Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
These days you can find anything from a working-ranch experience (5am wakeup calls included) to top-of-the-
line resorts frequented by the rich and famous. Ironically, working cattle ranches are increasingly hard to find in
the tourist-driven Yellowstone economy.
A few ranches offer nightly accommodations-only rates, but most require a minimum stay of three days to a
week. Typical weekly rates run $150 to $200 per person per day, which includes accommodations, meals, activit-
ies and equipment. Ranches are proud of the connections they form with their clients, many of whose families re-
turn to the same ranch generation after generation.
While the highlight of dude-ranch vacations is horseback riding, many ranches have expanded their activity
lists to include fly-fishing, hiking, mountain biking and cross-country skiing. Accommodations range from rustic
log cabins to cushy suites with Jacuzzis and cable TV; meals range from steak and beans to four-course gourmet
extravaganzas.
Yellowstone's dude ranches (increasingly called guest ranches) are concentrated in the Wapiti Valley near Cody,
Jackson Hole and the Gallatin Valley northwest of Yellowstone. For more information contact the
Dude Ranch-
ers' Association
(
www.duderanch.org
)
or the
Wyoming Dude Ranchers' Association
(
www.wyomingdra.com
)
.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CAMPGROUNDS
Yellowstone and Grand Teton campgrounds usually have flush toilets (cheaper sites have
vault toilets), drinking water, garbage disposal, fire pits (or charcoal grills) and picnic
benches. Most sell boxes of firewood ($7) and kindling and most hold some kind of
nightly campfire talk. Days, times and topics are prominently posted and are listed in the
park newspapers.
The process of picking a site varies with the campground, but generally involves pick-
ing up an envelope from a box at the entrance, driving around the various loops until you
find an available site you like, marking the site with either the tab from the envelope,
some camp furniture, or the most agreeable family member, and then filling out the envel-
ope and depositing it with the correct fee back at the entrance. Don't dally trying to find
the world's best campsite - by the time you get back, the earlier one you liked may well
have been snapped up. Some grounds ask you to keep the receipt tab displayed on your
car windshield; others ask you to tag it to the campsite post. Rangers often come around at
night to check receipts against vehicle number plates.
A 'site occupied' sign can be useful to mark your turf, and these are for sale in most
campsites. In larger campgrounds such as Colter Bay in Teton and Mammoth in Yellow-
stone, you register and pay at the entrance and are computer-assigned a spot, so there's no
need to mark your site.
NPS campsites generally do not accept checks or credit cards (with the exception of
Signal Mountain in Grand Teton) and are self-service so make sure you bring plenty of $1
