Denver to Yellowstone Road Trip

[rspickel]

We are in the early planning stages of a Road Trip from Texas to Yellowstone for next summer. I am thinking about driving to Denver then taking the Denver to Yellowstone Road Trip:

https://www.myrockymountainpark.com/...tone-road-trip

It is a 1300 mile circle from Denver through Rocky Mountain Park, to Grand Teton Park then to Yellowstone and back through Cheyenne ending in Denver.

My first question is if there is any areas that I will have trouble in my RV, Thore Ace 30.2, negotiating.

My second decision is whether or not to take a tow vehicle or renting a car in Yellowstone. It looks like if we stay in Estes Park there is a bus that will take us around the Rocky Mountain Park. Doesn't look like Gran Teton poses a problem. In West Yellowstone we can rent a car or take a bus tour. I'm leaning towards not towing a car but could use some advice.

The next decision is where to stay at the park. West Yellowstone looks to have several good full service parks and rent cars/tours. Should I just stay there and make it my base camp? Or should I move over to the east or north side in the middle of my visit?

Another decision is should I exit the park from the North Entrance or from the East Entrance. The East Entrance is more scenic and more direct for my drive back, but I'm worried about the road and what difficulties I might find.

The tentative itinerary that I am looking at is:

Drive to Denver 934 miles 4 days

Denver to Yellowstone Round Trip 1331 miles 5 days

Extra Time Rocky Mountain Park 2 days

Extra Time Grand Teton Park 2 days

Extra Time Yellowstone Park 3 days

Extra Time Cheyenne Wy 1 day

Drive Denver Home 934 miles 4 days
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Total Time for Trip 21 days

I'm trying to limit any driving to a max of 300 miles/day as I'm the only driver. We are thinking of leaving in mid June as I've read that the crowds are larger July - Sept. I would appreciate feedback on the itinerary/plan.

We are new to this so any other advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch for any advice you can give

Bob S in Texas

[Funhog]

God choice to take the bus tour through Rocky Mtn park. A RV would have a few issues on the high mountain roads, and you would not be towing anything as there are length restrictions on some of the roads in the park.

And yes, the crowds in Yellowstone can be very heavy in July and August.
But remember, the altitude factor. It is not uncommon to have snow in June in the Rockies. In the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone too, for what its worth.

Sounds like an awesome trip. Wish I could afford 21 days off.

[The Gritz Carlton]

How bout I ride along with you and help?

[Chance]

Great trip. We did it last May and early June. Can’t really give advice on motorhome- and towing-related issues because we travel in 20-ft camper van.

We went from Houston area to Rocky Mountain NP, Grand Teton NP, and Yellowstone. It is a great trip we’ve done a few times over last 25 years or so, and it’s hard not to enjoy no matter what.

We’ve also done it in our own Class C and rented C, but that was years ago.

[Lbatt]

I'm new at the RV Motorhome thing, and haven't been camping anywhere yet. but have been everywhere you mentioned, and you will be AMAZED at how CROWDED and how RUDE some folks, esp in groups, will be.

In Yellowstone, folks will STOP in the middle of the road, at all times, to look at the elk, bison, coyotes, wolves (maybe) and bears. The park rangers get so totally frustrated with the HUGE traffic jams caused by just one drive in front of the cars behind, that will stop and everything behind stops....And this is from my May 2015 trip on the official opening week of the park.

We go to see the amazing and unusual sites and sights since we live in the CO Mountains and deer, elk, foxes, coyotes, and bears are "normal" in our hood, so don't have a "need" to see them in Yellowstone.

[Lbatt]

As for East or North "exit", depends on where you are going next. East, you can for sure visit CODY, WY, and plan a full day to see the 4 museums in one building, esp if anyone in your group is interested in guns and the history, as they have the finest history museum next to the Smithsonian...and when we were there, the Smithsonian had on loan much of THEIR exhibit in Cody.

From there, trek across the state and see the Devils Tower, then over to S. Dakota and the beautiful Black Hills of S Dakota and Mt. Rushmore, and many other neater sites than Mr. Rushmore!!!! Then you can head So. to Cheyenne or even bypass that and go to Scotts Bluff, NE.

Have FUN.

[DenverTransplant]

We’ve made the trip several times. In Rocky, you can take a shuttle from Estes Park to the Bear Lake shuttle lot and then change shuttles to get up to the Bear Lake area. It’s crowded and on weekends they often stop traffic and turn it around at Moraine Park because the shuttle lot is full. Shuttles get through.

Other than a couple of commercial companies that conduct open air Jeep tours, the only way over Trail Ridge Road is your vehicle, so a toad is a good idea. There is no shuttle service on the west side. We have never taken the motor home over Trail Ridge, but I’ve seen lots of people do it. It’s just slow.

When we go to Yellowstone/Teton we take I-25 to the I-80 and then head northwest on the 287 at Rawlings through Lander and Debois and into Moran junction in Teton. We’ve stayed at Coulter Bay (in the regular campground, not the RV Park) and at Flagg Ranch (a couple miles south of the Yellowstone south entrance). West Yellowstone and Cody are alternatives, but we’ve never stayed in either. You can also consider Gros Ventue (pronounced GrowVant) campground at the south end of Teton that has some hookups Again, you really need a Toad to get around Teton and Yellowstone. Yellowstone is a really big place. You might rent a car at Jackson Airport, but we’ve never looked into it.

Last year we took a more westerly route home to Denver. We headed south to Jackson and then west into Idaho and far NE Utah. We stayed at Bear Lake Utah for a night and then drove over to Vernal Utah, via Flaming Gorge (east side) to go to Dinasour National Monument. The KOA in Vernal is OK. We then spent the last night in Steamboat (the KOA there is pretty tight - next time we will look into Eagle Soaring RV Park that is about 5 miles east of town.). From Steamboat you can get to the west side of Rocky - there is an Elk Meadows RV park in Grand Lake of you can take your chances getting into Timber Creek (first come, first served, with a 30 ft limit).

Getting out the west side of Rocky you can take highway 40 and face the Berthoud pass (steep and switchbacks both up an down, but doable) or go to Kemmer and head south to catch the 70. THen you have a straight but steep pull up to the tunnels from Silverton.