Madison Campground

The campground is busy and big. Most sites are wooded. Bathrooms are heated and clean. Staff is friendly and they take good care of the park. The viewing of the Elk during Rut was very fun to watch. You can just walk over to the river from the sites. Elk frequent he campground. It can be loud at night with tent campers but we had a very pleasant stay and the location is good to explore the park.

We liked being in Madison as we were able to get to all the areas we wanted to see in the park quite easily. Most spots are pull through and our first spot would not work as our neighbor had pulled his rig and truck almost in our area. The nice volunteers up front were able to move us to a new spot that worked better. Lots of trees to navigate and all tires from all vehicles must be on the pavement so be aware of how much space you need while booking. They don't assign you a space until you arrive. No showers but bathrooms were clean and they have a dish washing station. Recycle (yeah) and trash made easy with large canisters. Some spots had bear boxes, others did not. But we did see them putting in brand new bear boxes while we were there. Dump and water fill near entrance to campground. Lots of generators running but thankfully they had to stop at 8PM. WIFI only at or near visitor centers. A must see is the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. Fabulous rescue for bears, wolves and raptors who can no longer live in the wild.

It is dry camping with a dump station on site. Some sites have bear boxes, but no all. So, storing food/perishables inside your hard sided vehicle (not in a soft sided pop up trailer) is expected on many sites.

There is a small store where you can buy ice, pre-made snacks and sandwiches, or other items campers are likely to need. It is usually open daily, but sometimes only from 2:30-5ish.

They do not assign you a site before you arrive. Having camped there I now understand why: There is a large variation on the sites and what each site can accommodate. It helps them to look at a rig when it arrives and decide where to put you based on what they see. Also, we ran into trouble with our vehicle and needed an extra night on site while we got it fixed. They were easily able to accomodate us (a a cancellation occured) without us having to relocate our rig.

The river nearby is fun to swim in. There is also a hotline you can call (number is posted at the camp entrance) which has a recording listing the predictions for local geysers.

We found it useful to get going early in the day to miss crowds and to swim in the river in the afternoon. If you need cell phone reception, one can connect on Verizon near Old Faithful and up at mammoth hot springs.

Camping inside the park is totally worth the trouble of reserving a site, and we especially loved Madison Campground. The campground is set at the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers that forms the Madison River. The bison are plentiful in the area, sometimes coming into the campground. The sites are fairly spacious and the campground has spots of shade from the Lodgepole Pine trees, but we were still able to use our suitcase solar panels pretty easily. The September nights were chilly (we dressed for winter to attend the evening Ranger Talks), but the days were warm and sunny.
Tips …
* Some of the sites can be a bit sloped, so bring plenty of extra leveling blocks in case you wind up on a little slope.
* Be sure to pack a faucet adapter for the smooth faucets in the campground loops.
* There is no need to scope out best sites at Madison, since the park staff assigns your spot upon arrival based on overall length of rig and truck. You may have to wait until your assigned spot is empty to be able to complete the check-in process. We arrived at 11:30 am and our site had just been vacated by the previous occupants.
* No checks are accepted — cash or credit card only.
* The dump station at the entrance has potable water (with a threaded hose end), that might be easier to use than the smooth non-threaded faucets in the campground loops.

Reservations must be made well in advance for this campground. We stayed here for a couple of nights then moved on to Canyon campground. There is no “Madison Village” with shops and restaurants so it’s a little quieter here than in the Canyon area. There is a small convenience store with ice and food and T-shirts and a small visitor center in an old ranger cabin. Madison is a great location close to Old Faithful and the geyser basins. Campsites are assigned by management and we fortunate to get a great site on an outer loop.

Campgrounds are clean and close to the river. We were also close to the bathrooms, which is nice. There's a dumb station at the entrance.

Slots are SMALL. If you have a 32 class A like us with a toad, they make you get TWO sites. Luckily it wasn't too crazy expensive.

Scenery is breathtaking, like most of the park.

Only fair warning, the rangers are REAL REAL sticklers. Don't fart too loud or you'll get a ticket.

Also, there is ZERO phone service anywhere except within a mile radius of the small towns (Canyon lodge, Old Faithful lodge and Yellowstone Lake Hotel). We a 6' antenna on the top of RV hooked up to the latest Weboost RV and still got zero signal (Verizon, Sprint and TM).