Yellowstone National Park Travel Forum

We are planning a June trip for two weeks to YNP...oh, yeah, with our 4 children (ages 11, 10, 7, and 2)...we feel this is our best opportunity to get us all out together before adolescents strikes, sooo, here we go...We would love to know the best to take around the park so that we can see the most in 3-4 days without wasting our time backtracking around. Are there places for them to swim in some of the streams? Is it possible to do a horseback ride and have our 2 year old ride along with one of us? My husband and I have been there a few years ago alone, but even then didn't get a chance to see as much of the park as we would have liked...we could certainly use some advice from someone who has been with children and what worked and what didn't...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

We were there many years ago so there may have been changes - children were about the same ages as yours. There's a nice website from the National Park Service - hope it helps: http://www.nps.gov/yell/

There is a great deal to do in YNP. I have been there many times and there are many things I have not done. There is an interesting place to take the children swimming. It is called Hot Potting. There is a place not far from Mammoth where a hot stream runs into the river. During daylight hours swimming is allowed there. Near the banks the water is warmer than you find in most pools. It gets cooler as you go out.

Mammoth takes some time to go through and is close to it. Personally, rather than driving myself through the park, I would find a tour bus. Driving there in the summer is nerve racking. People like to tailgate and pass on sharp corners! And the traffic is going slow, because 'oh look a moose' happens. But then I am prone to some road rage when having to drive 2 miles below the speed limit. LOL

A tour bus will help with mapping out the trip.

We did YNP with our kids ages 10 and 12 at the time. What a great trip.

My suggested itinerary: check out my Yellowstone tips for more details.
*Stay at Old Faithful Inn or Snow Lodge, do Geyser Boardwalk trail.
Kids will love it.
* Head east, Stay at Yellowstone Lake Hotel or Cottages, take a boat tour of Yellowstone Lake, head over to the Campground at night for a Ranger Program. Ours was about Grizzlies, really good. Got to Campground store for awesome ice cream.
* Drive north from Yellowstone Lake thru Hadyn meadow to view bison, maybe wolves, elk, etc. Stop at Grand Canyon of YNP to view the Falls.
Continue driving north to Mammoth Springs.
*Stay in the cottages at Mammoth, they are adorable! Contact Flying Pig Adventure Co. in Gardiner to hook you up with a half day raft trip ( there were little kids there) and a Cowboy Cookout in the evening. We did a one hour trail ride then an all you can eat buffalo burger/steak cook out overlooking the valley, it was stunning! The drive to the "ranch" was windy and breathtaking.
On your way to Gardiner ( rafting and cowboy cookout) stop and soak in the Boiling River, it's not marked so you will have to look for the little parking lot and short trail.

My kids also swam at Firehole Canyon, closer to Old Faithful Inn. The water was cold but they didnt care. Shallow spots for little ones, pretty deep places for better swimmers.

I heart YNP!

Use this site for info even if you dont book anything thru them!

Flying Pig:

http://flyingpigrafting.com/


Also, I looked up the location of the Boiling River. On the road
to Gardiner ( out the Northern Entrance) you will pass a sign stating
the "45th Parallel" halfway between N.Pole and Equator. The Boiling River
parking lot is just beyond that. It's just a natural hot tub. :)

Don't forget to drive south to Grand Teton National Park, which has some beautiful mountain scenery. Another idea is to do a day trip to the town of Cody, which is northeast of Yellowstone. They have a rodeo during the summer that the kids might enjoy, as well as the Buffalo Bill museum, which has exhibits about the western USA in the 1800s.

Lodging in YNP is booked at an early date. If you can't get a hotel in the park, I recommend the Holiday Inn in West Yellowstone. It does have a pool and the kids eat for free. There is also a train from the late 19th century in the hotel for the children to go through.

Check this interactive map for a look at the park and where things are located:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/interactivemap/

If you have not made reservations, do that immediately, things fill up fast. Plan what you want to see, and if you can stay on the east side to see things there, then move to the west to see things there, it will save you a lot of driving. Since you have visited before, you know how big the park is with a its main loop being 142-miles in size.

I have an extensive VT page on Yellowstone, as we live 50 miles outside the east gate in Cody. I have tried to highlight what to do and see in the park, but you can't cover it in 3 - 4 days, so you might look my tips over to prioritize what you want to visit.

The park horseback riding concession has a rule on the age of children they must be at least 8 years old and measure 48 inches in height.

When in 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. If you haven't been inside the Old Faithful Lodge, be sure to go in and look around. Sometime they run a historic tour, which is quite interesting. This lodge 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, but they may have a prediction posted. One of our very favorite geysers is Great Fountain, which is located on the Firehole Lake Drive. 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 large waterfalls. There is a fairly new small museum in the Canyon Visitor Center that won't take you much time and is very informative. Canyon has a nice one-way drive with many stopping points along the way that is well worth driving. Each of the stopping points are different and beautiful. The Lower Falls, which drops 308 feet is one of the highlights of the park, so don’t miss it. Artists Point is my favorite look out point, and a must see view. Inspiration Point is also very nice. The mud pots are pretty interesting in the fall, but they aren't that great in the spring, as early in the year the snowmelt waters them down and they are more like gray liquid water instead of thick bubbly mud. For this reason, this would be a site you might want to skip in June. If you have enough time Mammoth Hot Springs area and Tower Falls are also very nice to explore. I haven't been to tower in quit a long time, and can't remember how long the walk is to the falls, but you can ask in one of the visitor centers before driving up there, and they can tell you.

Our favorite wildlife viewing area is Lamar Valley, which is the northern most road that runs from Mammoth to the Northeast Entrance. And of course, when I say this is our favorite place, this only means we have the best luck there, not that we always see large herds, wolves, or bears. This is not a great moose area, but it is excellent for pretty much everything else. In fact, the curator of our Natural History wing of the excellent museum in Cody, usually chooses Lamar Valley for museum sponsored wildlife viewing trips.

When our son was young, walking was tiring for him, so we always considered distances. What ever you do-DON"T take the Uncle Tom's Trail-300 stairs, 5O0 ft drop, not for young children including your 7 year old. Also the Brink of the Lower Falls trail would not be appropriate, as this is a three eighth of a mile walk that carries you 600 feet steeply downward over a series of switchbacks, leaving you to climb 600 feet up again.

If you get down to Cody, don't miss the The Buffalo Bill Historical Center--5 museums under one roof, Buffalo Bill Cody, gun museum, Plains Indians, Art, and Natural History. This museum is a partner with the Smithsonium. The nightly rodeo usually begins after Memorial Day, and the Kids may enjoy that---grown-ups, also, if you have never seen one.