We happened to catch some early winter weather, with lows in the 20s inside the park. With the previous heater issue still a question mark, and not knowing how the tanks would hold up to freezing temperatures, we took the conservative approach of staying in a campground with electric. So we did two nights near Cody, Wyoming which I thought was just outside of the Yellowstone entrance, judging by the green on the maps. Well it turns out Yellowstone is HUGE, and that green area is actually 40 miles of Shoshone National forest. While it was a beautiful drive, adding an hour on each side of 3 days of our Yellowstone trip was not ideal. It was however interesting to see the hunters with horse trailers parked alongside, as elk season had just opened up, I have a lot of respect for the guys who pack in deep into backcountry to hopefully spot that big old bull. It was more annoying to see the lazy hunters driving slowly in front of us, looking up into the canyons, hoping to spot the dumber animals that had wandered close to the roadway. I have zero respect for road hunters, scum of the earth.
Yellowstone is beautiful with its mountains, lakes, rivers and wide valleys. Not the jagged peaks of Glacier, but beautiful in its own way. The wildlife viewing is fantastic, we had the chance to spot bison, grizzly bear, coyote, wolves, deer, elk, antelope, mountain goats, bighorn sheep and prairie dogs. One of my favorite areas was the Lamar valley in the northeast. In the valley were vast herds of bison, gives you a sense of what it might have been like before they were hunted to near extinction. Here we were lucky to see some wolves who were somewhat following a herd of bison, looking for a good opportunity for a hunt.
The main attraction in Yellowstone though is the geothermal features. In the morning cold we could see steam vents spouting everywhere, there are thousands of features within park boundaries and most of the core stops are around the hotspots for these. We of course saw old faithful ( twice ) and the view of grand prismatic spring is worth the short hikes. There are so many different features and they each vary greatly, so view them all until they start to get boring. There really is not place else in the world that comes close to the number or size of geothermal activity ( sorry Iceland ), so these alone are worth coming for.
I also enjoyed the view over “The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone”, while it doesn’t really rival the Grand Canyon, it is a beautiful canyon with 2 dramatic waterfalls. The south and north rim are both worth seeing, but if you only have time for one, I preferred the north.
I didn’t do much hiking, which is rare for me. I had been reading Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock, so the thought of hiking alone into bear country didn’t seem so appealing, and our experience in Glacier with my sister and father showed me even the busy trails can still facilitate an encounter. Doug very laments the couch potato wildlife viewers, and how the National Park service have setup Yellowstone and Glacier to cater to this type of people. I found myself agreeing with him, yet that was very much how we were currently touring Yellowstone. That thought alone is worth a separate blog post.
So we spread our visit across 2 full days and 2 half days, I would recommend a full 4 days if you can swing it. Pick a quadrant each day to explore, and go in depth, take a hike, see it all and stay the night in that area. We ended up being a bit held back by snow closing roads in the morning, but overall the late fall season was ideal as while it was still crowded, in all but a couple moments were we not able to find a parking spot for our bulbous RV. While the east entrance is far from Cody, I do think it was a nice place to stay. We stayed one night in the West entrance which I would not recommend, while it has much more options for camping or lodging, it felt very much like a tourist trap, and while being closer to the park, I think the entrance experiences much more congestion. Almost all campgrounds at the west entrance were closed mid September or October 1st, so be mindful of that. I would definitely not recommend the Pony Express campground, but it kept us warm for one night. The south entrance coming from Grand Tetons is very nice, though again most of the lodging options are far outside the entrance. If you have an additional day take the time to see the Tetons, these are like viewing the mountains of Glacier without ever leaving the broad flat valley, very beautiful with many wildlife viewing options as well. I think the other two entrances also had some good options, we just didn’t make the drive out to these, especially as Beartooth Highway, outside the northeast entrance in Montana was already closed for the season.
One more tip, absolutely do not stop and take a photo of that first Buffalo you come across. First its bison, get it right, and secondly you don’t want to cause that traffic jam only to realise you will see literally thousands over the coming few days.
