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Just finished a lengthy trip through the Black Hills, Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier. Thought I would drop a quick summary and a few campground notes.
We used a Eureka Jade Canyon 6 cabin tent. We did a similar trip last summer in this tent through Colorado and Utah and the tent continues to do okay. I'm not a tent expert but it's roomy enough for the four of us in my family and is easy enough to put up and take down. Our weather was mostly dry so we still haven't had to ride out a soaker in this tent.
In the Black Hills, we stayed at Cedar Pass campground in Badlands NP and Custer State Park (Stockade Lake North). Cedar Pass was fine and the surrounding scenery made a great backdrop. Custer SP was fine although I was a little disappointed we couldn't see the lake from the campground.
In the Tetons, we stayed at Colter Bay. I wish the Teton campgrounds would offer at least some reservations but we had to wait in the crazy line and get a site as they opened up. It's an okay location with the general store and restaurants and we were in one of the tent loops so it was plenty quiet. The shower facility didn't have power when I went to take a shower so I got it for free. There was no warm water mind you, but it was free.
In Yellowstone, we spent two nights in Grant (reservation) and two in Norris. Grant is big and pretty packed but it's an okay place and we were a short walk from the lake. It was a little noisy at times and the garbage truck came at 6 AM to empty all the dumpsters and he made the most noise humanly possible by banging the dumpsters against the truck. You could hear every dumpster in the campground being emptied loudly and it was awful. We checked and were told that Norris filled up by 7 AM the day before so we had to get up at 5 AM and pack up in darkness to get up there by 7 AM. We arrived a few minutes before 7 AM and there were already about 22 families in front of us. It was a little scary because the other options also fill up quickly which can leave you stranded. We ended up standing in the long line there for 2.5 hours but we finally succeeded in getting a site. I was expecting a lot out of Norris and was kind of disappointed. We were on the side of a hill there so the site was not very level. If I could do it over again, I might just take a second reservation and go to Canyon. Canyon has restaurants, stores, and showers and we wouldn't have had to spend half a day getting a site. We killed half a day getting our spot at Norris and it just wasn't the experience I was hoping for. It was hot while we were there (90s in the day) but dropped into the 30s at night so the temps covered a wide range.
In Glacier, we spent time at Fish Creek (reservation), Many Glacier (reservation), and Two Medicine. Fish Creek was okay. At Many Glacier, we were on the outside of the loop on a site that just backed up on the wilderness so we were on constant lookout for animals (bears). They had lots of bear activity so being on that spot was a little unnerving. Several of the campgrounds we visited were in bear areas but Many Glacier took it to a different level. The campground was fine and they had pay showers at the nearby lodge. The nearby scenery (Grinnell Lake/Glacier) was tremendous and they seemed to have visible bear activity every day.
Two Medicine was crazy. We again had to get up early and pack up and make the 90-minute drive to try and get a campsite. They still use the "Wild West" system at Two Medicine which I dearly HATE so you are forced to circle through the campground trying to squat on a site as somebody is getting ready to leave before somebody else grabs it. Think of sharks circling in the water. Unfortunately, they had a severe hail storm come through the night before so nobody was up at the usual time. Everybody was late getting going so it made this even more stressful because more campers were showing up but few were up and leaving. We finally got a spot but it was another unlevel spot with no good spot for a tent. The view was great but the site was really for a towed unit. I hoped to find a better spot but we had to just take it. Again, the nearby scenery is excellent.
Why they use the Wild West system there is beyond me. Colter Bay and Norris have both moved to a better system where you wait in an orderly line and are assigned a site as people leave the campground and turn in their tag. This is far superior and prevents conflicts and arguments and people being forced to approach campers and ask about their plans for departure. When we left Two Medicine, somebody came to our spot as we packed up and asked me to hold it for them. I told him they needed to tag it and guard it. He left to go get a tag and that put me in a jam as I couldn't (and didn't want to) hold it for him if somebody else showed up. He returned and while they were nice enough, they stood there and waited with their big rig the last 30 minutes for us to pack up which made us feel very rushed. There's just nothing I like about this system (for either the arrivers or departers) and the campsite hosts there were no help whatsoever. Two of the three of the hosts were nice people but they were zero help and gave us incomplete information. They also had no map of the campground at the check-in point so we were clueless about how many loops they had and where the loops were located so we could get our bearings before trying to circle through the park.
Also made a short stop at Roosevelt National Park and stayed in Cottonwood campground. For some reason, they don't have fire rings there which I can't understand. You are only permitted to build a fire in the grill which I think is dumb. I don't consider that a risky area for wildfires so I don't understand their prohibition against campfires.
Well, there's a quickie summary of miscellaneous observations.
We used a Eureka Jade Canyon 6 cabin tent. We did a similar trip last summer in this tent through Colorado and Utah and the tent continues to do okay. I'm not a tent expert but it's roomy enough for the four of us in my family and is easy enough to put up and take down. Our weather was mostly dry so we still haven't had to ride out a soaker in this tent.
In the Black Hills, we stayed at Cedar Pass campground in Badlands NP and Custer State Park (Stockade Lake North). Cedar Pass was fine and the surrounding scenery made a great backdrop. Custer SP was fine although I was a little disappointed we couldn't see the lake from the campground.
In the Tetons, we stayed at Colter Bay. I wish the Teton campgrounds would offer at least some reservations but we had to wait in the crazy line and get a site as they opened up. It's an okay location with the general store and restaurants and we were in one of the tent loops so it was plenty quiet. The shower facility didn't have power when I went to take a shower so I got it for free. There was no warm water mind you, but it was free.
In Yellowstone, we spent two nights in Grant (reservation) and two in Norris. Grant is big and pretty packed but it's an okay place and we were a short walk from the lake. It was a little noisy at times and the garbage truck came at 6 AM to empty all the dumpsters and he made the most noise humanly possible by banging the dumpsters against the truck. You could hear every dumpster in the campground being emptied loudly and it was awful. We checked and were told that Norris filled up by 7 AM the day before so we had to get up at 5 AM and pack up in darkness to get up there by 7 AM. We arrived a few minutes before 7 AM and there were already about 22 families in front of us. It was a little scary because the other options also fill up quickly which can leave you stranded. We ended up standing in the long line there for 2.5 hours but we finally succeeded in getting a site. I was expecting a lot out of Norris and was kind of disappointed. We were on the side of a hill there so the site was not very level. If I could do it over again, I might just take a second reservation and go to Canyon. Canyon has restaurants, stores, and showers and we wouldn't have had to spend half a day getting a site. We killed half a day getting our spot at Norris and it just wasn't the experience I was hoping for. It was hot while we were there (90s in the day) but dropped into the 30s at night so the temps covered a wide range.
In Glacier, we spent time at Fish Creek (reservation), Many Glacier (reservation), and Two Medicine. Fish Creek was okay. At Many Glacier, we were on the outside of the loop on a site that just backed up on the wilderness so we were on constant lookout for animals (bears). They had lots of bear activity so being on that spot was a little unnerving. Several of the campgrounds we visited were in bear areas but Many Glacier took it to a different level. The campground was fine and they had pay showers at the nearby lodge. The nearby scenery (Grinnell Lake/Glacier) was tremendous and they seemed to have visible bear activity every day.
Two Medicine was crazy. We again had to get up early and pack up and make the 90-minute drive to try and get a campsite. They still use the "Wild West" system at Two Medicine which I dearly HATE so you are forced to circle through the campground trying to squat on a site as somebody is getting ready to leave before somebody else grabs it. Think of sharks circling in the water. Unfortunately, they had a severe hail storm come through the night before so nobody was up at the usual time. Everybody was late getting going so it made this even more stressful because more campers were showing up but few were up and leaving. We finally got a spot but it was another unlevel spot with no good spot for a tent. The view was great but the site was really for a towed unit. I hoped to find a better spot but we had to just take it. Again, the nearby scenery is excellent.
Why they use the Wild West system there is beyond me. Colter Bay and Norris have both moved to a better system where you wait in an orderly line and are assigned a site as people leave the campground and turn in their tag. This is far superior and prevents conflicts and arguments and people being forced to approach campers and ask about their plans for departure. When we left Two Medicine, somebody came to our spot as we packed up and asked me to hold it for them. I told him they needed to tag it and guard it. He left to go get a tag and that put me in a jam as I couldn't (and didn't want to) hold it for him if somebody else showed up. He returned and while they were nice enough, they stood there and waited with their big rig the last 30 minutes for us to pack up which made us feel very rushed. There's just nothing I like about this system (for either the arrivers or departers) and the campsite hosts there were no help whatsoever. Two of the three of the hosts were nice people but they were zero help and gave us incomplete information. They also had no map of the campground at the check-in point so we were clueless about how many loops they had and where the loops were located so we could get our bearings before trying to circle through the park.
Also made a short stop at Roosevelt National Park and stayed in Cottonwood campground. For some reason, they don't have fire rings there which I can't understand. You are only permitted to build a fire in the grill which I think is dumb. I don't consider that a risky area for wildfires so I don't understand their prohibition against campfires.
Well, there's a quickie summary of miscellaneous observations.