Valley View RV was our home for a full month while we explored the wonders of Yellowstone National Park and its surrounding wilderness. We chose it because the price was excellent, especially considering the cost of parks at Yellowstone itself. It is not the prettiest of parks, but for the price, it’s hard to beat.

RV Campsite Reviews

Nights: 30

RV Park Cost: $500 ($16/night)

Discounts Used: Passport America

Address: 5152 North Highway 20  Island Park, Idaho 83429

GPS: 44.627025, -111.333546

Website: valleyviewrv.com

Pros

• Low Price
• Huge Laundry
• Full Hookups
• Large sites
• Close to Yellowstone

Cons

• Somewhat run down
• Dirty bathrooms

Here we are in the park. The sky’s here can be very pretty.

Looking at the park flyer they hand out, it’s clear to see that Mountain View RV has seen some better days. In the 1970s it probably seemed pretty modern but it doesn’t seem to have changed a lot since that time. While the grounds are kept clean and orderly the more you look around the more you find a lack of re-investment.

The showers are where it shows most. The floor is bare concrete and the stalls all show a lot of rust damage. While I was there one of the shower stalls was haphazardly covered in caution tape. Signs warn of the fragility of the faucets. The toilets are kept clean and supplied but the stalls and walls had some gross looking splashes of something that persisted for weeks. Most of the plumbing worked so the facilities are functional, just not very nice.

The laundry on site is not only for the park residents but operates as a public laundromat as well. It is huge and not surprisingly, the equipment is old but in good working order. There is also a very large rec room but while we stayed at the park it was closed. Signs advertised activities there but I never saw it in use.

The closed clubhouse has many occupied swallow nests on one side. It was fun to watch them fly to and from their nests.

The park wifi was clearly a modern addition to the offerings and worked about as well as most parks. That is to say, during the mornings and afternoons it served pretty well, but by evening it just couldn’t handle all the traffic and became near useless for even the simplest tasks. It’s a pattern I’m becoming well familiar with. I can’t fault them here as the signal was fine but I imagine their backbone can’t handle the number of users.

The lots are nice and large, but here too there are little issues. Most of the gravel pads are partly grown over by the grass and thus are not all that level. Also, there are clearly a lot of ground squirrel or mole holes that make the laws very uneven. We could hardly find any position on the lawn for the somewhat flimsy picnic table where it would not wobble and rock when we tried using it.

Conveniently the park includes a gas station / convenience store that has a decent selection of goods, including some home-cooked offerings. There is also a food truck on site offering burgers and tacos with some very friendly proprietors. Grab a flyer from them and you can order ahead and come pick up your food. They even welcome custom orders. Want a fry bread breakfast burrito? No problem!

A nice view of the hillside behind the park, which has a nice view of the valley no doubt.

The staff was very kind and helpful. It had been a while since we could take delivery so we had a ton of stuff shipped when we showed up. They not only agreed to accept the mail but would bring it to our trailer when it arrived. Valley View mostly lives up to its name though not as you might expect. The park is in the valley and the view is mostly of the mountains surrounding it. While not spectacular, it is pretty and the sunsets were beautiful while we were here.

While I think they could do with some re-investment in their park, they do have all the basics covered and I have no serious complaints. No doubt the very affordable price of goes hand in hand with the minimal upgrades in the infrastructure. I feel like we got a fair deal on the price and I would recommend Valley View if you are looking for a bargain over beauty.