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Yellowstone Trip 2021

aubigmac said:
My opinion is you are on the right track ditching the camper. Don't lock yourself into staying in one place, the best way to see it is to hotel hop. Yellowstone is huge and its easier to move around, take a day and do the upper loop, take another and do the south, stay an night in Jackson Hole and visit the Tetons. There is just so much to see, be willing to move around.

We took a trip the week before memorial day a few years ago and it was great, All the roads might not be open but there were no crowds.
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The idea of hotel hopping had not occurred to me. Most likely we are going to go with some friends with two kids. We will need a AirBNB or VRBO with a kitchen and 3 bedrooms. Eating out every meal gets old and expensive.. My wife is a damn good cook and I actually prefer her cooking over restaurants. But staying in one house for 3 days on the east side then moving to the west side for 3 days wouldn't be terrible.
 
I have been there countless times over the years and have to say it is probably my favorite place on earth.

Time of year depends on what you want to see. If you are bear watching, early is best. May-june, but roads may still be closed because of snow. heck you may even get snowed in there.

I prefer after school starts in the fall. Hopefully kids go back to school this year because we were going to try and make it again.

I like the fall sunsets. Less crowds. But there is not as much wildlife in late summer.

Depending on which direction you are coming from some campgrounds are better than others. Fishing bridge is nice and probably your best choice for the size camper you have.

We have camped, stayed outside the park and stayed in the park.
Camping is nicest, if you get up early, stay up late the traffic dies down and you can get around the park pretty easily, get some privacy.

Staying at resorts in the park is expensive and crappy service, but best access like camping.

Staying outside the park is cheapest, we are going to do motels this year. First night probably Cody wyoming and the rest on north or west entrances. Lots of services and things to do at the park entrances.
 
X2 on the wild bill center. You could spend a month in the place. I believe they have some recorded gun fights you can read about. The guns they have is mind blowing. If you have a thermal imaging scope. Take it with you, it is neat to see all the thermal stuff at night.

Your wife may want to fix some pre prep meals. The amount of time you spend traveling is going to be alot.
 
I'm from the KCMO area as well. Took the wife and kid out last summer. We stayed in Rapid City one night and hit Mt Rushmore, Deadwood, etc during the Sturgis Rally. Then drove to Gillette the next night. When we got to Yellowstone we stayed at Pahaska Teepee 3 nights. It was alright but had no A/C and we had to cook dinner on a small grille I brought along. West Yellowstone area looked like a better place to stay IMO. Check out the Rodeo in Cody if you stay on the eastside. On the way home, we headed south and stopped in Cheyenne for the night. Then back to KC.
 
Still haven't taken this trip with all the 'rona bullshit the last two years. Talking with the wife about it today I want to do this trip in the next couple years. Dad is undergoing chemo again for cancer and when he gets done him and his gf are gonna travel some. Dad bought a small teardrop camper early '21 and has taken it to CO now with her and enjoying things he never got to do when he was younger since he had kids to raise and feed.

Back on subject, Gina and I want to take trips while we are still young enough to get around pretty well. Wife is a cancer survivor as well and has some mobility issues and they are only going to get worse the older we get. So 1000 miles in a vehicle in one shot is pretty miserable for anyone especially my wife so I suggested heading west to CO and stopping for the night there and sight seeing one day there to break up the car riding, then move on up to Tetons NP for a couple days to look around, then on up to YS for a few days to see things, then make the drive home over two days. She would be home to recover from the 1.5 days in the car/truck ride.

Most likely have to do hotels for this style of trip I assume? Hopping every night or every two nights? Not being able to cook our own meals will get expensive. I guess we could go Beverly Hillbilly style and take a cooler and propane portable grill and warm up brats, burgers, sausages on the trip.
 
Wades_76_cj7 said:
Most likely have to do hotels for this style of trip I assume? Hopping every night or every two nights? Not being able to cook our own meals will get expensive. I guess we could go Beverly Hillbilly style and take a cooler and propane portable grill and warm up brats, burgers, sausages on the trip.
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We did abq---> y-stone--->abq on the bikes a few years ago. hotel every night, ate out every meal. 10 days total.

I think you need to chillax on the planning a bit and just roll with it like we did. We used Priceline.com almost exclusively to book rooms. We'd stop for lunch, figure out roughly where we'd be for the night and punch up priceline while we were eating. Got reasonable rooms every night without having to push through to get somewhere that we had booked maybe weeks in advance. If we wanted to hit a brewery, or someone broke down, or whatever it didn't matter. It really made the trip super nice and we didn't blow the budget at all.

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Wife and I ended up going last september for like 4 days. It was after labor day so most services were closed. It was awesome the park was empty.
Food and services were also still limited because of covid. Only thing we would have done different was haul food in, not because of cost but the choices were horrible because of covid.

You mentioned originally you were thinking a 32ft camper. I am pretty sure the park does not allow anything over 30ft in the gate.

Anyway, this last trip we stayed at the snow lodge cabins at old faithful. It was really nice. We got a single room cabin with shower and toilet. (some don't, be sure to read carefully)
for us it ended up being like $180 a night after taxes and was cheaper than any motel outside or inside the park. Walk to old faithful.

Every time I checked it showed sold out, but there are cancelations every day. I kept checking everyday, we modified our time a little and when the room popped up I grabbed it.

www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com

Yellowstone National Park Lodges

At Yellowstone National Park Lodges, you're invited to discover or rediscover the magic of the world's first national park, Yellowstone.
www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com
 
Check out some air bnb's. We rented one in island park, ID. Ride through see the tetons and keep traveling to YS. Remember a lot YS might be closed due to the flood. I suggest not spending much time in Jackson Hole.
 
This trip would be in 2024. We have already got next year's trip planned. Doing Taylor Park CO in the SXSs. I only get 2 weeks vacation a year plus the week off between Christmas and NY. While I am not opposed to trips over that week it would have to be AZ or similar.

Sceep that is solid advice on Priceline.com every day at lunch and just roll with the timeline/travel distance that we are feeling. This trip will just be wife and I. We have always taken long trips like this with friends and last year we went to Black Hills with some friends. We don't have kids and two other couples did. We had a fantastic time up there but holy crap it was like herding cats every morning. :laughing:

Kinda wish I hadn't sold that camper topper for my Tacoma now. lol
 
I did not enjoy Yellowstone. YMMV.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Grand Tetons and the Bridger-Teton wilderness. I wish the two days we went to Yellowstone would’ve been spent in Idaho instead.
 
FleshEater said:
I did not enjoy Yellowstone. YMMV.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Grand Tetons and the Bridger-Teton wilderness. I wish the two days we went to Yellowstone would’ve been spent in Idaho instead.
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Yellowstone is awesome. We spent like 5 days there last year when my wife was 6 months pregnant.

I love national forest and BLM, that's where we spend most of our time. The coolest 1% of geysers, waterfalls, and rock formationsare all in the national parks though. It's a different experience, but well worth it.
 
We did air bnbs when we did Yellowstone and the grand Tetons 5 or so years ago. Brought our own food and cooked/ate wherever we were staying. Worked great and was cheap.
 
skyhiranger said:
We did air bnbs when we did Yellowstone and the grand Tetons 5 or so years ago. Brought our own food and cooked/ate wherever we were staying. Worked great and was cheap.
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did you move every couple of days or stay in the same place the entire trip?
 
Wades_76_cj7 said:
did you move every couple of days or stay in the same place the entire trip?
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Moved every 2 or 3 days. IIRC, stayed on the east side of YS the first few days, then went to ID for a day or two, then through the tetons then home.
 
Visited Yellowstone this past May, VRBO in Paradise Valley along the Yellowstone just before the flooding. We had Lewiston just north of us and Gardiner to the south.

Mid to Late May, we were there for the wildlife.. and we saw a shit ton! No crowds, varying weather, Yellowstone river running a bit fast from runoff, had a blast.

We put alot of time into visiting the park most days, even did a long day trip down to and up through Teton NP and YNP a day.

Everyone would like to do it again, i drove out to the house in 3 days from Pa. Family flew into and out of Bozeman. Son and i ran south to visit Moab, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Nashville etc on return drive home. 8K miles and i was gone just under 1 month.

It was at the height of inflated fuel prices, but screw it.. it was about making sure my family had memories to last a lifetime.

Eastern Idaho was gorgeous, i'd like to spend more time in that area.
 
Mid May.. 13 Grizzly bear including this cinnamon with cubs.

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Pelicans on the Yellowstone behind the house.. that one surprised me.


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If anyone passes through Mexican Hat don't pass up the Swinging Steak
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When I was talking to the wife about what time of year she wanted to go I told her what you guys said about early in the year for more wildlife sightings. So I guess I will have to look at that time of year.
 
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