Hello everyone! It was not planned, but I have 20 days in June with a 24` RV, starting and ending in Salt Lake city. The idea is visiting Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone. I know it is late to reserve camping inside the park, so...Will it work to stop in campgrounds outside the park and enter everyday to see the sights? Can we wake up really early and drive to the parking lots or picnic areas of the more crowded attractions, and leave for later the not so visited ones? I'm experienced with RV and truck driving in congested areas. What would be your suggested bases for campgrounds and what to visit from each base? Thanks in advance!! Edgardo
Parks outside the park are also likely to be at or near capacity. Yellowstone is a big, big place. No matter where you stay, inside or outside the park, you will have long drives to various attractions. The only truly big crowds are at Old Faithful, however many of the other more popular places have limited parking so you may need to circle a bit and do some walking. Finding a picnic spot isn’t generally an issue unless you want a very specific location. Be flexible and you won’t have problems.
If you find the campgrounds are full, ask about getting on a waiting list, and continue to check with campgrounds every few days because they may get a cancellation. As for staying outside the park, that is what we did. We stayed in the town of West Yellowstone which has several campgrounds and which is on the west side very close to the park entrance. We actually enjoyed the drive into the different areas/attractions because each day along the same road there was always different wildlife to view which had not been there the days before. You didn't mention if you will be driving your RV to tour the park or if you will be in a smaller vehicle (car, truck, van). If you can tour in a smaller, more manageable vehicle, it would eliminate a lot of driving/parking headaches. The major roads in Yellowstone are in a figure "8". The road from West Yellowstone into the park joins up at about the middle of the 8 on the west side and from there you can drive around either the upper loop or the bottom loop, but you may not be able to see everything on one loop in one day. What areas to see? I would say that three places that should not be missed are Old Faithful (on the southwest side), Mammoth Hot Springs (on the northwest side), and both the lower and upper falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (sort of near the middle part of the 8 on the east side). So as you can see, things are really spread out, but worth the trip to see them. I hope everything works out for you and enjoy your trip.
