Travelling from UK, new to RV, Denver to Yellowstone, looking for advice

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Driving from Texas to Pagosa springs Colorado with a stop in Santa Fe, and Chama NM the dividing line point seemed to be around Santa Rosa, NM. Gas prices in Santa Rosa were mostly $2.89 we thought about filling up, but since we were just under half a tank we decided to press onward, and did not see prices below $3.21 until we were back around Santa Rosa again over a week later. It was like there was a sudden line, just 15 or so miles west of Santa Rosa where the prices went up and never came back down.
 
Trying to plan 2-3 hours driving a day, with a few 2 or 3 night stops on the way.
I don't see how you're going to fit a trip from Denver to Yellowstone and back into two weeks, if you're driving 2-3 hours a day, and planning multi-night stops at places on the way, and you mentioned seeing some sights in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, as well.

Also, it's a pretty big trip for your first time in an RV. It will probably be cold at night so you'll have to run your furnace and manage your batteries (unless you're staying in a campground with electricity, and Fishing Bridge is the only one in Yellowstone that has electricity, and it'll be $95/night in September 2025), and battery management and charging can flummox even seasoned RVers. You'll also have to be futzing around with water and dumping tanks. And you'll be driving a large vehicle everywhere you go, and of course stowing everything every time you want to go anywhere.

If it were me, I'd fly closer to Yellowstone and rent a car and stay in motels. That way you can concentrate on the sights and not hassle with the overhead of an RV, and especially the overhead experienced by a never-ever.

FYI, here are the rates for campsites; note that only two will be open in the latter part of September (that was our experience when we went in the latter part of September way back in 2011--smaller crowds, but some campgrounds were already closed, so there wasn't the surfeit of campsites we'd expected (although I wouldn't be surprised if everything is now by reservation only)):

Yellowstone campsites September 2025

I don't know anything about any of the lodging there, but the rates don't look that bad at all:

Yellowstone motels September 2025

But I checked for October 2024, and it looks like they're doing dynamic pricing. Sigh. So I assume the rates will be higher as you get closer to September 2025, but I'd recommend reserving any lodging in Yellowstone itself in advance anyway. For the other areas, if you're staying in motels you probably don't need to reserve at all--you said you've done that before and I don't think the pandemic did to motel availability what it did to campground availability.
 
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We have been focusing on smaller national parks such as wind cave and great sand dunes the past couple of years so maybe this has changed but the more popular parks have implemented crowd contol measures that dont lend themselves to advanced planning. Specifically the lotteries for entrance passes that you have to get the night before is what i am referring to. The rules were different from park to park and even at different times of year at the same park.

Seems like there would be benefits to standardizing things across the park system (and standardize security across all airports for that matter)
One important thing is that if you have a camping reservation inside a national park, you can automatically get in. No lottery needed. Plus a lot of the parks let you reserve an entrance pass several days in advance.
 
If you do this route, watch for the herds of Pronghorn Antelope as by September they are gathering into large herds for the coming winter.
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Even if you change plans and fly into Salt Lake City there will be many of them once you cross into Wyoming. The can be difficult to spot so keep a sharp eye out as more than half of the world population of them roam free in WY.
I've driven across Montana several times en-route to hunting trips in Saskatchewan and this is correct. Antelope are everywhere in that region - like sheep, just grazing in the fields along the highway. It seemed at times that there was a dead one along the shoulder almost every mile.

My buddy and I stopped at a small restaurant in Lima, MT once and they had antelope, elk, and venison on the breakfast menu. I asked about the antelope and the waitress aid they were out of season. My buddy, said, "There are 10 of them fresh-dead along the road just out of town. We'll go get one if you want." She replied, "Oh, you can't do that - it's illegal." He said he was just joking...maybe. :cool:
 
I can't agree with hiring a car and using hotels/motels unless there's a considerable cost saving.
For 2 weeks you'll be living out of a suitcase, noisy corridors, and every meal will have to bought out.
In Yellowstone, that's going to get expensive. Even a medium pizza in Gardiner was nearly 27$ this year without tax or tips.
If you decide to hire an rv, find out if it has a built in generator and what the cost is if you use it.
Some hire companies don't charge, some charge per hour used and others charge a flat fee no matter how much you use it.
With an RV you have coffee, tea and food to hand, not to mention a bathroom whenever you need it!
I agree with others that if Yellowstone and the Tetons are your bucket list destinations, do them but see if you can get reasonable price flights to Salt Lake City as that's much closer.
Even better, see if you can get a one way hire between Denver and SLC, and book multi-city flights.
Fuel up before entering either park, all fuel once inside is around a dollar per gallon dearer than outside the parks.
Campgrounds inside are also very expensive and free camping inside Yellowstone is non existent.
Grand Teton has free camping near Moran junction for up to five nights.
If you're not dead set on Yellowstone, we've just spent most of September in Colorado and loved every mile. True, wildlife is harder to find but it's there.
I think you need to do a lot more searching as to what you really want.
Help here on the forum is always available.
 
I've driven across Montana several times en-route to hunting trips in Saskatchewan and this is correct. Antelope are everywhere in that region - like sheep, just grazing in the fields along the highway. It seemed at times that there was a dead one along the shoulder almost every mile.

My buddy and I stopped at a small restaurant in Lima, MT once and they had antelope, elk, and venison on the breakfast menu. I asked about the antelope and the waitress aid they were out of season. My buddy, said, "There are 10 of them fresh-dead along the road just out of town. We'll go get one if you want." She replied, "Oh, you can't do that - it's illegal." He said he was just joking...maybe. :cool:
Actually, in a lot of states, if you hit a deer or other animal, you are allowed to keep the meat or donate it. In rural Michigan, you just have to notify the sheriff and he or she will come out and give you a tag. Meat is safe to eat as long as you take it as soon as you hit animal.
 
Actually, in a lot of states, if you hit a deer or other animal, you are allowed to keep the meat or donate it. In rural Michigan, you just have to notify the sheriff and he or she will come out and give you a tag. Meat is safe to eat as long as you take it as soon as you hit animal.
I know you can do that in Arkansas, but that only applies if you hit it during actual deer season in the fall/winter. Any other time of year is a no-no.
 
Thanks so much for everyone’s comments, it’s been really helpful. Still undecided about RV vs car, if we go RV will definitely downsize for parking, touring.

Trying to fit in military vehicle museum for husband, but might need to miss out. If we do RV would skip Gardiner and W Yellowstone and camp in park, and shorten rest of route. But If we go CAR and motels, is this itinerary crazy?

1 - fly in Denver 16:30, Hotel at airport

2 - fly to Bozeman, pick up car, drive to Gardiner

3 - stay Gardiner, tour Yellowstone

4 - Stay Gardiner, tour Yellowstone

5 - Gardiner to West Yellowstone, via some sights further down, Grand Prismatic & Old Faithfull?

6 - Stay West Yellowstone, day in Yellowstone

7 - West Yellowstone to Cody

8 - Stay Cody, museum

9 - Stay Cody, tour up to Chief Joseph, Beartooth pass, Red Lodge and back

10 - Cody to Dubois, via Thermopolis, Stay Dubois

11 - Dubois, Military vehicle museum

12 - Dubois to Victor, via Grand Teton, Stay Victor

13 - Stay Victor, into GT park for day

14 - Victor to Bozeman, Stay Bozeman

15 - Stay Bozeman

16 - Bozeman - late flight to Denver, Stay Denver

17 - fly out Denver 18:35

18 - arrive uk
 
Also if anyone ever needs UK road trip advice, I would say, don’t!! Takes us 6-7 hours to do 200-300 miles. Might be small but road system and traffic is a nightmare!
 
Takes us 6-7 hours to do 200-300 miles. Might be small but road system and traffic is a nightmare!
How things change. I recall when I lived in South Wales, I'd leave home and drop down into the valley, get on the M4 and drive 17 miles to work, often without seeing another car. One of my college class modules was called 'The Economics Of Traffic Congestion", and I couldn't see an application for it. - until my first visit to the San Francisco Bay Area :eek:
 
This part will be a very busy day

9 - Stay Cody, tour up to Chief Joseph, Beartooth pass, Red Lodge and back

Plan on at least 4 hrs one way to go from cody to red lodge to drive over beartooth pass. You can do one way faster but then you miss beartooth. Far as i know you have to drive close to the east entrance of yellowstone from cody to see the pass. It is worth the drive but most people stop at multiple places along the pass for pictures
 
This part will be a very busy day

9 - Stay Cody, tour up to Chief Joseph, Beartooth pass, Red Lodge and back

Plan on at least 4 hrs one way to go from cody to red lodge to drive over beartooth pass. You can do one way faster but then you miss beartooth. Far as i know you have to drive close to the east entrance of yellowstone from cody to see the pass. It is worth the drive but most people stop at multiple places along the pass for pictures
Ah thanks, can’t seem to find an ideal route. If we did Gardiner to Red Lodge would be just as long I guess, unless we stop at Cooke City. Then miss out Thermopolis and go back to YStone East Entrance, but looks long too unless we stay in the park. Gonna need to compromise somewhere to make it more holiday, less endurance 🙄.
 
Ah thanks, can’t seem to find an ideal route. If we did Gardiner to Red Lodge would be just as long I guess, unless we stop at Cooke City. Then miss out Thermopolis and go back to YStone East Entrance, but looks long too unless we stay in the park. Gonna need to compromise somewhere to make it more holiday, less endurance 🙄.
There are always tradeoffs. There is no way to see everything. We have found that the more time you have to spend in any national park the more enjoyable the trip. Also, we started enjoying rv travel more when we slowed down and stopped trying to move the rv more than 200 miles in a day and dont move the rv on back to back days.

Rvs inevitably break down so the more packed your itinerary the more stress when the rv has a problem.

I took my buddy on a weekend vacation in the rv once. I was retired and he was still working and had limited vacation days. He was miserable when we had rv issues cause he was losing the only down time he could afford.
 
Also if anyone ever needs UK road trip advice, I would say, don’t!! Takes us 6-7 hours to do 200-300 miles. Might be small but road system and traffic is a nightmare!
As a matter of fact, I am right now blocking out a driving trip to the UK next summer. I like to drive the smaller country roads away from the big cities because of scary heavy bus and truck/lorry traffic on some two-lane roads.
 
I like to drive the smaller country roads away from the big cities because of scary heavy bus and truck/lorry traffic on some two-lane roads.
You wouldn't want to share the road with even foot traffic in our part of the UK.
 

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Personally I would skip step 9, also assuming rental car and not RV, I would eliminate steps 12-16. Instead I would suggest just staying in Dubois and commute from there to explore Grand Tetons. Dubois to Grand Teton entry is only about 55 miles / 1 hour drive each way, and it is a rather scenic drive at that. Also why back track and drive all the way back to Bozeman, consider perhaps returning the rental car to another location, sure it may cost a little extra, but maybe not too much. Perhaps even return it directly to Denver, the time penalty here would not be that much. Dubois to Bozeman is 240 miles, but it will be a slow 240 miles as that goes through Yellowstone with its low speed limits. Dubois to Denver is 425 miles, or about a 7-8 hours of drive time in a rental car, probably only 3 hours longer than the drive from Dubois to Bozeman.

When we were there in 2017 we spent 2 nights in Dubois, commuted across the pass to Grand Tetons 3 times (drove over and back on day 1, then over and on to Yellowstone on day 2) and that was in a 28 ft motorhome, in a car it would be even easier. This really is an easy, and scenic mountain pass, nothing like some of the other passes in the area.
 
As a matter of fact, I am right now blocking out a driving trip to the UK next summer. I like to drive the smaller country roads away from the big cities because of scary heavy bus and truck/lorry traffic on some two-lane roads.
Ah, hope you have a great time. Yes, stick to the smaller A roads and B roads and you'll be fine. Head north if you can as it's much quieter! Or come to East Anglia, but be prepared to share the single track roads with the tractors and combines! Plus we haven't fixed all our pot holes yet!
 
Personally I would skip step 9, also assuming rental car and not RV, I would eliminate steps 12-16. Instead I would suggest just staying in Dubois and commute from there to explore Grand Tetons. Dubois to Grand Teton entry is only about 55 miles / 1 hour drive each way, and it is a rather scenic drive at that. Also why back track and drive all the way back to Bozeman, consider perhaps returning the rental car to another location, sure it may cost a little extra, but maybe not too much. Perhaps even return it directly to Denver, the time penalty here would not be that much. Dubois to Bozeman is 240 miles, but it will be a slow 240 miles as that goes through Yellowstone with its low speed limits. Dubois to Denver is 425 miles, or about a 7-8 hours of drive time in a rental car, probably only 3 hours longer than the drive from Dubois to Bozeman.

When we were there in 2017 we spent 2 nights in Dubois, commuted across the pass to Grand Tetons 3 times (drove over and back on day 1, then over and on to Yellowstone on day 2) and that was in a 28 ft motorhome, in a car it would be even easier. This really is an easy, and scenic mountain pass, nothing like some of the other passes in the area.
Wow, thanks Issac, you've been a massive help and really good to know about Dubois and route in to GT. That will really help a lot. Again I hadn't thought about the rental car drop off at a different site. And would save on the return internal flight to head back to Denver. (Looked into Salt Lake Flights, but no direct flights from UK currently.) Will reconsider the whole Beartooth, Cody route. As mentioned might go via Gardiner, Cooke City, Red Lodge to Cody, then back into Yellowstone East Entrance, and see if we can bag a cabin in Old Faithfull and miss out West Yellowstone. Anyway, thanks again!
 
Is there a reason you're staying in Victor? By doing so, you have to go past Grand Teton NP and then backtrack the next day.

For that matter, I don't recall anything real interesting in West Yellowstone, and would opt to stay in the park over staying in West Yellowstone, so you don't have to deal with possible lines at the entrance to the park. And actually, if you stay in Jackson or in Grand Teton NP instead of Victor, you could go to Bozeman by going back through Yellowstone, and briefly stop in West Yellowstone, which will be a the halfway point of that 200-mile day.

Also, staying in Gardiner. That's a good place to do the north side of the park, but maybe stay there the night before and after the big loop up there, and move to some place deeper in the park. That's one of the nice things about staying in motels--you can pack up that morning and drive all around all day and land at your next motel, and won't have to be setting anything up once you get there (which means you can get there pretty late, if necessary).

All that said, I'll just add that driving Denver to Jackson, WY (Grand Teton) is about 550 miles, which is a big deal in an RV but not in a car. I don't know how you deal with jet lag, but if you're usually peppy after flying west, and you get to Denver in the late afternoon, you could knock a few hours off the 10-hour drive (edit: it's an 8-1/2 hour drive) that evening, and arrive in Jackson the next afternoon. And you could just find a motel room when you decide to stop that first night, to maintain maximum flexibility.

I like Bozeman, but I wouldn't prioritize it on a trip that's Yellowstone-centric.

And thanks for mentioning the tank museum. I have zero interest in military vehicles, but then thought about it, and I think tanks are pretty cool. I keep a map called "main map" and it has various things all over the country I might want to see if I'm in the vicinity, and Dubois now has a pushpin.
 
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