YELLOWSTONE - the OG NP
It was just as incredible as I had imagined. Having never been to Yellowstone National Park (or Montana or Wyoming, for that matter), I spent time before our arrival picturing a moose walking up to our car, a bear frolicking in the river as we slowly rolled by, or an epic sunrise over Lamar Valley. While absolutely none of those things happened, so many other wonderful things DID!!!
We saw bison for dayyyys and also learned an interesting fact. Although frequently called buffalo, those animals in Yellowstone are technically bison. True buffalo are native to Asia and Africa, while bison are native to North America and Europe and are better suited for harsher weather conditions. (Wildlife nerd? dictionary.com has a short little ditty on the difference). The first time we saw them, shortly after entering at the west entrance, we just couldn’t stop staring….along with everyone else. If you don’t pull over on the side of the road, the rangers are there diligently moving traffic along so that you don’t gawk for too long and back up traffic. The lesson is park….then gawk.
We made sure to visit Old Faithful and watch it erupt. Unpopular opinion…it was a little anticlimactic. I mean, it was neat and the ranger gave a great talk before it started but once it erupts…..that’s kind of it. It lasts for less than 5 minutes and goes up to about 200 feet in the air. Glad we did it, don’t need to do it again. :)
We were told that Lamar Valley was a great place to check out for seeing some real Yellowstone wildlife. Unfortunately for us, there were no bears or moose or wolves to be seen that day. BUT…. we did see a coyote courtesy of a high powered monocular that another visitor so graciously shared with our family. I mean it wasn’t a grizzly enjoying a salmon lunch….but it was something. The monocular guy told us they had been there early in the morning (like 6:00am) and had seen a grizzly and wolves dining on an elk carcass. Apparently you can talk to the rangers to learn about any animal carcasses found around the park and then go to those areas to view all the animals that come for a snack. We’ll try this next time!
We even had an opportunity to go white water rafting. All of us. Even the three year old. (Oy.) We went to Gardiner, Montana to hitch a ride down the river with Wild West Rafting. They were great getting us set up and geared up and our guide was literally the doppelgänger of David Krumholtz, so that was fun. The river was pretty tame that day so it worked out well for us having the girls along for the ride. The girls even got to jump in the river at some mellow points, and we still got to enjoy a few small “rapids,” if I can call them that.
My takeaways for Yellowstone….
I want to go back for another week or two or three and do ALL the things again and more! It is worth the hype.
It is HUGE (like 2.25 million acres huge). For example, from the West Entrance to Lamar Valley, it was an hour and half drive. You need lots of days to really take this one in in its entirety.
There are lots of places to dine within the park but it is of course expensive, not amazing, and busy busy busy. Pack a picnic and dine with the ravens crawling all around you like we did. And you don’t have to feel bad about not feeding them. We saw one eating the registration sticker off a dirt bike in the back of a truck in one of the parking lots. For real. They are well fed. :)
Be sure to go with someone who does all the research for your days in the park, making it easy for you to just sit back and enjoy. Thanks B-Rabb.
P.S. Visit The Buffalo Bar if you find yourself in West Yellowstone. Touristy? Yes. But…delicious and great atmosphere? 100%. Lots of taxidermy bison to freak out your kids.
*we visited Yellowstone National Park August 2023
