Yellowstone: Camping vs. Cabins

Yellowstone: Camping vs. Cabins

As I’ve mentioned before, these travel blogs are more for living-on-a-budget families and singles who still want to get out and enjoy the world. For that reason, I won’t be talking about the hotels in Yellowstone, with prices between $400-$1000 per night, as they are not priced friendly to budget-income levels.

Cabins

If you have some extra money you might want to look at cabins. Some of the cabins come with their own bathrooms and showers and for a price similar to the hotel rooms in Yellowstone, you can get a cabin with a jetted tub as well. We got cabins at Mammoth and Old Faithful for around $120 per night when we booked on May 1^st of the previous year (2018). Rates do go up the longer you wait (and availability declines rapidly). Rates will also increase every year.

Our first cabin was in Mammoth and we were a bit spoiled. We didn’t have the cabins with the bathrooms inside them, but on arrival, we were assigned to a cabin directly in front of one of the shared bathroom/shower units so it was a short walk. The showers were separated men’s/women’s and each shower is private and they were fairly large. The only downside was there was no bench so getting your feet dry before putting socks and shoes on is difficult. If you’re a seasoned camper you might already have a trick to resolve this issue. If not, you can read about this and all my camping secrets on this blog post.

There are shower towels, hand towels and washcloths provided in the cabins, just like you’d expect in a hotel. There is also a sink with a mirror even if you don’t have a cabin with a bathroom, and they provide a bar of soap in the shape of a cute little teddy bear. There were also extra blankets and a  heater/AC unit in the wall.

If you chose not to have housekeeping during your stay (reuse your towels and keep your room clean yourself) you can get a discount on your rate but this isn’t applied until you check-in if you ask for it. You can still ask for fresh towels at the hotel check-in desk if you need them without losing your discount.

The other cabin we stayed at was next to Old Faithful Lodge, the frontier cabins. We did not have a bathroom in this cabin either and the walk to the shower/bathroom building was a little longer. The showers here were smaller and felt less private than Mammoth, but they did have benches which were helpful. Most everything about this cabin was about the same as the one at Mammoth except it seemed a bit older. It was still clean and smelled good.

This cabin also shared a wall with one other cabin whereas the Mammoth cabins were solitary units with covered porches complete with porch furniture. The Old Faithful Cabin we were assigned, however, was so close to Old Faithful that I heard at least one eruption during the night when it was quiet, which I found pretty awesome. We could watch the geyser erupting from our cabin as well during the day.

Campgrounds

We stayed at three out of eight different campgrounds on the grand loop road. There are more campgrounds further off the beaten path (12 altogether I believe) but I won’t be talking about any of those here, just the ones along the grand loop and specifically the three we stayed at.

Madison

Madison was convenient as it’s right at the West entrance junction to the Grand Loop and that’s where we were coming and going from, but the campsites are packed in pretty tight and there are no showers so I can’t recommend long term stays here. There weren’t many trees but every site had a large bear box for storing food. The box was large enough to fit our large cooler, camping stove, a storage bin that we use to keep all our cooking stuff in, and the two reusable bags we had with non perishable food… with room to spare.

There were about 3 restrooms with flush toilets equidistant from our campsite. Each facility had a dish washing station between the mens and womens restrooms. No hot water, just a large sink with running water and a little trash can under the counter. No soap is provided but biodegradable soap is encouraged. You are not permitted to wash dishes at your campsite anywhere in Yellowstone, you have to do it in designated dish washing stations.

Madison also had a dump station with many recycling options as well. You can use generators there but only between 8am and 8pm and no louder than 60db. They did not have full hookups for RVs.

Canyon

[Oops we forgot to get a picture of our campsite at Canyon!]

Canyon Campground had a lot of trees and we were able to string up our large tarp covering most of our campsite. It actually rained a lot while we were there so our experience here was probably the most positive. We also had a large bear box here and the restroom and dishwashing station was right next to our campsite this time. Canyon and Grant are the only campgrounds with showers. You can read more about the showers and laundry on my blog about Housekeeping in Yellowstone.

Bridge Bay 

Bridge Bay had some extra rules and had I known them I might not have selected this campsite even though it didn't turn out to affect us. Bridge Bay has bison and elk living in the campground so they are even more cautious with food rules and movement around the campground. If one of these animals decides to nap or graze around your campsite you must stay in your tent or car until they move at least 20 feet away from your site. Rollerblades, skateboards and scooters are also prohibited.

While close proximity to these beautiful creatures might be exciting for some people, they can be dangerous, and it can be quite frustrating if you have to go to the bathroom and they are asleep just a few feet away from your tent. So keep that in mind before you book a site here. They are very conveniently close to the Marina where you can rent boats and kayaks or go on a Scenicruise, which is what we did the next morning. So if you had planned some riparian activities it's a great campground to base out of for that reason.

For all the cautioning from the staff at check-in for our site, we were very surprised our campsite actually lacked a bear box. I feel this situation was only temporary, however, because all the bear boxes we did encounter on our trip were very new. You could tell by the smoothness of the paint and lack of dents in the metal. Also, when we left we noticed a bunch of brand new bear boxes still in shrinkwrap lined up in the parking lot near the Recycling Area.

[Brand-new bear box at Madison Campground]

Campground Bear Safety at ALL campgrounds

The following items must be kept in your car or the bear box unless in immediate use:

(It doesn't matter if the item is brand new, used, full, empty or has been cleaned)

• Food or food containers
• Water and beverage containers
• Pet food and water containers
• Utensils
• Stoves, grills, hibachis
• Ice chests/coolers
• Trash, garbage, and litter
• Cosmetics and toiletries
• Dirty dishwater
• Unsealed waste water containers
• Porta-potty