Planning trip to Yellowstone

[Loneoak]

We stayed at Fishing Bridge. My husband put the awning out (on our then Jayco fifth wheel) and I suggested he put it back in or the camper coming into the adjacent site would not have room. I was right. The trailers were about four feet apart!

Fishing Bridge Campground was the only place in Yellowstone where there were mosquitoes. This was in late June of 2012.

[Lloyd]

If I remember right, they use to be the only campground in the park that required you have a hard side trailer.
They had lots of bears.

[mark5w]

Originally Posted by exposurecontrol

Thanks for all the feedback. Been doing some checking. It appears most if not all the campgrounds inside the park will accept only hard sided TT's. That eliminates us. Right now looks like the closest I could get to the park is one place about 2 miles from the south entrance: Flag Ranch, and several places right outside the west entrance: Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park and Hideaway RV Park. Everything else looked to be almost 50-60 miles outside the park.

Not sure why you don't consider your Rv hard sided. Soft sided refers to pop up and hybrid trailers that have partial canvas (or whatever) soft sides.

[fhenn]

I believe you are right Lloyd, his unit is a hard sided. I think that it means pop up tent trailers, and tents.

[exposurecontrol]

I guess not the way I interpreted what I read. I thought it meant they could not take trailers with slide outs. More a problem with accommodating the width of the trailer, not the actual "hardness" factor. My trailer has slide outs.

[mark5w]

From the Yellowstone National Park Service:

Fishing Bridge RV Park is the only campground offering water, sewer, and electrical hookups-50 amp service; it is for hard-sided vehicles only (no tents or tent-trailers are allowed).

If they banned Rv's with slides the park would be empty. A phone call can verify your concerns.

[exposurecontrol]

Well, I guess that clears things up. Thanks mark5w.

[Bert]

Try to make a reservation for Yellowstone. We didn't have one and were calling all around and no one had room. For whatever reason I used the KOA app to search the 2 KOA's at the west gate. My wife had already called them both earlier that day and I was able to book 4 nights. We've been on the road 26 days so far with no reservations other than in Nashville for the Fourth of July. I've stayed in a few KOA's this trip. Only out of convenience they are way over priced. I have found a few small ones that were fair.

[MartyinSC]

We love KOAs. A lot of the reason is that we stayed there often when the kids were little. Now retired, just the two of us, and the kiddy things like swing sets, trampolines, etc, don't do much for us. But you pay for them, along with that handy online reservation system. They are generally nice and clean and fair. We favor the ones with pools, and especially hot tubs. A $25 annual membership gives you a 10% discount. (that makes break-even about 6 nights/year). Designed more as a camping place for families with TTs and pop-ups. Large pull-throughs are often located separately, or in the back row, as they were added later. As a side note, to find a place near Yellowstone or any big tourist place in the summer without reservations is very lucky. More and more people are buying campers every day!

[Loneoak]

Originally Posted by MartyinSC

We love KOAs. A lot of the reason is that we stayed there often when the kids were little. Now retired, just the two of us, and the kiddy things like swing sets, trampolines, etc, don't do much for us. But you pay for them, along with that handy online reservation system. They are generally nice and clean and fair. We favor the ones with pools, and especially hot tubs. A $25 annual membership gives you a 10% discount. (that makes break-even about 6 nights/year). Designed more as a camping place for families with TTs and pop-ups. Large pull-throughs are often located separately, or in the back row, as they were added later. As a side note, to find a place near Yellowstone or any big tourist place in the summer without reservations is very lucky. More and more people are buying campers every day!

We also love KOAs. There's a certain standard to be met, and we always find the people who run them to be very friendly and helpful. With the Mom & Pop operations, you never know what you are going to get. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

As for more people buying campers, just go to the Shipshewana area in Indiana and you can see that - trailers being hauled all over the place. Most of them are new deliveries, and you can tell by the signs on the trucks or the fact that a dually is pulling a small unit.

[exposurecontrol]

We'll be starting our trip to Yellowstone on Sat Aug 8. Leaving from Mo, planning first overnight probably at Grand Island, NB, or possibly Kearney, Neb if we're making real good time. Second overnight will probably be at Rawlins, WY. Have reservations at the Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park near the west entrance of Yellowstone. Planning 4 days there. Return trip not really fixed yet. Thinking of stopping at Cody, WY to see the museum there (or possibly could make it a day trip from the park??), but haven't really settled on the return stops.

[Tim D]

Originally Posted by Bert

Try to make a reservation for Yellowstone. We didn't have one and were calling all around and no one had room. For whatever reason I used the KOA app to search the 2 KOA's at the west gate. My wife had already called them both earlier that day and I was able to book 4 nights. We've been on the road 26 days so far with no reservations other than in Nashville for the Fourth of July. I've stayed in a few KOA's this trip. Only out of convenience they are way over priced. I have found a few small ones that were fair.

I heard that Nashville was to put on a 4th of July Fireworks display to rival New York City this year? Did you get a chance to take it in?

[Bert]

We were there for the fireworks. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and it was a bust.

[OhioMark]

I think based on the chain here, everyone is clear on Fishing Bridge, but just a quick note as to why.

Fishing Bridge is well known for it's Grizzly sightings or Grizzly problem, depending on how you look at it. Softside campers don't mix well with hungry bears.

We liked the KOA in West Yellowstone, but for the price, it was just average.

Grizzly RV park looked way nicer.

West Yellowstone was one of the best areas we've ever camped. Nice little town just on the outside the park. Don't forget to drive 20 minutes west on 20 so you can say you were in Idaho!