This is not a formal blog, but I thought I would put the information here for anyone who is interested in planning a trip.
Jennifer, Spencer, David and Isaiah
RV TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE AND THE GRAND TETONS
In 2021, we planned to take a trip out west to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, but we decided kind of last minute to go to Michigan, instead. Mainly, it was because we had heard there were still a lot of limits on getting into the National Parks. We didn’t want to make a trip that far and not be able to get into the parks.
Fast forward to 2022, and we decided we would give the out west trip another go. This time, we decided we would also visit Colorado Springs. However, once we started counting cost and road time, we decided to skip Colorado Springs and visit: Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.
I reached out to my Facebook friends and got a lot of great suggestions. I thought I would compile the list and share it with anyone interested in what we did on our trip. I have tried to break it up into sections to make it more manageable, but it is a lot of information.
America the Beautiful Park Pass
First, I ordered the America the Beautiful Park Pass. Make sure you order it at least a few weeks before your trip, because it can take a couple of weeks to receive it. This pass gets you into all of the National Parks for one year. It was $80. We definitely saved money by getting this pass. It’s a card that is made like a credit card. You can assign two owners to the card. When you pull up at a National Park, you show them the pass and your ID.
Link to order the Pass: https://www.myscenicdrives.com/store/item/forest-passes/america-the-beautiful?gclid=CjwKCAjw14uVBhBEEiwAaufYx4jluaVDKHsOkkh0EA24ywuAy1Za6Xm-Ikb9ITABXvx4TziKOsZPzhoCEsgQAvD_BwE
Park Entrances
Once you are at the park entrance and you’ve shown your pass or paid your entrance fee, the person working at the station will usually offer you a map and newspaper. Take both. They include some interesting and helpful information, and the map will help you understand the park.
Yellowstone has five entrances. Each entrance is close to different attractions: The North Entrance, West Entrance, South Entrance, East Entrance and Northeast Entrance.
North Entrance, near Gardiner, MT
West Entrance, near West Yellowstone, MT
South Entrance, near Cody, WY
East Entrance, near Cody, WY
Northeast Entrance, near Cooke City, MT
There are various villages throughout the entire park. You can easily find gas, food, souvenirs, and more at the various villages. They have a lot of General Stores, and there are public restrooms situated here and there throughout the park. However, I wouldn’t plan on holding it too long. The stops can be spaced out depending on where you are in the park.
It is somewhat like taking a drive on the Natchez Trace but there is so much more to see and more places to stop. And the terrain is very different. This is just the best way I can describe it to you if you have never visited a National Park.
At the North Entrance, you will find Mammoth Hot Springs and Roosevelt Arch. We stayed at Yellowstone Hot Springs Campground in Montana the night before touring Mammoth Hot Springs. The campground has hot springs on the property. It is very nice. They are set up like pools. The water is naturally warm, and it contains lots of minerals. The view is amazing, and it was very relaxing. This campground had full hookups, bathrooms and showers. You don’t have to stay at the campground to enjoy the hot springs, but you do get a discount on admission if you are staying at the campground. We saved $5 per person because we were camping on the grounds.
The Entrance closest to Old Faithful Geyser Basin, Norris Geyser Basin, and Grand Prismatic Springs is the West Entrance. Outside of the West Entrance is like a mini-Gatlinburg, Tennessee with lots of shops, hotels, restaurants, museums and other attractions. The West Entrance is extremely popular, and we experienced more traffic in this area than anywhere else in the park, so allow yourself extra time.
You can check online for when Old Faithful is expected to erupt. You might begin to wonder if it will ever happen, but keep the faith, it will happen!
If you head to the South Entrance, you will see the Lower Geyser Basin. It is includes the Fountain Paint Pot, Firehole Lake Drive and the Great Fountain Geyser. We didn’t spend a lot of time here, but we could see quite a bit of it from the road as we passed by. The South Entrance will also take you to take Jackson Hole, Wyoming which is where we took in our first rodeo and took a Boat Float on the Snake River. We had to book our tickets online in advance for both the rodeo and the Boat Float. We booked our Boat Float through Teton Scenic Floats and Fly Fishing. https://tetonscenicfloattours.com/our-trips/?gclid=CjwKCAjw14uVBhBEEiwAaufYx83eN6DCw2noIOxQNDSIff_B6ih6rOCq6ZZiE5lPFKNzUZbkGPoKlxoCHOAQAvD_BwE
And we bought our rodeo tickets here: https://www.ticketsales.com/jackson-hole-rodeo/114134/Jackson+Hole+Rodeo?gclid=CjwKCAjw14uVBhBEEiwAaufYx4qwuQsYfgBvZWNB0eSPCM9l1kQsjlcM7BjUMvmcP5LqtG3v00EXOxoC854QAvD_BwE
In the middle of the East Entrance and the Northeast Entrance, you will find the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which also includes Artist’s Point. You can park and see the huge waterfall and canyon from afar, or you can take a hike on the South Rim to see it for a closer view. The hike was a bit steep in places, but the view was excellent. We took a small picnic lunch and stopped along the way to eat.
You can easily google up each of the Entrances to see a full list of attractions. This will help you plan your trip.
Some of the attractions you can get a pretty good view of them from your vehicle. Or they have “Turnouts” where you can easily park your car or RV and walk a few steps to see the sights and take photos. Some of the attractions require a walk or even a hike. There were some stops that didn’t allow RVs to enter because of narrow roads, so keep that in mind if you are traveling by RV.
Grand Tetons
We stayed at the Colter Bay Campgrounds while touring the Grand Tetons. Colter Bay was an amazing campground with a General Store full of food, souvenirs, camping gear and equipment, and more. This campground had paid showers. It was $5 a person or $15 for a family. We went to Jenny Lake and hiked to the Hidden Falls and Inspiration Landing. We also visited Mormon Row, a historic area. We also took a short hike to Schwabacher Landing. The road to get to to Schwabacher Landing was a narrow dirt path. We got a little concerned since we were in the RV, but we made it fine and had a place to park and turn around at the end of the path.
RV Information
We rented our RV through RV Share. It is sort of like an Airbnb for RVs. We rented “Wanda the Winnebago” from a couple and had a wonderful experience. One of the owners went over everything with us very thoroughly and was always available if we needed anything. We ended up with a Class C, which was 25 feet long and had a clearance of 12 feet. We wanted something semi small considering this was our first time, and we wanted to make sure we could navigate the narrow and curvy roads in Yellowstone.
RV Rental Places to check out:
RV Share
Cruise America
Outdoorsy
Check around to make sure you get something you feel comfortable driving. Keep in mind that the bigger the RV, the harder it can be to park and get into some of the “Turnouts.” Also, there will be a few places you aren’t allowed to enter, but it didn’t really hinder us too much.
A few pros of traveling in the RV:
Constant access to a bathroom and shower without waiting in lines or paying extra fees.
All of your belongings stayed in one spot, the RV, and didn’t have to be transferred from hotel to car to hotel to car, etc.
Preparing meals in the RV saving money and time. We weren’t big fans of most of the food we ate inside the park.
Access to propane for heat or cooking.
Constant access to food and drinks if you keep your RV stocked.
If someone is car sick or not feeling well, he/she can take a rest on the bed in the RV.
A few cons of traveling in the RV:
Some difficulty on narrow, muddy roads.
When sleeping at night, if one person rolls over, everyone in the RV feels it. Ha
Small spaces. Make sure you love the people you are with.
Sometimes it can be difficult to get into some of the turnouts when they are crowded with cars and other Rvs. We weren’t able to park in the parking lot of Jenny Lake because we were in an RV, so we had to go to a different parking lot. We couldn’t take the ferry boat back across since we were in a different parking lot.
Dumping the waste! Lol It wasn’t too bad, but we always gloved up.
Rearranging the RV each morning and night to prepare for sleep.
Flights
We used our Frequent Flyer Miles to fly from Nashville to Salt Lake City, Utah. We booked through Spirit Airlines, because they were the cheapest. Their motto is Fair for Fair. They only charge you for what you want, so if you have carry-on luggage, other than a personal item, you have to pay to carry it on. And you must pay for your checked luggage. They also have drinks and snacks for purchase on the plane. No free pretzels and soda. Their customer service was wonderful, and everyone we encountered had a great attitude and was helpful and kind. Thankfully, our flights were fairly on time, and we didn’t experience any cancellations or major delays.
Campgrounds
We stayed at the following campgrounds:
Colter Bay Campground, Moran, Wyoming (We dry camped here, but they also have cabins and full hookups, when available. Laundromat available. You don’t have to be staying here to use the laundromat and showers. You just have to pay for what you use.)
Yellowstone Hot Springs Campground, Gardiner, Montana (Full hookups, showers, and bathrooms. No laundry at the time of our visit. Town is about 10 minutes away so there are gas stations, laundromats, and restaurants easily accessible.)
The Park at Swan Valley, Swan Valley, Idaho (Full hookups, one bathroom/shower combo on the premises. This is a newer campground, and they are in the middle of expanding it and adding on to it.)
Kampground of America, Holiday, Bear Lake, Garden City, Utah (So many options here. Laundromat, super nice bathrooms/showers, activities, giant chess, playground, jump trampoline, bike rentals, pool, games, etc. We wish we would have stayed longer at this location.)
Book your campgrounds in advance so you have a spot. Here are some resources:
Hipcamp.com
Recreation.gov
Campspot.com
Koa.com
RVParky (app)
Planning Your Trip
I am an OCD list maker/planner. I went onto Google maps and mapped all our destinations and printed them out in case there were areas where we didn’t have service. I also timed how long it would take us to get from place to place and I charted that on my map. I made a legend to the side of the map to coordinate with each stop. We didn’t have to follow the plan, but it was nice to have one.
I made a chart of all our campgrounds complete with addresses and what kind of accommodation we would have at each location so I could prepare for laundry, know when to dump our waste, fill it up with water, gas, etc.
I also made an itinerary detailing every day we were traveling. It was two sheets of paper, double sided, so I could pull it out at any time and look at a confirmation number on a campground, an address, look up the phone number for the hotel we were staying in, our flight number and flight schedule, what time we were able to check in, what time we had to check out and more. I highlighted addresses in yellow so they popped on the page, and I could find them quickly when using my Uber app to call for a car or when entering them into GPS. It was super helpful and easy. This kept us from having to constantly look through our phones for emails, confirmation numbers, or shuffle through other papers.
Example:
Day 1 | Monday, May 30, 2022
Spirit Airlines
Confirmation: HEMPSH
Nashville—Orlando, FL, 9:30am, Flight 1787
Orlando—Salt Lake City, UT, 2:05pm, Flight 8989
Four Points by Sheraton Salt Lake City, UTAH
Confirmation: 786282272
200 N Admiral Byrd Road
Salt Lake City, Utah
(801) 746-5200
Day 2 | Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Uber to pick up RV: 208 N Cedar Ave, Salt Lake, UT
Confirmation: 8927292729
Owners: Kelly Sansom (898) 999-9999
Pick Up Time: Noon
Drive to Colter Bay Campground, Booked through Recreation.gov (Laundromat, No hookups)
Address: 100 Colter Bay Campground Rd, Moran, WY
Order#: 095426151
212 K, Standard, Non Electric
Check-out: June 2, 2022 by 11 a.m.
Go early to the places you really want to see. They seemed to be less busy earlier in the morning when we visited. I don’t know if this is true all of the time. Take patience with you, because you will need it.
I have a Travel Folder in my email, and I drop anything travel related in it just in case I do need to refer to it at some point. This is very helpful to me to keep my travel organized.
Trails & Bear Spray
There’s a really cool and free app called “Trails” that will tell you how easy or hard a trail is, how long it is, and what you will see on it. It is very helpful. Look up the trails while you have service on your phone, though. Take your bear spray. We purchased ours at a General Store. I also saw a rental station for it along the way, but we already had some, so we didn’t check it out. I believe it was on the East side. You can’t fly with Bear Spray in a carry on or checked bag, so be prepared to give it away before you leave the park if you are catching a flight home. Our cost was around $50. We gave it to the lady working at the front desk of our hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Our Favorite Places/Must See in Grand Tetons/Yellowstone
Jenny Lake. Hiking to Inspiration Landing and Hidden Falls. (Grand Tetons)
Grand Prismatic Springs (Yellowstone)
Mud Volcano Area (Yellowstone)
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone/Artist Point (Yellowstone)
Mammoth Hot Springs (Yellowstone)
Old Faithful. This wasn’t our absolute favorite, but it’s so iconic, you have to visit it. (Yellowstone)
All the wildlife. Drive down the road to see elk, antelope, bison, marmots, and more.
Random Tips
Pack a variety of clothing based on the time of your trip. We traveled at the end of May/early June and we wore everything from pants and jackets to shorts and t-shirts. If you are going to be gone awhile, consider picking an hour or two of a day to do laundry.
The temperature in one area of the park can vary greatly from another area.
Wear sunscreen. We all burned on the first day wearing jackets and pants. It may be cold, but the sun is hot.
Take good hiking boots or tennis shoes for all of the walking you will be doing. Waterproof shoes are a big plus.
Don’t forget your rain jacket.
When hiking, be prepared with a ziplock bag of wipes or toilet paper in case duty calls while you are out on a trail. I noticed there weren’t a lot of leaves around where we hiked. There were a lot of pine needles, so be prepared!
Get a good backpack to carry your essentials in while on the trails. I suggest a camping type backpack that will strap around your waist and chest. It distributes the weight more evenly. Pack a small first aid kit, water, snacks, your toilet paper, a knife, your bear spray and anything else you might need.
Buy Bear Spray and read about how to handle bear encounters. Read the instructions before you get on the trail.
Don’t be a fool and get too close to wildlife. They are WILD! And they will kill you. Moose may look like fun, but they are just as dangerous as bison.
Try not to pack too much into each day. You will be exhausted and can possibly make yourself sick. Pick a steady pace and be okay if you don’t get to everything on your list. Plan some rest into your trips, especially if you are travelling with small children.
Some of the hikes may only be a couple of miles, but they can increase in elevation. Be aware of altitude sickness. You can buy small containers of oxygen to inhale if you start to experience the symptoms. We actually got a small can of it and used it. It did help!
Prioritize what you MUST see and make sure you get to those first. Then you aren’t as disappointed if you don’t get to all the attractions.
If you take an RV, it takes longer to get to each location. Be prepared to be on the road a little longer than GPS tells you.
Plug locations into your GPS while you have service. There’s a lot of dead zones in the park without service.
Visit Swan Valley, Idaho and go see Fall Creeks Fall.
Consider mailing postcards back home to grandparents or other family members from some of the little towns. We had our boys do that, and they loved it.
Always have your camera ready, but don’t forget to enjoy the moment.
You will see a variety of wildlife on the road. Remember to stay 20 feet or more back from the wildlife or stay in your vehicle to take photos.
There are a lot of YouTube videos and websites with information. We only covered a small amount of ground on our trip, so make sure you research more. Check out: Fullsuitcase.com I found it helpful.
