Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Yellowstone trip advice please.

Early September is Newly Wed and Nearly Dead season, occupancy rates equal mid summer. Look at Caribou Targhee National Forest web site for camping on the Idaho side of the parks and Bridger Teton for the Wyoming side. Late Sept you can run into snow, or 80 degree days, be ready for both. Wildlife tour vans abound, but be ready to be grouped up with someone in the “we need to save the unicorns” crowd.

Maybe I should take a helicopter tour. I don’t care to see critters, I see critters everyday. Just wanted the scenery.

Ha, Plans just changed. I was informed by the boss lady the main objective is to escape the Texas heat for a couple of weeks, so the time frame will be SUMMER !

Don't go walking where Pierce Brosnan went walking! Lol! You'll get arrested!

Wife and I like Cody and Chief Joseph scenic byway. Red Lodge and Beartooth Hiway is beautiful country when you get tired of the crowds in the park.

NPS has begun installing squat toilets to accommodate the many visiting Asians.

Good advice here.

I live less than 100 miles north of Yellowstone NP, I also have a Geezer pass, so we go there a couple times a year. We just pick a sunny day and go.

You can encounter traffic jams anywhere, and sometimes for no apparent reason. There are usually more buffalo, and sometimes elk, between Old Faithful and the West Yellowstone entrance and that's where I've encountered the worst jams.

Yellowstone does not require reservations to enter, but all of the campgrounds in the Park do. Other than backcountry camping, the Park does not allow any other camping outside of the established campgrounds. There are Forest Service campgrounds near all of the entrances to Yellowstone. Most of them do require reservations, but there is dispersed camping on FS land near some of them, and along Rock Cr road near Red Lodge.

After the flood, the Park did build a new road between Gardiner and Mammoth. It's paved, but 2-lane, steep, and curvy. A terrible location, but it is open and passable to most vehicles.

The hot springs terraces at Mammoth are worth seeing, with road access to both the top and bottom of the terraces with boardwalk trails in between.

Note that dogs are not allowed on any of the trails in the Park.

Just outside of Mammoth, the road splits south to the interior of the Park, and east to Cooke City and the Beartooth highway to Red Lodge.

Norris Basin is one of our usual stops. Low water the past few years has dried up some of the hot springs.

East from Norris Junction takes your to Canyon Village and the waterfalls of the Yellowstone River. Artist Point on the south side of the river is probably one of the most photographed waterfalls in the world, and definately worth seeing. You can see both the Upper and Lower Falls from that road.

From the road on the north side of the Yellowstone Canyon, there are several overlooks to the Lower Falls, and several trails to lower overlooks, including one with 10 switchbacks that takes you to the brink of the Lower Falls. Definately worth the walk down (and up!).

The road south from Canyon takes you to Lake Village and Yellowstone Lake where you can go east Cody, WY. The museums in Cody are worth spending a day seeing.

The road south and west of Lake Village goes along Yellowstone Lake to West Thumb where it splits south to the Grand Tetons, and west over the Continental Divide to Old Faithful. Old Faithful erupts about every 90 minutes and is definately worth seeing, as is Old Faithful Inn there. The geyser basin below Old Faithful has board walk trails to quite a few other good geysers. Castle Geyser isn't as high as Old Faithful, but it's eruption will last 20-30 minutes, it's only 100' or so off the trail. Across the Firehole river from Castle Geyser are Loin, Grand, and Beehive Geysers that also provide good eruptions...if your timing is right.

The trail west of Castle Geyser passes by Riverside Geyser and a little farther is Morning Glory Pool that is very pretty.

North and west from Old Faithful the road passes several other geyser basins, including I think the best , Grand Prismatic Pool. For the best view of the Pool, walk the about 1 mile trail to the Grand Prismatic overlook.

Outside of Yellowstone Park, there is the Little Big Horn Battlefield that is about a mile off I-90 between the WY/MT border and Billings, MT.

About 80 miles south of Cody, WY is Thermopolis, WY that advertises the largest hot springs in the world. These springs terraces are in a State Park (free) on the edge of town. There are a couple of public hot spring swimming pools in the park, and every year when we go down there we have dinner in the Safari Inn, at the edge of the Park, that is full big game hunting mounts from hunts that the original owner did all over the world.

Just north of Thermopolis is the Fountain of Youth RV campground that has their own hot springs swimming pools that provide total relaxation. Other than major holidays, they usually have open spaces.

Probably more than the OP wanted to hear, but kind of my backyard that I enjoy visiting every summer.

July maybe? Great time to be in Wyoming although pretty touristy.
Lots of festivals and various things going on in the small towns around the state.
Plenty of camping in the national forests, some better campgrounds too with water for your pass.

Come on up through Laramie and stop for a day or so, get acclimated to altitude, we're at 7220 here.
Various brewfests around the state all summer. Jubilee days here in Laramie with street dances, concerts and lots of beer drinking.
Cody should be on your list as mentioned.
Sheridan is a cool western town.

Good fishing all over, I can send you to some good spots around Laramie if you want.

Bring your jackets, it gets cool in the shade up here even in July and August.

JD338: Thank you for that "correction" on needing to be 62 and not 65 like "I" thought it was. Sheesh, that was only 14 years ago (when I turned 62!) you would think I would have remembered that?
Last year when we were there on the summit of Beartooth Highway (repeatedly reported as the SECOND most beautiful highway in all of America!) which is 10,947' - and we were standing there enjoying the incredible view when I look over and see a "clump" of boulders and earth that I guesstimated to be about another 50' high so I trundled over there and scampered (ha-ha!) up that mound and pronounced myself to have "climbed" to the 11,000' level of the Beartooths.
Just saw that you will be travelling during the Texas summer - so better check and see if the incredible Beartooth Highway is even open as it can close for a day or two due to snows.
Enjoy.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Most likely not pulling the trailer now, can sleep in the camper shell somewheres, less likely to draw attention. I plan to stay at bases in Montana, SD, and Idaho as a minimum on this road trip.

Good info, keep it up.

If you're going thru Laramie, stop By Saratoga, WY. Check out the Hobo Springs hot pool. Open 2/7. Free. Bathing suits required.

Selfies with the Bison never end well.

Redlodge/Beartooth Pass/Cody as mentioned is well worth the effort.

If you find yourself along I-90 you can access some nice campgrounds along the way. Near Big Timber you can go up the Boulder River and there's a nice falls up there and the qest fork Boulder has an nice campground. Across the Yellowstone River and I-90 on the Crazy mtns there's Half Moon campground and you'd like that one. There's an trail access with a beautiful falls and up above on that trail a good number of alpine lakes. There's also some good trails south of Livingston like the stairway to heaven trail and an nice one on Swingly rd. There's typically far less people in these areas than the park, and the scenery is as good or even better IMO.