Yellowstone is one of my favorite places on Earth. I have been there numerous times- as a kid, as an adult, and as an adult with kids. Each experience is different and wonderful. Our trip there by RV this year was no exception though it was a bit different than I expected.
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Z (7) in the Firehole River
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Around April when we were knee deep in COVID, my husband had the quite excellent idea to purchase a RV so we could still travel. Like many people I know, travel is in my blood. I get antsy without it. It's what motivates me. It's the way I love to spend free time with my kids. And I prefer traveling to wilderness areas. Places where we can play in nature. We thought perhaps during this time where many can't travel, we would have a special opportunity to go to Yellowstone without the crowds. We literally bought an RV in the hopes of being able to get to my favorite (but terribly overcrowded) national park without the crowds. HAHAHAHA
Turns out our RV has been wonderful for us with 4 weeks of travel already logged with our 16' Airstream Bambi, but Yellowstone was the busiest I've ever seen it. At least on the boardwalks and geyser basins. But thankfully since we know the area well we could easily avoid the crowds and focused on fun locations and activities that we maybe wouldn't have considered in a more typical year or during a less crowded time.
So here is what we did during our two short but wonderful days in Yellowstone. (For information on planning a longer Yellowstone trip in a more typical year please see Yellowstone and Tetons in Summer.)
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| O (2) in the Firehole River |
We stayed at the Threemile Campground in the Shoshone National Forest. This was a wonderful campsite just 3 miles from the east entrance to Yellowstone. We had the double site for us and my folks and it was just delightful with an empty field next to us, a creek behind us. Highly, highly recommend. The drive in from the east entrance treats you to beautiful views of Lake Yellowstone. Simply stunning. We were also treated to a fox with it's early morning kill, also cool to see.
We did start early morning at Old Faithful, simply because our newest addition, Oliver (2.5 yo) had not yet seen it. Truth be told, if all in our party had already seen this magnificent geyser we would have skipped it. Old Faithful is incredible but mostly because of its predictability. It is not the largest, the loudest or the most impressive thermal feature in the park. But it's a Nelson and now Nelson Lilly tradition to see Old Faithful so we masked up and did it. If you want to see Old Faithful and are going during peak season any year, get there as early as you possibly can!! 8 am was way too late!!
We grabbed our Junior Ranger packets at the outdoor visitors' center. This is a must do for families with kids. There are age appropriate activities that our 7 year really enjoyed- this provided great campground or car activities throughout the trip.
Speaking of travel tips, you must download the wonderful app Gypsy Guides. This is an audio tour with short blurbs that play based on where you are in the park using your phone's GPS (you do not need cell service which is good because you likely won't have it). Definitely recommend.
Based on how crowded Old Faithful was, and with a quick glance at the absolutely overcrowded geyser basin boardwalks (oh-my-gosh-how can anyone stand that even in non-COVID times??), we decided to take a lesser known hiking route that also allows bikes: Lone Star Geyser Trail. We've been on this trail both hiking in summer and skiing in winter and our knowledge of Yellowstone helped a ton. We zipped over, unloaded our bikes, and did the 4 mile nice easy ride along the river to the Lone Star Geyser. Lone Star is a geyser that erupts roughly every 2-3 hours but nowhere near as predictably as Old Faithful. It is also very loud and very high. Imagine our excitement when after an incredibly pretty bike ride and low expectations for this Plan B last minute activity, we were greeted with a geyser that starting erupting just as we approached! This bike ride and surprise eruption was a highlight of this Yellowstone trip for me.
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| Lone Star Geyser |
We then drove north past the major geyser basins. We had considered stopping to see more thermal features but they were INSANELY busy. Totally nuts. Would be unpleasant to join those masses during a normal year but NO WAY were were going to be that close to people during COVID. No way. Instead we ended up stopping at an absolutely delightful picnic area just north of the Lower Geyser Basin and the Nez Perce Creek. We loved this place so much we came back for lunch a 2nd day. The picnic tables are widely spaced, plenty of room, and it's along the Firehole River which is lovely and warm since its fed from the thermal features. It was nice and shallow and both kids were able to swim freely.
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| Fun in the Firehold River |
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| My happy place |
While it was disappointing that we did not get out here early enough in the season to enjoy the lack of crowds (which was honestly the main reason we bought an RV!!), the bike ride to Lone Star and the Firehole River experiences were enough to make this a great Yellowstone trip for me even without many thermal feature or animal sightings.
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Beryl Spring
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From the picnic area we drove a loop north through Madison and Norris then East through Canyon and back down and out the east entrance to the Threemile Campground. We were very clear on our priorities- avoid crowds and see where that takes us. So we stopped only at sites that had few people. And you know what? We ended up seeing parts of Yellowstone I've not seen on my many previous trips. It was actually quite relaxing to have the "choice" of where to go removed. Are there people? No go. Is it empty? Let's stop here! We ended up seeing Beryl Spring, Virginia Cascade, Sulphur Caldron and Mud Volcano as well as a nice herd of bison in Hayden Valley. We skipped Lamar Valley this trip due a planned focus on other things, but if you are wanting to see animals be sure you don't miss Lamar Valley up north.
The next day we stopped at West Thumb Geyser Basin on our way to the Tetons. We chose this destination thinking it is a lesser known geyser basin and my parents remembered it to be incredible with geysers and hot springs and Lake Yellowstone in the background. Unbelievably I'd never been here before and it was magnificent! And empty!! Highly recommend! You can spend 30-90 minutes here depending on your pace and level of interest.
Pictures of West Thumb Geyser Basin:
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