Our first campground, Holiday RV Park (Click for link)

(If you prefer the video version of this review, CLICK HERE!)

A beautiful campground right on Lake Hegben! It’s about 10 minutes from the city of West Yellowstone, and about 12 miles from Yellowstone’s West Entrance. Open Memorial Day through the end of September (weather permitting), the resort include 36 large RV site and 16 cabins. They rent fishing boats, kayaks, canoes, stand up paddle boards and 22’ pontoon boat, though it as a little too cold to do any of these, well for us anyway. We did see a few fishermen out on the lake. We even got SNOW in mid-June! So fun for these southern Californians!

SNOW!!! (Orientation should switch when you play video)

It’s a really nice place with clean bathrooms and showers – they even provide clean bath mats! (towels), a small laundry, and basic general store with coffee (not free). The sites are full hookups and pull through with a fire pit and lots of grass all around. They have cable but unfortunately there was a dispute going on between the networks and the cable company, and it was down the entire time we were there. More time for exploring and s’mores!

We were in the 3rd “row” but it’s not really very far from the lake and we could still see the lake from our site. Upon arrival, we walked down to the lake to explore a little. There were lots of crawfish washing ashore (alive) and back out. We always enjoy staying at a place where you can explore and feel like you’re IN nature.

The laundry is small; 4 washers and 4 dryers (2 small rooms) but I was able to finish fairly quickly. $2.50 for wash and $1 for dryer. They work on the honor system. You just go to the office counter and pay.

Random food shot on cute plates – hubby makes the BEST Apple Cinnamon Pancakes – A MUST on every trip!

Our second campground was Rainbow Point Campground

This campground is on the other side of Lake Hegben, and more primitive. No wifi but surprisingly we were able to get 9 channels with our antenna! The road in to the CG goes from paved, to gravel, then dirt. There were potholes but they weren’t too bad…until we got into the CG loop. Drive slowly! The lake is a short walk through the trees, and there are paths leading directly to the lake. At the shore there’s a small boat dock and pier. They have lots of serious signs about bears, but we didn’t encounter any, thankfully!

After several days of sightseeing in a row, we took a day off and relaxed at the campground. Instead of “go-Go-GO!” everyday, we really love taking a day off and enjoying the area. The guys went for a bike ride and I went for a short walk, then they played with wood, carving and chopping, while I played cards and journaled. Then we went into town, browsed around the shops, (More about the town of West Yellowstone below), and went to Mountain Mama’s Cafe for a couple hours to use wifi (and have coffee…they serve Starbucks!), then came back to camp and watched tv. The guys set up the easy up over the fire pit so Scott could make dinner outside (raining) and we could have S’mores later. Do you like to take a day off to relax?

This little guy was so cute! I never feed the wildlife but we accidentally dropped a few graham crackers so we put them in the little nook of his tree. We noticed later that he regularly stored things here to come back and eat later. SO Cute! You can even hear him nibbling.

A little about the Town of West Yellowstone:

As I mentioned earlier, Mountain Mama’s Cafe on Madison Ave. is a great place for coffee and to get a wifi fix (hey, we love nature but it’s nice to feed our addiction once in awhile, and it makes the 14 y.o. happy). Right across the street is the Wild West Pizzeria and Saloon where we had dinner one night. The saloon side is separated (must be 21) but the main restaurant is very family friendly.

PARKING in town with your RV is easy! Just park on N. Boundary Street, which is a cross street to Madison, very long, and close to everything. One side of the street is a foresty area so you’re not parking in front of any businesses, and it’s super easy to park along the curb.

There’s also a grocery store on Madison, right next to the pizza place. It’s smallish and pretty expensive, but we needed to restock so… The parking lot is small so even if you don’t have your rig, you may want to park on N. Boundary and walk the ½ block.

I loved the bear box trash cans and other artwork throughout the town.

There was a small museum, but it wasn’t free so we decided to pass. OK, SOUVENIRS!  You can really save a lot of money by shopping in the city instead of the parks. I got really nice water repellent, lined, reversible jacket with a hood and zipper pockets for $35!

If you don’t mind being outside of the park, I’d definitely recommend either of these campgrounds! And, if you want to pics of our time in Yellowstone National Park, please check out my Instagram account (link) LOTS of pics! 🙂

Have you been to Yellowstone? What’s your favorite memory???