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spinney · 07-03-2013, 02:25 PM

A little late to the game but If you plug in your route to this site: roadtrippers you can filter RV parks and Campgrounds and see the closest ones to your route.

Hope that helps! Seems like a fun trip.

Teton Stream · 07-03-2013, 03:16 PM

I would do a search for Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park in the Boondocking section. I live in Wilson, WY and posted some great off the beaten path spots to boondock. See below:

Wyoming (NW) Boondocking
For those interested in some off the heavily beaten paths boon-docking in the Grand Teton Nat'l Park and Bridger Teton area here are some ideas (non of these areas have water, electricity or dump capabilities):

Grassy Lake Road - Grassy Lake Road is the east-west artery through the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway intersection at Flagg Ranch. From this road, you can access the major hiking trails, primitive campsites. Dirt road that was just graded this summer (2012) from Flagg Ranch in about 8 miles. (After that is gets VERY rough). Some great, remote sites for trailers up to 25'.

Crystal Creek - (From Kelly, go 2 miles north on Forest Route 30350, then 10.5 miles east on FR 30400. Latitude: 43.6107728 Longitude: -110.4313075) -7,300 foot elevation. 6 campsites on the Wild and Scenic Gros Ventre River east of Slide Lake. The rock formations that form the river canyon are spectacularly colored.

Red Hills Campground - (From Kelly, take Forest Route 30350 north two miles to FR 30400. Go east on this for 10.5 miles.) Latitude: 43.6113283 Longitude: -110.4374189) One of our favorites, quiet, sites are ON the Gros Ventre River. Great hiking into Gros Ventre Wilderness.

Curtis Canyon Campground - (From Elk Refuge Headquarters in Jackson, take Flat Creek Road northeast 7 miles. Latitude: 43.5124321 Longitude: -110.6613136) The road up to campground can be rough. 6600-foot elevation. 11 campsites on the eastern border and above the National Elk Refuge. Scenic views of the Tetons, and the refuge from close to the campsites. Nearby hiking trailheads lead into the Gros Ventre Wilderness.

Have a great time.

Woosch · 07-03-2013, 07:51 PM

Saw that someone recommended 7th Ranch Rv. We would stay again. Nice people. If you like trains, stop by the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex MT. Have lunch there, watch trains. REALLY cool. You wont regret it. Last trip we stayed at Mountain Meadow RV in Deadhorse. Not too far from park entrance and we liked it very much.
While in Glacier. Take the bus tour over the Going to The Sun Road. Old vintage tour buses that were refurbished not too long ago. Probably one of the more spectacular tours we have ever been on.
If you are thinking about stopping on the east side, you need to watch your route going there, One highway (I dont remember the number) you don't want to be on. Ask the campground what the best route in is.
We will be in Tetons and Yellowstone in late July to early August. Hope we cross paths.
Cheers,

rayandre · 08-05-2013, 08:09 PM

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped contribute to the many great ideas and spots to check out on our trip. We were out for a month, traveled over 6300 miles across 9 states, experienced 4 national parks, met a lot of nice folks along the journey and made a lot of great memories for everyone in our family. The true test is that our two teenage boys are already trying to figure out a new area/route to do it again, which I take is a good sign, right? We ended up taking 90 west up until we got into Wyoming and then we used state routes to get into the Tetons. On the way out of Glacier NP we ended up taking route 2 the entire length across the top of the country into the UP of Michigan to spend a few days up there and dropped down to Ludington SP on the western side of MI. It was a great way to come back, avoid the hassle of driving around Chicago, avoided all tolls, and we saw some really nice areas we hope to go back to. The suggestions contributed by everyone really helped us determine not only our route but some places to stay or look for along the way. It was invaluable. I'd love to post pictures but we have over 2000 I need to sift through and process. We're hoping to set up a site to upload some of them. We had no mechanical issues with the TV and only minor things (like losing the use of our fridge half way through the trip because we had to go up a crazy incline into Johnson's Campground outside Glacier). I guess that thing about keeping them level is really true-still haven't gotten it to work again but I'm not complaining since it is around 44 yrs. old!

KJRitchie · 08-06-2013, 12:24 PM

Grinnell Glacier. I'm glad you made that hike. Love your photo.

Kelvin

rayandre · 08-07-2013, 08:13 PM

I'm really fortunate to still be able to hike those elevation climbs! And both my teenage sons were definitely happy there was a great prize after such a difficult hike. By the time they get back to see it as adults it will likely just be a glacial lake. One of my bucket list items and hikes for sure. Amazingly, I took the pic with my phone-it has a great camera and a really nice panoramic feature. I hope to get back to Glacier NP some day-it's one of the greatest areas I've had the pleasure of exploring and we saw just about every kind of animal we hoped to see-with the exception of a mountain lion and lynx-oh well, can see-em'-all! The only thing we didn't get to do was backpack into a back country site and camp with our "other" gear-brought it but just didn't find the time to go out. Plus, it's not easy to give up the comforts of our old AS.

KJRitchie · 08-09-2013, 10:32 AM

On our second trip in 2011 my daughter and I backpacked using Glacier Guides 3 day 2 night trip from Two Medicine to Cobalt Lake then to Upper Two Medicine Lake. They are the only approved outfitter to offer backpacking into the park. We rented the packs, sleeping bags, air mattresses and tents, we brought our own clothes and a few ditty bags of odds and ends and the guide provided the food and cooking. We hit bad weather on the 2nd night at upper Two Medicine, thunderstorms. It rained the whole night. The two person tent started to leak from heavy condensation but the mattress pads kept us out of the some of the puddles that formed in the corners of the tent. The next morning the storms had cleared.

Here are a few photos. New snow on the top of the peaks. The lake is Upper Two Medicine. My daughter and I shared the large tent. Thats me at the end of the hike. I carried my camera gear on the front.

Kelvin

rayandre · 08-10-2013, 06:38 AM

Sounds like a fun trip! Great pics!

rjack · 08-19-2013, 08:37 AM

You might want to consider starting at the south end of the Tetons and working your way north, then returning home via the northern states...i.e. Dakotas. We did that way..Tetons...Yellowstone...Glacier ...Calgary..Lake Louise...Vancouver..Washington Oregon coast..northern California...back across 50....to home in Missouri. This took 64 nights and 9750 miles. If you ended the circle at Glacier and started back east it could be done in a month. We went in the summer and had reservations only at Yellowstone. There is a very nice RV park called Grizzly in the village of West Yellowstone at the west gate of the park. Happy travels.

rayandre · 08-20-2013, 05:19 AM

rjack, thanks for the suggestions. You must have missed my update post on 8/5 with the pic of the Grinnell glacier. We left Ohio July 5th and came back August 5th. We hit the Badlands and Rushmore and then we did our first night in the Tetons at Colter Bay, then we moved to Gro Ventre CG for 6 nights, then had 4 nights in Yellowstone at Grant CG (where we lucked out and got reservations 2 days before leaving the Tetons) and then made our way to Glacier and stayed on the east side of the park for 9 days, one at Johnson's and the rest at Many Glacier CG. The trip was amazing thanks in part to folks like yourself who gave us great tips on where to go. This is truly what the Forums are all about. Thanks again!

Sandi & Bob · 08-21-2013, 12:07 AM

We've been on the road since July 24, doing a coast to coast trip, starting in New Jersey.just made our first east bound turn the other day after doing Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, South Dakota, Bad Lands, Yellowstone and to the west coast. Drove up the coast of Oregon into Washington and are heading for Glacier National Park. We've seen so much beauty in the good old USA!!! What I was surprised about was the difficulty in finding places to stop, there are so many campgrounds but also more campers! So, with that in mind, I just booked 2 nights at Glacier, at least I know we'll have a spot to park! I'm pretty sure I got the last reservable spot (so they said anyway!!) still so much to see, guess we have to do it again next year!! Thanks for all the tips on here, it makes life just a little bit easier...