Chop Chop Billy Goat

Today we settled in to a beautiful campground just outside the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park. A river runs along one side of our campsite, a herd of bison are grazing across the river, and there are snow capped mountains in the distance. The temperature is 66 degrees, which feels pretty pretty good to desert rats used to 106 in June.

Getting to this paradise was a bit of a slog. Wednesday we put in close to ten hours driving from Bryce Canyon to Idaho Falls. Although the speed limit was 80 (!) on the interstate in Utah, our rig is happiest between 55 and 60, so it took a lot longer than Google Maps predicted. Rather than try to find a campground in Idaho Falls (about two hours from Yellowstone), we decided to spend the night boondocking in the parking lot of a Walmart. It didn’t make sense to spend the time and money on setting up in a campground when we were planning to get going first thing in the morning to head for Yellowstone. Camping at Walmart was pretty nice. We got some shopping done, used the restrooms, and a nearby hotel generously provided wifi service.

After reading mixed reviews about some of the campgrounds in Yellowstone, and about people scrambling to grab limited campsites, we decided to camp at Bakers Hole Forest Service Campground just outside the park. The minute we pulled in we knew we had made the right decision. There were lots of nice spots available and the setting was gorgeous.

After three long travel days in less than a week we are going to stay put for a while, at least for three days, and use the dinghy to take some day trips to Old Faithful and other Yellowstone must-sees.