Hello All
I am thinking of renting an RV and travel in Yellowstone for a week in late August before my two sons (11 and 14) go back to school.
I have never rented an RV before nor been to Yellowstone.
Am I living a pipe dream here?! Will I be able to "easily" find places to camp with an RV.. I gather that most of the campgrounds inside the park don't take reservations and you are on a first come basis.
Will I be able to find a place to camp? Should I take a chance and move to different campsites over our time in the park?
What might be my fall back measures if I can't find a place to camp inside the park!?!
Thanks for any help!
Clueless Dan

Definitely do it! That will be a memory for your boys that will last a lifetime. I would hurry though to make your reservations as you are approaching peak season. I'll admit I've never been to Yellowstone either but my family and I are going in July and we just recently reserved a campground that will accommodate our 30' Class C motor home. You probably won't be able to find any sites within the park that offer hookups (water, sewer, electric) since they have been reserved far in advance but you may still be able to get reservations for primitive campsites and dry camp. Canyon & Madison campgrounds are where we are staying. You can go to http://www.travelyellowstone.com/can...round-252.html for info. You can also stay in one of the many campgrounds outside the park, for instance KOA, which we chose to do one of the nights. I suggest picking up a copy of Trailer Life RV Parks, Campgrounds, and Services Directory 2009. It's like a thick phone book full of campgrounds and services that will probably be helpful to you. Hope this helps and enjoy your trip.

Here's another good site with a link to the page with all the Yellowstone campsites http://yellowstoneinsider.com/index....5&articleID=89

Go and enjoy yourself. Do check out the park service site for information on road work this summer and pick a campsite location that will reduce your need to travel through the sections that are being worked on when you will be there. Yellowstone is one of the places everyone should visit on their bucket list.

Does all this above mean that I MUST have RV campground reservations before EVEN thinking of going to Yellowstone?
AS well Plumpz..do you plan to drive in and out of the park each day ?? I am guessing that the "daily commuting" could take quite a while no? Say one or more hours to go from the campground to a site of interest?
Sincerely

Go to www.nps.gov and click on Wyoming then Yellowstone. You will find the information on camping there. Xanterra runs the campgrounds in the park and you can make reservations through them. One of the campgrounds is for RV's only.

I would say you should definitely get your RV booked. If you want to stay in the park I wouldn't chance waiting until the last minute to get a spot inside, but remember this is coming from someone who has never been to Yellowstone before. From what I've read you want to get your reservations early. Keep in mind I'm staying inside the park for two nights so driving in and out wont be a problem. I am going to stay outside one night to enjoy the conveniences of full hookups.

In Yellowstone..what is the largest RV that I should consider driving through the park?
We are a family of 2 adults and 2 teenage boys..
Can I drive a class A rv through yellowstone w/o problems?
thanks

Yellowstone is full of tour buses, and tour-bus-sized RVs; they just have to keep moving because they can't find a parking place. My limited experience with RVs and National Parks inclines me to the *smallest* RV we can semi-comfortably fit in; this is specifically because of the limitations of parking and campground site size. We might bring along a tent as extra kids bedroom. Yellowstone has one campground designed for RVs, with full hookups; it bears a strong resemblance to a parking lot. Many of the other Yellowstone campgrounds not only don't have hookups, they have tight length limitations on RVs because the sites weren't laid out for large vehicles.

There are lots of private RV-oriented campgrounds outside the park with varying degrees of seclusion and amenities. You might also consider Flagg Ranch, the section between Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

There are campgrounds that will accommodate units up to 40'. I would call Xanterra at 1.866.GEYSERLAND (439-7375)and they can tell you what is available. Also look at the link from my previous post which gives info about all the campsites within Yellowstone. http://yellowstoneinsider.com/index....5&articleID=89

Can anyone recommend RV rental places in either Jackson or Salt Lake City?
Thanks!

I think you should go to this site {http://www.rv.net/forum/} and ask a few questions. If you have never driven a vehicle as large as a class A RV you could run into problems driving and parking in Yellowstone. One CG is for hard side RVs only, that is the one at Fishing Bridge. Why not park/camp in a campground in West Yellowstone or somewhere else in or out of the park and rent a car to do your exploring.. http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisi...ellowstone.htm & http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisi...ellowstone.htm

Canyon and Madison are the most central campgrounds. Canyon and Grant's have showers and laundry--it's nice to take a real shower and not have to worry about saving water every once in a while. None but Fishing Bridge have hook ups but I would never stay there--just a big parking lot and packed in like sardines.

Your RV is made to be independent. It will have batteries, water tanks, sewer tanks, propane and a generator. You will just have to go to the campground dump station to dump your sewage and grey water (not sewage--sink water) and refill your water tanks. My best piece of advice for this--buy a box of disposable latex gloves. The RV place will show you how to do everything.

The roads are narrow and rough and parking lots are sometimes small. Rent as small as you can be comfortable in. The tent idea is a good one. Your kids will enjoy it and you'll get a little peace and quiet!!

Make reservations ASAP. Staying outside the park is doable but it does eat up some time. The closest and most central town to stay in would be West Yellowstone. Their RV sites will book up quickly too. You will need reservations no matter where you stay.

We've camped at Yellowstone with all kinds of RV's but the last two were a 24 foot class A motorhome and twice now with our 30 foot class A motorhome.

Connie gave you about all the information I was going to give. The only thing I'd mention is Canyon was extremely hard for us to get our 30 ft motorhome level and avoid low tree branches. We ended up moving to Bridge Bay campground instead. Madison and Bridge Bay will probably be the easist to get campsites. The larger the RV the harder it is to find a campsite especially the longer you wait to make the reservation. As mentioned, Fishing Bridge is the only campground in the park with hook ups, but you are camped right on top of each other and I saw slide outs within inches of each other.

With out a tow vehicle, you will need to move the motorhome each day, so it will be easy to dump and fill tanks as needed without hook ups.

One of the draw backs of the larger RV is finding parking at smaller turnouts. The first year we went in the 30 ft RV we could not find a place to park at Tower Jct. There are also a few off the beaten path roads that RV's can no longer go down.

The plus side is you can go off for the day and have a place to crash, go to the bathroom, and cook and eat. A nice pull out watching the buffalo's cross the road is better than eating in any restaurant.

One thing for anyone traveling to Yellowstone this year to consider is there is going to be road constuction and the road from Norris to Madison will be closed for the season starting August 17. If you can finish your trip or at least make sure you do the upper part of the park by then, would be the wise. http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm

The last two times we went to Yellowstone were the first two weeks of June and the first two weeks of September. Both times we made campsite reservations a couple days before we reached the park since we didn't know exact dates both times. We were lucky and got sites at the campgrounds we wanted, I don't know if I'd push my luck during the summer. There are first come first serve campgrounds that you could fit an RV. As mentioned, if you decide to stay outside the park, then I'd stay in West Yellowstone.

Utahtea

anyone anything about Access RV rental company?
http://accessrvrental.com/


If I rent a 31 vs 25 foot RV will I have problems finding parking and etc in the park?
We are a family of 4 2adults and 2 teenage sons and we are all rather tall so we take up a lot of "room" as you can imagine...and that is why I am leaning toward a 31 foot RV that is a bit roomier
I am glad to have all opinons!

We rented a 25 foot when we had two teenage sons. We rented a class C so there was a bed above the cab and the other one slept on the table that made into a bed. It's cramped, but do able. The 31 will be a lot roomer for sure. The 31 ft is just a foot longer than ours.

Sometimes with an RV it's just hard to find parking because this park is so old and turnouts are small. Some of the smaller geyser areas might make it hard to find a spot, but the larger ones shouldn't be to much of a problem. The hard part is when small cars park in RV parking spots! It definitely was easier to find parking with our 24 ft motorhome than the 30 ft. one.

When we rented the RV we used Cruise America and didn't have any problems with them. My friend on the other hand had a horrible experience. She likes to use El Monte. I believe both are in the Salt Lake City area.

Utahtea

Yellowstone is awesome but August is nothing but a parade of desperate campers stalking campsites. We intended to stay for a week but left after 3 days, so many people asking us when we were leaving our site. We traveled with a pop-up for 10 weeks and were just not ready to jostle and tussle yet, so went up to Grand Tetons. Beautiful!! Peaceful! Shared a freezing stream bath with moose (not intentionally), rented canoes, hiked, just loved it. Kids 12 & 15 just loved it also. I guess it depends on knowing what to expect. This summer may not be so crowded due to economy etc. Good luck!

Nightreader, which campground did you stay in. At Madison, Bridge Bay and Canyon, you have to register because most people have reservations so I wouldn't think anyone would be coming around and asking if you were leaving.

Utahtea

Until I read you were all rather tall I was going to recommend a pickuptruck camper but with 4 tall ones that would be uncomfortable but much more mobil for getting around. Traffic in the park will be very slow and many times larger rigs can not get around others that are stopped at bear, elk or what ever jams and you end up waiting for others to move on. You did not say where you were comming from but have you considered flying into Billings have some great rental companies here and you save a extra day of driving each way. You might also consider renting a car and staying at motels outside the park or by continued checking rooms do become available in the park, it would give you mich more flexability. I am in Billings if you have more questions contact me at [email protected]