RV life would be so much simpler if ...

[SeilerBird]

Colter Bay campground is only 18 miles from Yellowstone and there are almost always spots there. Not FHU though.

 

[RVMommaTo6]

Well here is some good news. The idiot who was harassing the buffalo at Yellowstone was sentenced to 130 days in jail for being an idiot.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/08/23/yellowstone-bison-taunter-reportedly-sentenced-to-jail.html

Good! He's the kind of guy that ruins good things for other people (the reason we can't have nice things!)

 

[Larry N.]

Well here is some good news. The idiot who was harassing the buffalo at Yellowstone was sentenced to 130 days in jail for being an idiot.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/08/23/yellowstone-bison-taunter-reportedly-sentenced-to-jail.html

And the news last night reported that, and also said he was banned from Yellowstone, Tetons and Glacier, in addition to the jail time, as did the article.

 

[SeilerBird]

I didn't know that. Thanks Larry.

 

[John Stephens]

I have stayed in Grizzly RV Park.  Very very nice and pretty expensive, but it is close to the park entrance and handy to the fun little town of West Yellowstone. You really do need to make reservations that early, though they do get cancelations as the season goes on. There are other less expensive options if you are willing to drive 30 minutes or so from West Yellowstone. North there is Hegben Lake with a number of reservable campgrounds. There are also some campgrounds toward the east and south along Henry?s Lake and near Island Park.

Pam - I checked out all the parks in West Yellowstone and found Buffalo Crossing to be the cheapest and still have good ratings. Grizzly seems quite popular but as you said, is quite expensive. Normally, I would shop and find less expensive campgrounds, but we want to get as close to the park as possible since we'll be traveling with three dogs and on some excursions, will have to leave them in the coach. That will mean going back to let them out in the middle of the day and we won't want to take any more time than necessary on the road or else we won't have enough time during the day to see the sites we will want to visit. We understand how large the park is and are trying to plan accordingly.

I considered Fishing Bridge within the park but had already checked out the website that Tom just suggested, finding out their average time to book up is about 9AM every day and I didn't want to take the chance of not having a place to stay if we didn't make it there in time. It is the only campground in the park that has FHU. And then JackieMac indicated it would be closed during the time we will be there. If we were only going to stay for a few days, I wouldn't mind trying one of the others, but we're planning on being there for at least two weeks and possibly longer.

If anyone has experience, good or bad, with Buffalo Crossing, I will appreciate hearing about it.

 

[jackiemac]

John,

one thing that we found when we stayed in West Yellowstone was that there were some elk frequenting an area just outside of town. Quite often there were traffic jams because of folks wanting to take photos.  One of the times we spent about an hour trying to get a few miles down the road.  Just for info in case dogs need to be let out at specific times.  Check out dog sitters in the area too as a friend got someone to let her dog out for her when she stayed there.

You are doing the right thing making reservations if you are making that your main destination.  You will have a great time that's for sure.

 

[SeilerBird]

And the news last night reported that, and also said he was banned from Yellowstone, Tetons and Glacier, in addition to the jail time, as did the article.

But wait....there is more.

Reinke, 55, is banned from Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier national parks for a five-year probationary period during which he is not allowed to drink alcohol. His planned chemical dependency treatment is now court-ordered.

"I'm sorry to the buffalo. He didn't deserve what I did to him," Reinke said, ABC Fox Montana reported.

U.S. Attorney Leo Pico described Reinke's behavior as the "most egregious" case of animal harassment he'd seen in Yellowstone.

The judge told Reinke: "You're lucky the bison didn't take care of it, and you're standing in front of me."

Reinke was first cited for public intoxication and interfering with law enforcement in Grand Teton National Park on July 28. He spent a night in jail before posting a $500 bond.

A few days later in Yellowstone, Reinke got in trouble after getting out of the car to see if there was a way he could help clear a traffic jam.

When he saw the bison on the road he decided to try to herd it off, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported.

"I thought I was doing what was appropriate," Reinke said. "I just didn't think. That's my stupidity."

In the viral video, Reinke is seen walking up to a bison waving his arms. The animal charges him a couple times, but he was not injured. Yellowstone National Park regulations require people to stay 25 yards away from bison.

He was cited for intentionally disturbing wildlife and having an open container of alcohol, but rangers were unaware of the conditions of his bond, which required him to remain law-abiding and avoid alcohol.

However, Reinke had mentioned his next stop was Glacier National Park. When officials put the whole story together a judge revoked Reinke's bond in the Grand Teton case and rangers arrested him in Glacier park on Aug. 3. Officials say he was causing a disturbance there, as well, but he was not cited.

He was trying to herd the animal off the road. Alcohol really makes some people stupid. You would think he would get the message. There is a visitors center at Canyon Junction and it used to show a video on repeat play showing people getting too close to buffaloes and getting all kinds of hurt. A real bunch of bozos.

 

[John Stephens]

John,

one thing that we found when we stayed in West Yellowstone was that there were some elk frequenting an area just outside of town. Quite often there were traffic jams because of folks wanting to take photos.  One of the times we spent about an hour trying to get a few miles down the road.  Just for info in case dogs need to be let out at specific times.  Check out dog sitters in the area too as a friend got someone to let her dog out for her when she stayed there.

You are doing the right thing making reservations if you are making that your main destination.  You will have a great time that's for sure.

Jackie - thanks for all your help and advice you have given me thus far. I'm sure I'm not finished asking questions you will be able to help with yet. Although we still haven't cemented our plans because we can't yet make reservations, we're pretty sure we'll stay at Buffalo Crossing if possible. Since we just got an eight week old puppy that will be about a year old when we make this trip, all our dogs will be capable of going for at least five or six hours and probably eight before having to be let out, so we're hoping that the times we have to leave them will be short enough to not have to go back out. But I want to plan for the worst scenarios anyway. I am assuming that the sites we may want to drive to on the farthest away parts of the park will be journeys that we will be able to take the dogs with us. My main concern with not taking them will be when we are visiting areas that have walkways. Any place we go where we won't be getting out of the car will be times when we can take them with us, assuming that if we stop for lunch somewhere, we'll be allowed to have the dogs out of the car. I'm not the type that will get out of the car to take photos of bison or bears.

Staying in West Yellowstone also gives us the advantage of traveling a shorter distance to our next stop at Glacier when we decide to leave Yellowstone. We're planning on driving to Garrison for one night and then onto Whitefish, where we have friends that have a ranch of Collies and horses that have enough room to let us dry camp and take day trips into Glacier. In the event we cannot stay on their ranch, we'll find a campground.

You mentioned in a previous post on another thread that you traveled to the east side of the park and visited Browning, St. Mary and Babb. This gave me the idea of traveling to Banff from there, but after hearing that there are better parks on the west side of the mountains before Banff, I am wondering if it wouldn't be better to travel the west side to Radium Hot Springs, where we're thinking of staying for a few days or a week before driving to the Icefields Pkwy and taking it up to Jasper. My question is: are there enough good things to see and visit on the east side of Glacier to make it worth taking that route? Also, how easy will it be traversing Glacier in a 39' gasser pulling a toad compared to crossing the mountains nearer to Banff? I have no idea what kind of grades we're going to run into on either route. I am assuming we will have to plan on driving 25 mph up most of the mountains when we get to the Rockies. I have no desire to hurry and then burn up either my engine or transmission, but I'll be interested in the easiest route for the sake of the coach. If you have experience in both routes, I'll appreciate your suggestions.