Yellowstone Lake area

We spent two weeks in Yellowstone National Park (staying at the Fishing Bridge RV Park), going out and exploring the park pretty much every day. So I’m going to post about each area of the park for the next week or so, moving clockwise around the park, rather than following our activities in chronological order. That should make these posts a useful resource for people planning to visit the park, but only have time for one or two areas.

Here’s a map of Yellowstone (click to go to the interactive maps on the NPS site):

A PDF edition (best viewed in light mode; there’s a toggle in the upper-right corner of the web page):

Since we were staying at Fishing Bridge, let’s start with the Yellowstone Lake area. Here’s a map of that area:

On our first day we stopped by the nearby Fishing Bridge Visitor Center, one of the smaller visitor centers:

Fishing Bridge Visitor Center

The Fishing Bridge:

The Fishing Bridge

Yellowstone Lake:

Yellowstone Lake

Lake sunset

We took a drive out east to Sylvan Lake:

Sylvan Lake

Back to the Lake Butte overlook above Yellowstone Lake:

Yellowstone Lake

Lake cabins:

Lake cabins

Lake lodge:

Lake lodge

Lake Village General Store:

Lake Village General Store

Yellowstone Lake

Lake Yellowstone Hotel:

Lake Yellowstone Hotel

A pelican on the lake:

Pelican

Fishing Bridge General Store:

Fishing Bridge General Store

Fishing Bridge gas station:

Fishing Bridge gas station

A bison on a hill by the Fishing Bridge, and a couple of tourons — tourist morons, too close to the bison:

Bison and stupid people

Bison strolling down the center of the road:

Bison strolling down the center of the road

Tomorrow, we head south to West Thumb and Grant Village.

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.

Travel from Alpine to Yellowstone, Wyoming

We drove our coach 270 miles, over four hours of very scenic driving, from Alpine, Wyoming to Yellowstone, Wyoming.

Here’s the map route, heading north:

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops; we only actually stopped at Flagg Ranch:

Leaving our site:

Leaving our site

Leaving the RV park:

Leaving the RV park

Alpine:

Alpine

Snake River:

Snake River

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Snowmobile:

Snowmobile

Jackson:

Jackson

HQ of the rafting company we patronized:

HQ of rafting company

Snake River

Entering Grand Teton National Park:

Entering Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Paladin in his safe space:

Paladin in his safe space

For some reason, the entrance station for Grand Teton National Park is nowhere near the entrance:

Grand Teton National Park entrance

The built-in GPS in our coach claimed that no RVs were allowed (and the wrong speed limit); bad data:

GPS claiming no RVs allowed

Grand Teton National Park

We stopped at Flagg Ranch for lunch, since it had a huge mostly empty parking lot:

Flagg Ranch

Paladin on upturned dining chairs:

Paladin on upturned dining chairs

Entering Yellowstone National Park (with people taking selfies in front of the sign, thanks for that):

Entering Yellowstone National Park

The Yellowstone south entrance station:

Yellowstone National Park

Lewis River:

Lewis River

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Continental Divide:

Continental Divide

West Thumb of Lake Yellowstone:

West Thumb of Lake Yellowstone

Fishing Bridge over Yellowstone River:

Fishing Bridge over Yellowstone River

Yellowstone General Store:

Yellowstone General Store

Checking in to Fishing Bridge RV Park:

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Arriving at our site for the next two weeks:

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Such a scenic drive!

Grand Teton National Park

We visited Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on three days while staying in Alpine, about an hour south of the park.

Passing through Jackson with its antler arches:

Jackson

A stop at the National Elk Refuge visitor center just north of Jackson (where we didn’t see any live elk):

National Elk Refuge

Entering Grand Teton National Park:

Grand Teton National Park

Park map:

Map

Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center:

Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center

Grand Teton National Park

Colter Bay Visitor Center:

Colter Bay Visitor Center

Grand Teton National Park

Mormon Row, and the iconic barn:

Mormon Row

Bison:

Bison

Grand Teton National Park

Rockefeller Parkway Visitor Information Station:

Rockerfeller Parkway Visitor Information Station

Flagg Ranch:

Flagg Ranch

Jackson Lake dam:

Jackson Lake dam

Grand Teton National Park

Jenny Lake:

Jenny Lake

Grand Teton National Park

A scenic national park.

Olympic National Park beaches and rainforests

Last year we visited some eastern parts of Olympic National Park in Washington state. This year, we visited several western parts of the park, including beaches and rainforests.

Quinault River Ranger Station:

Quinault River Ranger Station

Maple Glade Rain Forest Trail:

Maple Glade Rain Forest Trail

Salmon House Restaurant for dinner:

Salmon House Restaurant

Seabrook, a created town on the coast, aka the hellmouth:

Seabrook

Kalaloch Ranger Station:

Kalaloch Ranger Station

Kalaloch Beach:

Kalaloch Beach

Tree of Life:

Tree of Life

Kalaloch Beach

Picnic:

Kalaloch Beach

Beach 4 Nature Trail:

Beach 4 Nature Trail

Big Cedar Nature Trail:

Big Cedar Nature Trail

Hoh Rain Forest:

Hoh Rain Forest

1.5 hours delay?!

Delay

After half an hour in the line, and at least another half hour or more still to go, we gave up and turned around. Not worth that wait.

We stopped at Hard Rain Cafe for a snack:

Hard Rain Cafe

Mora:

Mora

Rialto Beach:

Rialto Beach

Redwood State and National Parks

The Redwood National and State Parks is interesting, in that it is jointly managed by the National Park Service and the state of California. Their headquarters are in Crescent City, with a small book store (not a gift store, thank you):

Redwood National and State Parks Headquarters

We visited several of the component parks, starting with the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, which includes a fun scenic drive through the redwoods:

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

As part of this park, we did a hike to the Grove of Titans:

Grove of Titans

A fun tunnel of fallen trees:

Grove of Titans

It’s a big tree:

Grove of Titans

Video of ambient sounds:

Grove of Titans

Continuing the drive through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park:

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Tunnel:

Tunnel

We headed into Oregon for a side-trip:

Oregon welcomes you

To the Illinois Valley Visitor Center of Oregon Caves National Monument:

Oregon Caves Visitor Center

Then back into California:

Welcome to California

Though the agricultural inspection station:

Inspection

Hiouchi Visitor Center:

Hiouchi Visitor Center

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Since we’d been to the Redwoods National Park, it was time to add its sticker to our coach:

Adding National Park sticker

Another day, heading down the coast:

Coast

To Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park:

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

A strange historical artifact:

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

360 video hyperlapse of a drive from that visitor center:

Elk on the side of the road:

Elk

Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center:

Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center

Lady Bird Johnson Grove hike:

Lady Bird Johnson Grove

Video hyperlapse of the Lady Bird Johnson Grove hike:

Coastal drive:

Coastal drive

A bear on the side of the road:

Bear on the side of the road

Joshua Tree National Park day 3

Another afternoon visit to Joshua Tree National Park.

Entrance sign

Joshua trees

Jenn gave me an Insta360 X3 camera as an early birthday present, so I tried it out on this visit:

Insta360 X3 camera

My first video, holding the invisible selfie stick out the truck window:

Barker Dam Nature Trail hike:

Barker Dam hike

Video:

Barker Dam hike

Videos:

Barker Dam hike

Video:

Barker Dam hike

Joshua tree bloom:

Barker Dam hike

Video:

Barker Dam hike

Petroglyphs:

Barker Dam hike

Video:

Barker Dam hike

Videos:

We had a picnic dinner at Hidden Valley:

Hidden Valley picnic

Rocks

Joshua trees

Joshua Tree National Park day 2

Another visit to Joshua Tree National Park, this time in the evening, going in the south entrance. Like most of the popular parks, this one is very busy during the day, but much less so in the evening.

Entrance sign