Sunday morning, we left home at the crack of dawn to Maas Parking Newark. They had great online reviews, and at just $3/day, we felt like winners. Unfortunately, those online reviews turned out not to be indicative of our experience. After parking our car, we waited close to 20 minutes for their shuttle to Newark- at this point I wasn’t yet nervous, as both my husband and I have TSA precheck. We finally made it to EWR’s Terminal A 35 minutes before our flight. When attempting to check my husband in, the agent informed us that since we had booked Basic Economy my husband was not entitled to a carry-on bag, and we would have to proceed to the counter. I informed her that I was a United cardholder which entitled me and my companions to a free carry-on, and that I had called United to link our itineraries ahead of time to prevent this exact issue from happening. The agent was unable to assist us and directed us to the customer service desk. By the time we made it to the head of the line and waited while the agent took three tries to pull up our itinerary, it was less than 30 minutes to our flight, and with my husband still not checked in, the agent was unable to assist us. I had been perfectly calm up until this moment, since I had no idea that a 30-minute check-in cutoff even existed… I learned that lesson the hard way (both that Basic Economy is not worth the hassle, and that there is a check-in cutoff).
As soon as I realized that there was no way forward to our direct BZN flight, I started researching other options on United. United has just one daily AM flight directly to Bozeman, and not wanting to wait til the next day, we started looking at options with a stopover. I noticed a flight with a stop in DEN which was supposed to leave at the same time as our flight to BZN, but was now delayed for two hours, giving us more than enough time to get rebooked. The only problem with the DEN flight was that since it was delayed by two hours it would not make it in time for the connection to BZN, but I figured it was a good choice anyway since there are multiple flights daily from DEN to BZN, so if we missed our original connection we could aim for the next one. Thankfully United customer service was a pleasure to deal with, and they placed us onto the EWR-DEN-BZN flight with no additional fees and no questions asked. Our flight to DEN was departing from Terminal C, so we headed over there and got through security in minutes utilizing Clear and TSA precheck. Meanwhile, the flight to DEN was delayed by another hour causing us to miss the first connection to BZN, so I spent the next thirty minutes with the gate agent getting us confirmed on a 3PM flight from DEN to BZN, and on standby for the 1:44PM flight, since that one was fully booked. After finally being on our way, we landed in Denver at 1:25PM, sure that we had missed our standby chance. Since the flight had been delayed multiple times, the flight attendants were kind enough to announce that anyone with a connecting flight would be given precedence to disembark, and we hightailed it off that plane as soon as the doors were open. Lucky for us, the gate for the 1:44PM flight to Bozeman was just across the gate we landed at, and while the flight was fully boarded, they were still doing final checks and had not yet closed the doors. The gate agent told us that while the flight was completely sold out, two passengers had not made it to the gate, and since they hadn’t responded to his PA announcement, we could have their seats!
We finally landed at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport at 3:30PM, 5 hours after our originally scheduled flight, and headed to the Avis counter to pick up our reserved vehicle. The clerk had our keys prepared and our vehicle ready for pick up, so the entire process took mere minutes. Since I’m an Avis Preferred Plus member, we were upgraded to a standard 5 passenger SUV and received a brand-new Kia Sorrento. As soon as we were out of the lot, I attempted to change the drop-off location of the vehicle to JAC Airport, but to my dismay the system displayed a one-way fee of $520. I immediately called customer service, but they were unable to waive the fee from their end. Since I had transcripts of conversations where they informed me that I would not be charged for the one-way, they had me make the change for $520 on my end, and then issued a $250 refund on the spot, with the remaining $270 refund to be issued after the return was complete.
We headed straight to Walmart and purchased all the food and supplies that we’d need over the next 5 days, including binoculars and bear spray.
By the time we were done with our shopping it was rather late in the day, and we still had a 1.5-hour drive ahead of us just to make it to the park’s entrance. We quickly reworked our carefully planned schedule and cut out the longer hikes we had been hoping to do, and even though we had lost hours of time in the park by our delayed arrival, still managed to cover all the important stops on our list.
The drive from Bozeman to Yellowstone’s North entrance is beautiful, with most of it through the Custer Gallatin National Forest.
The roads in Yellowstone NP are shaped like a figure 8:
1. Northwest section: Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin
2. Northeast section: Mount Washburn, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
3. Southeast section: Hayden Valley, Mud Volcano, Yellowstone Lake, West Thumb Geyser Basin
4. Southwest section: Fountain Paint Pot, Midway Geyser Basin (Grand Prismatic), Biscuit Basin, Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful)
Just after passing through the town of Gardiner, MT we arrived at Yellowstone’s North Entrance,
and came across our first bit of wildlife- several elk grazing near the entrance booth.
The weather was in the mid-60s and mostly sunny- the perfect greeting to this gargantuan and wonderous park.
We headed to Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel & Cabins first, to check into our cabin for the night. The cabin is tiny, with the smallest bathroom and shower imaginable, but it was clean and cozy.
A slight sulfur smell permeated the area, but I got used to it quickly and my husband didn’t smell anything at all.
Note: I didn’t see this mentioned nearly enough in my research, so I’ll say it here: Yellowstone stinks. Not everywhere and not always, but if you’re looking to see the active geothermal features in the park, it will come with a smell.
We came across several elk near our cabin and in the Mammoth area, and since it was calving season, we were vigilant and made an effort to walk and talk loudly so as not to startle any potential new mothers- elk are very protective of their young and have been known to attack if startled.
With about an hour of daylight left at this point (sunset was after 9PM, so we were able to take advantage of long days), we headed to the Mammoth Hot Springs Trail, just a short walk from our cabin.
The sulfur smell here is strong, but the features are beautiful.
We viewed Palette Spring,
Minerva Terrace, Mound Spring,
and Jupiter Terrace, climbing all the way up until we were on the road overlooking the Mammoth area.
We then headed back to our cabin for a quick meal and a good night’s sleep.
Monday morning dawned gray and cloudy, with a high of 55F. Since the forecast predicted rain, we felt a little better about having cut out those longer hikes, since they wouldn’t have been fun anyway. Our first stop was at the Albright Visitor Center, where we inquired with a ranger about the probability of seeing wildlife in the rain. She informed us that unless its pouring, animals don’t really change their patterns, and we had as good a chance of seeing wildlife as we would on any other day. This energized us, and we decided to spend the first half of the day driving along the Northeast section of road (#2 on the map) towards Mt. Washburn, in the hopes that we would spot some obscure wildlife. We hoped to make a quick stop at Boiling River Hot Springs first, but a passing ranger kindly informed us that the river washed out in the 2022 flood and as a result moved tens of feet, is nowhere near the new park road, and the NPS has no plans currently to make the river accessible to visitors again. Driving further south we came across our first ‘real’ wildlife sighting: a black wolf! (Those of you who know my husband will spot the pun😉). It’s incredibly rare to spot wolves in Yellowstone, and we were off to a great start.
We pulled over at a valley overlook and spotted a small herd of bison far below.
We then made a quick stop at Petrified Tree, but it wasn’t worth our time- not much to see- just a single petrified tree stump.
We continued south and were soon climbing elevation as we neared Mt. Washburn. We had originally planned to hike to the summit, but we realized that even if our schedule and weather had played along this would have been difficult, as the snow was still deep at higher elevations, making it inaccessible.
As we headed down in elevation towards Canyon Village we spotted our first up-close bison on the side of the road. My husband was enthralled and spend about 10 minutes studying it and taking photos, not knowing that we’d be seeing so many of those over the next few days that we’d become habituated to the site…
We passed by a massive canyon with no informational sign- for a moment I though that it was THE Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (possibly along the same rift?) but then I realized that the official canyon was way too popular for this to be it…
An elk chilling in the snowA few minutes later we finally spotted the turnoff for North Rim Drive, which runs along the Northern side of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There are many overlooks and trails branching out of here, and while we had several on our list, the wind was howling and the trails were slippery- presumably it had rained here earlier (other than a few droplets here and there it did not end up raining for us that day)- and we did not feel safe to hike steep trails and steps in such conditions. We admired the roaring waterfalls and the beautiful canyon colors from overlooks not far from the parking areas.
There’s also the South Rim Drive in this area of the park which runs along the Southern side of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone with its own hikes and overlooks, but we did not feel that we would benefit from viewing the canyon from the other side, so we skipped it.
During a quick bathroom break at the Canyon Visitor Education Center we noticed that they rent bear spray, so if you’re not looking to buy a bottle (they’re about $60 to purchase at Walmart or at the Visitor Center- they cannot be taken on an airplane, even in checked baggage) but still want to hike safely, this is a good option.
Continuing onto the Southeast portion of road (#3 on the map) we headed into Hayden Valley, an area known for wildlife. At first glance we came across several bison and a coyote.
Our next stop was the Mud Volcano area. The sulfur smell here is intense and in some spots was rather nauseating.
There are mineral-colored streams here,
and many different geothermal features such as:
Dragons Mouth Spring
Mudpots
Sour Lake
Black Dragons Cauldron
Churning CauldronContinuing our drive south we came across a grizzly bear going about his day. The bear was up on a ridge, and our binoculars came in handy here.
We spotted some more bison and elk along the road.
Our final stop for the day was along the northern point of Yellowstone Lake, where the sun finally made its appearance.
We then pointed our car north and started the drive back up to Gardiner, MT, where we were staying for the night. On our drive back we spotted several more elk, along with a calf!
Exhausted after our long but productive day, we finally made it to the Roosevelt Hotel in Gardiner after a 1.5-hour drive from Yellowstone Lake. While the hotel had good reviews online, the photos of the hotel didn’t look too promising, so we weren’t expecting much, but the room turned out to be newly renovated, clean, and of decent size.
Tuesday dawned sunny, with temps in the high 60s. We entered the park via the North entrance again, and made a quick stop at Roosevelt Arch, which had its cornerstone placed by President Theodore Roosevelt, a staunch supporter of land conservation.
We passed by the entrance booth and presented our America the Beautiful pass, which granted us free entry into the park.
We headed west, past the Mammoth Hot Springs area, where we spotted some more elk,
and make a quick stop on the road that runs above the Mammoth Hot Springs.
We headed to the Northwest section of road (#1 on the map), driving South along a pass strewn with picturesque boulders,
before coming across a rushing waterfall.
After spotting another herd of elk,
we stopped at Roaring Mountain, a mountain with several fumaroles emitting hot steam and gasses. The ground is so hot that nothing grows here.
We then proceeded to Norris Geyser Basin, another geothermal area with geysers, fumaroles, and springs.
This was the first place in the park that we experienced traffic, but even so the parking lot was not at capacity, and we were able to snag a spot. The National Park Service has a great app available for download (
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/digital/nps-apps.htm) where you can add the park you’re visiting, to get more information. One of the features for Yellowstone is a geyser eruption prediction page, where you can see the expected eruption time for the park’s six largest or most popular geysers. The idea behind this is so that visitors can time their stops to coincide with geyser eruptions, and while a great idea, this doesn’t really work as there is no internet coverage in 95% of the park…
Steamboat Geyser is the world's tallest active geyser, and while it was spewing a healthy amount of mist, we knew there was no chance of it going off while we were there, as it had erupted just days prior to our trip, and takes anywhere between several days and months for it to build up enough steam to erupt again.
The colors noticeable from the mineral-heavy water are impressive.
The Norris Geyser Basin boardwalk trail passes by dozens of features:
A rather large steam vent that usually erupts every 7 days for a 24-hour period was roaring, and while it was magnificent to watch from our vantage point above the basin, when we continued down the trail and had to walk past the wet, hot, egg-rotten smoke, it was less than appealing…
We then proceeded to Artists Paintpots Trail, a colored geothermal area.
Along our drive to our next stop, we came across some more bison,
as well as two adult grizzlies fighting! It was an incredible sight to see those two going at it at high speeds. Grizzlies are notoriously territorial, and rarely invade a competitor’s space.
Insert VideoHere we proceeded onto the Southwest section of road (#4 on the map), to Fountain Paint Pot Trail, another geothermal active area with clear springs and bubbling mudpots.
We had been hoping to take a detour off the main road and onto Firehole Lake Drive, but the road was closed at the time, so we proceed to Midway Geyser Basin Trail, which includes Excelsior Geyser Crater, Turquoise Pool, and the famed Grand Prismatic Spring. The springs here were giving off such intense steam that we were unable to see anything from the boardwalk trail.
Excelsior Geyser Crater
Turquoise Pool
Grand Prismatic SpringWe proceed to the Fairy Falls Trailhead, which lies above Midway Geyser Basin, and serves as a sort of overlook. There were several bison blocking the lower parts of the trail, but after a few minutes they moved aside, and we were able to proceed.
The trail to the Grand Prismatic Overlook is steep, but the views are incredible!
From this vantage point we were able to view and appreciate the bright colors of the springs.
We also spotted a herd of bison in the distance.
Note that the Fairy Falls Trailhead is often frequented by grizzly bears, and hiking with bear spray is recommended.
Our final stop for the day was at Old Faithful. We were staying at the Old Faithful Lodge that night, and lucky for us, as soon as we completed check-in and stepped out of the main building, we noticed the geyser heating up, so we headed over and witnessed it erupting.
We then headed to our cabin and found a bison hanging out in the nearby stream.
In my rush to book this cabin prior to our trip, I did not read through the room amenities thoroughly, and only after booking realized that this cabin did not have a bathroom, but instead relied on shared bathrooms and showers on the premises. At that point all rooms and cabins were fully sold out, and we were unable to upgrade to a private bathroom during our stay. (Little did we know that this would become our new normal on our summer road trip😊:
https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=136658.0.)
We stepped out later at night to view the stars and witness Old Faithful erupting, but the temps were in the 30s and we were not dressed for the weather, so we scrapped the plan and headed back inside. (Also in all honesty, I was not looking for a grizzly encounter, which somehow seemed more real and scary at 2AM…) We did get a glimpse of the night sky, which was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
Wednesday morning we spent a few more hours exploring Yellowstone NP. We had originally planned on leaving for Grand Teton NP in the early AM, but had scrapped the Delta Lake hike we planned to do there as it was still completely snowed in. That meant that we didn’t need as much time in the Tetons, and decided to shift that time over to Yellowstone so that we could explore the trails around Old Faithful. The weather was sunny, with temps in the high 60s.
We walked along the UGB Biscuit Basin Trail- the area has many geysers and springs.
Castle Geyser
Firehole River
Spasmodic GeyserWe came across a crowd waiting near Grand Geyser, which was scheduled to erupt shortly. After waiting for a few minutes, the geyser indeed put on an incredible show. This geyser erupts every 6-7 hours, and an eruption lasts for 8-12 minutes, with the geyser shooting as high as 160 feet! This makes its eruption both longer and taller than Old Faithful (the reason why Old Faithful is so popular is due to its frequent eruptions, averaging every 90 minutes).
Insert VideoWe passed by several more pools, springs, and fumaroles,
before making it to our final stop in Yellowstone, Morning Glory Pool.
We headed back to our car and started the drive south. A few minutes into the drive we came across this large, erupting geyser. After a quick stop to observe, we were on our way to Grand Teton National Park.
