First Camping Trip to Yellowstone-with a little one in Diapers!
This post is slightly overdue, sorry! We went to Yellowstone September 12-19. One of the perks of homeschooling is we can take vacation when we choose to and not when the school calendar allows ;-) We thought September would be perfect; less crowds, weather wouldn't be too cold yet. We were right on one of those!
This whole Adventure actually started last February when I booked our campsite. I had heard that you have to book anything at Yellowstone super early because it's the most popular park world wide! Even booking in February our options were limited if we didn't want to switch campsites halfway through. We were able to get a campsite for four nights, costing around $120.
Next I hit Pinterest to find out what we should see, tips for camping with toddlers, how to do this on a budget, etc. I found several helpful things and started making our itinerary. It was important to me that we didn't just do the main attractions, I wanted to get off the beaten path.
Tafton is a 4th grader this year so we were able to get into the park for FREE. if you’ve got a fourth grader this year, your family is eligible for a FREE National Parks annual pass–just click HERE and check out the wonderful Every Kid in a Park program. Your pass will be valid through August 31st.
Day 1
We didn't do much this day, we drove to Yellowstone, set up our tent and campground, cooked and ate dinner, and attended a Ranger Talk in the Evening.
One thing I didn't plan, and wish I had, was the Ranger programs. Next time I would check out THIS calendar and plan our activities around some Ranger Programs. As it was, we were able to attend at least one Ranger Led program a day which added more interest and background to what we were seeing.
Day 2
We visited the Mammoth area of the park today. One of the drawbacks of going to Yellowstone in the off season is that some of the roads are closed. This resulted in us having to drive the LOOOOONG way to Mammoth. It easily took 2 hours to drive from our campground to Mammoth because of the low speed limits in the park.
-Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces: the main attraction! We saw a fair amount of elk here and got ice cream cones. It started to rain off and on as we were eating our ice cream. I read that the ice cream cones at Mammoth are less expensive than the other park shops, but I can't confirm that!
-Hiked to Wraith Falls. This was a 1 mile hike round trip. Perfect for our little ones! It was drizzly and cold, but not too bad once we started walking.
-Swim/Wade in the Boiling River. We almost didn't do this because the storms were on and off and the walk to the Boiling River was long enough that we weren't sure we wanted to tough it out through the pouring rain. But the rain finally stopped and we were able to enjoy the river. Unfortunately - we forgot swimsuits for me and Ben, so it was definitely only wading for us with the youngest ones!
Day 3
We visited the Grand Canyon and Lake Area of the park this day.
-Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Artist Point. Spectacular! Our whole trip was overcast, but I've read that if you go in the morning around 10 you can even see a rainbow in the canyon!
-Upper and Lower Falls Lookout. The original plan was to do the Uncle Tom's Cabin Trail, but it was closed. Another drawback of going in the off season, more trail maintenance was going on! The Lower Falls Lookout was really cool though! It was a fairly easy trail down with several switchbacks. On the way back up there are benches to sit on if you need to rest from the steep walk.
-Lunch next to the Yellowstone River. The river was beautiful and calm. It was interesting to see how much calmer it was before it hits the falls!
-Hiked Pelican Creek Trail. Another easy hike. .6 mile roundtrip. It starts in the forest and loops around to the lakefront and then back through the forest. It was again raining and cold but the kids stuck it out!
- Attended a Ranger Program at the Yellowstone Lake Visitor Center. Daddy and Jack had a nap in the van while I took the others to a program about the animals around Yellowstone Lake. The kids also worked on the Jr Ranger books while we waited out the rain yet again.
-Walked through the MudPot Area. The smelliest area of the park! The cool features made the stink worth it, Dragon's Mouth was fun to see, and there were several roiling mudpots.
-Stopped at the Gibbon Falls lookout. This was a quick stop on our way back to the camp for the night.
Day 4
We visited the Old Faithful Geyser Area of the park this day. We were lucky to catch some other geysers that, in my opinion, were more awe inspiring than Old Faithful. In the Old Faithful Visitor's Center they have predictions of when some of the geysers will go off which is helpful in planning your day, but some of the predictions are +/- several hours so don't rely on it too much!
-Firehole Canyon Scenic Drive. This was one of our favorite parts of the park. RVs and Buses aren't allowed on this road so it was much less crowded and felt secret and special. Plus it was beautiful! There is one area where you can go swimming in the river but we didn't do that. The walk down was really steep and didn't look as family friendly as the Boiling River Swim area.
-Fountain paint pots. More fumaroles and mudpots. I also got one of my favorite pics of Jill here.
-Grand Prismatic Spring. This was less than thrilling. It's one of the iconic spots in the park but when we were there it was cold, windy, and overcast which I think increased the amount of steam so we couldn't fully appreciate the colors. Our original plan was to do the Fairy Falls Hike which takes you above the Grand Prismatic so we could see a different vantage point, but Jackson was being fussy and we didn't feel we would be able to make the hike without going crazy!
-Old Faithful. As I said earlier this was less than impressive. I think it's built up too much or something. It was a good first geyser for the kids though and the visitor's center was impressive. I actually enjoyed watching the geyser go off from the visitor's center viewing window, better than watching up close. While we were waiting for Old Faithful we also got to see Beehive Geyser on Geyser Hill go off. It looked so cool! I was jealous of the people on the boardwalk near it.
-Old Faithful Visitor's Center. The kids were sworn in as Junior Rangers at this visitor's Center and got their patches. We spent 2 hours at this Visitor's Center. It had wonderful interactive displays, a large children's education room, and the large viewing window of the Old Faithful Geyser. We also attended another Ranger Program about the various animals of Yellowstone Park in the Children's education room.
-Firehole Lake Drive. This is another one-way no RVs/no buses allowed. There are a few geysers and different thermal features with boardwalks on this drive. We were SUPER lucky and caught Great Fountain Geyser at the beginning of it's eruption. We were the only ones on the boardwalk and it was amazing. I think it was more special because we were the only ones and it surprisingly went off while we were there. It was so cool!
Day 5
Our last day we visited the West Thumb Geyser Basin and traveled through Grand Teton National Park on our way home.
We woke up to snow and even colder temperatures so we had our breakfast inside the tent to stay warm! Then we had to do the work of breaking down the campsite in freezing temperatures, shaking off snow/rain, and managing the kiddos!
-Firehole Canyon Scenic Drive. Again! It was one of our favorite spots we had seen so we drove through here on our way to the West Thumb.
-West Thumb Geyser Basin. We got here in time for a Ranger Walk through the Basin. We liked the Ranger walks and Range-led programs because it gave us more education and depth into what we were seeing. We ended up bailing on the walk halfway through, as we reached the lake edge, because the wind was so cold and the kiddos just couldn't handle it. But we did get some good pictures of the different features.
-Grand Teton National Park. The mountains here were beautiful. There was also a ton of bike paths. I would love to come back through the Tetons on a biking backpacking trip. In warmer weather of course! We stopped at Jenny Lake to eat lunch and throw rocks into the lake before back into the car for the long drive home.
It was a wonderful trip and a huge success for our first family camping trip, inclement weather and all!
Here's the different resources I used when planning our trip:
THIS article broke down the different camping sites in Yellowstone and gave some good insight on what to expect with booking.
THIS guide was extremely helpful in making sure we packed everything we would need for this camping trip.
THIS article helped with off-the-beaten-path but still toddler friendly activities/sights.
What are you going to EAT? Eating out can kill your budget, we packed our food in other than fast food lunch on the day traveling there and fast food dinner on our way home.
THIS article gives some tips for visiting the main attractions with young children.
THIS article gave budgeting tips for eating on a road trip. This is coming from a Momma of 15! so she knows her stuff!
