Travel

Yellowstone

As we start this adventure, I want to remind you of the Federal Parks Pass. If you have a kid in 4th grade or going into 4th grade, you’ll want to grab this. It’s a federal program called “Every Kid Outdoors” and when you sign up, your 4th grader is given a family pass to get into ALL of the National Parks (& limited State Parks) for free. You can use it starting the day 3rd grade ends up until the day 5th grade starts, so yes, you can get 2 summers worth of use out of it if you do it right. Get yours here. This is another of those grand adventures where we used ours.

It started out simply enough: "You can't do Yellowstone in a weekend". Psh...challenge accepted. Not only can I do Yellowstone in a weekend, I can do it the last weekend everything is open, the snow is already flying and I can make it fun & memorable. Easy enough, right?

We got a little later start to the day than I'd planned on so I knew it would be dark when we rolled into West Yellowstone. There were some places we'd talked about stopping along the way, but decided we'd do it on the way home if we still wanted to - the goal was just to get to our hotel for the night. I didn't really want to drive in that late because of the wildlife, but thankfully, we didn't have any issues. The Tetons are gorgeous and seeing them at dusk is breath-taking. From the snow on them though, it's apparent we won't be coming home through them on this trip. (I'm thinking maybe summer instead of mid-October might be a better option.)

It's really late when we get into West Yellowstone. So late that nearly everything is shut down for the night already. We end up at one of the few restaurants that was still open, Outpost Restaurant. It was such a cute little place and the food was so good. Come to find out, it was the last weekend they were open for the season. Honestly? I knew a lot of things in the park itself shuttered up for the winter, but it never occurred to me that businesses outside the park entrances would do the same thing. A staggering number of them do. No tourists, too much snow...makes sense when you think about it. After dinner, on to the hotel, an evening swim and then a good night's rest before taking on a very ambitious itinerary tomorrow!

One of the things that's really neat about the Parks Pass is that your 4th grader needs to present it to the Park Ranger at the entrance. Every time we've gone to a park, the Ranger (no matter how busy they were) took the time to talk to our kids about the park a little and to thank them for visiting. They share with them the importance of the park and how it's up to them to help preserve those parks so other people can enjoy them too. They also give them the visitor's information and let them know it's now their job as a Junior Park Ranger to share the Park with their family. It's something so very, very simple but has a profound effect on the kids. Every time I've witnessed it, it's almost like a solemn passing of the torch to the next generation and there's something really special in it.

Our youngest son has always been a "counter" (I am too). He wanted to know how many Bison were in Yellowstone. Do you know? I didn't either. It wasn't long before we saw the first one and I hear from the backseat "one." A little bit later we pass another one and I hear "two." Yeah...you know where this is going, huh? Well in case you ever need to know it, there are 123 Bison in Yellowstone National Park. (At least there were that weekend.)

It's beautiful here and I'm so excited to share this with my family. My husband drove truck for many years and has been all over, but Yellowstone isn't a place a big truck can go so this was new for him too. I'd been a couple of times as a kid and once as a young adult, but it had been many, many years since I'd been. You wouldn't think a place as timeless as Yellowstone is would change, but boy did it! I remember way back when the wooden pathways (that were so slick from the steam and sputtering water & had no guardrails) went alongside the pools, through the mud volcanoes and right up to the edges of all sorts of things. I also remember stories of people stepping off the paths and falling in. That's probably why things are so different. You can't get quite as close up as you used to be able to, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It's definitely safer now.

The first place we stop to explore is along the Madison River. I'm not sure why it surprised me, because it really shouldn't have, but one of the first things I find my husband and sons doing is examining skat (poop). The boys had just recently finished Hunter's Education so they had been "trained" to identify different types of poop in the woods. As much fun as they're having, we didn't come to Yellowstone to study poop. They reluctantly get back in the van and we take off.

Oh! And if you aren't aware of it, Yellowstone stinks. Literally. We get out to explore Monument Geyser Basin and our first stop is Beryl Spring, one of the hottest springs in Yellowstone. That much geothermal pressure comes with a fair amount of Sulphur. One whiff and I hear "Ewww! Dad was that you?" from one of the kids. Dying laughing, I explain to them what the smell is and that it wasn't Dad. This time.

North to Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest geyser in the park (and it also lies on the intersection of 3 major fault lines - nothing to worry about). We hike through the geysers, springs & fumeroles. This is as far North as we're going to be able to go on this trip because the roads are closed at this point due to snow. I can't tell you how weird it is to be standing amongst such insanely hot geological formations and knowing a mere mile from us the road is impassable from the snow. Nature is weird in Yellowstone.

I have common sense advice if you're visiting Yellowstone (or any National Park) about the animals. First, slow down. You're driving through their home. If you see them approaching the road, stop. If they're in the road, stop. Second, don't be an idiot around them. They're wild animals - this is not a zoo. I was astounded at the number of people stopping in the middle of the road and getting out of their cars trying to get close to the animals. Just South of the Canyon Village Visitor Center (a great stop for info, bathrooms & snacks) the cars stopped in the road and on the side of the road were so bad, I almost couldn't get through. People pulled over or just stopped in the roadway and were flocking out of their vehicles, cameras in hand. Why? To get a picture of the cute little baby Black Bear. Again, common sense. If baby is there, Mama ain't too far away. They're foraging and eating as much as they can to prep for hibernating. They're not going to be the cute, cuddly, gentle things you imagine. It's a stupid idea and people get hurt, sometimes killed, trying to track down wild animals. It's not the fault of the animal - this is their home, their lives and WE are the intruders. Do what I did. Slow down so the kids can get a glimpse from the car and keep going.

One stop that you have to make in Yellowstone is to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone & the Upper & Lower Falls. Pictures don't do it justice. If you have the time, take the hikes. If you don't, at least stop at the overlooks and don't forget Inspiration Point & Artist Point. Give yourself time to soak in the wonder and the beauty that truly is like nowhere else on the planet. Another must see for me is the Mud Volcanoes. Why? Because the only thing cooler than steam and water bubbling out of the earth is mud bubbling out of the earth. There's just something really awesome about it. (FYI, it's probably about the smelliest place in the park.)

Instead of heading straight for the East Entrance (we're staying just outside of it tonight), we have plenty of daylight left so we explore just a bit more. The iconic Lodge is already boarded up for the season, but we spend some time walking the shores of the gorgeous bright blue Yellowstone Lake. There is quite literally no one else there and it's breathtaking. As the sun starts to dip, we head East for the night.

Pahaska Tepee, Buffalo Bill's original hunting Lodge. (Also their last weekend open for the season) We ate at the restaurant and my oldest was pretty stoked to get to try Bison. We found out he's allergic to it. Thankfully, in the middle of nowhere miles away from anything, we didn't have to use his epi-pen and the Benadryl finally worked. That was fun. I wanted to love this place so very, very much. The food was okay. The cabin was cute - it was nestled back in the woods. We got to watch elk, deer and even a moose from the cabin, but one thing that would have helped on that very, very cold October night? Heat. The front desk told us to crank the thermostat and run the hot water and it would warm up. We ran the hot shower almost all night (geothermal heat) and it didn't help. We used every blanket we could find and slept wearing layers of clothes and our jackets. When morning came around, the inside of the cabin windows were frosty. Again, I wanted to love this place so much. Maybe in the summer it would be okay, but if there's even a chance of it being cold at night? Nope. Go somewhere else.

Driving back into the park, we got passed by some lady that decided it would be a good idea to run the park gate. That was awesome! After a short pursuit, she decided maybe she should stop after all. Ha ha! At least it was interesting! Coming over the top of Avalanche Peak we were behind a herd of Bison so it was pretty slow going. I'm glad though. As we cleared that peak we had the most incredible view of Yellowstone Lake but we were in an area that had been decimated by forest fires. It was such a strange and beautiful contrast between the devastation and the beauty of Mother Nature.

As we suspected on our drive to Yellowstone, there will be no visiting the Tetons on this trip - the road is shut down due to snow at the West Thumb of the lake. Today we explore the southwestern portion of the park that is full of geysers and geothermal pools. There are also some truly astounding waterfalls in this area of the park. When you see those "pull-out" areas? Take a few of them and explore. It'll be worth your time.

Naturally, the first stop has to be Old Faithful, right? It's not the park's largest geyser, but is the one that's the most active and it really is faithful in it's eruptions. If it's super crowded when you get there, walk the paths and check out some of the other geysers. I assure you, you'll be able to see Old Faithful from anywhere in this area when she blows. If you'd rather wait to watch her eruption, head towards the seating area as soon as an eruption ends - people are leaving and you'll have your choice of seats even when it's really busy.

The last stop on our journey is what looks like a tiny blip on the map, but is so full of amazing places! This last stretch of the road headed north from Old Faithful towards Madison is going to take time to get through. You're going to want to stop at every single one of these stops. You can't stop at one and think they're all the same because they aren't. Grand Prismatic Spring, Morning Glory Pool & the Fountain Paint Pots are a bit of a walk, but worth it.

Mother Nature is amazing and there is nothing man could make that could come even close to recreating the beauty you'll find here. I can't count how many times on this trip I stood there marveling at what I was seeing and wondering what it was like for the Native Americans that first inhabited this land and for the settlers that stumbled upon it on their journeys west. Can you imagine what they thought? We have a rudimentary understanding of the science that makes it work, but there are so many things we still have yet to learn. They didn't have that and I wonder what their thoughts were. Yellowstone is a remarkable place, a must see if you've not seen it. It's also a place that is an entirely different experience depending on the season you see it in. It's completely overrun with tourists in the summer, but I'm not sure I'd do mid-October again. Next time I go I'm thinking Spring when the babies and the flowers are out. There isn't a bad time to go but make sure you do your research so you know what to expect. Take your time exploring. And wear good shoes. ;)

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