Yellowstone Trip

[KHabie]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park.
I have some questions that I hope some of you who have made this trip can help answer. I plan on hitting some of the better fly fishing spots if you have any recommendations.

1. Where do you recommend to put the Motorhome. I am not bent on being in the park particularly. I am towing a Wrangler and plan on touring the park with it.
A park with full hook ups is preferred.

2. What are the locations in the Park that are a must for seeing wildlife?

3. I am not really interested in spending too much time at the geysers.

4. What time of year is ideal?

Any help will be appreciated, happy motoring!

[travelingjw]

We like Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone. If you want to see Wolves go to Lamar Valley. Ask rangers for time, but we usually go at Sunrise. Bison, etc. are also in Lamar Valley. We like the spring or fall. Elk at Northern entrance to the park.

[Topperace]

We just spent 7 weeks, Late June to late Sept circling Yellowstone - explored every entrance/exit, staying at RV parks within an hour or so of entrance. Northern Yellowstone has majority of the wildlife - Bison and especially the Wolves, and some Bear. Most of the Bear they Rangers say stay in the Southeastern mountain parts where not as much human traffic. There are numerous RV parks in all the surrounding areas and they ask for a "pretty penny" so we made reservations at parks a little ways away. We spent a month at Big Timber, MT, Spring Creek Rv and Trout Ranch on the Boulder River, mainly due to the cost for a month in that area in August, and mainly because it split the distance between the North and north eastern entrances...and access to sites/hiking/mountain trail driving around the area you'll love in a Jeep, etc and in Northern Montana. Stayed at Yellowstone RV Park in Mack's Inn, ID for a week for the West entrance (Guyser area entrance)... nice park, about 40 mins from west entrance, but worth it in our opinion, plus LOTs of trout fishing in the local rivers, etc... South side we stayed at Fireside Buffalo Valley RV Park in Moran, WY.. 10 mi from Teton National Park and about 30 Mins to south entrance of Yellowstone... Must do - Wildlife, mountains, Jackson WY, etc... August was packed with people, Sept not so much as temps and weather started to get iffy..we were lucky the first two weeks of Sept with the weather but the middle os Sept the temps really dropped and the snow started... can share a lot about the area and what we were able to see over the almost two months in the area...but prob best in private email. Cheers!

[RogerR]

We stayed outside but I forgot the name and then caught a site inside. Liked it better as no waiting to get in and heavy traffic, shorter trips to all the spots inside.

If you camp inside stock up on foodstuffs, etc. before going in.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by travelingjw

We like Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone..

X-2 and instead of driving I recommend you take one of the Tour Buses.

The drivers know exactly where to find the wildlife and they time the tour so you are at the Lodge when Old Faithful erupts. You can even buy a box lunch from them. They pick you up at the CG.

[CAG]

We were our own "tour bus" but the secret is being up before the sun comes up, get breakfast, and head out. We stayed in Gardiner and found that gave us the best access and least amount of tourist issues. Most of the interesting wildlife is out early, or was, and the tour buses were not clogging up the roads and most kids don't get up till late so we did not have to deal with tourist traffic. Parking lots were empty. We were back by lunch, caught a nap and did the tourist thing in other areas that were not clogged up with cars and tourists.



I save the fishing for other areas that were not full of tourists and if you have the option of going before school is out for the summer, do it. Remember that winter can come early at that latitude so trying a late August, September or later trip can be iffy. We did the Black Hills in early October one year and it was wonderful but we pulled up stakes and headed south right before the -15 temps came in with a cold front.

[LuckyDuck]

X2 on Grizzly RV Park, but I’d reserve very early. It’s huge, but popular. We got there just as they reopened after Covid (June 2020) so the tourist hordes hadn’t fully hit yet. But within a week, they were pouring in. West Yellowstone was a good base from which to do day trips to various quadrants of the park, which is huge, as well as the Tetons. As CAG said, the early bird beats the crowds.

[Trapper2020]

We liked West Yellowstone Grizzly RV park also. You do not have to get up early to see wildlife. Best time to see bears and wolves is at sun rise and sunset. Stayed a month and only got up for sunrise once. Our routine was to sleep in, then eat dinner at lunch. We then packed lunch for dinner and went into park and stayed till dark. Saw so many bears and wolves there was no reason to get up early. Best place to view wolves was Lamar valley. Safe travels

Enjoy the journey

[CAG]

I would call sunrise, early LOL. Although after that you see a bunch of two legged animals blocking roads with their cars trying to get photos.

There is plenty to see at all hours. It is the traffic that becomes an issue.