My family will be traveling to Yellowstone in early August. We're staying with friends part of the time but will stay in Roosevelt Lodge's rustic cabins for 3 nights. Has anyone stayed there? How "rustic" are the rustic cabins? Do you have to bring your own bedding, towels, etc. Any suggestions about dining in that area? Thanks for your help!

Oh, good ole' Roosevelt! I used to work there during my college days.
Rustic? You bet. They have wood burning stoves and if you aren't good at making a fire you are either freezing or boiling hot. The walls of the cabins are pretty thin, so I was cold all summer. They have other types of cabins, but this is what you get in a "rustic cabin". (I don't think you have to bring linens, but you might want to call and make sure.)

The dining room at Roosevelt (at least when I was there) was pretty good. It's the smallest location at YNP so you don't have to deal with a kitchen that are preparing tons of food for the masses. Also, Roosevelt has a cook-out thing where you take a stagecoach out to an area where they have "western" food and some entertainment (cowboys playing guitars).

That's the only dining in the area, unless you want to drive 30-40 minutes up to Mammoth Hot Springs. It's a pretty remote location.

Canyon has a pretty decent cafateria and cafe. They also have the best stores for supplies. This is also a good place to do your laundry if Roosevelt doesn't have a laundry.

Friends who live in the area say Roosevelt is their favorite in the park.

Just wanted to report on our family's trip in August. We LOVED the Roosevelt Lodge cabins. Rustic, but comfortable -- two double/queen beds, a desk and table, and a wood-burning stove. In the daytime, the temps were very comfortable, but at night it cooled down considerably. (In fact, it snowed for 1 1/2 hours one day!) My husband built a fire each night and sometimes we were a little too toasty, but that was okay. By 4 a.m. the fire had burned out and we woke up in the morning not wanting to get out of bed. But that added to the experience! There are no baths in the individual cabins, but restrooms nearby are clean and comfortable. The food at the lodge was the best we had at Yellowstone -- fairly inventive and tasty -- and the prices were reasonable. We enjoyed the location, too -- not too far from the Grand Canyon area, near the Tower falls and good fly fishing, and good access to the Beartooth Highway, a very scenic drive out of the Northeast entrance which ascends past the treeline. It was great sitting on the lodge's front porch in the large rocking chairs with a drink from the bar. There are also fires going inside the lodge even in the summer. We also went on the trail ride BBQ -- good for families and delicious ribeyes. We can't wait to go back!

Two more things: linens and towels were provided and I would not recommend the Mammoth Hot Springs area -- our only disappointment in the entire park.

Traveler, what was wrong with Mammoth Hot Springs? Roosevelt's Frontier cabins were booked for our visit and we ended up with Frontier cabins at Mammoth. We've stayed in cabins in Bryce and the S Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Mammoth Springs has dried up (at least is was dry in June 2002)

Mammoth Hot Springs was much less stunning than other features in the park (all of the geyser areas, the Grand Canyon, Tower Falls, etc.) The topography is much dryer in the northwest section of the park and reminded me of the prairie. The hot springs have indeed almost completely dried up and all you basically see now is mounds of mineral deposits. A 20-minute drive-through of the area was sufficient and did not warrant our 1 1/2 hour round trip to view it.

Thanks, traveler. That explains how we were able to get a cabin there! I thought you were being critical of the accomodations, not the site.