Camping in Yellowstone National Park.

Imagine the largest lake above 7000 feet in North America, pristine rivers, world-class waterfalls, canyons, and mountains. Add a variety of wildlife, including bison, pronghorn antelope, wolves, black and grizzly bears, moose, deer, and bighorn sheep, and you’ve got the makings of a great national park. Yellowstone does the typical mountain park site one better by adding a layer of unbelievably stunning geothermal features. From the eruptions of Old Faithful to the colors of the Morning Glory Pool and Grand Prismatic Spring to the bubbling Artist’s Paint Pots and Mammoth’s Terraces, there seems to be another treat around every corner. Oh, and it has a colorful canyon with two waterfalls at its head—worthy of a national park all its own.

Native Americans knew of the wonders of Yellowstone for centuries, but no European had visited the area until after Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery expedition in 1804 through 1806. They managed to miss Yellowstone, but John Colter, a member of the Corps, is generally accepted as the first white man to have explored parts of what is now Yellowstone National Park during his travels from 1807 to 1810 in search of beaver pelts for the hat trade. Another mountain man and trapper, Jim Bridger, visited the area in the 1840s and returned with unbelievable stories of columns of water spouting into the air. These reports led to more expeditions into the Yellowstone area in the 1860s and early 1870s. Reports of this strange and wonderful landscape led Congress and President Grant to approve a bill that set aside “a certain tract of land lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River” as the world’s first national park in 1872.

Over the 150 years since the park was founded, it has undergone a number of changes. Initially there was little funding and no park service to maintain it. In the 1890s, the US Army took control of the park and brought some order to the chaos, building a fort at Mammoth Hot Springs for its officers and men. The National Park service took over the park from the army when it was founded in 1916 and has run it since then. At first, the focus of the Park Service was on preserving scenery; wildlife was viewed as either a side entertainment (in the case of bears) or as a nuisance to be eliminated (wolves). That has evolved over the past 50 years or so as programs to eliminate human feeding of the bears and other animals were introduced and wolves have been brought back into the park to take their place in its ecosystem.

Click here to access our Yellowstone photo gallery.

Yellowstone National Park lies largely within the state of Wyoming, with parts extending into Montana and Idaho. It covers over 3000 square miles—about the size of the state of Delaware—and sees over four million visitors from around the world each year. The park has five entrances and a figure-eight roadway allowing for navigation from one point to another. The speed limit in the park is 45 mph, and you can expect delays due to road conditions, construction, and animals in or near the roadway, so make sure to allow plenty of time to get from Point A to Point B. Gasoline and diesel fuel are available at six locations throughout the park.

The northern part of the park includes attractions such as Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Fall, the Absaroka Mountains, and the Lamar Valley. Toward the park’s center, you’ll find the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Norris Geyser Basin, and Mount Washburn; the southern part of the park is home to Yellowstone Lake, Upper Geyser Basin (home of the Old Faithful geyser), and Midway Geyser Basin.

Getting into the Park

There are five entrances to the park: the North Entrance in Gardiner, MT; Northeast Entrance near Cooke City–Silver Gate, MT; East Entrance 50 miles west of Cody, WY; South Entrance near Grand Teton National Park; and the West Entrance outside West Yellowstone, MT. West Yellowstone and Gardiner are both larger communities and offer shopping, restaurants, gas stations and RV parks. Cody is relatively far from the park, but it is a larger city and offers more amenities.

Park passes are required and cost $35 for a 7-day pass or $70 for an annual pass. Other options include the $80 America the Beautiful National Parks pass (good for 1 year at all Nationa Parks) and the Senior, Access and Military passes. Click here for more info on passes.

• Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful Geyser) – Includes the most famous feature of the park as well as a large concentration of geysers, hot springs and fumeroles.
• The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone – 1,000 feet deep and 20 miles long, the canyon has 2 magnificent waterfalls and multiple places to view it from the rim.
• Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces – Wander the boardwalks and take in the everanging beauty of the travertine terraces.
• Norris Geyser Basin – Includes the largest geyser in the world, Steamoat Geyser.
• Lamar Valley – Premier place in North America to view wildlife including bison, bears, wolves and pronghorn antelope.

Camping in Yellowstone

Yellowstone has a dozen campgrounds within the park ranging in size from as few as 16 campsites to several with more than 400 sites. All have water (sometimes hand-pumped) and at least vault toilets. Many have restrooms with flush toilets, and several have shower facilities. Only one, Fishing Bridge RV Park, has sites with hookups (electric, water, and sewer) and it is only open to hard-sided camping units (no tents or tent campers) due to bear activity in the area. (Note—Fishing Bridge RV Park was closed for remodeling 2019-2021 and is expected to reopen in 2022.) The five largest campgrounds are operated by a private company (Yellowstone National Park Lodges); the rest are run by the National Park Service. The table below gives a brief overview of the amenities at each campground.