in Jackson as well.
In Yellowstone...grab a spot at Fishing Bridge if you can still get one. There are TWO KOA;s in West Yellowstone...and the closest in one is probably the nicest KOA we've been in. Like the others are saying...book now...tomorrow may be too late!

[robsshots]

for Grand Tetons. Beats the living daylights out of commercial alternatives - but BOOK NOW!!!

In Yellowstone, we were fed up with the high cost of West Yellowstone RV sites. We opted for a park in Idaho Springs, 12 miles from the entrance. yeah, we had to drive 15 minutes to the entrance, but I cut my camping costs to less than half of West Yellowstone rates.

There are a couple closer in, between Idaho Springs and West Yellowstone but am not familiar with their rates. Our cost for a month in Idaho Springs: $500, including electric.....

[CampinKaren]

Bakers Hole is a NF campground, first come first serve, just a few miles outside the west entrance in West Yellowstone. They have, if I remember correctly, about 20-30 electric sites.

[lablover]

Please do not let the fact that there are no hookups in many of the NP campgrounds deter you from staying IN the parks. You will spend most of your time in the truck getting from one place to another if you stay outside. Both of these parks are huge. I recommend Colter Bay in GTNP and Canyon in Yellowstone. Make reservations NOW.

[lablover]

Also if you go for the first come first serve campgrounds, prepare to get in line at 7a or earlier in busy season. I don't know about you, but I have better things to do with my time and don't like to get up early on vacation.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by jwfrede

For north end of Tetons Colter Bay has full hookups and may still have some openings, I made my reservations in Jan for July.

Just to clarify, there are two Colter Bay campgrounds.

One is for RVs and has hookups.

The other much larger one is a regular campground, with multiple loops. A couple are non-generator loops.

The RV campground sites are very close together, while the other non-hookups campground has big and private campsites.

[Bob Maager]

We stayed in Teton Valley CG in Victor. It s a few miles west of Jackson off of 22. Caution, it s 10 percent grade going up for 4 miles and a 10 percent grade going down for another 4 miles. Very pretty drive. We only pulled our trailer thru there once.