8 to 9 day RVing Loop -Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and ......

agreed...but also most things you want to see in Yellowstone you need to get out of your car to go see....so a couple mile drive can take you an hour...between the bison on the road and a few sites you want to check out. Enjoy the area!

ArdraF said:

I think the distances out here are deceptive and easily misjudged.  For example, a drive in Yellowstone that normally takes 30 minutes can take 1.5 hours if a large herd of bison is crossing the road or has chosen to use the road as their trail.  Remember they have the right of way!  Also the park has a 45 mph speed limit so it's impossible to rush from one point to another.  If there's a bison or an elk or antelope, just about every car that drives by has to stop and photograph it!  They don't necessarily pull off to the side of the road like they're supposed to do.  Sometimes they even get out of their car and walk 30 feet to get a better view  - and their car is in the middle of the road!  They also jam on the brakes and make sudden swerves so you really have to pay attention to your driving.  In other words, it's really hard to plan on timing between various parts of the park.

ArdraF

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Be sure you research the Beartooth on the Internet. It is a gorgeous drive but there are switchbacks and narrow sections. You will need to watch carefully and be sure to downshift when necessary. Avoid riding the brakes as they will surely overheat.

You can arrange a trail ride at Roosevelt Junction in Yellowstone. I would do so soon as they are very popular. They also have Chuck Wagon rides where they provide a meal.

Yestrday, we took friends on a trip from Old Faithful along Yellowstone Lake, over Dunraven Pass, through the Lamar Valley to Cook City and returned via Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris, and Madison. We stopped for a picnic lunch and a couple of view points, had coffee in Cook City and had to wait a few times for tourists that did not get off the road when watching wildlife. We left at 8:30am and did not get back until around 5:00pm! Yellowstone is huge!!!

HWY 212, Once you get to the top, you can shake hands with the great One.
Has anyone driven it lately?

Thanks!

I haven't driven it this year yet but did drive it last year. The road was fine and it's a beautiful ride. Hoping to drive it again sometime this summer.

When I drove it last September, there was construction going on, but there were no real problems. I would be surprised if the construction is not still going.

Joel

Joel,

You would not be surprised. There is a 2.25 mile section of the Dunraven Pass that is under construction from Tower to Roosevelt Junction. I'm sure it will take all summer to complete and may even spill over into next summer. The road is not bad but there are delays at times.

As to YNP, I have driven a rented van with seven people 1400 miles in the last 8 days in Yellowstone. This place is large and in charge. It is not possible to use a clock in Yellowstone, just a start and finish line.

And we didn't see everything we wanted to see. Good thing we still have five more weeks.  8)

Kim,

As you mentioned, a clock is useless in Yellowstone!  We took Randy & Debby around the park the other day. We left at 8:30am and returned at 5:30pm! During that trip we did not stop for long at any one place except when we had lunch and a latte (everyone else had Wilcoxon's Ice Cream)in Cook City! Most folks fail to understand how huge 2.2 million acres really are! We drove 210 miles in that one trip!!!

Jim Dick said:

Kim,

As you mentioned, a clock is useless in Yellowstone!  We took Randy & Debby around the park the other day. We left at 8:30am and returned at 5:30pm! During that trip we did not stop for long at any one place except when we had lunch and a latte (everyone else had Wilcoxon's Ice Cream)in Cook City! Most folks fail to understand how huge 2.2 million acres really are! We drove 210 miles in that one trip!!!

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A big part of why a clock is useless is the unpredictable nature of bison jams. You never know when a small herd of them will stop traffic for half an hour. With 2.2 million acres to choose from, you have to wonder why they spend so much time on the roads. There isn't any grass for them to graze on growing through the pavement.

My theory is that they have a sense of humor. They get a kick out of exercising their dominance over those big, noisy, metal things on the road. "Hey Sally, Look how I can make these things stop."

Joel

Yes, but the real bison on the road experience is when riding a snowmobile.  Oh yeah.

Yup, got surrounded one time.

Joel,

I believe the know exactly what they are doing!  ;D You can almost see them communicating the fact they are stopping the traffic. This also applies to Elk and Bears! Most animals are much smarter than humans!

Jim Dick said:

Be sure you research the Beartooth on the Internet. It is a gorgeous drive but there are switchbacks and narrow sections. You will need to watch carefully and be sure to downshift when necessary. Avoid riding the brakes as they will surely overheat.

You can arrange a trail ride at Roosevelt Junction in Yellowstone. I would do so soon as they are very popular. They also have Chuck Wagon rides where they provide a meal.

Yestrday, we took friends on a trip from Old Faithful along Yellowstone Lake, over Dunraven Pass, through the Lamar Valley to Cook City and returned via Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris, and Madison. We stopped for a picnic lunch and a couple of view points, had coffee in Cook City and had to wait a few times for tourists that did not get off the road when watching wildlife. We left at 8:30am and did not get back until around 5:00pm! Yellowstone is huge!!!

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Jim,

We didnt even know about this road!  We were just planning on coming from Rapid City via Cody but now we are wondering if we should migrate up more north and head into West Yellowstone via this road instead of Cody???  Is this road navigable by 35ft motorhome?

I guess the other option would be once we get the rental van when we get docked in west yellowstone to backtrack and drive up there that way if its really worth it?

Thanks,
Mike

RV Lyfe said:

Is this road navigable by 35ft motorhome?

I guess the other option would be once we get the rental van when we get docked in west yellowstone to backtrack and drive up there that way if its really worth it?

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I would not be a big fan of wagging the motorhome down Beartooth, but the van? oh yeah! is it worth it? oh yeah!  8)

FYI - if you are speaking of renting one of the high top vans at West Yellowstone, I can highly recommend it. The van is 4WD and sits up which makes catching the view from the road much easier. It will also jump the pavement edges without issue on pullouts which our Honda will not. It also, believe it or not, gets very reasonable mileage, which is a consideration given how big the park is.

Big thumbs up on this rig, and to Don Nesbitt, gmsboss1, who had done the same and recommended it.

What Kim said!! ;D ;D

The Beartooth is certainly worth the drive but it will be much more relaxing for the driver if done in a "normal" vehicle. I'm hoping we can do it again sometime this summer. It's a fun drive with amazing scenery! You will be much more relaxed with a vehicle other than a Class C!

Reading about the huge distances needed to drive at Yellowstone, we are looking into renting a car to drive around and leave the RV at the campsite. 
Any RV park recommended with full hookups and nice ambiance?  We would not like to base camp at a parking lot (that is what comments are about Fishing Bridge)  . Actually we would like to have some space for outdoor picnic, fire ring, barbecuing, etc. by the RV site.

Should we find a central location in the park or split the 4 nights stay at two different ones to be able drive less while visiting the park? Any recommendation?

As I posted before, we wanted to take try fly fishing one morning or afternoon. We know nothing about fly fishing (the is none we we come from) and thought would be a very enjoyable experience with the kids. When researching we found out guided fly fishing is pretty expensive being 4 people (2 adults + 2 kids).  Any advise there?  Can we just rent equipment and go fishing? 
We thought about driving to Dubois to do this, but will probably skip that leg and spend an extra day at Yellowstone, and try fly fishing there.  Would that be a good idea?
Any particular creek , river or place you can recommend for this? Any friendly shop near by where we can get some flies and lots of advise if not taking a guided fly fishing trip?

So we will finally have 5 days at yellowstone park which doesn't look like much by reading a different posts. We know we will just take glimpses of different point of the park, but the truth is we want to enjoy time and not just rush from one highlight to the next.

Taking this into consideration, and knowing most of you really know this huge park.  Could you be so kind to advise some sort of itinerary or listing of the main highlight of the park MUST visit while taking it slowly and enjoying the days?  Just the main highlights and enjoyable spots we could make in 4 or 5 days without rushing.  And also and probably most important , which would be the best order or route to take in order to make better use of time.
If you also know the RV parks closer to those points and in that order, it would help us to book the appropriate RV sites to be able to split the stay.

Thanks a lot,
Ed

Ed,

We are at Red Rock RV Park, just 15 miles from the west gate, in Island Park, ID. Not sure if you can get a spot but they are super people here. You can have your campfire and could actually fish in Henry's Lake just over the hill from the park.

My son last week found a guy who took him into YNP to fly fish for the first time because he wanted to share his love of fly fishing with his gear, his lures. Professional guides are expensive and there's more than one way to skin a cat. He's at a local shop and I can put you in touch with him.

You can get a lot done in five days if you organize it and then throw a clock away.

PM me with your email address and I'll give you a couple of routes we have used in our last two trips. We have been extremely successful in getting our Kodak moments with the animals, too.

Everyone does the park differently because there is so much to do, so little time. We spent two months here two years ago, and are spending another two months here this year if that is any indication of the quantity and quality of this park.

We just finished watching the Discovery Channel series North America. The final episode rated the top ten destinations in North America. Yellowstone was #3, surpassed only by #2, The Sierra Nevada's, and #1, the Grand Canyon.

I think they cheated slightly because the Sierra Nevada's encompassed more than one park and, even though the Grand Canyon is fabulous, unless you are into serious hiking or white water rafting, you can see all of it in a couple of days.

Yellowstone is a fantastic destination for families, or couples/individuals, that wish to see something out of the ordinary. Just be prepared to drive many miles to see almost all there is to see. The rest requires extensive hiking! ;D

Hi again everybody and hope you are all having a great time wherever this message finds you.

Our tour is slowly taking shape with much of your advise and comments taken into consideration and applied. 
Had a hard time booking RV sites for we are actually late, but even though we could not find our first options , we are at least being able to find some spots.

Read a lot of posts suggesting not to drive the RV around Yellowstone, so we decided to base camp and rent a car. Were not able to get it from the first day, but from the second.

We will be arriving late afternoon on the 3rd of July into Yellowstone from G. Tetons. and stay at Grant Village for that night. we will not get the car until the morning of the 5th, so we will have to drive around with the RV that first day and end the day at West Yellowstone since we will stay a couple of nights at the KOA.  (they will deliver the car to us the morning of the 5th).
The inconvenience, is then having to return the car back to West Yellowstone having booked the last two nights at Fishing Bridge and leaving the park after that east to Cody.

Looking at the grand loop at Google maps, I realize that apart form the main attractions sites where visitor centers are,  there is pretty limited room at intermediate parking lots along Grand Loop to park the RV.  So it is not easy or maybe even possible to just stop and park at every interesting sport to visit it. Specially during first week of July which I expect the park to be very crowded.

Please do let me know if that is actually the case, or I am missing something.

So my questions are as follows:

If we have no choice but to drive around the RV for the first and last day and starting at Grant Village.  Should we spend the first day going west to the geothermal area  or go around the other way towards Canyon , Norris and Madison to finish the day at West Yellowstone?
Is any of those legs easier to visit driving the the RV, with bigger parking lots, etc.? 
Is there any public continuous transportation which "moves" people on foot from one site to the next (like the hay at Grand Canyon NP)?  We looked for this at the parks web site, but nothing there.

It makes me wonder why do people (like me), without the proper advance information, would rent an RV thinking it would we the best way to visit the Yellowstone, while instead, most people on forums suggest it is much better to drive a car and stay at the lodges.....
Kind of make us regret not having read all those comments before we booked and paid for the RV.  Would have planned the whole trip in a different way and order.

Thanks in advance for your posts.

Eduwolff said:

If we have no choice but to drive around the RV for the first and last day and starting at Grant Village.  Should we spend the first day going west to the geothermal area  or go around the other way towards Canyon , Norris and Madison to finish the day at West Yellowstone?

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If it were me I would park the RV in the Canyon Visitors Center parking lot and spend the day exploring the Canyon area on foot. It is an easy hike to the falls and the canyon. There are a lot of things you can do in the area.

Is any of those legs easier to visit driving the the RV, with bigger parking lots, etc.?

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The Old Faithful area has a gigantic parking lot. Some of the other places do have very small parking lots.

Is there any public continuous transportation which "moves" people on foot from one site to the next (like the hay at Grand Canyon NP)?

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No.