Yellowstone Backcountry Lottery 2026

[scatman]

I'm really sorry to hear that, it would have been a great intro to backpacking for your son's girlfriend. I'm sure everyone will still have fun at Ice Lake. I'll cross my fingers and hope for good weather for you guys

I'll try and put my happy face on.

 

[mtobs]

(Long time reader, first time poster)

Had a slot this morning and ended up going with a Lamar River-Miller Creek-Hoodoo Basin 4 night out and back in late August, 3L7 -> 3M5 x2 -> 3L3. I've spent a lot of time in the southern half of the park but not this area, anyone have any words of wisdom?

 

[Jackson]

So you'd think that my wife getting an April 2nd draw would lead to a successful reservation of campsites that you want, but alas that is not the case. When I went into recreation.gov at 2:00 pm this afternoon to book my sites, I was actually able to get 8R5 on Shoshone Lake for the two nights I needed, but the sites I need (OD1, OD2, OD3) were not available heading in, or heading out. Also the horse site near Shoshone was booked going in. Since I had certain criteria that I needed to follow (exact dates, 5 miles or less days), I wasn't able to pull off Shoshone Lake as a destination, so I'll be heading back to Ice, Wolf and Grebe Lakes again. That's make Ice and Wolf Lakes three times in two years, since I'll be heading back to Ice in September, which kind of sucks, but I guess the trip is for my son and his girlfriend so I should just shut up.

Do you mean OA1, 2, and 3? Assuming so, I just am always surprised how popular those ones are, and really surprised you couldn't get any of them with such an early lottery date. Were you shooting for a holiday weekend or anything?

 

[Mackey]

How did everyone's lottery submissions go? I got one for the first time in a couple of years, and the other people I know who put in did not get a date.

I feel very lucky to have been successful in the lottery. I picked yesterday at noon and decided on a Bechler River trip. In at Lonestar, 8R5, 9D3, 9B5, 9B2, out ant Bechler Ranger Station. August 27-31. I wish I could have gotten something closer to Dunanda Falls for my last night. But I’m very happy with it. I also got lucky in the Glacier NP lottery and am doing the North Circle Loop the week before this Yellowstone trip. It’s shaping up to be an awesome August!

Mackey.

 

[scatman]

Do you mean OA1, 2, and 3? Assuming so, I just am always surprised how popular those ones are, and really surprised you couldn't get any of them with such an early lottery date. Were you shooting for a holiday weekend or anything?

Yeah, those are the three that stumped our plans for Shoshone Lake. I'm sure that if I could have moved our dates around that things could have worked out, but my son gave me the exact dates for the trip (no wiggle room and didn't cover any holiday weekends), so I had to move over to the Chain of Lakes instead. I'm guessing those sites fill up for people heading down into the Bechler area or heading up from there.