Yellowstone
 

Have you (tent) camped there in the summer? Please tell me about your experiences.

No. I visited several times as a kid. Each time, the campsites were all full, and we slept in a field just outside the park borders. There were scores of other campers there too. I'm sure it was illegal, but the cops left us alone.

yeah, that's what I'm concerned about, and yet most of the campsites are non-reservable as far as I can tell from the website. Plus I hate to commit to exactly what day we would arrive....

Did you enjoy the park?

Yes. I liked it a lot. The geysers and bubbling mud pits were the most memorable for me. Plus, I had never seen a bison before then. This was 30 years ago, and the fires since then have changed it a bit, I understand. I recommend it.

Our kids love to camp and just explore nature. I think it will be awesome. but I'm worried about getting a site.

Mon try here http://www.reserveamerica.com/
its how we score cabins at a state park in Fla

Yes you can (and should) make reservations. They fill up quickly. Go through the Xanterra website http://www.yellowstonenationalparklo...mping-250.html

I camped there for 4 nights summer of 2008. It is absolutely gorgeous, and 4 nights was not even close to enough time.
Photos here: http://pruett.smugmug.com/Travel/Yel...58740252_BgVnp
Bring your own food. There are restaurants and very small convenience stores with a limited selection of fresh food.

The park is massive, highlights include the long staircase down to the base of the Grand Canyon falls (not for those who have a fear of heights. Not kidding at all, it is a simple metal staircase bolted to a sheer rock wall that goes down hundreds of feet), West Thumb geyser basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, Grand Prismatic, the Yellowstone Lodge, Roosevelt Lodge, and of course Old Faithful.
Summer in Wyoming can be odd. Bring light clothes for the daytime when it can be nice and sunny and hot, and a thick fleece and pants for nighttime when it can get cold. I'm talking 40-50F degree temp drop from high to low over a day. You will be at elevation too, so don't push yourself too hard hiking around if you live at sea level.
There are pay showers and pay laundry, bring quarters.

Want to know anything else just ask. I lived in Wyoming for a year back then, beautiful country out there. I hope you're driving!

Cool, thanks. I went online and it seemed that the nicest tent sites were not reservable -only the tent sites attached to the predominantly RV sites -is that not really the case?

Our first long road trip we made it to Devil's Tower, but didn't have time to extend it to Yellowstone. We near froze to death the first night near Mount Rushmore (in June) -we will not be turning up with just shorts and t-shirts for sure!

We camped at an RV site. It was actually nice because it was near bathrooms, level ground, place to park the car, and near the showers. Really all you need is a place to lay your head, you will be out in the park from sunup to sundown.
Badlands is a great spot too, worth at least a drive through. There's also the missile silo national park on the same highway. Very cool stuff, but you need to make a reservation for that way ahead of time because spots are very restricted.

We'd really like to avoid the RV sites, but maybe we should book one as a back-up. I will look into the cancellation fees etc.

thanks

...oh and thanks for the list of things to see -that is exactly what we needed.

Yeah I know what you mean. Backcountry camping would have been preferable, but we went when I was about to move back to Ohio so I had my car with everything I own in it. It really was not bad being in the rv spot though. Wasn't noisy at all, not much traffic, and 95% of our time was spent out in the park anyway.

No problem. It's a huge park so definitely make time the first day when you get there to go over the park map and make a plan. The park service has a wealth of trip planning info here: http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/publications.htm

Oh and take care of your camera lens. The minerals and silicon in the air from the geysers and hot springs will permanently damage your lens just fyi. Adorama.com has cheap camera accessories including simple clear lens covers. I stacked a circular polarizer with a clear protective lens on top of my main lens and it worked great. I could take it off at the end of the day, clean it down real well, and rest assured my expensive lens wasn't getting damaged just the cheap little thing was.