Anyone been to Yellowstone park? What to do?

[Zeze]

I've been to Yosemite, Zion NP, Bryce NP, etc

1. What do you actually do once you arrive there? I mean you visit that famous old faithful, which will take about 30 mins tops. What else do you do there- must-do activities around it? I take it, it's just hiking/camping/lodging usual nature park stuff right?

1b: Can you go swim/sit in one of these hot spring pools? We got a chance to do this in Iceland.

2. How's lodging- is it similar to Yosemite where they have a 'base' area with lots of lodging in one cluster?

3. When is best time to go and why?

4. Other things to do around Yellowstone park?

Thanks.

 

[BoomerD]

Yellowstone is about 2 million acres and in parts of 3 states. It's definitely not "see it all in a day" like some of the smaller parks. We were there for a week in May and barely scratched the surface.

We stayed in a very nice RV park in West Yellowstone, MT. About 1-1/2 miles from the west entrance to the park...but the "main attractions" were quite a ways away. Sometimes 20-30 minutes...sometimes 2-3 hours. There's no predicting a bison jam...

or bear jam...

both of those can snarl traffic for hours.

As for the "BEST" time to go...it can snow all 12 months in the higher elevations...but, IMO, after May 15th and when schools let out...or after the kids go back to school...but before the end of September would be best. We were there May 15-22...it dropped into the low 20's every night...and the day we left, we drove in a nasty snowstorm that lasted almost 50 miles.

 

[Jaepheth]

Never been, but from what I gather you can:

1. Stay on the trails
2. Obey ALL posted warning signs
3. Stay on the trails
4. see the pretty sights
5. DON'T feed or approach the bears
6. STAY ON THE TRAILS

 

[Brainonska511]

I was just there in July. It was awesome.

1) In the Upper Geyser Basin, there is more than just Old Faithful. You can walk around the platform at Old Faithful, or you can hike the 1/2 mile up to Observation Point and watch it from on-high. After that hike, a short hike from there brings you to Solitary Geyser. There are also other geysers and springs that you can see there if you walk around the boardwalks. You can also take a short drive over to Grand Prismatic - that one is pretty spectacular.

On top of it all, the park is very big. There are lots of trails and the NPS has a fair amount of guides listed on their site for different areas of the park. That's what we used for planning our days out.

1b) No swimming in the hot springs. There are some rivers you can swim in. If you want hot spring swimming, there is only The Boiling River near the border of Montana and Wyoming. The Boiling River swimming area is about a 1/2 mile from the parking area - a short hike you can do in swim gear. Here, the Boiling River dumps into the Gardner River and you can hang out, like a hot tub.

2) We didn't stay in the park because the hotels fill up real fast. Instead, we split our trip into 3 segments and stayed in hotels in the following places: 2 nights in West Yellowstone, MT to explore the middle/west area of the park, 2 nights in Gardner, MT for Mammoth Hot Springs, and 3 nights in Jackson, WY for Grand Teton and the northern area of Yellowstone (which we hit in the morning of our travel-south day).

3) We went in early July - no snow on higher trails at this point and the weather was fantastic (60s to low 70s). I've read that May and June will often still have snow hanging around, especially in mountainous trails. If you do go, plan for early days. If you get moving early in the day, you'll hit less traffic and get more in (we tried to be in the park before 7AM every day). Mountain weather tends to have pop-up thunderstorms in the afternoons, which can also be dangerous if you're hiking places like Mt. Washburn, where you'll be exposed above the treeline.

4) Besides Old Faithful; Grand Prismatic, Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Fall, The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, swimming in rivers, hiking (trails of all skill levels can be found throughout the park), nature walks, scenic drives (lots of pullouts and some scenic roads off the main loop), Gibbon Falls, Uncle Tom's Trail, The Upper & Lower Falls of the Yellowstone... You can also try to pair a trip with Grand Teton National Park, since they're in the same general area.

Here's some photos I took on my trip this year: https://flic.kr/s/aHskEtz9tR

And here's Grand Teton if you're interested: https://flic.kr/s/aHskDbUgG5


Edit:
Also be prepared to drive a long way. We flew into SLC and rented a car. It's about 4.5 hours to West Yellowstone from SLC. And the park is also a big place. It was often 30-45+ minutes from the hotels to what we wanted to do.

 

[Brainonska511]

Never been, but from what I gather you can:

1. Stay on the trails
2. Obey ALL posted warning signs
3. Stay on the trails
4. see the pretty sights
5. DON'T feed or approach the bears
6. STAY ON THE TRAILS

I'd also add: get a can of bear spray for when you're hiking around. You're not likely to need it, but it's good to have. We did encounter a grizzly hanging out on near a trail (but we were ~50-75 yards from it thanks to a blind corner and just backed away; nothing came of it because it was minding its own business).

In fact, you should just say: do not approach animals in general. Bison can run much faster than people and weigh a ton. Federal regulations stipulate you don't get closer than 100 yards to a bear or wolves and no closer than 25 yards to most other animals.

 

[herm0016]

1. don't approach the animals

there are several lodges, including old faithful, lake, and mammoth hot spring. Lake is fairly centrally located and pretty high end. mammoth is at the north entrance by Gardner, Montana. and old faithful is a giant log structure that can not be described by words alone. there are some hot springs up by mammoth that you can go in, but they are not in the park. to hike a bit and see all the big stuff would probably take 3 or 4 good days. You could spend weeks here though and not see everything. I have been up there 5 or 6 times.

 

[Brainonska511]

1. don't approach the animals

there are several lodges, including old faithful, lake, and mammoth hot spring. Lake is fairly centrally located and pretty high end. mammoth is at the north entrance by Gardner, Montana. and old faithful is a giant log structure that can not be described by words alone. there are some hot springs up by mammoth that you can go in, but they are not in the park. to hike a bit and see all the big stuff would probably take 3 or 4 good days. You could spend weeks here though and not see everything. I have been up there 5 or 6 times.

The Boiling River trail/swimming area is still in the park. I don't know about others though. Generally, it is advised not to go near hot springs and geysers since they are incredibly hot and the ground near their opening is tend to be somewhat fragile and liable to collapse.

But I certainly agree. You can spend weeks and still leave more to see. We spent 4.5 days in Yellowstone and barely scratched the surface.

 

[Ken g6]

1. What do you actually do once you arrive there? I mean you visit that famous old faithful, which will take about 30 mins tops.

First, Old Faithful is just one geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin. It's not even the only predicted geyser there, though it's the most predictable. Further, you might have to wait up to an hour and a half for Old Faithful to go off. At the very least, take a walk up to Castle Geyser. Morning Glory Pool is at the other end of the basin, so if you want to see it you might as well see most of the rest of the geysers there. Also note that geysers can go off for different lengths of time. Castle Geyser is likely to erupt for about an hour, for instance, so if you see it erupting in the distance you have time to get closer.

There are other areas of the park with geysers, too, not to mention Mammoth Hot Springs. I'd put the Lower Geyser Basin at #2, and maybe West Thumb at #3.

I tended to prefer the lower loop of the park, as Mammoth wasn't very interesting to me, and the roads weren't good up that way. But if you're a history buff, especially military history, by all means, go up to Mammoth. There used to be an Army fort there, which was all the protection the park had for a long time. Many of the buildings are still preserved. Edit: Also, I hear the northern part of the park is the place to see bears and wolves.

Do not miss the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, east of the central east-west road. You can get closer to the falls, but it's not absolutely necessary. Yellowstone Lake is also a nice place to visit. You'll see some of it if you go to the West Thumb Geyser Basin, but it's a big lake. They have boat tours, and I think you can do more exploring if you want. Even fishing is allowed, in the lake, the river, and generally wherever it's not prohibited.

 

[Brainonska511]

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I tended to prefer the lower loop of the park, as Mammoth wasn't very interesting to me, and the roads weren't good up that way. But if you're a history buff, especially military history, by all means, go up to Mammoth. There used to be an Army fort there, which was all the protection the park had for a long time. Many of the buildings are still preserved. Edit: Also, I hear the northern part of the park is the place to see bears and wolves.
.

They've been fixing up Grand Loop Road on the way to Mammoth. We didn't find it too bad driving there.

The terraces of Mammoth were pretty cool. The area is also good if you want to hit up the Roosevelt/Tower junction area. I wish we had an extra day in Mammoth because it looked like there was a few interesting trails in the area, like the Lava Creek one along the Gardner River.

At Roosevelt, we did the Lost Lake trail - lots of wildlife there. We saw our grizzly bear there. Later, from Calcite Springs, we also saw a black bear and cubs along the river from the observation area.

 

[NuclearNed]

Visit all the geyser basins. There are several, & they are great.

I think the hiking is much better down at Grand Teton. Jackson is a real fun town too... lots of activities like whitewater rafting

 

[Kalvin00]

Visit all the geyser basins. There are several, & they are great.

I think the hiking is much better down at Grand Teton. Jackson is a real fun town too... lots of activities like whitewater rafting

Agreed on Grand Teton NP. I thought it was much more striking and beautiful than Yellowstone.

Also, it is still quite a drive from Yellowstone, but you might consider Glacier NP since you're sort of nearby. So much more impressive than Yellowstone.

 

[who?]

Thermopolis Wyoming has hot spring fed pools but if you wake up in the motel during the night it may take you a minute to realize that you didn't have an accident, that smell is from the springs.

 

[Thebobo]

Agreed on Grand Teton NP. I thought it was much more striking and beautiful than Yellowstone.

Also, it is still quite a drive from Yellowstone, but you might consider Glacier NP since you're sort of nearby. So much more impressive than Yellowstone.

Agree on Glacier, much more majestic. Going to the Sun Road is awesome and there are over a 700 miles of trails.

Also might want to consider heading a couple hours south to the to the much quieter Wind River range and the Bridger National forest. Lots of beautiful scenery and great hiking.

Wind river range

 

[John Connor]

Last time I was up there I was about 9 or 10. Seen Old Faithful, etc. My Bro and Sis apparently seen bears, I didn't. I think bear country is out there too. My cousins went snowmobiling out there which sounds like a blast!

 

[BoomerD]

Agree on Glacier, much more majestic. Going to the Sun Road is awesome and there are over a 700 miles of trails.

Also might want to consider heading a couple hours south to the to the much quieter Wind River range and the Bridger National forest. Lots of beautiful scenery and great hiking.

Wind river range

I doubt The Going to the Sun road will be open past early October...and, IIRC, it didn't open this year until mid-June... There's still some spectacular scenery to be seen...just not over the pass.

Much of the Wind River Range is wilderness...so it's either hike in...or horseback.

http://www.visitpinedale.org/explore/mountain-ranges/wind-river-mountain-range