Yellowstone Questions

KOA's vary widely in their amenities. If you have kids, sometimes the hookups and pool make all the difference in the world. They also tend to be family friendly. Not all privately owned parks are for kids. Depending on your destination, a private park might be your best option. But look into county/state/national parks if they're available. Yellowstone's parks are worth the stay if you can get one.

We go to Yellowstone a lot as it's only 10 hours or so away.

Fishing Bridge Campground does have hookups but you are stacked in there like logs. If you like to spend much time just outside your trailer then you might not like it there too much. We are currently tent campers (still trying to convince my wife that the r-pod is doable), but we have seen a number of the campgrounds.

Very close to Fishing Bridge is Bridge Bay Campground. If you can get a site in the treed area it can be quite nice, but the field has many more sites and is pretty much wide open. It's close enough to the Lake area to make it easy to slip into the Hotel for dinner. They also frequently have music in the Lake Hotel lobby right around dinner time. You are close enough to the Fishing Bridge area to shower if you want.

Madison Campground is another good option, but it is not nearly as central as the Bridge Bay area. Any services are at least 30 minutes away.

The Canyon Campground is another good choice for central camping. The lodge is a bit dated but has been undergoing renovations in the last couple of years. There are good laundry and shower facilities near the campground. I prefer these over the Fishing Bridge area. There are also some fantastic things to see very close to the Canyon area.

You will pretty much have to get a reservation. www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com is the site for that. You can request a site if you call in but there is no guarantee that you will get it. You are more likely to get a spot in the trees though if you ask for one. One thing to note: Many of the lodges shut down very soon after Labor Day, so services could be a little limited after that. Some of the campgrounds will also shut down at that time.

Website I found helpful for picking out a site is www.campsitephotos.com. I also use Google Maps to help with picking a site out.

As far as books go, Yellowstone Treasures is great. It's a good general guide to the area. If trails are more your thing then A Ranger's Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes is hard to beat.

For sure, try to bring in as much of your food as you can. It gets pricey if you are always eating at the vendors in the park. Make sure to bring a cooler for days out. Having as much time as you are planning will let you take it nice and slow. The busy times are from around 10:00-4:00. If you get out before or after that you will find it more enjoyable. As someone mentioned, the Old Faithful area is quite built up and is pretty annoying. Jump on that very early and plan to be gone from the area by noon.

It would be wise to invest in or borrow a good pair of binoculars or even better, a decent spotting scope. There are plenty of chances to see wildlife, but many times the animals are very far off. Most people are kind enough to let you steal a look through theirs, but I personally got tired of asking. When you do stop for wildlife, make sure you get COMPLETELY off the road. The rangers can ticket you if you don't, although it's not too common.

Since you are going to be in the area, I'd highly recommend that you go down to Grand Teton National park as well. It's not too far, but best to plan a couple of days so you are not having to do the trek back and forth. If you are looking for other areas to see, check out Flaming Gorge national recreation area along the border of Utah and Wyoming. If you want to go further north then Glacier is fantastic, but would be a whole lot colder at that time of year.

Great info GlennZippy !

mid July is the perfect time there. We had some big fires the last 2 years so hopefully not this year.
Weather is nice till about early Sept. Then the lows will dip down into the 20's.

There is a fantastic hot springs on the road to Grand Jean. This is west of Stanley about 25 miles.
Sunbeam Hot springs is about 10 miles east of Stanley. There are many free pubic hot springs
here in Idaho.