Summer RV National Park Trip

[johnnyyi1014]

We are new to this forum and new to the RV life! We are excited to adventure in our beautiful country and are picking up our Scamp in Northern MN. Our plan was to drive through Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and back home to AZ. Unfortunately, we didn't think to make RV campsite reservations super early and are finding most places already sold out. We are looking for the last week of June/first week of July. Any recommendations from more seasoned experts? Thanks in advance!

[ppine]

Find some USFS campgrounds and commute to the parks. There is plenty of boondocking around. Most people from the East have a hard time adjusting to all of that public land. Forty five years ago I had the same problem.

[ppine]

Find some USFS campgrounds and commute to the parks. There is plenty of boondocking around.

[bikendan]

Ivylog wrote:
Another one post and never heard from again. I knew I should have just asked “Do you have a generator?

well, they want help finding campsites in some of the most popular parks in the country, this coming summer because they didn't make reservations.
i personally don't think that's going to be easy.

[Ivylog]

Another one post and never heard from again. I knew I should have just asked “Do you have a generator?

[4runnerguy]

You have picked one of the busiest weeks, that of the first week in July. First piece of advice is to check online many times a day for sites at Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Cancellations to occur but they disappear quickly. For the Black Hills, do similarly for sites at Custer State Park. As you've probably found, they have their own website. But unless you're incredibly lucky, you won't have much success.

I'm hoping you can get by without hookups. Your unit doesn't have a shower so water isn't important and you will have long hours of daylight that time of year. At many of the places you'll be, you shouldn't need a/c as you'll be out during the day and it cools nicely at night.

Have you used recreation.gov yet? Scroll down and click on search camping, input the date you want to be someplace, and click on booking types and make sure camping is all that is selected. I found a variety of campsites still available in the Black Hills and Yellowstone area, even for the 4th of July weekend. Sure, no hookups, but having a reservation that time of year is nice especially if you've got a distance to cover and can't get somewhere before noon to grab a first come, first served location.

As noted, there are some first come, first served sites in Yellowstone, but they fill early. For instance we checked a couple of times at Norris last summer as we were exploring and found Norris had filled before 8:00 a.m. both times. Norris is nicely located. Maybe come in the north entrance and drive by Mammoth and Indian Creek to see if you find a spot? Otherwise, I'd take a good look at getting a reservation at one of the CG's around Hebgen Lake NW of West Yellowstone. A bit of a "commute" to get to the park but somewhere with quite a few campsites. There are both reservable and first come, first served sites there. Use recreation.gov and date search when you plan on being there.

As noted at Grand Teton, check out Gros Ventre CG if you are arriving late. But at least at GTNP, a lot of CG's are all first come, first served.

In both Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP's there are showers one can use even if you aren't camped at the specific CG where they are located. Check the NPS websites for info. From our experience, try to avoid 5-8 p.m. as that is the busy time of day and you might waste part of your vacation time just waiting in line. 😞

Although it might be your first experience with your new trailer, you might have to consider boondocking in a few places. At least a Scamp is small and easy to maneuver. Check out Campendium scroll down to the state you need and click. You'll be able to zoom in to areas to see possible locations.

[ppine]

It is usually possible to find an RV park near the NP. You have to commute but you can have the benefit of hookups. I like to visit popular NPs only in the off season.

[Jayco-noslide]

It can be difficult to visit those places without reservations but not impossible. For example, about half of the Yellowstone campgrounds are run by a concessioner and take reservations but some of the rest are 1st come 1st served and sites may be available between early and late morning. Also there are surrounding private ones. Semi primitive national forest campgrounds near the Parks are a good bet. Most have no hook-ups but some have great sites sometimes even paved and large with bathrooms a water source, maybe a dump station. Do some research on-line.

[padredw]

I am going to make one assumption since you say you are new to the RV life: that is that you will want at least electric and water hook up. In that light I make some suggestions.

For Mt. Rushmore: There are many good campgrounds in the Black Hills region, so widen your search We stayed for a week at Custer's Gulch near the town of Custer and found it to be a great base for the entire region including Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, the Wildlife look, Iron Mountain Road, Needle Highway, and Crazy Horse.

For Yellowstone: Again, widen your search. We have stayed twice in Idaho at Island Park. It is about a 20 mile drive up to the West Gate but we found even the drive to be enjoyable. We stayed once at Red Rock RV Park (commercial and very good) and once at Henry's Lake State Park, both in the Island Park region of Idaho.

For Grand Tetons: We've always stayed in the Colter Bay RV Park, but that requires long in advance reservations. The adjoining Colter Bay Campground does not have hookup but is a very nice campground. Many people confuse the two. Just be clear: the RV PARK has hookup and requires long advance reservation; the CAMPGROUND is no hookup but almost always has openings. If you require hookups widen your search all the way down to the town of Jackson.

If my assumption was not correct about your need for electric and water, I don't think you would have a problem finding campsites. If I'm right you are not likely to find a site WITHIN any of these national parks, but if you widen your search (for instance using RV Park Review website) you can likely find a place to stay. I'd be glad to respond to a private message if I can be of more specific help. We have been at it for over 20 years and my wife DOES want hookup, and we have been in most of the US states--multiple times in the mountain West.

[Ivylog]

Above is good advice and this may be good for you...learning how to get along without hookups or reservations. Small tanks are going to make it harder but it is doable for several days by using paper products and using the not so nice pit toilets. There are plenty of USFS CGs that do not take reservations and the closer to the weekend (and later in the day) you show up the fewer the sites. Unlike me, you should fit in any empty site.

UScampgrounds.info is the best site I’ve found for finding public CGs. Allstays has a APP that’s worth buying and RVParky is also good.

[CloudDriver]

For Grand Teton, we always use Gros Ventre campground at the southern end of the Park. No reservations, seldom fills, level sites, one loop with electric, water and dump at the entrance. Get there in mid-morning as folks are leaving and you should have no trouble finding a site.

For Yellowstone, keep calling back to check for cancellations. Otherwise, we have used Bakers Hole Forest Service campground 3 miles north of West Yellowstone. Again, get there as folks are leaving. Another FS campground we have used when Bakers Hole was full is Rainbow Point about 4 miles further on. A number of private campgrounds in West Yellowstone and west near Henrys lake. Again, keep calling to check for cancellations.

When driving cross country, we call ahead for a campsite in the early afternoon. For the 4th of July weekend we have called ahead several days and have been successful.

[Busskipper]

johnnyyi1014 wrote:
We are new to this forum and new to the RV life! We are excited to adventure in our beautiful country and are picking up our Scamp in Northern MN. Our plan was to drive through Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and back home to AZ. Unfortunately, we didn't think to make RV campsite reservations super early and are finding most places already sold out. We are looking for the last week of June/first week of July. Any recommendations from more seasoned experts? Thanks in advance!

Jon's Blog might be of some help -Link

Sometimes it's good to see how other's have done it.

Best of Luck,