akeisel's Passport
 | Been to 167 Attractions |
 | 162 Reviews |
 | 106 First to Review |
 | 852 Photos |
 | 105 Helpful Votes |
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Send a ComplimentAbout Me & My Family
My family and I love road trips. In fact, our annual road trip miles amount to at least 10,000 per year! We love National Parks and any place that is off the beaten path.
Our Family's Travel Personality
adventurous, curious, simple, independent, energetic, spontaneous
We Just Got Back From
The road (wherever it takes us), of course!
Our Favorite Vacation Spot
National Parks
A Place We'd Love To Visit
Alaska
Favorite Vacation Memory
There are so many to name. We love Alta Ranch Montana. We have so many fun memories of just staying at the ranch. We never left the place and we were never bored!
Worst Travel Moment With My Kids:
My daughter got car sick on the way to New Mexico. She puked in every state on the way. I sat in the back and caught the puke in a Ziploc bag for about 8 hours. Once we got to our destination, she was just fine and happy to be there.
Websites I Like:
Early Season Camping - Yellowstone & The Tetons
My family takes an early season RV trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks each year. We love staying right in these National Parks - never leaving to find a hotel or restaurant. I hope this list is helpful for other families that love to get away from it all. Forget about getting cell phone service and internet and find some real family fun building a camp fire. Be prepared for some good ghost stories, smores, and snipe hunts.
Mammoth Hot Springs
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Comment:
Great place to stay when visiting Mammoth Hot Springs.
reviewed on: June 11 2011
"Diamond in the Rough"
Mammoth campground doesn’t look like much, situated on the side of a sagebrush covered hill below the Mammoth area of Yellowstone National Park. However, if you plan on visiting the Mammoth area, you can’t beat the location of this campground. There is a short, fairly steep trail that takes you to Mammoth from this campground. Here you can visit the Mammoth Visitor Center, stores, and some great hikes along the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces – perfect hikes for families. Wildlife is also very abundant in and around Mammoth with elk grazing throughout the town and along the hillsides. In fact, my family watched a black bear walk within 50 yards of our camp site! Thankfully, the bear didn’t seem too interested in the campers and the ranger spent some time chasing it away from the campground. Camp sites cannot be reserved ahead of time at this campground so I would suggest arriving early in order to get the best available site (sites 47 through 49 are the most private spots). There are camp hosts on site that register and assign a site to each camper. You cannot select your specific site, but when we registered, the camp hosts made sure to give us the best available spot. The camp hosts told us that if we were unhappy with our assigned spot, they would be happy to switch us to another site. Note that it can be difficult to level RVs at the Mammoth campground as the sites are situated on a terraced hill and there is no dump station. There is plenty of potable water available but there are only 4 restrooms for this 68 spot campground.
In summary, Mammoth Campground is a diamond in the rough – it doesn’t look like much at first glance, but this is a great place to access the Mammoth area, view the ample wildlife and enjoy some great hikes.
Canyon Village
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Comment:
Centralized location, but beware of the snow in the early season.
reviewed on: June 11 2011
"Centralized location, beautiful setting"
The Canyon Campground is a great centralized location to explore Yellowstone National Park. The setting of this campground is beautiful, surrounded by dense forest. The only downfall to this campground is it is at a higher elevation so if you are camping early in the season, snow may still be on the ground. We visited this campground in early June and there was still 5 feet of snow – picnic tables were still covered and fire rings couldn’t be found. Water spigots hadn’t even been located yet. Therefore, if you are tent camping early in the season you may want to consider campgrounds located at lower elevations.Canyon Campground is located near Canyon Village – with its new visitor’s center, stores and lodging. The campground is also near one of Yellowstone’s most famous features – the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, where you can see the amazing upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River. There are some nice viewpoints and short hikes in this area – perfect for families. This campground has 276 sites and spots can be reserved ahead of time. Sites along the end of loops are the most private with several nice level RV sites. Three is also a dump station, laundry and showers available near the registration office. Within walking distance of the campground is an amphitheater that offers evening ranger programs – great for kids earning their Junior Ranger badges.
In summary, Canyon Campground is a wonderful campground in a very beautiful setting, centrally located with plenty of activities to keep your family busy.
Grand Loop Road
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Comment:
Homebase for some great wildlife viewing.
reviewed on: June 12 2011
"Great camping option for early season visitors"
The best thing about Tower Fall Campground is it is the only campground near Yellowstone's north east entrance that is open for early season visitors. Pebble Creek and Slough Creek campgrounds usually open later in June. Therefore, if you plan on enjoying the Lamar Valley early in the season, the Tower Fall campground is the place to stay. On a side note, Lamar Valley is definitely the place to find wolves – the only place our family has seen them. If you don’t already own a good spotting scope, consider renting one. The Silver Gate Lodging General Store in Silver Gate (NE Entrance) rents some really nice scopes. The location of the campground is private – located off the main road from the Tower Fall store. Be sure to watch for a black bear on the road from the Roosevelt Lodge to Tower Fall – our family always sees bears at this section of the road.
Tower Fall Campground is a small campground with only 32 sites. This is a generator free campground and RVs are limited to a maximum of 30 feet. This campground has a tight turn that is not suitable for larger units. There are a couple of sites that are “RV only” sites. This campground is situated on a hill so leveling an RV can be difficult. The sites cannot be reserved ahead of time so if you plan on camping at Tower Fall, arrive early to guarantee a site. There is a camp host posted at this campground but self-registration is required. Be sure to bring cash or check to pay the camp fee as there is no credit card registration.
Tower Fall Campground is just a step above primitive camping. The only amenities offered are pit toilets, picnic tables, fire pits and potable water spigots. This campground gives you a feeling of “getting away from it” due to its small size and location away from the main road. Families can easily hike to the Tower Store for some shopping. Be sure to take the short hike to the Tower Fall view area – an easy hike for families. You can also continue the hike further and enjoy great views of the Yellowstone River below.
In summary, Tower Fall Campground is a good option for early season visitors who want to explore the north east section of Yellowstone. Just be sure to bring along a good RV driver in order to maneuver around those tight turns.
PO Box 165
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Comment:
This is not a campground - it's more like a parking lot in Yellowstone.
reviewed on: June 12 2011
"Not a campground"
Fishing Bridge RV Park is the only place in Yellowstone that offers hookups for RVs. In fact, hard sided units are a requirement to stay here and no tent camping is allowed. My family has not stayed here but I wanted to let Trekaroo families know that this is not a campground. This is definitely only an RV Park where units are lined up, very closely and hooked up to power and water. There are also no site picnic tables or fire pits. My family drove through this RV Park during our trip to Yellowstone and although having hookups sounded appealing, we deciding we did not want to stay in a place that felt more like a grocery store parking lot than a campground. The Fishing Bridge area is beautiful, with plenty of fun family activities nearby. However, I would not recommend staying at this RV Park unless your family is only interested in parking, hooking up their unit and then exploring the surrounding area.
P.O. Box 50
Grand Teton National Park Moran, Wyoming
Comment:
Enjoy the views at Signal Mountaing Campground.
reviewed on: June 13 2011
"Destination Campground"
If you love beautiful mountain lakes, you will love Signal Mountain Campground. This campground is located on a hillside overlooking Jackson Lake and the Tetons. There are 86 sites in this campground and it fills up quickly in peak seasons. The campground is on a hillside so RVs can be hard to level. Also note that RV sizes are limited to 30 feet and there are no hookups but a dump station is available.Signal Mountain Campground sites are very nice, tree covered with picnic tables and fire pits. You can collect firewood in the campground but please be aware of ticks in the brush. I discovered a tick in my child’s hair and luckily brushed it off before it bit.
Families will love exploring Jackson Lake shorefront and marina which is an easy walking distance from the camp sites. My family spent several hours just walking around the lake and skipping rocks into the lake. There is also a marina by this campground where boat rentals are available. Signal Mountain Lodge is nearby, a great place to do some souvenir shopping or even get a bite to eat.
In summary, I would recommend the Signal Mountain Campground. The views are astounding and the lake offers so much family fun. This is truly a destination campground.
Gros Ventre Rd.,
Grand Teton National Park Moose, Wyoming
Comment:
I just love pronouncing "Gros Ventre".
reviewed on: June 13 2011
"Large Campground that Rarely Fills Up"
My family loves the Gros Ventre Campground. We also like saying “Grow Vont” in a French accent. Or sometimes we just say “Gross Ventrey” in a hick accent. Either way, this is a great campground. (FYI – Gros Vent means “Big Belly” in French.)So what’s so great about Gros Ventre? It’s easy to get a really good camp site here. This campground rarely fills ups so even if you are late getting to the campground, you should still be able to get a decent site. This campground is large, flat and each site is fairly large compared to other campgrounds. The campground is off of the main road so there is little traffic noise, yet it’s close enough to the town of Jackson to stock up some supplies. Some of the sites are near the Gros Ventre River although river access is difficult due to the vegetation growing around it. There are no full views of the Tetons as a large hill blocks this view. However, it’s easy to spot animals around the campground – look for buffalo, moose and antelope. Each site has its own picnic table and fire pit. There are plenty of restrooms located throughout the campground, but no showers. There is also an RV dump station near the registration office. There is no advance registration allowed, except for group sites. Sites are assigned by the registration office upon entering the campground. However, we were allowed to drive around until we found an empty site we liked and then register.
Kid’s like this campground because it has a park like setting with large cottonwood trees all around. This is a great place to take kids on a “snipe hunt” (plenty of places for those snipes to hide). The campground is also a good place to ride bikes, especially for kids just learning as all of the roads are flat.
In summary, I would recommend the Gros Ventre campground (no matter how you pronounce it) to anyone visiting Teton National Park or the town of Jackson. The campground's location is central and it is very easy to get a great site no matter how late you register.
