Help me plan my trip, Two Thirds of US

[Wilco]

You are too big for the campgrounds in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. I would look in West Yellowstone or between Cody WY and the east entrance to Yellowstone.

In the Black Hills, I have always stayed in Custer SP. You will have to check on the Custer SP website for the max size for Game Lodge campground. Nice campground but it only has electric and water at the sites. The dump station has good access. There are several private campgrounds near Mt Rushmore.

[Bnrc73]

As someone mentioned the waterfalls in Sioux Falls SD, they were referring to Falls Park. Very beautiful city park. Nice KOA right of I,90. Also, before leaving the Black Hills, I would make it a point to drive Spearfish Canyon. In my opinion it’s the prettiest drive I’ve ever taken. Enjoy your trip.

[Scrapper]

If your going to Glacier NP and you have passports go another days ride to Banff, Alberta, Canada. Icefields Parkway offers a ride on Athabasca Glacier in an all-terrain Ice Explorer, a massive 6x6 vehicle specially designed for glacier travel. DW and I are heading there late July.

[Jakieboy]

Last summer my wife and I, two dogs, and another couple in a similar 35' fifth-wheel, embarked on a trip of about 8 weeks to visit nearly all of the National Parks West of Denver. We hit the following sites: Big Bear Lake, CA; Joshua Tree NP, CA; Grand Canyon NP via Williams, AZ; Meteor Crater just east of Flagstaff, AZ; Petrified Forest NP, via Holbrook, AZ; Durango, CO and Mesa Verde NP; Great Sand Dunes NP via Alamosa, CO; Rocky Mountain NP via Estes Park, CO; Colorado NM via Grand Junction, CO; Arches and Canyonlands NP's via Green River, UT; Dinosaur NM via Vernal, UT; Flaming Gorge National Rec. Area via Rock Springs, WY; Grand Teton and Yellowstone NP's while staying at Colter Bay RV Park next door to Jackson Lake in Grand Teton NP (our most favorite RV destination). Easy day drives from there to Yellowstone NP; Casper, WY; Billings, MT; Great Falls, MT (best Lewis and Clark Center ever); Glacier NP at West Glacier KPA; Spokane, WA; Seattle, WA (at my nephew's driveway!); Portland, OR, with day trips to Bonneville Dam and Mount Hood; Seven Feathers RV Park, OR with day trip to Crate Lake; Red Bluff, CA; Petaluma, CA (My wife's sisters live there near the best craft brewery in the state - Lagunitas); Flying Flags RV Park in Buelton, CA - - -last stop before heading home to Long Beach, CA.

Best long RV trip we have ever had in more than 45 years of camping. Rarely drove more than 3-4 hours between stops. Hope this helps, without confusing.

[Jakieboy]

If you can get reservations at Colter Bay RV at Grand Teton your 42-footer will fit most of the sites with full hookups.

[Toddavid]

I was looking at Colter Bay, and plan on calling them tomorrow. Looks like their online system may not yet be taking 2020 reservations.

So you used Colter Bay as your home base when visiting Yellowstone? How much driving was that per day? I can’t get a good feel from google maps since it looks like some of the road stuff inside the park are still closed from the winter and I get detoured around when mapping directions.

[Beachbourbon]

Originally Posted by Toddavid

The details:

8 weeks, May-June 2020
Me, wife, 12 yr old daughter, dog
42’ fifth wheel
Starting location northern MD

So far I’m thinking Badlands, SD as first stop, 6 days to get there, 2 days staying there
Custer State Park/Mt Rushmore as second stop, spend 4-5 days in the area,
Then off to Yellowstone for 4-5 days, taking 2-3 days to get there,
Then 2-3 days at Grand Teton?

Either way, that’s only almost 4 weeks, need ideas to fill in the rest of the trip, without pushing hard the whole time, we want to take our time.

We like cities, too.

Suggestions?

I’m confused because this isn’t near 2/3 of the us, and with only 4 weeks to go,what other parts were you considering to be the 2/3? In my mind you are talking about seeing everything west of the Mississippi.

[Jakieboy]

Toddavid, we have stayed at the Colter Bay Village RV Park several times. There are 112 sites there with full hookups. It is an extremely popular RV site, and last time we were there we had made reservations nearly 1-1/2 years ahead of time. The staff are very friendly and helpful, so if you can get through by phone you should get a good response.

Grand Teton NP is just a few miles south of the south entrance to Yellowstone NP. With an early start from Grand Teton you can stop at "Old Faithful Geyser" in the early AM, and still see most of the park in one full day of driving. In two days of driving, you can see almost everything of significance. Watch out for drivers who will block the road when they see some wildlife, park in the middle of the road, and run into the bushes to get some "Photo-Ops" with the wildlife. They are nuts!!

Grand Teton NP is far more laid back, and the town of Jackson is a treat. We rode the tram to the top of the mou9ntains at Teton Village last summer, and it was memorable. Last summer we took the guided Jackson Lake tour boat for a morning cruise, and it was fantastic!

I would say spending at least three days there would be about right.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by Toddavid

Either way, that’s only almost 4 weeks, need ideas to fill in the rest of the trip, without pushing hard the whole time, we want to take our time.

So.... what do you like to do? Hiking, museums, fishing, shopping, dining,...?

What we found most useful was using our GPS to look for 'attractions' when we were camped. Most local attractions don't appear until you're actually in the area.

Another resource we use is KOA. Each of their campgrounds has a list of 'local attractions' and while we may not stay there, the information has pointed us to local events.

[harleybiker]

We did what you are thinking last September (starting in MI), then continued on to the KOA in East Glacier for 5 nights. Then in March we did 5 nights in the Zion Canyon Campground and RV from where we did a day trip to Bryce NP, then stayed in the KOA in Moab for 5 nights and did Arches NP and Canyon Lands NP. Of course our timing allowed us to avoid the big crowds. Time to make reservations.

[harleybiker]

Fireside RV Park - Buffalo Valley close to the Grand Tetons takes Big Rigs.

[Keithe]

I don’t know if anyone else mentioned it but I would include Cody Wyoming. Nice little town and a great Buffalo Bill museum. You can spend most of one day at the museum, it’s that big.

[Toddavid]

I called Colter Bay today and they confirmed that the reason I couldn’t book online was not because they were full, but because they don’t take reservations over 365 days out. So I’ll set a calendar reminder for about a month from now.

From what I can see, Colter Bay is about same rough distance from most Yellowstone attractions as any other RV park situated outside Yellowstone (that can accommodate my rig).

So maybe that should be our home base for both parks, booking 8-10 days total there.

Thinking I should shoot for just after Memorial Day 2020, to avoid the crowds and to also let things warm up a bit?

That should allow us 3 weeks to meander out from MD and about 3+ weeks to meander back.

Thoughts?

[tomkatb]

You have to purchase a 7 day pass to get into Custer state park.

Stay there. We stayed in Hill city at a private park. A week is great.

[KEliasz]

This is my rough draft so far, leaving this July for 5 weeks.

[Toddavid]

Wow, that’s a lot of distance for 5 weeks. Are you moving every couple days?

[KEliasz]

Yeah pretty much. Jersey to SD is gonna be a hard push for two maybe three days drive straight through. Then couple days at a beach stop. From new mexico the Atlanta is another hard push then slow down from there

[KEliasz]

At EACH. Not beach

[Toddavid]

Originally Posted by KEliasz

At EACH. Not beach

Hah, I assumed you were spending some time at a lake somewhere.

So what are your major stops? Your pace isn’t what we want to do, but I’m all for mapping against some interesting destinations.

[KEliasz]

Mt Rushmore. Badlands sturgis deadwood. Wall drugs. Buford Wyoming- population 1. Cheyenne Laramie then to salt lake city. Buford Cheyenne an Laramie are pretty much stop and stretch an check it out. Not spending lots of time there on this trip. Salt lake is visiting with friends, so couple days there. Take kids to promontory point and the trans continental railroad see old golden spike spot and maybe go check out Bonneville salt flats. Head south to moab for arches national park, monument valley. Then to 4 corners. Wife wants to drive through Albuquerque dont know why, stop in Amarillo TX to for some BBQ, then head on back home across 40. Marietta Georgia for the night visit family, up to Raleigh NC see some family for day or two then home to NJ