Yellowstone
National Park

America’s first National Park, Yellowstone is an American treasure. Wolves, bison, bald eagles, bears, elk, falcons, and thousands of humans share a geological wonderland. Geysers, hot springs, and mud pots all demonstrate the power and constant motion of the earth.  Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Hayden & Lamar Valleys, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Yellowstone Lake Established in 1879, Yellowstone National Park is the crown jewel of the National Parks System. 

The Park-to-Park tour has planned six days to visit Yellowstone. It’s not enough, but should cover wildlife viewing, geyser viewing, canyon hiking, and much more. 

Read our blog post on Yellowstone


Itinerary

We are presenting our itinerary as we lived it. Not the plan, but rather what we were actually able to accomplish. Naturally there are some missed goals and some serendipitous surprises. We always rolled with the punches and made the best out of our time in the national parks. Below we have included some notes that explain how the itinerary changed from what we had in mind. 

It’s important to know that these plans were made to suit the abilities and interests of two young girls aged 9 and 11. We feel confident that any family on their “Every Kid Outdoors Summer” (4th grade) could handle this itinerary. For hikes, we have listed the distance, elevation gain, and time that we tracked, which may differ from published (or actual) measurements. 


Day 1

Morning  

  • At Grand Teton National Park

Afternoon

  • Grant Visitor Center

  • West Thumb Geyser Basin

Evening

  • Arrive at Old Faithful Inn

  • Old Faithful

  • Overnight at Old Faithful Inn

 

Day 2

Morning

  • Old Faithful

  • Old Faithful Visitor Center

  • Hike: Upper Geyser Basin (3.1 miles, 100 feet, 1.5 hours)

  • Morning Glory Pool

  • Biscuit Basin

Afternoon

  • Midway Geyser Basin

  • Grand Prismatic Spring

  • Lower Geyser Basin

  • Great Fountain Geyser

  • Fairy Falls Trailhead

Evening

  • Overnight at Madison Campground

Day 3

Morning

  • Grand Prismatic Overlook

  • Hike: Fairy Falls (5.5 miles, 400 feet, 3 hours)

  • Artist Paint Pots

Afternoon

  • Norris Geyser Basin

  • Steamboat, Echinus & Vixen Geysers

  • Canyon Village

Evening

  • Overnight at Canyon Campground

Day 4 

Morning

  • Early rise

  • Hayden Valley

  • Fishing Bridge

  • Lake Village & Lake Lodge

  • Bay Bridge Marina

  • Boat rental on Yellowstone Lake

Afternoon

  • Picnic at Mary Bay

  • Mud Volcano & Sulphur Cauldron

  • Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Evening

  • Overnight at Canyon

Day 5 

Morning

  • Drive to Mammoth Hot Springs

  • Albright Visitor Center

Afternoon  

  • Roosevelt Arch

  • Lunch in Gardiner, MT

  • Mammoth Hot Springs

Evening

  • Overnight at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel

Day 6 

Morning 

  • Early rise / breakfast en route

  • Slough Creek (wolf watching)

  • Lamar Valley

Afternoon

  • Lunch in Cooke City, MT

  • Petrified Tree

Evening       

  • Horse ride

  • Roosevelt Cookout

  • Overnight at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel

 
 Day 7          

  • Depart from Mammoth for Glacier National Park

  • Bozeman, MT for groceries

  • Lunch in Helena, MT

Notes

Our itinerary at Yellowstone was ambitious. We had just 5.5 days to visit one of the largest parks in the country. Since none of us had been there before, we focused on the highlights. 

The first 24 hours went more or less as planned. When we reached Midway Geyser Basin, we opted to swap the Fairy Falls hike with an up close view of Grand Prismatic Spring from the boardwalks. Grand Prismatic was packed, but we made our way in. This also allowed us to hike Fairy Falls in the cooler, emptier morning hours, instead of the afternoon as originally designed. 

At Lower Geyser Basin, we hung around much longer to wait for the eruption of the Great Fountain Geyser, which was well worth it. We also skipped Gibbon Falls in an attempt to see some wolves the Ranger told us about (but we didn’t see them).

Our time was cut a little short at both Norris Geyser Basin and at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone because of rain. But, in both cases, we braved passing showers to still enjoy each location. We could have used twice the time at Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 

On Day 4, we randomly decided to rent a motor boat at Bay Bridge Marina to explore a small section of Yellowstone Lake. We also followed that up by a spontaneous picnic on the north shore of the lake. 

Boiling River was closed, and we decided to forego the Hell Roaring Trail hike in lieu of a visit to Mammoth Hot Springs after our morning got away from us. We also added lunches at restaurants outside the park on two days, which were quite nice. 

The road between Canyon and Roosevelt was closed all summer for repairs. This meant that we could’t visit Tower Falls. Also Roosevelt Lodge was under significant Covid-related restrictions, so we skipped that. And whenever we could we chose time to view wildlife over keeping on schedule — especially for wolves. 

On the whole we stayed on our organized path through the park that always kept us moving and allowed us to overnight in four different places. That meant that we avoided as much traffic as possible in a busy July. 

So many changes from the original agenda in Yellowstone, but we wouldn’t change anything that we did do in America’s first national park. 

 

< Previous National Park

Next National Park >