Question Yellowstone

[harrymudd]

Hi Everybody My wife and I and "our little dog too" are taking our bucket list trip this summer to Yellowstone. We are leaving from New Hampshire in August and plan on stopping in Pittsburg PA to see some friends. After that we are going thru Indianapolis to avoid Chicago. We will be making our way to Rapid City South Dakota and then to Yellowstone. We have a 36 foot class A motorhome (gas) and are towing. ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN GIVE US ADVICE WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED

 

[J&JD]

Hi Everybody My wife and I and "our little dog too" are taking our bucket list trip this summer to Yellowstone. We are leaving from New Hampshire in August and plan on stopping in Pittsburg PA to see some friends. After that we are going thru Indianapolis to avoid Chicago. We will be making our way to Rapid City South Dakota and then to Yellowstone. We have a 36 foot class A motorhome (gas) and are towing. ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN GIVE US ADVICE WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED

Sounds like you have not made reservations yet. That will be a big issue during August. You might have better luck right after Labor Day. I would not leave out the Tetons while in the area. They are spectacular! Judy D

 

[bpaikman]

Don't plan on staying in the park. The only park inside Yellowstone that can possibly handle your rig is extremely tight, and probably booked up.
Find reservations at a nice RV park outside Yellowstone, and spend a few days driving in the park, Wait until after Labor Day.
And I sgree - see Grand Tetons. We had a lovely evening at a fine restaurant that overlook the plains below the mountains, lots of wildlife....and I cannot remember the name of it.
But there aren't many fine restaurants in that area. We stayed in Colter Bay campground and enjoyed it very much but I've heard that Moran? is great.

 

[harrymudd]

Sounds like you have not made reservations yet. That will be a big issue during August. You might have better luck right after Labor Day. I would not leave out the Tetons while in the area. They are spectacular! Judy D

Thank you for your reply. I should have been more specific. We do have reservations at Fishing Bridge RV park and do plan on going to the Tetons. I am looking for advice/info on what hills and or road conditions I may encounter on my way and any other helpful tidbits people my have to offer.

 

[TeeJay72]

We went to Yellowstone last summer, great trip! Started out from northwest Ohio toke the Ohio and then Indiana turnpike, I-80/90 and yes did take I 80 through the south side of chicago which i dreaded also but just did it, wasn't all that bad, made sure it was not rush hour. once west we got up to I 90 and stayed a few day around badlands/Mount Rushmore which was very nice. from the we got to route 26 and took that into Yellowstone area, very nice route. On the way back we headed straight south to I 80 and brought that all the way back, won''t do that again, that area is just a wind tunnel. Enjoy your trip!

 

[ArmandV]

Unless you have a toad and don't mind driving in traffic, I would sign up with a tour company and have them drive you around the park. You can concentrate on the scenery instead of numbskull other drivers.
We stayed at a KOA in West Yellowstone in June 2015 and signed up for two tours. They picked us up at the KOA each morning. The first tour was the upper loop and the lower loop was on the second day. It was very relaxing and we did get to see bears, elk, bison and other critters. Well worth the money (around $70/tour).

 

[FL-JOE]

It has been several years since we visited Yellowstone. We stayed just outside the park. We drove in two different days and probably could have done a third, a lot to see and experience IMHO.

Like someone else said, going around Chicago isn't all that bad if you avoid rush hour traffic and any weekend traffic resulting from large local sporting events (Chicago Bears, Cubs, White Soxs, etc)

 

[dave54]

The main park roads are all fine for your rig. It won't fit in the parking areas at the main attractions, so go directly to the campground, unhook, and then drive your toad around.
Keep your schedule flexible and allow lots of travel time between points. Bear jams happen all the time, and the traffic is a standstill. It can take hours to drive 20 miles, or breeze right through. Keep your camera handy in the front seat, ready to go. Review your settings to take wildlife shots. You may only have a few seconds to take some good shots before the critter disappears back into the forest. You don't have time to fiddle with the settings.
On the road -- wildlife have the right-of-way. If that herd of bison want to loiter in the middle of the road and not let you by -- you sit. Illegal to honk your horn and try to skirt around them. Rangers can cite for that, and not very smart -- a startled bison that jerks the wrong way can rip the side mirror off your car or major dent your body panel.
Drive slower at night. Animals are dark colored and you cannot see them in the middle of the road until the last second.

There are restaurants, stores, and snack bars in the Park, but you will want to bring a cooler with snacks and drinks. Avoid the tourist prices, the crowds at the established eateries, and you can picnic at any of the designated picnic sites all over the Park. Once we had a herd of elk come by while eating at a picnic table and were all around us.

The only caveat is leaving a cooler in your car if you get out and go hiking. The NPS has done a good job of enforcing the food storage rules and as a result the current population of bears are less attracted to cars as they were in the past. But incidents still happen. A grizzly will not even break sweat ripping your car door open like peeling a banana if he smells food inside. The popular parking areas at the main sites are usually OK. There are enough people coming and going to keep the bears away. If you are the only car at the site, they may get bolder.

One of our favorite drives is the unpaved Blacktail Plateau Road. Not many people drive it. It leads into a bit more primitive and undeveloped section of the Park backcountry. You can bicycle the Park roads, but there is no shoulder along most of them, so you are riding in the traffic lane with diesel exhaust and bus fumes in your face. DW and I are both off-trail hikers and not hesitant at all to wander away from the car into the forest. However, that is not for everyone.

For hiking, there are grizzlies in the Park, and there is a chance of an unpleasant encounter. That chance is very small. The chance of a really cool encounter is greater. If the bear detects you coming while still a distance away, he will either scoot away into the woods or be alert and watch out for you. The bad encounters occur when the bear does not detect you until the last second and you startle him close by. Then it is a coin toss which direction he will run -- at you or away. My couple of close encounters resulted in him fleeing. I would not count on that, though. Bear spray is available in the Park (at tourist prices) or at any any outdoors retailer in the country. You can buy a practice canister of inert material to learn how to use the real stuff before your trip. Mid summer most of the bears head up to the higher elevations in the Park where food is and is cooler.
Best place to see wolves is Lamarr Valley in the NE section of the Park. Dusk and dawn. You may or may not see any.

The Museum complex in Cody is worth a stop when passing through. World class museum. We spent all day. Also the Beartooth Highway is on everyone's list of Most Scenic Drives. That is a bit far for a day trip from Fishing Bridge, but if you can swing it while driving to/from Yellowstone, then it is worth your while.

Cell phone coverage is only at the main sites. So your phone GPS mapping app may or may not work. I use the free Avenza app, and download the free Yellowstone map (its the same map is in the Park brochure). Works with no cell coverage, and the app tracks you as you drive.

 

[GlampDaddy]

Woo-hoo! Just secured 11 nights at Fishing Bridge Park for next May!

 

[J&JD]

Woo-hoo! Just secured 11 nights at Fishing Bridge Park for next May!

Great stuff @GlampDaddy you lucky dog you. Enjoy!