Yellowstone

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Anyone have advice for camping there or nearby? Want to do a trip next year. Is it smart to book way in advance? Looking for more of a rustic/isolated vs. big open field group campsites.

Thanks

[dan z]

book early, thier is a nice place in custer wy that we stayed at a few years ago. dont remember the name but it was like a half hour out and a little cheaper. good luck on finding something a little rustic/isolated its either wildlife or communities with campground for the park.

[FISHINGFARMER]

Are you tent camping or using an RV?

Many sites inside the park and around don't allow tent camping due to bear activity.

Farmer

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Are you tent camping or using an RV?

Many sites inside the park and around don't allow tent camping due to bear activity.

Farmer

Who would want to! Natures way of keeping the gene pool clean

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Oh, we were planning on tent camping, at least the water in our gene pool isn't deep

[B@ssmaster]

There are lots of back country tent sites to pick from, but reserve them early. Three other Dad's and I took a group of Boy Scouts back country camping in Yellowstone two summers ago. It was an AWESOME trip. The backcountry scenery was absolutely fantastic! It was one of the best vacations I have ever done! If you are willing to do a short hike to a campsite, or a series of campsites over a few days, you should be able to find plenty of places to camp. Look into Yellowstone's Backcounty campers guide, available on thier HSOforum for more info and reservation information.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Cool, thanks for the tips!

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

PS, sleep in the middle of the tent surrounded by the others, and don't forget the pepper spray

[FISHINGFARMER]

Don't let camping in Yellowstone by tent stop or change your views of enjoying this park. Just be smart about your site you choose and it will be a vacation you will never forget.

One tip I will provide for you is, if they have a portable trailered bear trap in the campground you are looking at just move on to the next one.

Here is a link that might help you out.

www.us.national-parks.net/camping.htm

Farmer

[pinkfloyd4ever]

appreciate the info, did a one day road trip through there with some friends the beginning of the month and we said we had to come back next year and camp there, so much to see and do.

[FISHINGFARMER]

YopaulyPF:

Your right about so much to see and do in Yellowstone and the surrounding area's. One drive you should make is the route 89 north from Gardiner to Livingston drive as know by "Paradise Valley" well worth the drive as it follows the Yellowstone river. With views that are just incredible, along with some of the best trout fishing you can find in Montana.

A old high school friend moved to that area and told me about coming up to get away from it all and getting into the best trout fishing one can imagine. He was totally right about both, fishing and the scenery.

Here is a site we use when we go out that shows all public campgrounds in this area and topo graphs of the area.

www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=15226

Hope this helps in your planning for next year.

Farmer

[Cooter]

How far from the park would you travel - I know of an incredible place near Dubois, which is southeast of the park.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

still just in the stages of wanting to go out there, but haven't sat down to plan. We were planning on a leave MN on a friday to get out there on a saturday and stay through the following saturday or something like that, maybe stay at a few different sites and do lots of fly fishing.

[Cooter]

What time of year are you looking at going? Think fishing opens July 15th or so in the park.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

First or second week of August is the plan, good thing you mentioned the fishing part, would've hated to planned it out only to find out can't fish. On an off subject, is it catch and release only out there or can you keep fish to fry up?

[Cooter]

Pretty sure you can keep fish most places - on Yellowstone lake the cutthroat have to be under a certain size, we never caught any that small though. Don't know if you can get lakers on fly gear that time of year but it is illegal not to keep or kill them on the lake.

Brooks lake is the place near Dubois I was talking about - nice little campground on the lake plus you can hike to a couple other smaller lakes higher up.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

ya definately am going to put that on the list of places we go to

[Cooter]

Yellowstone L or Brooks? I can give you some pointers either way.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Probably wouldn't hurt to have pointers on either, but interested in the Brooks area for sure

[Cooter]

Brooks has rainbows, brookies, lakers, splake, and cutthroat. You can catch fish on spinners, but there is a great midge hatch at night and the lake lights up. We haven't caught any big fish but its fun.

You can hike from there up to Jade lake, about an hour. Used to be lots of cutthroats in there. No luck on spinners but basic beadhead nymphs worked. There are a few other lakes you can hike to, I've never fished them.

On Yellowstone if you time it right the callibaetis hatch is fun to fish. The campground near Fish Bridge, I think Bridge Bay, has good fishing right off the road that runs by the lake. You can sight fish big cruising cutthroats. The hatch starts mid morning, before that you can get a few on scuds. I'd get some good callibaetis flies before you go out there or stop at a good fly shop first - I wouldn't rely on flies from the stores in the park.