Yellowstone/Grand Teton One Week Trip Advice

Just a thought but you might want to look at the KOA campground or motels at the West Entrance. Things might be tight again this year with the staffing cuts at the park campgrounds and June is normally crowded.

I personally would not camp at Bridge Bay Campground the first week of June. At an elevation of 7800 feet, it will be extremely cold at night, sometimes below freezing. I have spent a pretty miserable night there at the end of June before.

Consider either a lower elevation campground or splurging a bit for a cabin or hotel room.

My visit was 20 years ago, at the end of May. There was still lots of snow on the ground a lower levels of Yellowstone. Also lots of bears, ignoring the tourists - they were just looking for all the food they could find coming out of hibernation. I did spot a couple of reclusive moose at Grand Teton. Don't spend too much time there on the bison - there are many more in Yellowstone.

I go to Yellowstone yearly although I do not camp. Here are my thoughts:

Will you be tent camping? The Cooke City area campgrounds are mostly National Forest Land and may not be accessible that early in June depending on how much snow they have this winter. They are mostly east of Cooke City so that is going up in elevation. One of the campgrounds allows ONLY hard sided rigs after a horrible fatal incident in 2010. I do have a friend who is also a Destination Expert on the Trip Advisor Yellowstone forum who I can ask about the Cooke City Campgrounds if you think this is what you want to do.

IF you haven't found this page yet, here is a link to the official Yellowstone NP page giving the open/close dates for the campgrounds. Some are reservable and managed by Xanterra, the lodging concessioner, some are reservable and managed by YNP and booked thru recreation.gov. The National Forest campgrounds are bookable thru recreation.gov

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm

I'd probably go with 2 nights at Mammoth which is lower in elevation than some of the other campgrounds across the Northern Range.

2 nights at Madison looks fine for seeing the thermal areas and your 1 night at Bridge Bay is fine too.

I don't like to move hotels so not sure how much trouble it will be for you to pack up but I'd probably do 2 nights at either Jenny Lake or Signal Mountain. I've stayed in the Signal Mountain Lodge a number of times and like that location. The restaurant there is good if you want a meal out. The Jenny Lake Lodge is more upscale than I want to do so have never eaten there.

Depending on the snow load from this winter, hiking may be better in the Northern end of Yellowstone along the road from Mammoth to Lamar Valley as this is lower in elevation than the Canyon/OF area. Still, there will be plenty to do.

This is a primo time of year for wildlife sighting, particularly bears and particularly in the area around the Tower Junction. This is casually referred to as the "Bear-muda Triangle", hahaha. LOTS of Sows with cubs from about the road going back to Hellroaring Trailhead around thru Tower Junction and up to Tower Fall. Both Grizzly bear and Black Bear.

Did you have any hikes you were targeting?