Yellowstone Trip any help much appreciated!

I don’t think we had to book the activities very far ahead - one of the best was a scenic raft trip (as opposed to the white water trips) that DM80 was able to participate in and loved!

Thank you!!! Do you remember where you booked the scenic raft trip? That’s exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for!

We booked it through the Jackson Lake Lodge:

they call it “wild & scenic” but it was not wild, just scenic.
One of the hikes/walks we enjoyed was to Grand Prismatic Spring. There are benches along the way, so my mom could walk a bit then sit and wait while the rest of us went on further.

I just looked through an old photo album passed down from my mom. There were a lot of pics from Yellowstone in the very early 60’s. My dad grew up in the Idaho Falls area very near Yellowstone so they must have gone while visiting his family. This was before my brother and I were born. So cool! And Old Faithful looks the same.

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That’s amazing! What a treasure!

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Old photo albums are the best!

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News today from CNN:

“Yellowstone National Park announced Monday all entrances to the park are temporarily closed due to “extremely hazardous conditions” caused by “unprecedented” rainfall and flooding.”

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Thanks for thinking of us!
It’s so awful! I read somewhere that employee housing washed away! I was just stressing out about the fact that I had forgotten to book an “Evening Wildlife Tour” and they were all booked…umm no longer a problem! Ironically I had booked a boat ride. I’ve never been excited about this trip but we are going to wait another month before making any decisions…my suggestion was to go to Hawaii instead (collective eye roll from the family).
I hope people and animals are doing okay. Really puts a vacation in perspective.

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I have a work friend that is there now. Fortunately for them, they are staying a little north of Gardiner. They were able to do some of Yellowstone over the weekend and were able to get to Bozeman yesterday.

We went to Yellowstone about 5 years ago. DH really wanted to go and the rest of the family were ho-hum about it. It turned out to be an amazing trip - one of our best ever. I enjoyed it so much that I would love to go back, especially to see it in winter. That’s saying a lot for someone who hates cold and snow.

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My family has a somewhat last minute trip to Yellowstone coming up in July, and I’ve now booked both the whitewater rafting with Lewis and Clark and the Circle of Fire tour for our quick visit, so thank you for the recommendations!

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My daughter enjoyed getting her Junior Ranger certification there.

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My son loved getting his Jr Ranger Badge there, too! He loves bison and so the ranger gave him the bison patch even though he was too young for it age-wise. He should have gotten the geyser one. He was very kind!

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Oh good. I just came here to check in on you. I read about a 2nd goring by a bison in a week. Glad the woman isn’t you :wink:

We had our Yellowstone trip at the end of July 2022. Had one day in Jackson, drove through Grand Tetons, and then spent almost 2 days in Yellowstone (with a night at the Old Faithful Inn) touring the lower loop. (Ended with reverse drive through Grand Tetons.) Just wanted to say thanks again to @ISUamanda for the Lewis and Clark recommendation for the Jackson stop—it was a highlight of the trip. We may be hooked on whitewater rafting and try to to squeeze it in to every vacation where it is an option. We’ll see. For Yellowstone, I ended up canceling the Circle of Fire tour after doing enough research myself to feel comfortable driving it. For planning I used combination of online guides,YouTube, podcasts, and print guides from We are in the Rockies, Dirt in My Shoes, and Explore Yellowstone Like a Local. Liked all of them. In the car, we used audio guides from We are in the Rockies (kids loved the stories in this one) and Gypsy Guide (good for navigation). I didn’t fully know what to expect on this trip or how the kids would react, but everyone loved it. Now we’re anxious to hit up additional national parks and take advantage of those 4th grader passes.

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I’m so glad you liked it!! We had so much fun :slight_smile:

Hi everyone,
Sorry I’ve been out of touch for so long. We went to Yellowstone and had the most wonderful time! We stayed at Canyon Lodge which was convenient to everything and really nice. We were a bit worried becasue just before we left we got an email saying basically bring your own food because we are having issues with supply chain and enough workers but it was fine. The people there are working really hard!
We saw baby moose, baby big horn sheep, plenty of bison, elk, coyotes, bears, and probably something I am forgetting! The key for us was early mornings and evenings. We ended up just driving around on our own and had a bunch of very magical moments. We did a boat ride on Yellowstone Lake that was a big hit, an easy hike with my mom while my Dad and I stayed back at the hotel and a harder hike for my kids without the grandparents early in the morning
The fact that there was little cell service and wifi made it an unexpectedly healing journey for my Dad and I. It’s been rough these past few years with the political echo chambers. Being next to my mom in a car was also healing but in a different way…it explained alot and made me realize that yes I am very lucky I survived my childhood physically and emotionally. I still have a long way to go but it gave me some insight I didn’t have before. It made me appreciate what incredible parents my brother and sister-in-law are (and me). Our kids are amazing and handle my mom really well.
Thankfully we saw just about every animal in the time we were in the park because by the time we got to Jackson Hole my Dad tested positive for COVID…it was then a mad scramble to get home while the rest of us were still negative. My sister-in-law and I flew home with the kids while my brother drove my Dad closer to good medical care then I was supposed to fly to meet them but he ended up doing really well so they just kept driving! He had a booster 2.5.weeks before we left and started on one of the antivirals the morning after he tested positive…that was a fiasco…he was supposed to have it physically with him but god forbid they listen ever! He felt better within 12 hours and was pretty excited to drive cross country. Somehow my mom tested positive as well but no one else ever did…this virus is so weird…we were in one car for 4 full days without masks but everyone else stayed negative for the next 2 weeks!
We wil go back next summer to finish the trip. Thanks to everyone for your help. I had forgotten just how breath-taking it is there!

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Hello
Y’all are the best - this info is so helpful. DH, DS 19 & 22 and I are looking at possibly our last family vacation for a while due to schedules etc. We think we are going to try a “national park” in June '23 and Im leaning toward Yellowstone & Grand Teton area. My question is, for those of you that really advise staying in Yellowstone, did you do the driving /touring in the park yourself or did you take any tours? I am on the fence between hotel in the park or a condo/house in West Yellowstone area. I will probably sign us up for a hiking tour or two in the park. Do we really need to stay in park if I plan to hire a tour? I dont need to see whole park, This vacation is more about us getting to be together , see a new part of the country and we would like to be active when “sight seeing”. I know I need to get my housing down ASAP. Any thoughts?

My biggest advice is to rope drop!! For real! Get out there super early and you will have the trails to yourself.

We went June 2018 and I booked our in park lodging August of 2017! I didn’t get my first choice for part of the trip but I checked everyday for cancellations.

If you do stay in park don’t expect anything fancy. But being close to everything was worth it for us.

It is a beautiful place and our DD21 talks often about it being her favorite vacation ever! And we didn’t have WiFi or cell service for a week!

We did both tours and exploring on our own. We moved around the park for our lodging (Old Faithful Lodge, Canyon Lodge, Roosevelt Lodge) to make it easier to hit the different areas of the park. Especially if you are going in the summer, I wouldn’t stay outside the park. Too much car time.

We stayed in the West Yellowstone area one trip. It’s fairly well situated for the geysers. It’s far for other Yellowstone areas.

Lodging in park may be all reserved now. But you can keep looking for cancelations. Lodge rooms in May of 2021 were starting at $350/night.

Sunrise is not too early to be in the park. Roads will be s l o w . Folks will stopping to look at and photograph animals. They can all run faster than you can especially when cranky. I stay in the car.

We mostly walked on boardwalks in Yellowstone. Trail hiking we did in Grand Teton.

Try to look up distances between sites - like Old Faithful and Mammoth Terraces. Then figure you’ll be lucky to drive 40 mph. I think park speed limits are 45. Averaging 25 and 30 miles per hour is ambitious.

I consider there are 5 main areas of Yellowstone. We have never planned on seeing them all. I pick 2 or 3 for a three or four night stay. And then we merely hit the high spots.

Hopefully you can get some kind of in park lodging for Grand Teton.

We did ranger led talks and walks in Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We have done tours in other parks.

If you want a table service meal you’ll probably need a reservation.

Enjoy!