Yellowstone National Park gets a lot of hype and, in many ways, defines what people think of as a national park. Personally it was not my favorite park, especially having just come from the very chill and stunningly beautiful Grand Teton National Park, but the unique landscapes and seeing a TON of wildlife—probably over 100 bison, a ton of deer and elk, and even a bear were awesome!
Things I did not love: soooooo many people allllll the time. Normally if I visit off-season, midweek, and start my day early I can avoid the majority of crowds in a national park. Yellowstone is crowded always it appears. This also means parking is horrible all the time. Expect to have to wait/do laps to find a spot every single time you move.
The park is huge and quite spread out so be sure to do some planning in advance, especially because in most of the park there will be no cell service.
Yellowstone Recommendations:
West Thumb Geyser Trail: This area is full of geysers, springs, and cones and set with Yellowstone Lake in the background. It is one of the best areas of the park in my opinion!
Head to Hayden Valley at sunrise or dusk to observe wildlife! Personally I saw a ton of bison, elk, and a bear!
Upper Falls, Lower Falls and Crystal Falls Trail: This hike take you to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone along the south rim. You can do this trail from north to south or south to north, or you can hike across the river on the north rim trail, or you can also drive to most of the viewpoints along the way. The hike was 4.7 miles long with 459ft of elevation gain and takes about an hour and 40 minutes to complete. Upper Falls and Artist Point were my favorite views—the canyon is dramatic!
Old Faithful: Of course while at Yellowstone you have to see Old Faithful erupt. Expect a ton of people, and use the National Park Service App to get the predicted eruption time. The eruption is cool but a bit underwhelming in my opinion. In this very built up area there is also a few other large geysers: Castle Geyser, Grand Geyser, Daisy Geyser, and Riverside Geyser that you can access via the Upper Geyser Basin and Old Faithful Observation Point Loop trail.
Norris Geyser Basin Trail: This is a nice loop trail to a bunch of different stops. Steamboat Geyser is located here which is the world’s tallest active geyser, but it only erupts about once a year. The Emerald Spring was my favorite spot here.
Mammoth Terraces Trail: The trail is 2.2 miles long with 321ft of elevation gain and takes about an hour to complete. The terraces are super unique! This hike is in the furthest north section of the park, so if you are headed in this direction or exploring Mammoth definitely check it out—otherwise it is not worth going so far out of the way for.
Grand Prismatic Spring Trail: This area was so full of people that after trying two separate days and waiting over an hour without even making it to the parking area I gave up. Good luck.
West Yellowstone, Montana
I stayed at Yellowstone Holiday Resort in West Yellowstone, MT, 15 minutes from the West Yellowstone park entrance. The cabins are set on Hebgen Lake which was nice and relaxing with mountain views. The cabins themselves are very basic, but overall it checked all the boxes for me. They also have boat slips, boat rentals, and kayak rentals onsite.
The Buffalo Bar: A cool bar/restaurant with a stellar patio in West Yellowstone. The food and drinks were great and service was too!
Yellowstone Beer Co: A brewery option in West Yellowstone that also has a food menu. Their taproom is a bit of an odd space.
