Ever since I first saw a taxidermy bison at the galleries of The Academy of Natural Science, I’ve been kind of fascinated by bisons and wanted to visit Yellowstone National Park. It’s not only the world’s first national park, it has the world’s largest concentration of geysers/thermal features, and it is the only place in US where bisons have lived since prehistoric times. I was able to spend a week in Yellowstone this year. As a first timer to national parks and Yellowstone, I did my research and tried to optimize so I can cover the most/best part in the most comfortable way for a city girl.
When?
It is a HUGE park and takes about 2-3 hours to drive from one end of the park to the other, not to mention traffic and all the attractions, so it’s tough to visit more than 3 attractions in a day even if you are staying inside the park. I definitely recommend spending at least 3-5 days here. The locals mentioned the best time to observe wildlife is at early morning, the time we saw most wildlife was 7-9am. Some popular attractions, such as Grand Prismatic Spring and Norris Geyser Basin, can have full parking lot pretty fast. Our guide mentioned a lot of parking lot clears out after 5:30pm so that may be a good time to visit the geysers. However, the park can be unpleasant to drive in after sunset, partially due to lack of light but also because the eyes of bison don’t reflect light the way most animals do so they are difficult to spot in the dark and can make driving dangerous. It is very rare but our guide mentioned that once there was a herd of 30+ bisons that decided to lay down on the road after dark, a semi-truck was unable to spot them in time and plowed through all of them…..the bisons did not survive. Also, personally I think the scenery at dawn looks much better than at night.
The best time of the year to visit are April, late August to October. Not only will you manage to avoid tourist season, you will also avoid the worst of the heat because none of the lodging in the park have AC (something about environmental regulation, according to a lady at the front desk). This also leads to the next point….
What to pack?
The weather in Yellowstone was 70-85 degrees F during the day and 40-50 degrees F at night during the week of August that we went. It was WAY too sunny most of the time but rained very intensely at 10pm for about 20min on our last day. Definitely make sure to bring clothe that allows you to layer up, and plenty of them since you will be sweating a lot walking around. Aside from clothe, skincare, haircare and shower supplies, there are a few other things I recommend packing:
- Sunscreen! Some areas of Yellowstone can get up to ~9000ft in elevation and under a cloudless sky, you WILL burn very quickly, even inside a car. Make sure to apply everywhere, including ear, back of the neck, arm, and hands.
- Selfie stick if you have one. There are some gorgeous sceneries and it’s worth it in order to capture everything.
- Binoculars. Some animals like bison will get close, but other wildlife like ospreys, bears, wolfs etc usually stay very far away. If you want to see more than rice grain size dots, bring a pair of binoculars.
- Map and/or GPS. I use google map a lot to get around, but when they say limited cell service in Yellowstone, they mean it. Outside of the radius for 3-5 of the lodging locations in Yellowstone, you barely get enough cell service for anything. Definitely bring a paper map, which are available in visitor centers and some lodgings, as well as GPS that uses satellite instead of cell service. With that said, the main road is in a figure 8 loop with all the attractions clearly labeled so it’s not difficult to get to different places.
- Anti-bacterial wipes and/or hand sanitizers. There’s plenty of toilets on the side of the road but 95% of them don’t have a place to wash your hands.
- Flashlight. When it gets dark, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to see since there’s no street lights etc. The one time we stayed out after sunset, it was pitch dark as soon as we locked our car and I was glad to have a small flashlight with me to see the road.
- Band-aids/medication/emergency kit
- Sunglasses
- Hat
- Bug repellent
- Chargers
Other things you may want to pack includes fans, bear spray, and standard camping/hiking supplies if you would like to do them. There are multiple camping grounds at Yellowstone and lots of places to rent bear spray as well.
I would also recommend storing/packing some food. There are plenty of picnic areas in Yellowstone. The dining options are limited to the lodging area, some attractions may have a general store with sandwiches or hotdogs but most don’t. Most of the lodging also don’t have microwaves or mini-fridges, so if you do plan to keep some food around, these are the ones I bought:
- Water
- Granola/nuts/protein bar
- Crackers
- Packets of tuna, meat jerkies etc
- Cheese chips
- Vegetable chips
- Fruit (apple, oranges, pears), dried fruit or fruit cups
- Peanut butter
What to see?
The two main attractions in Yellowstone are the geothermal features and wildlife. Most of the geothermal features are concentrated on the south west part while most wildlife are concentrated on the north east part of Yellowstone.
Geysers/geothermal features
The world’s largest concentration of active geysers is here and as you are driving around the south half of the park, you will see white fumes rising everywhere. There’s also a geyser app that tells you when some of the geysers will erupt. If you have limited time, I would recommend visiting 3 places:
- Old Faithful. Not all geyser eruptions can be predicted, since they are affected by heat, amount of water and actions of other geothermal features they are connected to. However, Old Faithful is fairly accurate. We saw it erupt 3 or 4 times and they were all +/-10 minutes of the prediction. There are also a ton of geysers close by within walking distance. A 1hr walk will take you around hundreds of geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and mud pots – some big, some small, some noisy and some colorful. It is also next to Old Faithful Inn, which is considered the largest log structure in the world and is 119 years old. A tour of the Inn is free and available ~4 times a day, definitely recommend. The dining option here is very typical American with buffet offering of braised ribs, chicken, green beans etc. Snow Lodge have probably the most upscale dining option in Yellowstone with bison burger, elk and duck on the menu.
- Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in US, and 3rd largest hot spring in the world. In my opinion, also the prettiest. It’s a spring of various shades of blue that fades into green, surrounded by a yellow ring then spreads out into shades of orange and brown. The colors are partially due to all the microorganisms living in the hot spring, and partially due to the chemicals it contains such as silica, iron, sulfur and trace amount of arsenic (yes you read that right, high temperature is not the only reason why you should stay on the boardwalk instead of getting close). The harmful chemicals are also part of the reason why trees in the area have flat roots, because the soil is only ~1ft deep. The parking lot next to the spring can get full very quickly, but if you park at Fairy Fall, it’s a short hike to the observation point for Grand Prismatic Spring where you can see the whole spring.
- Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest, oldest and most dynamic geyser basin in Yellowstone. It includes Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest geyser (300 to 400 feet). However, it erupts anywhere between 3 days to 50 years, so I was unable to see it erupt. The fun thing is that there are quite a few rangers stationed around the little museum/center so you can ask them all the questions about Yellowstones and Geysers.
Wildlife
Within 10 minutes of entering Yellowstone, we were greeted with a mother and baby bison by the side of the road. You can see a bison or elk here and there no matter where you go in Yellowstone. However, there are 3 spots I would recommend:
- Lamar Valley is the best places for spotting wildlife in Yellowstone. It is off the main road and where majority of the bisons in Yellowstone lives. Apparently there are around 6000-7000 bisons in Yellowstone, only 2000 of them live in central Yellowstone and the rest all live here. Not only is the scenery gorgeous, this is where herds of hundreds of bisons roam by the river, grazes around the high way, and frolicks/fights with each other. We also saw occasional lone bison scratching its head on a tree, and another one checking out the cars driving by while chewing on grass……with a bundle of wildflowers stuck on its horn. As you are driving through it and taking in the majesty and wildness of it all, it truly give you the feeling that you are on their turf. This land belongs to them, the wild life, not you, the humans.
- Hayden Valley is the place where you will probably see most wildlife outside of Lamar valley. It is by the main road so it’s easier to get to. I saw a mother elk daintily crossing the road with 2 babies trotting behind her right in front of my car. There are occasional bisons walking by or rolling around making bison wallow.
- Canyon Village is a great basecamp for exploring Yellowstone’s wildlife attractions (Lodgings around Old Faithful is better if you are more interested in all the geothermal features). This place is close to Hayden Valley for checking out wildlife, and close to Mt. Washburn for great hikes and scenery. On the way up Mt. Washburn was also where we spotted a mother bear with 3 cubs roaming around on the side of mountain next to us. I would not have known except for a group of people with gigantic binoculars all looking in the same direction. The dining options here is more modern American, with a retro American diner that serves burgers, fries and ice cream float. There’s also fast food options including some Asian variety if you are craving vegetables (fresh vegetables and fruits are surprisingly difficult to find in Yellowstone).
Aside from geothermal features and wildlife, the scenery in Yellowstone is beautiful. North Yellowstone can be quite mountainous with bushes and bare rocks, then it transitions into pine tree forest close to the center, then transitions into meadows and fumes rising from geothermal features near south. There are many creeks and picnic areas with plenty of pull outs and some parking by the side of the road for you to slow down, and stop for a moment to admire the scenery. We went with a one day tour to hit all the scenic spots, but if you are not doing a tour, make sure to at least visit a few waterfalls. The upper/lower waterfalls of grand canyon is definitely worth visiting, and I would recommend Gibbon Falls as well. Just staying for a few minutes to take in the majesty of the scenery and listen to the sound of waterfall is so therapeutic.
What to do?
There are plenty of things to do at Yellowstone. I would definitely recommend Yellowstone in a Day tour. The guide drove us to a lot of medium/small size attractions around Yellowstone and provided interesting facts about the different attractions. Do you know the Native Americans who used to live here would use the mud from mud pots to paint their tepees? that in the winter, bisons would make full use of their huge head and strong muscles to dig in the snow for grass to eat? that many pine trees with barks broken off ~2ft from the grounds are from bisons rubbing against them to shed off their winter coats or to scratch an itch? that the ring of white around bottom of dead trees are from silica in the soil? He also told us of horror stories of tourists that didn’t follow the safety signs and got severely injured. He took us around scenic spots and offered to help us take pictures. The thing I’m most grateful for is when we spotted a mother bear with 3 cubs, I could only see 3 black dots but he lent me his binoculars so I was able to see the bears in more detail, including when one of the cubs stood up on hind legs to look around. The tour was definitely worth it.
Hiking is definitely recommended as well. We saw plenty of little ground squirrels in south Yellowstone as well as interesting trees and wildflowers. If you want to hiking the northern part of Yellowstone, bear spray is strongly encourage and you see many warning signs about what to do/not to do if you see bears.
We also went for horseback riding at Canyon Corral. It was for 1 hours through meadows, mountain and forest with wranglers monitoring the procession and telling interesting stories along the way. I did trail riding through very mild terrain before so this is slightly more shaky as the horse travels up the mountain, but it is not difficult for beginners. There’s also horseback riding offered at Roosevelt Corral, but it was for 2hrs and more challenging for beginners.
We also went for a wagon ride from Roosevelt Corral and it included a cookout. It’s interesting if you want a tourist experience of American or Western/cowboy style ride/BBQ. As someone who grew up in Texas, there was nothing unexpected. But if you have never been to southern part of US, I can see it being an interesting experience.
Other things we didn’t try was biking, which allows you to cover more trails than walking, and educational talks available at most touristy spots. We didn’t try camping either, altho some other tourists that did said the camping sites were not bad (with running water).
Overall it was a lovely experience. Apparently in the past years people have seen way more bison than I did, but this year they haven’t start migrating south yet so we didn’t get any bison jam. You will encounter traffic jam at least 1-2 times a day, and they are 95% most likely to be due to construction, so definitely plan ahead to include plenty of driving. Having snacks in the car makes the ride more pleasant, as does music (I recommend Lord of the Rings soundtrack or country rock).