America’s first national park, Wyoming and Montana’s Yellowstone National Park, is an incredible ode to the early West, with bison, elk bear, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep roaming the valleys, and amazing flora and fauna dotting the expanse. Also, one of the most unique grouping of hydrothermal features is concentrated here, with steaming pools, smelly gases, and high-shooting hot water coming up from the surface of the earth, while also boiling underneath. Probably the most iconic feature of the park, Old Faithful’s water erupts high in the air, wow-ing visitors from far and wide.
During our Summer 2019 RV Road Trip, following a visit to a small town in Montana to visit family, the Gagnons visited Yellowstone National Park. From Southern Montana, we made the gorgeous drive to Yellowstone, following the switchbacks of the Beartooth Highway. I had my eyes closed for a good portion of that drive, as our RV hugged the tight curves of this two-lane highway, right on the edge of 12,000 foot cliffs. We stopped at an amazing lookout point, where it quickly became clear that feeding the chipmunks was the thing to do. The kids LOVED it.
We made our way into Yellowstone National Park, driving through the Lamar Valley, where wildlife sighting was at its best. We saw hundreds of bison, and, our favorite, a mama grizzly bear and two of her cubs. This was one of the animals we were most hoping to see, so we were thrilled!
We stopped for lunch at one of the many gorgeous waterfalls along our journey.
After driving through Lamar Valley, we visited Mammoth Hot Springs, a historical village that was once an Army fort before Yellowstone became a National Park. We enjoyed the Boardwalk Hike along Canary Spring to view the travertine terraces, and were amazed at these incredible features that were unlike anything we had ever seen before! There was also a giant herd of elk relaxing on the grass throughout the village, and the kids got such a kick out of seeing them so close!
As we made our way toward our campground, we stopped at Norris Geyser Basin, the Park’s hottest, most dynamic geyser basin. We hiked to Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest geyser, which unfortunately only erupts very sporadically (every week sometimes), but we did see it smoking. The entire way on the hike, we were surrounded by geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles.
The kids thought the sulphur smell was so strong, so Yellowstone quickly earned its name…
Day Two began with a drive to Old Faithful, the most well-known feature of Yellowstone National Park. There, we explored the extensive Visitor Center, viewed a movie about the park, and then enjoyed watching Old Faithful do its thing. Hayden, who had earlier questioned the wait for the geyser to erupt, exclaimed, “Well, that was TOTALLY worth it!”
After our visit to Old Faithful, our family hiked the Geyser Hill Loop Trail, seeing Anemone Geyser, Doublet Pool, Beehive Geyser, Castle Geyser, and many others along the easy boardwalk route. We saw a bison up close as well, which came out of nowhere!
The kids were so great that morning, and we rewarded everyone for their amazing attitudes by checking out the historical Old Faithful Inn enjoying some ice cream! Make sure to order a scoop of the huckleberry ice cream there if you visit!
From the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone, our family packed up in the RV and headed to the Fairy Falls Trail, opting to do the 3 mile hike to the Grand Prismatic Pool. We had a stunning viewpoint of the pool from our vantage point of the hike, and we all loved how Brady’s shirt that day was the color-reverse of the pool
On our way back to our campsite late that afternoon, we stopped for a swim in the Firehole River. Our experience that afternoon was a true heart-bursting memory for all of us. I will never forget the joy of the kids getting into the hot-spring warmed water, swimming around happily, and playing football on the banks. Hayden even threw his goggles on to get a closer look at the bottom of the river. It was a STUNNING location.
Day Three began bright and early, and we headed straight to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, where we hiked the South Rim Trail to Artist’s Point. The views of the Lower and Upper Falls from there were remarkable, and the kids managed the trail’s three miles really well.
On our way out of the park, we drove through Hayden Valley (Hayden, especially, loved this, and this is another incredible spot in Yellowstone National Park for wildlife viewing), and then visited the Mud Cauldron (picture a hot, bubbling mud pool, boiling and steaming like crazy), and the mud volcano. Both were so bizarre!
We then visited Yellowstone Lake, and enjoyed some ice cream served in Junior Ranger hats for our little Junior Rangers! It had been a fabulous and full three days in Yellowstone National Park!
