Yellowstone off road

[TacoWheeler]

My wife and I, along with our best friends are going to Yellowstone in August (the crazy busy season) and want to try and use back roads to avoid the crowds. Does anyone have any knowledge and or experience doing this? We’re thinking about trying the Grand Loop one day, but the rest of the trip, we’d prefer to stay off road. I’ve looked on Gaia but haven’t found a way to do that yet. Hoping someone can help me with this! THANKS,

 

[DRAX]

Nope, there are no off-road trails inside the park. All roads are well-established and you must stay on them. If you want to go off-road/overlanding then it will have to be outside the park boundary.

 

[TOUGE]

There is almost zero dirt roads in Yellowstone. Pretty much the only longish(a few miles) dirt road is Slough Creek Campground Rd. Which is a good wildlife viewing road, I saw a pack of gray wolves, moose and bison there.

All camping is in campground only, all back country camping is hike in only and you have to register for that at ranger/information centers in the park.

Currently a part of Grand Loop Rd between Tower-Roosevelt and Canyon Village is closed.

I was up there last week of May and it was horrendously busy and it wasn't even fully open yet and rained/snowed most days.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Yep. I was there last week of may as well and concur with @TOUGE 's statement completely. Sun then rain then snow. And no way can you go off road. No way.

 

[DMS1]

There is one dirt road in Yellowstone and one in GTNP (not counting Slough Creek mentioned above). The one in Yellowstone is called Blacktail Deer Plateau and is about 6 miles long and one way. It is just a dirt road, no obstacles. The one in GTNP is called RKO Road which turns right to River Road, last time I went to GTNP in 2019 River Road was closed and was told it might stay permanently closed. I wanted to add I did all these roads in a stock 2wd f150 - The RKO road was the hardest for my vehicle.