This is our first trip to Yellowstone. My husband and I have a 5th wheel. No kids. We will be staying in Gardiner, Mt and entering Yellowstone at the North Entrance. I understand Yellowstone is very large and hundreds of miles. Is it best to drive through Yellowstone to see all the highlights or is it better to spend a few days at the north entrance and see areas closest to that entrance and then move the RV to say the southern entrance to see Old Faithful. We also want to see Cody and Jackson Hole. Trying to figure out the best way to see these attractions and not do double driving. THank you in advance for any advice/suggestions.
Download a map of the park prior to your visit. The road around the park is LONG, about 100 Miles? I think that as you enter the park from the North, you want to go Right when you hit the junction, this will take you to Old Faithful. The area behind this landmark, has may other features along it's trails.
Take your time, as there is a lot to see.
Check out a map of Yellowstone. Find Grand Loop Road. It is a large loops that encircles most of the park. Following that road will take you to most of the "touristy" stuff in Yellowstone. Norris Canyon Road divides the Grand Loop into a north and south loop. We took three days and visited most of the things that we wanted to see and pretty much stayed on these two roads. There are a couple of side loop roads that provide some additional views such as Firehole Lake and Fountain Flats, both of which provide some awesome sights.
Check out the Yellowstone NPS web page for some additional ideas.
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Why not try to stay in the park and save all that driving time. Fishing Bridge has full hookups and other campgrounds, also in the park, are for dry camping. Stay four or five days then move to a campground in Grand Tetons National Park. Have a great trip.
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Take your time and see all the wonders that you can. We take the park loops - North and South - seeing all that we can each day. It will be wonderful. Take time to see the animals also
Yellowstone is huge - bigger than the state of Rhode Island. We stayed in West Yellowstone for a week and based out of there - drove every road. Start out early in the morning and plan that you will spend pretty much a full day, each day.
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Two Hands wrote: Why not try to stay in the park and save all that driving time. Fishing Bridge has full hookups and other campgrounds, also in the park, are for dry camping. Stay four or five days then move to a campground in Grand Tetons National Park. Have a great trip.
Many people stay outside the park at either the North or West entrances for a variety of good reasons. Full hookups with cable tv and wifi for one. Can't get that even at Fishing Bridge. The North Entrance is much closer than Fishing Bridge to Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Falls, the Lamar valley for animal viewing, and the Beartooth Highway for the best scenic drive anywhere. West Yellowstone puts you much closer to Old Faithful and the Geyser Basins than Fishing Bridge. Both West and North have restaurants, shopping, groceries and fuel at much lower prices than inside the park. The North Entrance is the closest entrance to an Interstate and the grade from the interstate to the entrance is the most mild of all approaches. Lots of people wish to avoid driving the park roads with their rigs. The park is huge and spread out, staying inside only gets you closer to one spot and further away from others. The OPs plan of a systematic relocation from one end to the other makes a lot of sense, much more than thinking you can be centrally located, which in reality, just makes you further away from most things.
We enjoy moving to different campgrounds within the park - both of them - Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We enjoy Mammoth, Madison, Grant in Yellowstone and Colter Bay and Gros Ventre in the Tetons. It's much more relaxing to us than driving long distances each day.
On touring days we might leave early to scout for critters, do a 3-6 mile hike, have a leisurely lunch, maybe taking in a ranger program, checking out the various visitor centers, and basically exploring every mile of the park's nooks and crannies. Have a great trip!
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I think changing your "base camp" location is a good idea. When we visited the area for a total 11 nights we had 3 base camp locations to limit long drives and maximize time and enjoyment. 2 in Cody, 5 in Yellowstone (Fishing Bridge), and 4 in Grand Teton (Colter Bay).
Enjoy my favorite NP's!
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