Taking the family to Yellowstone

[Frozen Canuck]

Ok get the Old Faithful bit just wondering what else there is to see/do? Traveling from Alberta. Taking the 15 passenger van + wife & kids, leaving the holiday trailer at home. As always tips pointers appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[spacecowboyIV]

How long do you plan to stay? Are you planning to tent camp/hike?

Yellowstone is a huge park (I mean HUGE) with so many things to see. Whatever your plans are make sure to see the grand canyon of Yellowstone. The view from artist's point is incredible. My only tip is to make sure that you do old faithful at the end of the day so if you have to wait for an hour to see it you aren't chomping at the bit to leave and see the rest of the park. Also there is less traffic at the end of the day at old faithful.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VZzulIl0DI&feature=relmfu



MAtt

 

[davmor]

Yellowstone is a great place to go. Been there three times would go back again. Besides all the sight seeing in the park, there are many other things to see. Cody at the Eastern edge of the park is a great place. The Grand Tetons to the South of the park is a must see. Jackson Hole is a great place to visit. Enjoy your visit hope you have enough time to explore.

 

[willworkforwood]

The most important factor for a visit to Yellowstone is how you and your family feel about exploring and experiencing the natural world. If you have done camping and hiking trips, and those went well, then that's one good sign. I will give you one example. At the Old Faithful "area", we did the required look at Old Faithful itself, which took around 15 minutes total. But we also spent most of one full day at that site, walking around and stopping to look at the (many) other thermal features, and a 2+ hour side hike through a wooded area. We did a similar thing in 5 other areas of the park - just basically walking around and taking it all in. The more you can get out of the car and walk, the better the experience will be. So, if any of your family (especially the kids) are easily bored by something like this, it may be a struggle to make this work for extended periods of time. I'll say flat out that both my wife and I consider it the best experience of our lives as a twosome, but also know full well that it would have been completely different :ahhh: with our 2 girls, especially when they were youngsters. If pure nature does not work for you, then you should try to scout around in advance for other things to do (outside of the park). It's a truly magnificent place, and I hope you enjoy your visit!

 

[ROBERT F]

If you plan on camping in the park in a developed area, waiting list is long. Two years long sometimes. For undeveloped camping/backcountry hocking permits, they only slow so many a year. The north entrance or west entrance have decent developments around them, and then drive into park daily. We stay in Livingston and then do the park, plus things outside the park. If the water level is low enough then a soak in the hot springs were it dumps into the river (can't remember the name of the area) is nice. Cold water mingles with boiling water. This area is frequently closed however. You could also raft the yellowsone river (more like a scenic float). I agree that for some youngsters and not so outdoorsy people that it could get old quick.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Thanks for all the info. No problem with the outdoors, hiking etc. We will be staying in a hotel nearby, so no camping, that way it seems like time off for the adults too. Not sure if my wife has booked the hotel yet. We will wait until after the long weekend is over & let the crowds clear out. Keep that good info coming. Oh BTW we will be there from the 7th to the 14th.

 

[firefighterjake]

My wife and I loved Yellowstone . . . we flew into Billings and drove the Beartooth Scenic Highway (one of Charles Kuralt's favorite roads) and I have to say this was a great drive high in the mountains -- crystal blue alpine like lakes, alpine flowers, snow even in late June . . . very nice.

We spent several days just driving to the main "attractions" and did a bit of light hiking as my wife is not a real outdoors sort of gal . . .

We then headed down to check out the Tetons . . . also swung through Idaho to check out an old town that is now a ghost town/attraction (Nevada City, it may have been called) . . . on our loop back to Billings we checked out the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn.

One of the unexpected things that we did that turned out to be a highlight was stopping at a museum on a Crow Reservation . . . learned a lot of about the Crow Indians and their history.

 

[michael_m]

You're going to have a blast. Make sure to get out of the car and do a couple hikes (take bear spray). The country is gorgeous and you don't have to "do" much to simply have an amazing time. Go visit Yellowstone town and get ice cream on Main Street, best there is.

 

[yooperdave]

oh you lucky dogs! one of my more favorite places out west-been there at least half a dozen times and have never gotten tired or bored.
the lodge at old faithful is majestic. take a walk around it what a feat for log construction!
obsidian cliffs are a must...but for obvious reasons, they have absolutely no parking around them!
mammoth falls
geyser country
hot springs (scalding hot!-=don't feel)
mud pots
on and on

as mentioned above, be sure to take in grand tetons and visit jackson wy. very nice town-popular restaurant (cattlemens, i think) very good food and reasonable. about a block off of downtown.
drive safe and bring back pics for those of us who couldn't make it this year

 

[yooperdave]

if you are staying in gardiner mt, check out "jim bridger court" for cabin rentals. less than $100 a night last time i was there. (2010)

 

[bfunk13]

Be sure to check out Lamar Valley.
Its not one of the BIG attractions but the best place for wildlife viewing.
Last time we were there we saw bear, moose, elk, buffalo, fox and coyote.
Also don't miss Yellowstone falls, the upper falls are really cool cause you can view up from the top
just before it goes over the edge. There are just so many places to see. Enjoy!

 

[willworkforwood]

We also went (2 years ago) in the second week of Sept - a great time to go. 70F during the day and no bugs - absolutely beautiful Weather and moderate crowds. You should buy a good guide book and/or print the free stuff on the web to make a tentative plan on how much time to spend at each location, and how you will travel from one to the other. But one very important thing is to check in advance if any of the interior park roads is closed for repair (they use this time of the year to do that). We unexpectedly found the road from Norris to Canyon closed, and it made us change plans significantly, and caused a lot of extra travel time. Didn't spoil the trip at all, but it would have been much better to know about that in advance. +1 on the pepper spray that was mentioned above - one for you and your wife, and the kids if they are old enough to use it properly. We hiked in some densely wooded areas having bear warnings, where no one else was around, and we had no spray. I have no problem saying we were both somewhat uneasy - we wanted to see a Griz, but neither of us knows how to skin one :gulp:. I would not go back to those places without spray, which is definitely supposed to work (all you need to do is face the charging Griz and keep your hand steady long enough to pull the trigger). Ask a ranger if the Elk are showing up at Mammoth in the evening. We were fortunate enough to see a big king elk with his flock of 30 or so females. They would show up in the late afternoon and hang around in the center of town for well over an hour. The rangers used their vehicles to "herd" them away from problems, but also allowed them to graze on the lush green stuff in the center of town (free mowing service). Well worth seeing if they are still showing up this year. We took some very nice 1-3 hour hikes: Bunsen Peak, and Beaver Ponds Loop at Mammoth, Tower Fall at Tower-Roosevelt, Mt Washburn at Canyon, and a number of others the names of which I don't recall. There are many nice hiking trails, and don't be put off by the stated length/time. You can hike them for just the amount of time that suits you, and then head back. We stayed in Gardiner, which offers a short, easy trip to the North gate. Have a great time at the park!

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Thanks for all the info everyone. Starting to develop a plan on seeing as much as we can for the week we are there. Both inside & outside the park. My wife says the hotel she booked is outside the west gate to the park.

 

[nate379]

Went in October a few years ago. Was snow on teh ground in higher areas. Was great, 60s during the day (still quite hot for me) and only down to mid 30s at night. Hardly anyone around. I had brought the dog, didn't know that dogs are "banned" from most parts of the park. I just ignored the signs and brought him along anyway. Well behaved, on a leash and people stopped to pet him was about it.

Also brought my 12 gauge shotgun and a sidearm, didn't know that guns were banned from parks. I wasn't going out in the woods without a gun anyhow.

Seemed stupid to me that a park would not allow dogs or guns.

Old Faithful was a waste of time. There are tons of other geysers that do shoot water out just like it does (or even higher up). Don't really care that it shoots every hr or whatever.

Bring good boots and a backpack. On the 3 days there must have walked easiley 35-40 miles.

 

[billb3]

When we were there in 77 old faithful was old and not very faithful. More of a spurt and suffering from irregularity.
Even so I thought it was worth the walk to the best viewing spot. We were there 3 days , which is what you needed to see the top 10 or so sights. There were a couple of bubbling mud pots we could have driven by, but we figured we'd never be there again.
I got rather sick from the sulfur an was glad to leave.
Never saw a single bear. We camped in the park, without reservations.

 

[firefighterjake]

When we were there in 77 old faithful was old and not very faithful. More of a spurt and suffering from irregularity.
Even so I thought it was worth the walk to the best viewing spot. We were there 3 days , which is what you needed to see the top 10 or so sights. There were a couple of bubbling mud pots we could have driven by, but we figured we'd never be there again.
I got rather sick from the sulfur an was glad to leave.
Never saw a single bear. We camped in the park, without reservations.

We didn't get sick from the sulfur . . . but by the end of the stay my wife's poo smelled just like the hot springs and mud pots -- very sulfurish smelling . . . or at least she says that they did . . . I took her word for it.

We did see a bear . . . in a parking lot . . . being followed by a Japanese tourist . . . even as a Ranger was yelling for her and others to not approach the bear . . . I think it was a language barrier issue since the morons that had been following the bear followed the Ranger's advice, but the Japanese tourist kept following the bear until her husband yelled something to her in Japanese.

 

[lukem]

Thanks for all the info everyone. Starting to develop a plan on seeing as much as we can for the week we are there. Both inside & outside the park. My wife says the hotel she booked is outside the west gate to the park.

Glacier National Park is great too, and practically on your way. There isn't a lot to "do" there, but the scenery is fantastic. Might be worth considering as well.

Yellowstone lives up to the hype.

 

[nate379]

Could easily spend a couple weeks there. I was there 2 or 3 days and it was no where near enough time to explore as much as I'd have liked to.

 

[fossil]

In the early 1970's I lived in Idaho Falls ID for 3 years. Just 100 miles from the Tetons/Yellowstone area. My friends and I went up there regularly. The camping and fishing were terrific back then...drive on in, find a space...no reservations needed. It's all spectacular country around there. If you're staying out on the west side of Yellowstone, and you have the time, then a visit to this site is pretty interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Yellowstone_earthquake

Glacier Park, as mentioned above, is unforgettably beautiful. Take this road, you'll never forget it:

http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/95sunroad/95sunroad.htm

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Yes Lukem we were planning on going through Glacier National Park on the way down. Stop & spend a few days seeing a friend of the family & the park. I agree way to much to see/do to get it all into a week long trip but we are going to have fun trying & like most family vacations arrive home, tired & feeling like well...I need a vacation. :lol:

 

[bpirger]

I'll emphasize the previous post about the Grand Tetons. Yellowstone is great, as is much of the West....but I have yet to find another place on earth as beautiful as the Grand Tetons. If you can get off the roads and into the trails, I'd recommend doing so in the Tetons. Your weather can be a factor in September, but you are not a new camper with this given your latitude. Haven't been to Baniff yet, but that might be a challenger for the Tetons. Most beautiful spot on Earth...that I have seen. Walking up Mt. Washington in Yellowstone was a nice, easy hike....with a great view from the top. Enjoy your trip!

 

[lukem]

Glacier Park, as mentioned above, is unforgettably beautiful. Take this road, you'll never forget it:

http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/95sunroad/95sunroad.htm

That's the road...couldn't remember the name. When we went up it, it was sunny, and leaves were green...and mid-70's. When we got to the rest area at the top it was gray and desolate, and the flakes were flying. It was like going to a whole new planet in the course of the drive.

 

[NorthCountryWood]

Been thru it twice but both times only had a day to spend. Sooooo much to see, could've spent a month exploring. Went with my wife the second time and she got physically ill from the sulfur smell.

Be careful with the wildlife. We stopped at a bison-jam and an really pushy tourist was injured and his car was damaged by a bison he got too close to. Also watched a grizzly chew on the bumper of a car in front of us. Bring a good camera.

 

[yooperdave]

man oh man! just found out that a fellow yooper was killed by a griz in yellowstone today! (recently-he was found dead)

i would've included a link, but the comments on it were pretty childish...