Yellowstone 2020

[PatJ]

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I have a family trip planned to Yellowstone in spring 2020, and would like any tips or advice from those that have recent experience in the park.

About 25 years ago, I visited Yellowstone as a care-free ~20 year old. I drove my old pickup and camper from WA state with a 650 Yamaha strapped to the back. We stayed at the West Yellowstone KOA (coasted in on a summer weekend and easily got an available spot walk-in with no reservations.) We rode the bike and drove the camper around the park for a week or two (don't really remember.) There was never any issue finding a spot to camp, finding a parking spot, traffic, etc. This was August. That is my only experience with the park.

Memorial Day weekend 2020, my wife and I have a spot reserved at the same West Yellowstone KOA for a week. We will be bringing our 2019 "23 foot" (24'10" actual bumper-to-bumper) class C. We are also bringing our 8 year old daughter (the 18 year old is too cool to camp with mom and dad anymore.) We are experienced campers/travelers.

From my reading it seems a lot has changed in 25 years. Based on searches and trip reports it seems it is much much busier. We do not have a toad so we will be driving our class c into the park for daily excursions. We are fine with long days driving with many stops, but based on my reading we may have issues even simply finding a place to pull off with an RV for an hour to eat. Of course we would love to show our daughter Old Faithful, the paint pots, etc. But we will need a place to park...

I am seeking any tips/input from those more experienced with sight-seeing in the park in recent years. My biggest concerns now are traveling in the motorhome. Is there still room to pull off occasionally? Is there space to park at the major attractions in a (slightly) oversize vehicle? I welcome any tips tricks advice or thoughts. Thank you in advance.

[tjfogelberg]

We visited Yellowstone in '15 with our Class C and Honda CRV in tow. Stayed at Fishing Bridge Campground with FHU. One day we used the toad to tour the park and the next the Class C. We had no problems parking the Class C and enjoyed the day much more because we had all the conveniences on hand during the long day. The suggestions to start EARLY are good ones (we didn't do that and spent a lot of time in traffic and looking for parking). There is a huge parking lot at the lodge where we parked away from the crowds and took naps and had a wonderful lunch in the lodge. 40 miles outside the East entrance, we stopped on our way home at Newton Creek NFS CG for $15. That site was spectacular and a highlight for me compared to the bland campgrounds inside the park. The KOA is a good idea, one I plan to try in 2021 when we go out West again.

[PatJ]

Thank you all very much for the excellent suggestions so far, and please keep them coming if you have anything else to add.

We booked early understanding the altitude and possibility of winter weather, but hoping that with most kids still in school there would be less traffic (Disneyland logic.) If we're lucky our gamble will pay off.

The suggestions of bikes, rental cars, and tour buses are all things I had not thought of and will research further. Thank you for those suggestions. We are definitely early risers and our plan was to generally start early and hit one major desirable attraction first-thing per day (again Disneyland logic.) Thank you for your confirmation that our plan may actually work.

4runnerguy, I would love to bring our older daughter with us on this trip and agree with you 100%. Unfortunately this is a busy time of year for our college sophomore. I hope one day she has the opportunity to first experience YS the way I did, when I was young on a summer break from school with friends.

suprz, please thank your son/daughter for their service to our nation from the Jones family.

Again thank you all for the tips and please keep them coming

[4runnerguy]

In late May you probably won't face the huge crowds one sees later in the summer. But you may find your explorations somewhat limited because of lingering snow. My mother worked at Old Faithful for more than a decade and I remember pictures she had taken in mid-May and they had dug through the six feet of snow to get to the front doors of the store. Not like that every year, but snow will undoubtably still be around.

Parking near Old Faithful won't be a problem with your rig as there's a huge parking lot there. There are big rig places to park in Mammoth and you can hike from there. Same with Canyon although not at Inspiration Point. I remember there being RV/bus parking at Artist Point on the south rim of the canyon.

You'll be challenged when it somes to some of the other geyser basins. Parking near the Grand Prismatic Spring is particularly difficult, even in a car, as there simply aren't enough spots.

I don't know if you have or use them, but bikes are an amazing way to get around and avoid some of the parking crowds. When we were there in mid-July parking at places like the Lower Geyser Basin was backed up a long ways. We simply drove a mile or so up the road, found a paved pull-off, got on our bikes and rode back to the parking lot. (Traffic is pretty slow so really not very threatening) Locked our bikes, hiked the trails, and got back to our bikes. We saw cars still waiting to park that were in line when we got there.

Bikes are also really handy around Old Faithful. One can ride along the old road from Old Faithful out to Morning Glory Pool. We would check on the predicted eruption schedule in the Visitors Center, then ride out the road, park and lock, then hike to the geyser. Had several people offer to rent our bikes when they saw how much walking we saved.

One more thing: if at all possible try to get that 18 year old to go along. As you know Yellowstone is one of the marvels of the world. She won't be disappointed (although I can't promise how the drive out and back might be! 😉 )

[BarabooBob]

We were in Yellowstone the second week of Sept (2019). Parking was limited for my F150screw but we saw everything we wanted to see. Get to places like Old Faithful, Geyser Basin, and Grand Canyon area early. You have to plan on getting around slowly. Don't be in a hurry, enjoy yourself.
About 7 years ago we were in Yellowstone during June with our class c. We started early every day with one major destination planned each day. It worked then, it can work for you.

[Old_Days]

I tell everyone that I know if you are going to Old Faithful in yellowstone don't forget to go in to the lodge. It is really well built and the fireplace is one of the biggest around. The history of building is really cool.

[RGar974417]

You already made reservations outside the park..We stayed in the park.It cut down on driving.We came in the from West Yellowstone and I believe it is 15 miles just to get to Madison were we stayed. So that's 30 miles a day just going into and out of the park.We were there the second week of May and crowds were light. We came across a mother grizzly with 3 cubs on the road from Norris to Canyon.The weather was good,low 40's at night,high 50's to low 60's during the day. We ate at Old Faithful Inn.It is the largest log structure in the world.The lobby is huge with a fireplace rising 5 floors.Even if you don't eat there,just check out the lobby.

[CloudDriver]

We were most recently at Yellowstone in June 2016. Between Yellowstone and Grand Teton we were in the area for the entire month plus the first week of July. It definitely got more crowded as the month went on and was crazy in Yellowstone over 4th of July weekend.

Memorial Day weekend comes early in 2020, so you will be there the last week of May. It should be much less crowded then as many families still have kids in school. In past trips we usually see very few families with school age kids until the first week of June and than it's more and more as the month goes on. We also have a 24 ft Class C and always drive it to tour the parks.

Entering the park early is a good suggestion, but I would add that later in the day is very good as well. We have noticed that many people head to the campgrounds or other lodging around dinner time, freeing up parking for our larger vehicle. The end of May is near the Summer solstice so there is a lot of daylight to tour the park. This website shows that sunset is about 9:00PM the last week of May in West Yellowstone. Sunrise is about 5:45AM if you want an early start to the day.

We plan to be there again in 2020.

[bobsallyh]

We stay close to where you are staying. Get into the entrance gate at West before 9 AM and you will go thru very quickly. Too many folks can't seem to get out of the pancake houses' before 9:30 AM, sitting there getting a belly full and sucking up coffee. Get to the most popular places early and it will make it much simpler. There will be some hassles with a Class "C" at pull offs. And don't schedule times to be somewhere in the park as there will be animal back-ups, etc. If you are in a rush, don't even bother going in! This is what we have seen for the last ten summers while staying in the area for about six weeks at a time.

[2oldman]

YS posts

[ppine]

I have been going since 1955. You will see the babies in the spring and avoid the worst of the crowds. People stop right in the middle of the road not at wildlife jams. The best plan is to camp in the Park so your commute is much shorter, especially driving a motor home.

It would be a great idea to try a shuttle bus.

[agesilaus]

Well prepare for sloooww traffic. You will be lucky to make 20 mph on average in the park. There are many traffic stoppages when people stop in the middle of the road whenever they see a chipmunk. As mentioned above you are rolling the dice for weather that early, YNP is at 8000 ft so winter can hang on.

There are lots of people around all the thermal features, geysers and such. And around the Yellowstone canyon. The east side of the park can be somewhat empty in comparison but does not have the spectacular features. But it does have critters, we saw Grizzles over there.

We've been up there 6 or 8 times, last summer briefly while we spent 4 days at Tetons. We spent 8 days twice and still haven't seen the whole park by a long shot.

[Dick_B]

Stay at Grizzly and take the tour buses.

[Old_Days]

I have been to yellowstone 3 times,in 2013 we arrived about 3 days before memorial day yellowstone lake was froze over and there was about 6 feet of snow almost everywhere. We just went there on our way back from Glacier National park around Sept 8, 2019 and it did have a lot of people but you could park pretty easy. I think you will be ok with your class c because it's only 24 feet long. My truck camper is about 23 feet long on the truck.

[jfkmk]

Hi, we were in Yellowstone in July of this year (entered through the north entrance). While we got to see everything we wanted with one exception, the park was very crowded. Parking is definitely st a premium, and i couldnt imagine trying to get a spot with anything other than a small vehicle. The larger spaces are there, just limited.

The last previous time I had been there was about 30 years ago. It was quite how you described it. We tent camped and got sites with no reservations. Not so much anymore!

Id suggest renting a car so you make sure you can see everything you want.