We are starting to plan the details of our trip to Yellowstone. We have campsite reservations July 9-12 at Canyon Campground. Has anyone camped there before? Pros/cons? How are the facilities? Any suggestions in terms of 'must see' in the park? We have booked dinner at Old Faithful one evening and a trail ride for a different day. All advice/ideas/suggestions are welcome! Chris&Co. Family of 5 from NJ '92 Williamsburg Tahoe
My favorite! Laundry and showers at campground entrance. Multiple camping loops, each with restrooms/host to warn of bears!!! Lots of tall trees. Diner, grocery store (with alcohol), lodge across street. The one-way scenic roads are a must. A hot soak can be had at Boiling River, near the Gardner entrance, not on map but across picnic area on map and near the 45th parallel.
Must see--- Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Firehole Canyon and Falls, Yellowstone Lake, the Golden Gate and the Hoodoos, Artist Paint Pots, North Entrance with the Roosevelt Arch, Hayden Valley. Can u tell I loved it all?? Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk HD
http://mms.nps.gov/yell/features/canyontour/uncletom.htm Uncle tom's trail is @ the canyon, after climbing down the many steps to get a close up of the falls, an Italian 4 some arrived, gawked like I dad at the falls and then had Prosciutto and bread snack. I had a picnic lunch daily while traversing different areas of the park but never thought of packing in a snack to the bottom of the canyon.
We will be in Yellowstone (Grant Village) the week after you. Advantages of the Xanterra campgrounds are showers, flush toilets, etc. Disadvantages are the sites are close to each other and can get noisy with generators at times. A must see is to take the hike to Fairy Falls. About 1/3 of the way there, you can take an unmarked trail up the side of a hill to get a great view of the Grand Prismatic. You get a view here that you can't from the boardwalk. I like your idea of dinner one night at Old Faithful. We're doing the same. Since you are only going to be there for 4 days, you may not get a chance, but take advantage of some of the back country hiking trails. I would guess that 98% of the visitors to Yellowstone never get more than 100 feet off the roads. We will be hiking Hellroaring Creek and go at least part of the way up Pelican Valley, which has the highest concentration of grizzlies in the lower 48. Think about spending at least a half day in the Jackson/Grand Teton area - it's worth it...
Make sure you do the cowboy cookout! Done it twice, and kids loved it! If you can get reservations to do the horse ride out and back, even better. The last time we went, the cookout was surrounded by a family of bears, wild buffalo crossed our path, and a torrential downpour made the horses walk sideways. Fantastic.
We just got back from Yellowstone as well, we were at the Grant Village site from 7-7 thru 7-11. I hope you had even half as much fun as we did =) Caught this little elk cow swimming in Yellowstone Lake just near our campsite.
We were at Canyon Campground June 6-11 and loved it. There was still snow on the ground when we got there, but it had all but melted on our last day. We stayed in the F loop, and 30 minutes within arriving a HUGE grizzly bear walked right through our camp. Scared the crap out of all of us, as we were in the middle of lunch and started scrambling to get the kids in the car. He just looked at us and kept on walking. Scary at the time, but it ended up being one of the kids' favorite memories of the trip. We drove all over Yellowstone, and the Canyon area ended up being our favorite spot. We were glad we'd stayed there. Warm showers (a little pricey, though you get 2 free showers per night), a store, a fantastic visitor's center, laundry, and WIFI are all just a few minutes away. We'd definitely go back.
We had a fabulous stay at Canyon Campground (H loop) July 9-12, 2014. It was so beautiful and peaceful among the log pole pines. Large private sites. Only forest behind our site. The bathrooms were fine and the showers at the main reception building were basic but clean and 2 free showers per night were included in the site fee. Lots of laundry machines although we didn't use them. I loved this location within the park. We did not see bears in the campsite but they were very strict about keeping all food, grey water and even unopened water bottles in the truck or bear box. Would definitely go back to this site.
Se stayed at Canyon CG in August and had a great time. The campground and surrounding area has everything you need, and it's a great location, being fairly central in the park. Great access to the rest of the park without having to drive for hours and hours to just get to those areas. The facilities were clean and in good working condition. We took out Jayco 10SD popup and stayed 4 nights and 3 days and we would definitely go back. Below is the link to our YouTube review of the campground.
I really recommend the early morning bear spotting ranger walks and talks. Actually, ranger talks in general. We really enjoyed Harriman State Park, in Idaho, 30 miles +/- South of West Yellowstone.
