Buffalo KOA Journey

We stayed at Buffalo KOA Journey in Buffalo, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second visit to this very nice KOA, again staying in the new Clear Creek Loop section.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-08-13
Check out: 2023-08-16
3 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps ranging between 72-90°F, lows around 49-59°F
Some wind on arrival day, up to 20 MPH gusts, otherwise negligible

Noise:

Some faint road noise
No train noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#82, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
A little unlevel, not too bad
Gravel driveway about 60 feet long by about 12 feet wide
Grass and rocks between sites about 15 feet wide
Young trees
Concrete patio with table and chairs
Fire pit

Utilities:

50 amp power, very inconveniently located
60 PSI water, very inconveniently located
Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe plus 1 3-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 30 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: 6 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 15 ms ping
Verizon: 22 Mbps down, 22 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
AT&T: 105 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Starlink: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Swimming pool
Package delivery to office
Path by creek

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Newer section is lovely

This was our second stay here, and we enjoyed it just as much as the first time. Once again, our site was in the newer creekside portion, and it’s still very nice. There is minor road noise, but pretty faint. The sites are level, and hookups are all good. We’ll definitely stay here again on our next trip through the area and try one of the back-in sites along the creek itself. We camped at Buffalo KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Crazy Woman Canyon is a fantastic drive. Tie Hack picnic area was a great spot to enjoy a bite to eat afterward.

The campground map:

Campground map

Interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Decoration:

Decoration

Bridge:

Bridge

Dog run:

Dog run

Creek:

Creek

Video of the creek:

Creek

Other sites

Group fire pit:

Group fire pit

A path from the creek area, and other sites:

Path and other sites

Other sites

Four different Tiffin motorhome models; our Allegro Bus, a Phaeton, an Allegro Open Road, and an Allegro Red:

Other sites

A nice KOA; our second stay here, and we’ll definitely stay here again in the future. If we were to stay here more than a few nights, one of the back-in sites in the Clear Creek loop would be delightful.

Video

Video: Cody KOA Holiday flooding timelapse

A timelapse of some impressive rain, hail, lightning, and flooding during our stay at Cody KOA Holiday.

Cody KOA Holiday

We stayed at Cody KOA Holiday in Cody, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A busy KOA, especially with lots of motorcycles from people heading to or from the big Sturgis rally.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-08-05
Check out: 2023-08-13
8 nights

Weather:

One day with hail, a couple of days with thunderstorms, mostly clear after that
High temps ranging between 70-85°F, lows around 51-59°F
Some wind, up to 20 MPH gusts

Noise:

Some road noise
No train noise
Lots of neighbor noise (kids and motorcycles)

Site:

#59, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Unlevel, side-to-side slope, but jacks coped
Gravel driveway about 102 feet long by about 12 feet wide
Grass between sites about 12 feet wide
No trees
Concrete patio with table and chairs
Fire pit

Utilities:

50 amp power, inconveniently located
45 PSI water, inconveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 29 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 250 ms ping
Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 18-21 Mbps up, 60-120 ms ping
AT&T: 33-38 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 130 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: 3-7 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 110 ms ping
Starlink: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Swimming pool
Free pancakes for breakfast
Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient to Pancakes

The campground was convenient for exploring Cody and the area. Our site was right next to the office and pancake area, which was nice. The angle to get our big rig out when we left was a little hairy, however. The trailers and smaller rigs in the site next to us usually backed out of their site to avoid the hard left turn around the dump station and propane fill area. Some of the turns in the park were also a bit difficult in a big rig, especially when folks at the ends parked their big trucks into the road. The site itself was level, and all the hookups worked. We camped at Cody KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a must-do. Head over to the Bighorn Canyon and Chief Joseph Scenic Highway for some amazing scenery. The Buffalo Bill Dam is also pretty cool.

The campground map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

We went out for a scenic drive one day (see forthcoming post), but as we arrived back in town it started to rain heavily, with lightning in the area. When we arrived back at our site, we waited in our truck for several minutes while it rained and hailed heavily, before making a run for it when it eased up briefly:

Hail

The campground experienced some ground flooding:

Flooding

Video of heavy rain, campground flooding, and lightning:

A screenshot of several nearby lightning strikes via the handy LightningMaps.org website:

Lightning

Flooding:

Flooding

All that water washed away the landscaping gravel:

Washed away landscaping gravel

Hail residue:

Hail residue

The campground entrance:

Entrance

Gazebo by the entrance:

Gazebo by entrance

Office:

Office

Office store

Pools:

Pools

Playground:

Playground

Jump pad:

Jump pad

Family room:

Family room

A nice feature of this KOA is free pancakes for breakfast every day, with sausages and other food available for purchase:

Pancakes etc

Pancakes and sausages

Speaking of food, some samples of other places we patronized in Cody; first up, More Burgers and Shakes:

More Burgers and Shakes

A close-up of that bear decoration:

Bear

There are bears on the back of the bear:

Bears on bear

More Burgers and Shakes

Not overly impressive:

More Burgers and Shakes

We had a lot of BBQ in Texas, so it was interesting to try Wyoming’s edition at Bubba’s Bar-B-Que; a bit different, but not bad:

Bubba's Bar-B-Que

Finally, some pizza at Tossers Pizza and Beer; decent pan-style pizza, but not the best:

Tossers Pizza and Beer

We were planning to attend the famous Cody Nite Rodeo, but after reading the reviews on Yelp and elsewhere, we decided it wasn’t for us — overly religious, political jokes, sexist jokes, etc. It would have been painful. And apparently not good rodeo anyway.

But they kept trying to drum up customers, driving though the campground every day offering discount coupons:

Cody Nite Rodeo

And a bus to pick up people:

Cody Nite Rodeo

One of several occupants of our driver-side neighboring site, a small toy hauler trailer:

Toy hauler trailer

One section of the park has tight buddy sites:

Tight buddy sites

Other sites:

Other sites

A newer section, where it looked like a couple was shoveling the gravel to make it somewhat level for parking after the flooding:

Other sites

Tent sites:

Tent sites

Teepees:

Teepees

Cabins:

Cabins

Our site again, preparing to leave:

Our site

Video

Video: Alpine Valley RV Resort timelapse

Bonus: a timelapse of our stay at Alpine Valley RV Resort.

Video

Video: LL Stub Stewart State Park timelapse

Bonus: a timelapse of our stay at LL Stub Stewart State Park.

Fishing Bridge Campground, Yellowstone National Park

We stayed at Fishing Bridge Campground in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our third stay in Yellowstone, though the first in our coach; our first stay was in a cabin back in 2011, and our previous stay was in a rented trailer in 2021 (while our coach sat back at our homestead, as the campground we stayed at, Madison, wasn’t big enough; a trip planned before we bought our coach). See the Yellowstone trip posts for details. That’s for the two of us; Jenn practically grew up in Yellowstone, visiting several times as a kid.

The Fishing Bridge campground (at 7,790 feet elevation) is the only one big enough for us in Yellowstone, and was recently significantly overhauled to include nice big paved sites in the E loop.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-07-22
Check out: 2023-08-05
14 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny for most of the time, drizzly and thunder storms the last few days
High temps ranging between 58-80°F, lows around 48-52°F
Some wind, up to 28 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Not much neighbor noise (kids)

Site:

#E302, pull-through, concrete
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Level
Concrete pad about 70 feet long by about 12 feet wide
Grass between sites about 12 feet wide
Mature trees around campground, few within
Concrete patio with picnic table
No fire pit

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
75 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 105-122 Mbps down, 2-10 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
Verizon: 13-17 Mbps down, 3-6 Mbps up, 75-625 ms ping (unreliable)
AT&T: 0.5 Mbps down, 0.02 Mbps up, 1500 ms ping
T-Mobile: no service
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
National Park

Our review on Campground Reviews:

FHU in Yellowstone? Yes Please!

I’ve been coming to Yellowstone since before I could walk. I’ve camped in the rustic campgrounds and stayed in lodges. The only other option if you have a big rig and need full hookups is to stay outside the park and wait in traffic every day to get in, so for for my money, this is the best option around. We had a nice pull-through site in the new section and were very impressed with the concrete pads. The site was level and had excellent hookups, even if the water spigot was a bit weird. There are few trees around the campsites, so there was a good Starlink connection if you need to stay connected. We camped at Fishing Bridge RV Park in a Motorhome.

The campground map:

Map

An interactive map, still showing the old layout of the campground as I write this:

Our site:

Our site

On a non-rainy day:

Our site

We were very glad for our Starlink dish and flagpole, as there was little cellular coverage:

Starlink on flagpole

Check in area:

Check in area

Other sites:

Other sites

A nice campground, and with a park the size of Yellowstone, certainly beneficial to be able to stay within the park. We’ll definitely stay here again in the future.

Alpine Valley RV Resort

We stayed at Alpine Valley RV Resort in Alpine, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A new RV resort at 5,670 feet elevation, where we stayed to visit Grand Teton National Park, an hour north.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-07-13
Check out: 2023-07-22
9 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps ranging between 79-88°F, lows around 50-58°F
Some wind, 26 MPH gusts

Noise:

Some road noise
No train noise
Some neighbor noise (kids)

Site:

#20, pull-through, concrete
Kinda needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Level
Asphalt driveway and concrete pad about 70 feet long by about 10 feet wide (rather narrow)
Grass between sites about 12 feet wide
Young trees
Concrete patio with table and chairs
Fire pit

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
75 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Campground Wi-Fi: 80 Mbps down, 90 Mbps up, 5 ms ping
T-Mobile: 21-40 Mbps down, 7-16 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
Verizon: 3 Mbps down, 1-5 Mbps up, 200-1000 ms ping
AT&T: negligible service (phones work, MiFi didn’t)
Starlink: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Package delivery to site
Coffee shop and grocery store in walking distance

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful new park, beautiful mountain views

This is a very nice, new park that definitely has had a lot of care and attention put into it. Sites were immaculate, with spacious grassy areas and concrete patios. When the trees grow up a bit, they’ll provide nice shade, but for now, you get really nice views of the surrounding mountains. At check-in, we were escorted to our site and guided in, which is always a nice touch. When folks checked out, each site was cleaned and prepped for the next arrival. Not every place does this, but the best ones do. Another small thing that makes a huge difference is the frequent trash pickup from your site. My only regret was not getting a back-in site so we’d have fewer neighbors and better views, but that gives me something to aspire to for next time. We camped at Alpine Valley RV Resort in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Book a whitewater rafting trip with Dave Hansen with pickup from the resort. You basically get concierge service between the resort and the river, which makes for a fantastic experience. Broulim’s is a nice grocery store within walking distance from the resort. Good coffee at Punkins, also within walking distance.

The campground map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Interesting water faucet; looks like they can remove the tap for winterizing:

Interesting water faucet

Adding the Teton sticker to our coach:

Adding Teton sticker

Other sites:

Other sites

A path to a river overlook:

Path

Snake River (no access from the campground; there’s a steep bank):

Snake River

The park is still under construction; they have a temporary building for the office currently:

Office

A white-water rafting water feature also under construction:

Water feature under construction

Playground:

Playground

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Nearby gas station:

Nearby gas station

A nice nearby grocery store; it was very convenient to walk to get groceries:

Nearby grocery store

Nearby Subway etc, also in walking distance:

Nearby Subway etc

Nearby mercantile:

Nearby mercantile

Nearby coffee shop:

Nearby coffee shop

A nice park. We’d stay here again, though would choose a back-in site next time, for an un-obstructed view over the river to the mountains.

Y Knot Winery RV Park

We stayed at Y Knot Winery RV Park in Glenns Ferry, Idaho. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A brand-new RV park, still installing landscaping, plus a winery and restaurant.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-07-11
Check out: 2023-07-13
2 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps ranging between 94-99°F, lows around 58-63°F
Some evening wind, 23 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road noise
Train horn noise (didn’t hear it overnight, fortunately)
No neighbor noise (no neighbors!)
A little construction noise

Site:

#24, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; left it connected
Fairly level
Gravel about 60 feet long by about 12 feet wide
Grass between sites about 15 feet wide
Young trees
No picnic table etc yet

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
80 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
Good sewer connection, very inconveniently located (4 10-foot pipes needed; could have managed with 2 if parked the truck in front of the coach)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 17-22 Mbps down, 26-32 Mbps up, 52-115 ms ping
Verizon: 11-27 Mbps down, 16 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
AT&T: 120 Mbps down, 8-20 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Winery and restaurant

Our review on Campground Reviews:

So new, still under construction

We stayed here for two nights on our way through Idaho on I-84. We were in the new section, which was being landscaped as we arrived. We were originally in site 31, but they hadn’t finished landscaping it yet, and I could tell from a distance that it was going to be far too short and sloped for us. Since we had the place to ourselves, we pulled into site 24 and called the lovely ladies at the winery to explain the situation. They were more than happy to swap our site and also noticed that I had (like another reviewer) accidentally selected 3 nights, instead of 2, through the online booking site, so she gave me a refund for the extra night. This place is going to be really nice when they finish the landscaping, and I look forward to coming through in the future. The restaurant at the winery was also very nice and worth a visit. We camped at Y Knot Winery RV Park in a Motorhome.

The campground map; we had booked site #31, but ended up in site #24 (read on for why):

Map

This was site 31, occupied by sod pallets:

Site 31

I asked them to move them, but we then realized that the site was very unlevel (several inches front to back, and some side-to-side), plus they were still working on it. So we decided to take one of the sites that already had sod, and was much more level:

Our site

Our site:

Our site

The sewer hookup was super inconvenient; good thing I have 40 feet of hoses:

Our site

Sometimes I think we could offer an RV park design consulting service, to help people avoid mistakes like this.

Sod cleanup:

Sod cleanup

Other sites; there were only two other RVs in the park:

Other sites

A truck with a load of trees:

Truck with trees

They took a corner a bit too sharp, and broke the sewer cap (another reason that’s a stupid place for it, though to be fair RVs wouldn’t normally be going that way around the corner):

Broken sewer cap

Unloading the trees:

Truck of trees

Distributing trees

This RV park is across the road (and part of) the Y Knot Winery; we went there for dinner:

Y Knot Winery

The finest wines of Idaho (video clip):

Wine

Bread:

Bread

Charcuterie board:

Charcuterie board

My steak and baked spud:

Steak and baked spud

Jenn’s dessert:

Dessert

Vines:

Vines

The old campground; we wouldn’t fit in most of those sites:

Old campground

The new campground:

New campground

Grande Hot Springs Resort

We stayed at Grande Hot Springs Resort in La Grande, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second visit to this resort; our first visit was in a rented trailer on the way to Yellowstone. This time we were also on our way to Yellowstone, via the Tetons, but in our motorhome.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-07-09
Check out: 2023-07-11
2 nights

Weather:

Sunny, thunderstorm
High temps ranging between 84-92°F, lows around 51-59°F
Some evening wind, 20 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road noise
Rumbling train noise (no horns)
No neighbor noise

Site:

#31, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; left it connected
Fairly level
Gravel about 90 feet long by about 11 feet wide
Grass between sites about 20 feet wide
Tiny picnic table on grass

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
50 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 15 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
Verizon: 13-27 Mbps down, 9-13 Mbps up, 36 ms ping
AT&T: 5 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 140 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Thermal pools

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient spot to stop in Eastern Oregon

This was our second stay here, and it was just as nice as the first time. However, I didn’t remember feeling the earth move whenever one of the huge freight trains went by, which we definitely felt this time. If you’re a light sleeper, just be aware they go by all night. Our site was a decent-sized pull-through with the most ridiculously tiny picnic table I’ve ever seen. The hot springs soaking pools were nice after a long day of driving, but the mosquitoes put a damper on the experience. As did the loud, obnoxious group of partiers in one of the pools. Having said all that, though, we did enjoy our stay here as it’s a nice, convenient stop along I-84, and the grounds are very nice, with a small stream running through it. We camped at Grande Hot Springs Resort in a Motorhome.

The campground map:

Map

Interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Tiny picnic table:

Tiny picnic table

Utilities:

Utilities

Our site:

Our site

We went for a dip in the big pool on our first evening, during the adults-only time after dark (which was not as pleasant as it could be, due to several very loud people, and mosquitos):

Pool area

Pools:

Pools

The entrance sign:

Entrance

Fountain in center of driveway:

Fountain in center of driveway

Office:

Office

Bridge over hot canal:

Bridge over hot canal

Canal

Tent sites beyond canal:

Tent sites beyond canal

Open area:

Open area

Feral cat (notice the ear tip); probably staff:

Feral cat

Fire pit:

Fire pit

Group tent area:

Group tent area

Cabin:

Cabin

Yurts:

Yurts

Garbage and recycling:

Garbage and recycling

Other sites; the park was mostly empty:

Other sites

Neighboring hot lake:

Neighboring hot lake

Sunset:

Sunset

Mt Hood Village RV & Camping Resort, again

We stayed at Mt Hood RV & Camping Resort in Welches, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second visit to this nice Thousand Trails Encore park; we stayed here last year in late July.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-06-30
Check out: 2023-07-09
9 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps ranging between 74-90°F, lows around 50-61°F
No significant wind

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

Hemlock Meadows #97, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach (on gravel)
Unlevel; used blocks on the front jacks
Fairly large site: gravel about 50 feet long by about 22 feet wide, plus about 20 feet wide weedy bark area
Picnic table and fire pit on gravel

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
55 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, a little inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 22-83 Mbps down, 5-11 Mbps up, 35-110 ms ping
T-Mobile: 11 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Verizon: 10-13 Mbps down, 5-8 Mbps up, 150 ms ping
AT&T: 6-8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Closed indoor pool
Onsite restaurant

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Excellent campground near Mt Hood

This was our second stay here, and still really love it. We were originally assigned a site in the Vine Maple Loop that would have been too small for us, so we asked if there were any open sites in the Hemlock Meadows section, which is a more open area with bigger sites. The helpful staff member at the front gate gave us a couple of choices and told us to let her know which one we picked. Seeing as it was the weekend of the 4th of July, we were so relieved that there was availability. We picked site 97, which was on a corner and gave us a large living area backing onto trees, with a good view of the sky for the Starlink. On a side note: We had dinner at the Dragonfly Cafe, which has really good food, but they seemed to be having some massive staffing issues. It took nearly 2 hours from ordering to checkout, and I’m pretty sure the one and only waitress walked off the job while we were eating as the one and only cook had to act as cashier. We never went back, fearing a repeat, which is a shame because I’d been dreaming of their eggs benedict for the past year. We camped at Mt Hood Village RV Resort in a Motorhome.

The campground map:

Map

Interactive map:

Our site was nice and spacious, and we made use of our new flagpole for the Starlink dish (and you may notice something different about our truck; more on that on Monday):

Our site

Steak and potato salad, watching a Mariners baseball game on the outside TV from the tent:

Steam, potato salad, watching TV

Our site

Unlike normal Thousand Trails parks, Encore ones assign sites. We had originally been assigned a different site, but asked when checking in if they had other options, since we thought this wouldn’t fit us; they agreed it wouldn’t be a good fit.

Looking at it later (the left one in the following picture), we were definitely right to change; it was narrow and very sloped:

Original site

The main plaza area, with the (closed) indoor pool, rec center, offices, and cafe:

Plaza

We enjoy when there’s an onsite restaurant; this campground has the Dragonfly Cafe:

Dragonfly Cafe

Dragonfly Cafe menu

We went there for dinner on our first evening (always nice not having to cook on a travel day). Which was a rather drama-filled experience; we waited over an hour for our food, then the server walked out partway through, and the cook had to come out and accept payment from us and others. It was tasty, though; burger for me:

Dragonfly Cafe food