We have made the majority of our reservations in the morning the day of – with the exceptions of Sat/Sun – which we found we needed to plan a few days ahead.
We second Spearfish City Campground and the fish hatchery. The Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway is spectacular – switch backs, canyons, great waterfall... We took this from the Badlands to Spearfish.
Badlands/White River KOA – no Verizon signal in the park – older but clean – typical, tight KOA
Wind River RV Park – gravel parking lot - $ showers – felt safe – many FT - Riverton, WY – stocked up at Walmart here before we headed to Yellowstone – big box groceries are sparse/non-existent after Rapid City I believe. Took the Wind River Scenic Byway outside of Riverton towards Moran Jct. – another spectacular drive – canyons – switchbacks – bears…
Moran Junction – not a town – no stores – gas here was less than @ Yellowstone - Fireside Buffalo Valley RV Park – parking lot – gravel dead grass - no trees – close to Grand Teton National Park – safe – but location is what it has to offer
Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park & Cabins – very nice rv park – very close to the west entrance. Road to west entrance just past the hot springs is under construction for maybe 5 miles – down to dirt – but still reasonable – this area of the road is closed from 10 pm to 7 am for construction.
We wish that we had spent just one night in Moran Junction and moved on after we visited Grand Tetons.
It’s hazy throughout the area – cannot smell smoke though. Some areas of Yellowstone not accessible to RV’s – MOST are. We could have stayed in Yellowstone – full hook ups or dry camping – if you check now this could still be an option for you. We liked this map:
http://www.yellowstonenationalpark.com/maps.htm nice because it gives mileage and helps provide perspective. Lamar Valley Drive: great for animal viewing. You might check out TripAdvisor for the most popular sites within the park – there’s so much to see and it’s incredible!
We didn’t check out potential rv parks at the other Yellowstone exits and would have at least looked into doing that in retrospect - more time/less miles maybe. By the time you’re at Old Faithful you’re quite close to the west exit where we are tonight. It’s amazing – enjoy and safe travels!