Norris Camping

As I mentioned previously after staying in Old Faithful Inn for one night we camped in the Norris Campground for the next three nights of our stay in Yellowstone National Park.  It was a beautiful campground and I would definitely recommend it.

This 100 site woodsy campground, open from late May to late September is centrally located on the west side of the park, 21 miles south of Mammoth Hot Springs and 12 miles west of Canyon.  There are a few walk-in campsites, many nice tent sites, and limited RV sites for vehicles over 30'.  All sites have a fire ring and picnic table with firewood sales available on a limited basis.  Flush toilets are provided with potable water.  Arrive early to get a site at this popular campground.  Camping is $14 a night.
--from NPS Yellowstone site, Norris Campground section

We pulled into the campground early on the morning of June 9 and drove around two of the loops several times, trying to decide which site we liked.  We ended up settling on one in the lower area between the creek and river.  One plus was that the previous camper had left a good bit of firewood behind, so we didn't have to buy any.

We set up in fairly quick order including a shelter that I had bought in Idaho after seeing the weather forecast.  It was rain I was afraid of and wanted to be able to cook even if rain was falling.

Of course rain didn't turn out to be a problem in the slightest...it was snow that we got!

But the cover did fairly well at protecting things, even stopping snow from blowing in--though it was almost blown over a few times.

On the night it snowed I took this video while walking back to our campsite from the restroom.


One evening I took a panoramic video of the campground area so you can appreciate more of the scenery.


We had several fires, though some of them were easier to start than others. I think the wood we were left was somewhat green, so I had a difficult time starting it to burning.

Here was one of my attempted fires.


And here one of the successful ones.


We had a nice parking space with plenty of room for the car, and I imagine another tent or two would have fit along with another car.

There were plenty of bison sightings also, not only one evening as we came back to the campground from our long drive to the Tetons, but other times in the evening and morning also.

One morning we also saw a sandhill crane.

~Matt