Northern California to Yellowstone Montana Route HELP!!

[Greatoutdoors]

Hello! We are trying to plan a summer vacation from Northern California just north of Sacramento to yellowstone in Montana, we will be towing our toy hauler and will have our two young kiddos. I would love to hear any suggestions or recommendations that you can give as this is our first big family trip! We would love to visit other cities in Montana as well after we visit yellowstone. Our total trip will be 2 1/2 weeks.

a) defining the right roads to drive and which to avoid

b) MOST IMPORTANT: finding the right RV parks to spend our nights. Specially in Yellowstone.

c) general tips you could give us out of your own experiences

d) things and places we can not miss visiting

e) unforgettable places to eat or shows/activities we would not want to miss while visiting the towns or cities on our way.

Guess we have a lot of questions and need a lot of advice.

I do thanks you very much in advance for your time and will appreciate all the support you can give us to make this trip a fantastic and unforgettable one, which I am sure it will be.

 

[Marsha/CA]

Welcome to the RVForum.  If you do a search by clicking the "Search" button and typing in Yellowstone, you will find quite a few prior discussions about campgrounds and things to do in Yellowstone. 

One thing I'd like to suggest for the kids while you are in Yellowstone is to see a play at the PlayMill Theater in West Yellowstone.  Here is their website:  http://www.playmill.com/  Their productions are very good and it's always fun.  Also if they are old enough to ride horses, the Roosevelt Chuck Wagon dinner is lots of fun.  If they are too young to ride, they can ride in the covered wagons.  Here is their website:  http://www.nationalparktravel.com/yellowstone_cookout.htm

We really like Grizzly RV Park, website: http://www.grizzlyrv.com/  They are within walking distance of downtown, have a nice playground for kids and lots of bike riding either outside of the park or within the park itself. 

Madison Campground is inside the park and lots of folks like that one.  Here is information re Madison:  http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/lodging/camping/madison-campground/

I'm sure someone else will come along to give you ideas on routes there.  We live in central California and go a variety of routes depending on if we are in a hurry or just dawdling along.

Marsha~

 

[Jim Godward]

our two young kiddos. I would love to hear any suggestions or recommendations that you can give as this is our first big family trip! We would love to visit other cities in Montana as well after we visit yellowstone. Our total trip will be 2 1/2 weeks.

How old are the kids??  It will make a difference in recommendations.  For example are they  interested in dinosaurs?  If so Bozeman, 90 miles from YP, would be a good choice.  There is a Buffalo Jump near Three Forks as is the source of the Missouri river.  On the Madison River is a site of and earthquake caused dam and lake if they are interested in geology.

a) defining the right roads to drive and which to avoid

If you cross NV on I-80, try to stop at one of the towns where there are Basque restaurants, I think Winnemucca is one but I'm sure there are others.  They are usually a great experience if you have never been to one.

b) MOST IMPORTANT: finding the right RV parks to spend our nights. Specially in Yellowstone.

I second he recommendation for Grizzly  in West Yellowstone.  It is close to town, the Cinerama theater, the grizzly animal park and other local stuff

c) general tips you could give us out of your own experiences

Let us know your interests.  Also Frommer's has a good book on MT/WY and also the AAA books are good

d) things and places we can not miss visiting

I suggest the old town, Virginia City in MT.  There are things in the area, old time vaudeville show and a rather risqu? one for adults, a steam train ride, a reconstructed town and some interesting shops and historical places.  Livingston MT has some interesting museums and a model train display under the old Station baggage room if it is open.  The old station is quite a place and is now  a museum.  There are other things depending on your interests.

e) unforgettable places to eat or shows/activities we would not want to miss while visiting the towns or cities on our way.

Guess we have a lot of questions and need a lot of advice.[/quote]

If you are interested, I will get the names of some books that might peak your interest in MT.  One that involves Virginia City is the Vigilantes of MT, I think. 

 

[SeilerBird]

d) things and places we can not miss visiting...

A few miles south of Yellowstone NP is Grand Teton NP. I have spent many months in both parks and I much prefer Grand Teton over Yellowstone. It is not nearly as crowded and the wildlife is as good as it gets anywhere. You can get into the campgrounds at Grand Teton without reservations at almost any time of year.

 

[Greatoutdoors]

Thank you all for the advice! Our kids are 5 and 7, we love most outdoor activities, bikes, horses, hiking, fishing. My husband would love to fit some fishing in! We will probably head up through Nevada to Idaho into montana. We would like any rv park recommendations for Idaho and other parts of montana as well. We are planning in 3 days in yellowstone is there enough to keep the kids busy for that long or is it not long enough to see everything?? Thank you in advance!

 

[ArdraF]

We just spent a whole week in Yellowstone and didn't see everything!  Three days will barely be enough.  For one thing the place is huge and it takes a while to go from point A to point B.  The time stretches if there's a "buffalo jam" which is when a herd of bison decides it wants to take a stroll down the road you're trying to drive on.  That added an entire hour to our drive time on one of our days there.  The bison and other critters have the right of way because it's their home and we're the visitors.  Your children will have all kinds of neat boiling cauldrons to see, there are wonderful hikes with a wide variety of views and things to see along the trail, and of course they'll love seeing the animals.  There appeared to be quite of few people fishing in a couple of the rivers within the park.

ArdraF

 

[hpykmpr]

We spent a week at Yellowstone in June and put about 1000 miles on our car while there. There is so much to see and do that I would not know where to start to tell you .. I agree with Marsha The Grizzly RV park in West Yellowstone is great . No we did not stay there but would have liked to but we had made a reservation at one of the other parks in town. As far as ways to get there we came in from Boseman ,Montana , it ,I think is probably one of the easier ways to go and it is one of the most beautiful drives that you can take. Hope you enjoy your vacation . Have a great trip.

 

[donn]

From where you are head north on I5 at Redding head toward Alturis ans US395 take this north through eastern Oregon to Burns.  Head east picking up I84 at the OR/ID border.  Return could be to take the hwy south out of Yellowstone toward SLC to pick up I80 home

 

[dawnbmoore]

Three days is not a lot of time to spend in Yellowstone--you'd just scratch the surface.  You might just assume that you'll return again when your children are older.  DH has been there 3 times & is eager to return. 

Your children might be a bit young for the gunfight outside the Erma Hotel in Cody--check online to find out what the times are.  We enjoyed that a lot!  During the summer, Cody also has a nightly rodeo that we hope to see on one of our return trips.  Take time to just enjoy this wondrous place.

 

[natasha163]

Hi, we are from Australia. We did a 6 week roadtrip in june/uly 2011, and spend time in yellowstone with our 4 kids then aged 8, 6 and 3 1.2 year old twins in a 31 ft motorhome.

My suggestions would be...
- campground - my suggestion would be to stay somewhere inside the park. You will be doing enough driving around yellowstone as it is with the kids, so i would avoid extra miles by not having to drive into the park everyday. We stayed at Madison, only because we couldn't get reservations at the more central Canyon campground (which also has a laundry! )

- What our kids enjoyed - mostly wildlife spotting. The geysers, mudpots etc and fishing (make sure you get a license) and the many waterfalls.
The kids loved sitting around the campfire at night making smores.They also loved waiting for old faithful to erupt while eating ice cream!

- I would second seiler birds notion of adding Grand Teton National Park/Jackson to your to do list. We spent four days their and it was still not enough! You will see lots of wildlife, gorgeous mountains, just beautiful. One highlight for us in Jackson was visiting the BAR T5 covered wagon dinner and show. Great family evening, the kids loved the ride out to the dinner in the covered wagons which got "stormed by indians"! Yummy food and great entertainment which envolved the entire crowd with crowd participation (and kids). Resonably priced.we stayed at gros ventre (gro vont) which is non reservable, but like seiler bird said, no problems getting a spot here. saw moose on the drives in and out reguarly.

- We also spent 3 days in cody, which can be done as a side trip, beautiful drive out there. Theres the Buffalo Bill Museum (huge) we visited this, but its so big the kids got bored after a while, which is understandable considering the little ones, but i recommend this anyway. We stayed at the cody koa, kind of expensive, but has a pool, hot tub, hay rides for the kids, shuttle into the nightly rodeo, jumping pillow, ice cream social, pancake breakfasts, games room, etc we just found it great for the kids, and really friendly.

We are heading back for another trip this june july, and are heading back to spend more time in yellowstone and grand teton national park.
This time we are going to do a family float/small white water dinner trip in jackson/gtnp, jenny lake, inspiration point, and in yellowstone, visit the grizzly and wolf discovery center in west yellowstone(lots of kid stuff to do and see), see more of some of the places we flew by last time, like tower, lamar, mammoth hot springs and more trails...
we are going to check out a couple of these suggestions from the list below.
Easy hikes for kids?
Geyser basin trails?
? Mud volcano loop(north of lake/fb)
? West thumb geyser basin
? Norris back basin
? Fountain paint pots
? Black sand basin

Geyser Hill out to morning glory(check with visitor centre when it is going to erupt and go in that direction first)

Observation Point Loop Trail-(hike above to look down on old faithful and all of the area. Kids like seeing solitary geyser as it erupts, if you stay there a few minutes.

Lake Area Hikes
? Storm Point Trail
? Natural Bridge Trail

Canyon Area
? Uncle Tom's (kids love stairs) you'll never forget doing this
? Cascade Lake Trail
? Grebe Lake Trail

Old Faithful
? Lone Star Geyser Trail
? Fairy Falls Trail (easier than mystic)
? Mystic Falls Trail

Norris Area
Ice Lake Trail (can use pram)

West Yellowstone
? Two Ribbins trail (can use pram)

Mammoth
? Beaver ponds loop trail (ages 6 and up - can do it if they hike often- about 5 miles)
? Wraith Falls - easy 1 mile

I hope you have a great family holiday and i hope some of this has helped.

 

[fastrak100]

We too are going to be travelling from N Ca to Yellowstone this spring - We are hoping to have a great time, so these posts are really good and getting me quite excited (it doesn't take much).

 

[Jack-Bikes]

From where you are head north on I5 at Redding head toward Alturis ans US395 take this north through eastern Oregon to Burns.  Head east picking up I84 at the OR/ID border.  Return could be to take the hwy south out of Yellowstone toward SLC to pick up I80 home

I'm from Northern Cal, (North Bay) and heading to West Yellowstone in the Fall. I'm heading east on I-80 then north at Winnemucca up to Boise. (to visit friends) After the visit we will head to Yellowstone via Twin Falls and Idaho Falls. We are going to the Tetons first then on to Yellowstone where we will be at Grizzly RV park.  You could start the same way, (on I-80) then head north at Wells, (NV). up to Yellowstone. I agree that you will want more time, we are staying a week at Grizzly.

 

[SeilerBird]

We too are going to be travelling from N Ca to Yellowstone this spring - We are hoping to have a great time...

You are hoping to have a great time? If you go to Yellowstone it is guaranteed you will have a great time. It is one of the most beautiful and fascinating places on the planet. And Yellowstone was the very first National Park ever created on this planet and there are lots of reasons why. The problem is that if you are there a month you still won't see it all. 2.2 million acres of stunning wildlife and unbelievable beauty. And save some time for the Grand Tetons.

 

[fastrak100]

I think the biggest question we have is how early can we get into the North West without being frozen back out of - of course that is probably unanswerable.
Our preference is not to 'camp' (swan round the country in luxury, comfort and WARMTH) in below freezing temperatures.
We could be ready to leave NoCa by mid April, but feel it would probably be still too cold if we drive East of the I5 corridor before early May.
Does anyone have further thoughts on that? (hoping that is not breaking forum etiquette by being too far off topic, please flame me gently if you think it is).
Seilerbird, that is another one of my biggest worries. The scale of the place. Unfortunately my wife Sally tires quickly and has difficulty in travelling for more than a couple of hours in a day. we are booked in to Fishing Bridge The main loop is 120ish miles long. Estimate 4 hours to drive it, plus stops does not add up. i have tried the other campgrounds on the loop, but none have bookable space for our 31ft TT. Any suggestions?

 

[SeilerBird]

If you are going to Yellowstone weather will always be an issue. It can snow any month of the year there. July and August and the only two months that will probably be snow free. Snow takes a long time to melt above 6000 feet.

 

[fastrak100]

Yes, we can cope with Yellowstone specific climate for a short time, sealed in, closed out, or sit it out.
However we don't really want to be battling the weather the whole time.Our trip dates are April 9th through July 6th, with a YS reservation 16-23 June. We are travelling north from NoCa, turning right at Seattle and 'doing' the region in between.  If it is going to be miserable we can change our plan and approach using 84 from Portland, or even from the South West, using 80/93, then go West to Seattle in the Fall.

 

[Fyrestorm]

If you haven't gotten reservations in Yellowstone yet I would get on it ASAP.  I got mine in September 2013 for July 2014.  They fill quickly if you want to stay inside the park. (Which I highly recommend) 

 

[Jim Godward]

Yes, we can cope with Yellowstone specific climate for a short time, sealed in, closed out, or sit it out.
However we don't really want to be battling the weather the whole time.Our trip dates are April 9th through July 6th, with a YS reservation 16-23 June.

Typically there is no snow from Portland to Montana after the 1st of May.  Here in Bozeman we usually don't have freezing temps after 15 May however Yellowstone may have them any time of year as well as snow.  Bozeman has had snow in every month except August and we are 2000 feet lower than Old Faithful so the chance is there.  Bring warm clothes and enjoy.