Gonna Get Yellowstoned - Help Me

[wyeaster]

did somebody already mention staying 25 feet from wildlife?

[babybear]

did somebody already mention staying 25 feet from wildlife?

I think 25 cm is adequate

[Talisman]

After dealing with the hordes head up the NE entrance and tour the Beartooth Highway....take gear and ski Beartooth Basin. Some gorgeous spots up top of the highway. Fun hiking and fishing for little rainbows that jump at your fly.

The drive in the Lamar Valley up to Cooke City is usually pretty quiet and features the bison herds and pronghorn. The drive up and over Beartooth Pass is spectacular and the Chief Joseph Highway to the east is a great experience.

As other have said go hiking to see, hear and smell what wilderness is like. There are some great hikes off to the east of Hwy 191 just north of West Yellowstone that don't require a park pass that follow creeks up unto various basins and mountains. Frequently I see more bears than people on these hikes.

[wyeaster]

I think 25 cm is adequate

i almost said that but would get accused of being EXTREMIST!!!! again

[mmmm...pow!]

Good info folks. Got one night booked in the park (that was the only thing available for that week), so we'll work with that and freelance the rest of it. By shuttle options on the pass I'm talking about bikes. Solid rider that will ride anything a 150mm bike can take on. Looking for the most bang for the buck so as not to piss off the family too much with my selfishness. For the same reasons I won't be skiing Beartooth, but might drive that way just to check it out.
Thanks, b-bear, will definitely send a pm before heading that way.

[Djongo Unchained]

I could help with the stoned part of your trip.



PM me for valley insight...too much to unload here. Glad to help maximize the local experience.

[billyk]

I think 25 cm is adequate

Woke up one morning to a bison grazing right outside my tent. His mouth was about a foot from my head. Really bad breath! I just let him go about his business until he moved on. He did a good job avoiding the paracord lines and stakes around the tent. Guess he had done this a few times before.

But I hear bison are the most dangerous animals in the park, at least as far as tourist injuries go. So probably not a good idea to get too close under normal circumstances.

Also, control any urges to pick up a baby bison and put it in your car. Or to walk out on any of the thermal features.

[BS720]

My wife moved here from Central America 5 years ago. I spent ages 13-20 in Idaho Falls, so we went to the park(s) all the time. My siblings grew up with a healthy respect for all wildlife, and I guess I just supposed everyone knew better. We did a road trip in the Fall one year, driving through YNP, came around a corner and there was a massive bull trotting down the road. It's head was well above the roof of our SUV, and the rack was the biggest I've ever seen. I slowed as he trotted within inches of the car, then stopped the car so we could turn around and watch. In a flash, wife was out of the car running after it trying to snap pictures, while I lost it. Poor moose never heard that type of language before.

I love the parks, but if you have one night in YNP, I would probably focus on seeing all the sights you can in those two days, hopefully weekdays, then moving on. You want to see the GC, the falls, Old Faithful, maybe some animals, and move on. Nothing worse than getting stuck without lodging late at night, and you won't have cell service for much of it.

For the kids, they used to rent jon boats with small engines on Jackson Lake. Kind of fun to putter around at the base of such immense beauty. The hike around Jenny Lake is fun, and is a great trail run if you're not there during peak hours. Count how many fat people are bathing nude in the lake.

For serious hiking, you could go out to the Winds on the weekend, or even do a few hikes out of Driggs that give you the back view of the Tetons. Most of these stay fairly empty on the weekend. Snake River is some pretty serious whitewater. Don't know how appropriate that would be for kids. Kids do like the tram ride during the Summer at JH. I know these aren't the most popular suggestions, but a few days of asshat tourists makes me crazy, and I need some room.

[neckdeep]

I put some real gems in one of those threads.

Most of all, be an early bird. On the road or be out early and you'll beat 99% of the crowds. We really haven't entered our afternoon thunderstorm cycle, but you want to be done doing stuff before then. Yellowstone thunderstorms can be epic,

Disagree. Thunderstorms are your friend. Nothing clears out the tourons like some hard rain. I can remember one time we practically had the entire Norris Geyser basin to ourselves in August because it was raining for three hours.

Other advice:

Avoid the Old Faithful complex like the plague during the lunch hours.

Be aware that over half the park visitors will all try to drive back to Jackson or West Yellowstone at the roughly the same time around dinner. The group bus tours (i.e. the Chinese Horde) are all exiting by then as well. Pack your own dinner and enjoy the relatively uncrowded boardwalks after 6pm. In fact, pack in all your own food because park vendor food sucks and will probably give you norovirus.

Mammoth Hot Springs is probably the most overrated feature in the park, skip it.

The Lamar valley is usually one of the best places to see megafauna.

[Tye 1on]

^^^ good advice...on rain/thunderstorms, i've added a small umbrella to my hiking kit, and a golf umbrella in the truck for frontcountry walks like Norris...

[mmmm...pow!]

I know these aren't the most popular suggestions, but a few days of asshat tourists makes me crazy, and I need some room.

Haha, we live in the land of asshat tourists, so I'm kinda looking forward to gaping it up for a change. Yeah, I want to try to maneuver around them as much as possible, but damn right I'll be making sketchy u-turns, asking the most ridiculous questions I can think of just to see what reactions I get, and taking pictures in the middle of the road.
Good suggestions everyone, hopefully we can nab a first come/first serve camping spot to get an extra day in the park, but looks like there is enough outside the park to keep us entertained, too.

[SumJongGuy]

I started booking stuff in February for a mid June trip last year. Was only able to get 3 nights at Fishing Bridge and 3 nights at Fireside/Jackson. That was plenty to see all of the main Yellowstone sites and a some time in the Tetons, Jackson Hole, etc.. Flew in to SLC Friday and rented and RV at El Monte Saturday morning. Drove to Yellowstone Fishing Bridge, then Fireside Jackson. Stopped for a night at Bear Lake in the way back, dropped off the RV the following Saturday and flew out of SLC back home that afternoon.

[KQ]

A little Yellowstone/Presidential trivia for you:

Did you know on August 9th 1974 was the day that President Gerald Ford was sworn into office? He took over the role of President after Richard Nixon resigned from office.

You may ask why is this important? It is a pretty simple answer, it is because he is the only President to have been a Park Ranger. President Ford was a seasonal (Like many of us) Ranger at Yellowstone National Park the summer of 1936. One of his jobs at Yellowstone was as an armed guard on the bear feeding trucks! Of course Yellowstone no longer feeds the bears, but President Ford loved to tell stories of his encounters with the bears.

Even though President Ford only worked one season he was quoted as saying it was "One of the greatest summers of my life."

That is a pretty good endorsement of the National Park Service right there. President Ford died on December 26 2006, but he will always hold a special place in hearts of Park Rangers everywhere.

[GimpToo]

^^that's freakin' amazing!! Thanks for sharing!!

[dunfree]

Here's an interesting article (with photos) of what watching bears was like in our National Parks 90 years ago.

the yellowstone forever institute in Gardiner has an interesting photo project on display (arch end of the main room, bleeds into the conference room) - iconic 1870s/80s photos of Yellowstone, side by side with someone who took exactly the same shot or as close as he could in the 2000s. Interesting to see what changed and what didn't. I think they are from this book project Yellowstone National Park: Through The Lens Of Time some pictures here: https://www.wyofile.com/through-the-...-then-and-now/

hike during the rain or after dinner is the advice that's imo best for june 2018, neckdeep nailed it. the other good advice is just be prepared to deal with crowds.

oh, and if you are hiking off-trail in yellowstone, remember there are unmapped thermal features.

[billyk]

Bears used to beg for food by the side of the road, and people would feed them from their cars. My Dad took us in his Buick, which got renamed “Bear Paw” due to scratches from a bear pawing at our car. I remember somehow feeling safe separated from the bear by a thin glass window.