Yellowstone

Camping areas are really easy to be found one you get into Yellowstone - But I would recommend trying to rent out a cabin or something similar. The snake river is a great one to raft down (you'll occasionally run across Moose, Eagles, and other wildlife). Make sure you check out Old Faithful - the drive itself on the way up there is fantastic - last time I went there were wild buffalo all over the roads walking alongside the cars. So cool! Have fun!

I recommend planning early as most reservations tend to fill up around the park early. Have not camped but hear that it fills up within the park very quick. I was concerned with climate for our first trip and didn't think camping with freezing overnight temps suited us. We went the last week of June and the weather was perfect, but we got lucky. I would not go before then, as it can be too rainy or there may also still be too much snow in the higher elevations in early June. I have heard September is great too avoid a lot of people, but we found June to also be good.

There are very good places in Gardiner, MT at the north entrance. We stayed at Hillcrest Cottages and they are reasonable. The main thing to remember is that if you stay at the same place the entire trip, it can take quite a while to the opposite end of the park. Speeds through the park are low and you will want to adhere to them, animals, traffic jams, construction, forest fires etc can all slow you down. You will see so much from point A to point B, study a map of Yellowstone and plan out your stay with just a few things each day. Highly recommend the book Yellowstone Treasures which has maps and things you can do in each part of the park with descriptions. It also gives you distances between features, so its handy when changing plans on a whim.

Are you planning to drive or fly? How many days do you plan on visiting the park? The way the weather has been so far I think it will be an early summer. I would say starting mid June you might be able to see some of the wildflowers starting to bloom. We live 100 miles from West Yellowstone and go camping many times during the summer. One campground that is nice is Madison Campground, not far from the west entrance. Also not far from Yellowstone is The Grand Teton National Park it is awsome, we camp at Colter Bay Village. You need to figure out when you are coming and make reservations ASAP. If you are unable to find reservations call each day and see if there have been any cancellations. I will try to answer any questions you have. www.yellowstonenationalparklofges.com and www.gtlc.com

great place for travelling, I'm just thinking about the disaster that was said to happen in the movie "2012"

Instead of camping in Yellowstone, check out Dornan's [dornans.com] in Moose! You can hike, bike or skate into Grand Teton National Park from here.

Love Yellowstone! But it has been a few years since my last visit. I was actually talking to my sister last night, and she and her husband are planning a trip this summer. She said that practically all the campgrounds are completely booked inside the park for the month of June. Around mid-July was the first time they could book something. So just keep this in mind -- as someone already mentioned, the earlier you can reserve, the better.

You can also camp outside of the eastern entrace - on highway 14, which leads back to Cody. There are some campgroups scattered there, which proved very nice for us as we made a supply-run to Cody where we bought fishing gear, food, etc.

If you are driving...then I highly recommend either coming into the park, or leaving the park, through the North/North East entrace. If you're leaving the park, you head north until you hit highway 212 -- where you'll head east (though technically, I think it's stated as North). This will take you into Montana, where you will go through Cook City - Silver Gate, and then continue on to Red Lodge. The main part of this drive is that you are going over/through the Bear Tooth Moutains. It's an amazing drive, with tons of switch-backs, a lot of elevation gains, and a lot of overlooks. It's not uncommon to be driving with snowbacks piled up 10 to 15 feet high right beside the road, even in the summer. In my mind, this is a wonderful drive.

And speaking of park entrances, you should also head out the Southern entrance where you aill pass the Grand Teton National Park. That's a very, very gorgeous thing to see. A little further south takes to you Jackson Hole, WY, where is also good for some tourist related activities, supplies, food, etc.

Not to get sidetracked, but if you are driving and coming in from MN, then you can also make a full vacation out of sites throughout your trek through South Dakato. Driving west on I-90, you'll pass The Corn Palace in Mitchell for a quick, fun stop. Further west has the Badlands (very, very cool).

You'll also want to pull over for a quick vist to Wall Drug, just because it's Wall Drug.

There's plenty more to do, but obviously this is not a South Dakota trip. If you head on into Wyoming, it would be well worth the very slight detour to head over to Devil's Tower National Monument. Very cool! (Plus, they filmed part of Close Encounters of the Third Kind here!)

Hope some of this helps. Sorry I couldn't tell you more about actual in-park stuff, but the times I've been there, I spent the bulk of the time just hiking whatever trails we could find, soaking up as much of everything as possible. Basically, you can't go wrong with whatever you do.

Enjoy!!