I spent two weeks there and slept in the back of my truck. I stayed in the Pebble Creek campground and I fished every day for twelve hours a day. It rained two days hard and I was nice and dry warm and comfy. I brought a five gal bucket to wash in, wash dishes in, and use to carry water. Bring a small hatchet to chop old fallen branches into small firewood. You really don't need alot of stuff. I stuck to one activity: fishing every day. I hiked to fish and brought the binos with me, but rarely needed them as wildlife was everywhere. After the second day of fishing, I brought my lunch, snacks, water, small rain coat, fixed blade, and fishing gear, sunglass, ball cap.
I brought a pistol with me as I slept in rest areas getting there and back home. I left it unloaded in my truck inside the park. I brought a small propane stove to warm up or cook food. I had prepped my food for the most part. I bought about ten pounds of chicken, cooked it, chopped it up and stored in ziplocks frozen. Rice was cooked each night with biscuits for the next morning. I had jam and marmalade for the biscuits. I ate well while I was out there and it was nice to come off the water before dark, wash off in the bucket, cook dinner and watch the fire burn out in the iron ring. The camping volunteers and the Park Rangers were very nice and accommodating. Early mornings were the best as most people were still sleeping, honestly never saw a truck or car before seven am while I was there. I was asked by the camping manager as to why I left so early in the morning, I said it was the best part of day and I didn't want to miss any of it. Watch out for the bison sleeping in the road or just standing in the road. Plan every day as not to get stuck in traffic...people are watching every little creature and they will stop and get out of the vehicle to take pictures...you don't want to get stuck if you have places to go. I changed my itinerary twice and regretted it once because of traffic. I didn't see any of the sights that people normally look for...I wasn't interested. I went to fish and that is what I did.
It was the first two weeks of September. No kids then and really few adults in the park when I went. If you are in shape, you can fish the canyons areas without having to compete with others in more accessible areas. I awoke at 0500 and was asleep before 2200 everyday. If you have a truck with a cap, don't bring a tent if you plan on driving around each day like I did. No need to break camp and I was next to people that had been inside the park all summer with RV. They watched my coolers inside the bear bins and locked them with their locks during the day for me.
If and when I do this again I would change up a few things.
Hatchet for downed tree limbs
Buy my supplies in Cody vs. driving from home with an extra case of water and food.
Prep less food as I know what I need now...I brought too much
better sleeping pads - I had purchased two Cabelas air mattresses and they would be partially deflated when I woke up. Luckily I had two of them and they offset one another some.
two towels...if one is damp the other would be dry. Hang inside the cab of the truck, by afternoon they are nice and toasty.
some dishrags for cleanup.
I should have fished closer to camp most days. The fishing everywhere is really good. You don't have to go far to catch fish, large or small.
Breakfast was coffee, warm biscuits with eggs, gravy two days, Canadian bacon, marmalade.
Lunch was PB&J every day with two waters and some fruit, cookies, fruit leather.
Dinner was chopped chicken, red beans and rice, biscuits and water.
Fished every day on the Lamar, Soda Butte, and Slough, and Yellowstone River. Crazy fun. My last day I hit the Gibbon River and the Madison Rivers. It was a blast. Cell phone service was marginal, but my wife knew I got there alright and was fine talking to me once a day in the evenings.
I didn't see any bears or hear about bears. I had a big can of the pepper spray strapped to my waders. Practice with unhitching the guard, otherwise you won't be able to survive as the bear charges you. I made sure I could unhook, unattached the guard and spray within ten seconds. I did see some wolves, elk, and lots of bison. No bears.
