Yellowstone Vacation early June

[Capt RB]

Looking for tips and advice on a trip my wife and I are making in June. My wife is dying to go to Yellowstone so for her birthday we are going. We are going to st stay the first few days in the NE Tetons area then most likely camp but we do have reservations at a couple places. I have a small spotter and a phoneskope adapter. I also have a couple of small cameras to bring. Would like to hear of where to eat. Bison and Grizzly are the 2 we both would like to see most so any advice on which area of the park would give us the best percentages of accomplishing that would be great.
Thanks in advance

 

[Jud96]

I'm following this. My fiancée and I are thinking of going to Yellowstone for our Honeymoon. Neither one of us has been there.

 

[dflyfish]

I'm watching also. Been all over MT the last 20 years. Mostly fishing the beav, Madison and MO. Last few years have been exploring more east chasing elk in the breaks. Have even driven thru the park on my way home one time. Family want to take a road trip and check out yellow stone this summer so open to any info give. Our truck / trailer will not fit in any of the open RV spaces they have left so we will probably camp on the south west entrance

 

[Rick Richard]

Check out the UXU ranch. The accommodations, food and hospitality is unequalled. It is just outside of Cody and a couple of miles from the entrance of Yellowstone.

 

[Muddyboots]

Your camping equipment will dictate where you can camp in Yellowstone depending upon the "bear" control in that area. Some areas required hard sided campers not sure to keep the campers in or the bears out? YS is huge and you need to plan a lot of time to just drive around to see the various high spots. We spent 3.5 days there and it was not nearly enough to see what we wanted to see there. Last time there saw plenty of grizzly and bisons can be a royal pain and need to be aware they do not have a nice disposition. Saw few vehicles that got head butted just sitting too long and too close. Be prepared for road blocks from people just stopping to see animals without thought to letting anyone pass until the rangers show up. Sometimes it was crazy to what people were doing. And yes some thought the animals were part of Disneyland. We left them as fast as we could so we didn't have to witness Darwinism in action. Old Faithful is as cool as depicted but there are so many other hot geysers to see in park it is hard to get to all. Bring a fly rod if you fly fish, the Madison River by the west entrance is full of fish and had cow elk and calfs nearby quite a few times. I had an old 6MP self contain zoom camera that worked fine since my Canon was acting up. Scenery is second to none except for the Grand Tetons which I think is overlooked by many as being beautiful in its own right.

We stayed quite a few days in West Yellowstone just outside the park in MT at a Best Western downtown and was fine. There are campgrounds there as well that may be good place to base camp since you are just outside the park. There are so many restaurants and bars to choose from you may have to stay longer to hit them all. Added plus if within walking distance to your campsite.

Cody is also an awesome town to visit. We were there over July 4th and their parade is simply Americana on display with kids on horseback, clowns, wagons, marching bands etc. They also had a festival going on so there was lots to do there. There are a couple of old cowboy style museums there which are cool places. There is a long range school there as well and you can figure who they are pretty fast. We ended up spending 3 added days there just to enjoy the town. We thought it was worth it.

 

[nwmnbowhunter]

Went last year and agree with muddyboots. We enjoyed the northeast route up to Cooke City. Lots of buffalo and Grizzlies. Some people saw wolves but we didn't.

Travel at first light... take your time and don't plan too much for each day as you'll end up spending more time looking at really awesome things. Hot springs and pools are all very awesome.

Have binos handy and have enough for everyone so you don't have to share too much. Spotting scope will be handy at times. Take your time driving and keep your eyes peeled. We saw a lot of animals just off the road... including elk.

Cooke city bar on mainstreet has good pizza.

Old school bus in west Yellowstone had excellent Mexican food.

I am a sorry excuse as a fly fisherman. Could see a few brookies (number 1 on my bucket list) but couldn't get them to budge even bouncing a fly off their noses.

Have a blast and have patience... it will get slow at times because of traffic.

 

[sedancowboy]

I live just North of the Park as we call it. I spend a lot of time there every year. Most camping needs to be in hard sided campers as others have suggested. All this info is on YSP web page. Take your time have good binoculars. Buffalo will be completely annoying by the time you leave, there are about 5000 of them in the park and they block the roads regularly. They can and do destroy several cars every year. Here we keep score bison 5 tourist 0. As far as I know the bison have always won.
Grizzlies are another story and are ahead in the body count as well. Don't take them lightly just because you don't see them they are there and travel on padded feet silently very fast. No worries about the grizzlies unless you are off hiking. The scenery is fantastic and the wildlife stunning just don't get complacent. Take your time and plan for a bad weather day. Early June can be cold and snowy plan accordingly. You are at 7000-9000 ft elevation so don't plan on real strenuous activity until you acclimate.
PM me for more info if you like. It will be a trip to remember for sure. I can tell you some don't miss tips in a PM
Henry

 

[Capt RB]

I live just North of the Park as we call it. I spend a lot of time there every year. Most camping needs to be in hard sided campers as others have suggested. All this info is on YSP web page. Take your time have good binoculars. Buffalo will be completely annoying by the time you leave, there are about 5000 of them in the park and they block the roads regularly. They can and do destroy several cars every year. Here we keep score bison 5 tourist 0. As far as I know the bison have always won.
Grizzlies are another story and are ahead in the body count as well. Don't take them lightly just because you don't see them they are there and travel on padded feet silently very fast. No worries about the grizzlies unless you are off hiking. The scenery is fantastic and the wildlife stunning just don't get complacent. Take your time and plan for a bad weather day. Early June can be cold and snowy plan accordingly. You are at 7000-9000 ft elevation so don't plan on real strenuous activity until you acclimate.
PM me for more info if you like. It will be a trip to remember for sure. I can tell you some don't miss tips in a PM
Henry

Thank you I will when we get closer to our departure date

 

[Dr. Vette]

How many days are you staying?

Bison are easy. Don't look for them specifically; you'll see them anyway.
For Grizzly your best bet is probably the Lamar Valley. I have seen them more there than anywhere.
Next best location is halfway between Tower Falls and Mt Washburn.
Third best is between Tower and Mammoth.

As was already noted, get out early if you want to see wildlife. Your odds of seeing them are much higher.

 

[26Reload]

Your most viewed critters in ys are gonna be Chinese....
Spent six hours driving thru ys couple years ago....never need to go back.....wasnt worth the 60$ to drive back to idaho from Cody......
Never saw grizz...but plenty of warning signs....and the buff..well they might find you.....
Expect traffic delays....
Or just go to Jackson...sheep...goats...buff...elk..deer....maybe even a wolf.....

 

[Taco John]

Sorry Folks.....parks closed.

 

[Capt RB]

In June for 10 days

 

[manitou]

Bring some cavier and escargo. They say you can feed the californians by hand there.

 

[blumtn]

Be prepared for traffic jams, tourist, tourist, and more tourist. As said best bet is to get out early before the tourist get up. More animals and less tourist in the very early morning. I don't know if it has been implemented yet but there was talk of a permit system for entering the park as in you would have to apply for a permit with suggestive dates and they would issue you a permit from those suggestions. Oh and be patient because there are going to be a lot of stupid tourist.