There are many campgrounds in Yellowstone, but for us there are two that stand out for their scenic beauty and for their proximity to the wildlife of the Lamar Valley: Slough (pronounced “Sloo”) Creek and Pebble Creek. If you are interested in the wildlife of Lamar Valley, this is the place to be as they allow easy early-morning access to the Valley, and wildlife is close to the sites themselves. We saw black bears in Pebble Creek, and if you are lucky you can hear wolves howling (we didn’t). The only problem is that there are not many sites in the campgrounds (16 and 27 in Slough and Pebble creek, respectively), they fill up very quickly and you cannot reserve them. Campsites are in high demand in the ultra-popular Yellowstone National Park, and if you are trying to plan your trip and you are hoping for a site in these two wonderful campgrounds, it can be frustrating that reservations are not accepted. The Yellowstone campgrounds that are run by the private company Yellowstone National Park Lodges (Xanterra) DO accept advance reservations. These are Bridge Bay, Canyon, Fishing Bridge RV Park, Grant Village, and Madison (click here to get to the reservation site). The rest are first-come, first-served. At first, you may think that you have to simply get incredibly lucky to secure a site. The good news is that there is a method that almost guarantees that you can get a site on any given day. The bad news is that you have to get up early. Very early.
A line of cars will form very early in the morning, waiting behind the “campground full” sign. These are the dedicated people hoping to get a campsite for that night, and many will be snoozing in their cars. Each morning between 7 and 8 in the morning, the campground host will allocate the open campsites to whomever is waiting at that point. Usually by that time (in the busy summer months) there will be a line of cars waiting, and the people in line get to go into the campground to choose their site, one-by-one. When they return to the front entrance of the campground, the payment is taken and the reservation is secured for later in the day. The check-out time is not until late morning, so people will likely still be asleep in the site that you choose.
We arrived at 5:45 AM and were third in line, after driving from Canyon Campground following a 4AM wakeup there. The silver lining to this very early wakeup is that there is such an abundance of wildlife to be seen in the early mornings. Just don’t drive too fast. Perhaps the closest overnight option prior to your arrival would be to spend the night in Cooke City, Montana, just outside of the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park. That puts you within a half hour of Pebble Creek Campground, and within 50 minutes of Slough Creek. We stayed in campsite 24 in Pebble Creek, which I can very highly recommend if you are tent camping. It was such a beautiful site, right next to a creek and with a very pretty canyon in its “backyard”. It is the most private of the tent camping sites. Below are some photos.
Good luck securing your site and have a wonderful time!
Yellowstone National Park with kids