Yellowstone National Park Travel Forum

Hi - We are planning a trip to visit Wyoming and Montana in August 09. We will be limited for time (2 weeks) and therefore want to see the "best bits". We will be flying to possibly Denver or Seattle from UK with a day to get over jet lag and then taking flight to Montana/Wyoming. Would really appreciate an idea of what would be a good route to take and what to see along the way, where to stop for a night etc. We particularly want to include the geysers in Yellowstone and also Glacier, Montana. Looking forward to all your advice. Many thanks JD

We travelled thru that area when our kids were little, way too long ago (1973 & 1976) when we lived in California. I am confident you will get lots of tips, but here are some warnings:

- Stay in the park roads, particularly in Glacier park - don't be tempted to take the road that travels south of the park - very dangerous road.
- Get some practice driving on the "wrong" side before you head for the mountains.
- I remember we had a small mishap with the car and had to go spend a night in Livingston Montana. Not sure you will find Livingston as an actual destination, but you may want to spend a night there on your way from Yellowstone to Glacier. Back then, and I don't think it has changed much, it is a real "small town". When we walked to breakfast, a little old lady was walking around collecting her buddies to go have breakfast too. Just a nice place to go, sleep, relax, have a slow breakfast, and observe the locals.

- When we drove in Montana, we noticed they had a habit of placing crosses on the side of the road wherever there had been a fatality. There were single crosses, as well as clusters of crosses. Makes you drive carefully, but after a while you feel funny - just be aware. I am not sure if they still keep the crosses.
- When driving late, particularly if you head West in Montana, the trees are very dense, but since it's higher up north the sun can be hiding behind the trees as late as 9 PM - so just be careful not to be blinded by the sun if there's a sudden clearing. It was a freak occurrence, but fortunately I was not driving fast, but it startled me as I thought the sun was down for the day.

-Make sure you keep your gas tank full ... Yellowstone is huge, and the gas stations were far away from each other, and when we went, most closed at 8 PM.

-They celebrate a Yellowstone Christmas around the 25th of August. Seems there was an early snow once and people were stranded long time ago, and they decided to have Christmas, and have been doing it ever since.

Well, after all the scary stuff, we *loved* the parks. If you have children make sure they don't run off as there are real geysers and bears - but if you stay in the trails and don't go out late at night there should not be any problems. In case you do not have the "official" links, here the are - they might prompt additional questions:

http://www.nps.gov/yell/
http://www.nps.gov/glac/

What to see depends on how many days you plan for Yellowstone. Of course you have to see Old Faithful, as it is the most famous of all the geysers. It is a nice one, but I have to say there are a few I like better. Beehive Geyser is my favorite in the park. It is located in the Old Faithful area, but unfortunately this geyser can be dormant for long periods. This geyser is generally higher than Old Faithful and certainly much noisier as it roars while the water is forcefully shot upwards. Check at the Old Faithful Visitor Center, to see if there is a prediction on when it may erupt. One thing that is fun is to take the Old Faithful Lodge historic tour. It is quite interesting. If you don't want to do this, at least go in and look around. It is the most outstanding log structure I have ever seen. Besides the Old Faithful geyser basin, the Norris geyser basin is nice. Try to see Eucinas geyser erupt while in Norris. It use to be very regular, but isn't anymore, so this may be difficult. One of our very favorite geysers is Great Fountain, which is located on the Firehole Lake Drive. Again, whether this can be seen or not will depend on your timing. The eruptions are a number of hours apart and can not be predicted as well as Old Faithful and some of the others. You can get an estimate of when it might erupt at the Old Faithful Visitor Center. Be sure to see the Canyon area and it's falls. Artists Point is my favorite look out point, and a must see view. Inspiration Point is also very very nice.

If you have enough time Mammoth Hot Springs area and Tower Falls are also very nice to explore. But do not go here instead of the Canyon, the Canyon is definetly one of the highlights in the park.

One thing I would suggest if you are going to be there for a number of days, is to make room reservations or campground reservations in a variety of locations in the park. The main park loop road is 142-miles in size. If you stay in one area of the park, visit the sites there, then move to another location in the park, you will save yourself a lot of time driving around from place to place.

August will be a busy month, so expect a lot of people, make any reservations for tours, motels, campgrounds, or what ever well in advance.

Check here for an interactive map of the park to give you some idea where the sites are located: http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/interactivemap

Bring some layered clothing, even in August, there can be a spell of cool weather. There has actually been recorded snow in Yellowstone every month of the year. Generally, however, August has warm, sunny weather.

Hi- I just did a similiar trip in June that also included North and South Dakota. However, don't miss Cody- plan on at least 3 nights. There is a rodeo each night during the summer, an old "trail town" of cabins and buildings that have been moved there and used for movie sets- a great little downtown for shopping- try a place called Peter's for breakfast and either of the Mexican restaurants for dinner.
There is also a "shootout" near the Irma hotel around 1800 most nights ( I found it a little cheesy, but the other 400+ people seemed to enjoy it) a lot of beautiful bronze sculptures, and the fabulous Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Museum ( really like 5 museums in 1- beautiful sculpture, nicely landscaped patio area and snack shop and absolutely fantastic exhibits. You could easily spend more than one day there- they also have special speakers and events each day. While I was there, I attended a couple of programs, including a fascinating singer whose topic was centered on the conection between cowboys songs and Celtic music.

Yellowstone was fascinating- do not take the "ring of fire" bus tour unless your boredom capacity is quite high- it takes all day. Instead, try a 1/2 day tour and try to make it to some of the ranger programs.

Remember it is a wilderness area, with all it's dangers from animals, terrain and weather still intact, and follow all safety guidelines. I saw some stupid people do some incredibly stupid things- and get injured in the process.

Jenny Lake is incredibly beautiful, and the Glacier Park interprative center was very enjoyable.

Never pass up an opportunity to pull over and take a look at the scenic views, and remember that if traffic is slow or stopped in the park, it could be because a bison or 10 or so have decided to amble down the road- and there is no way a car is going to win against a 2,000 lb. buffalo.

Take binoculars if you have them, try a bison burger or bison steak, strike up a conversation with the employees if you really want to find out what is going on, Old Faithful erupts about every 90 minutes, there's a great walking path around the geyser areas, and remember that the lack of humidity and high altitude will dry out your body. I never get chapped lips or dry skin, but I got them in Yellowstone.

Hope you have a great time- blue skies and happy trails to you. p.s.- look into Medicine Wheel- our version of Stonehenge

I agree completely with traveltime08's suggestion about Cody. It is located about 50 miles east of the East Entrance of the park. The drive is through a beautiful mountain valley.

As an added note about the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which truly is a not to be missed museum, it has recently become affiliated with the famous Smithsonian Museums in Washington D.C. Under this partnership BBHC Cody museum and the Smithsonian will share artifacts and artworks.

hmmm ... when we were in the area with the kids we went to a great Frontier Days Rodeo in Cheyenne which was around August. This was great fun!

I found the current link: http://www.cfdrodeo.com/index.aspx

Since you are talking about more then a year away, I would try to get a room at the Old Faithful Inn. It has the best atmosphere, at night everyone hangs around the beautiful lobby and balconies and someone plays the piano.
If you travel between Yellowstone and Glacier and come up through the Bitterroot valley, give me a yell. If you travel through Great Falls and enter Glacier from the east, White sulpher springs is a funky little pure Montana town with a cool hot springs hotel that is really cheap. Driving Going to the sun road is much less scary going west as you are hugging the mountain instead of the cliff. If you could fly into and out of 2 different cities you would save yourself alot of driving, Bozeman and Kalispell. If you wanted to pick one for both parks then that would be Missoula.

Interesting post this - but for a different reason for me! I plan to go there in August 2017 ( to cover the 21st) for the total eclipse that is set to pass-over the USA (see here - http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/2017-08-21/)
Would anyone with knowledge of the Yellowstone area email me to let me know what are the chances of a clear sky at that time of year?
Maybe, when you get back, you would let me know how the weather was?
I need to pick a location with guaranteed (as near as possible) clear skies!
And..yes.. I KNOW it is a LONG way off yet!
I can choose anothe rlocation but, ideally, want to combine the Eclipse-Watching holiday with a sight-seeing holiday of Yellowstone! (to justify the expense to my wife! )
Neat plan Huh?