Yellowstone | Beautiful, Wild, and Not Quite What We Expected

Eleven Days Exploring Yellowstone With Friends and Family

There are some places you visit with almost no expectations and they completely take your breath away.

Grand Teton National Park had been that place for us.

Then there are places you've heard about your entire life. Places that have been photographed, written about, and talked about so much that you arrive expecting them to be one of the greatest destinations you've ever experienced.

For us, Yellowstone was that place.

And surprisingly, Yellowstone left us with much more complicated feelings.

There is absolutely no denying the beauty of Yellowstone National Park. We watched geysers erupt from the earth, stood beside brilliantly colored hot springs, watched grizzly bears graze across distant meadows, and sat completely still as enormous bison walked within feet of our vehicle.

It was unlike anywhere we'd ever been.

There were moments when I couldn't help but look around and think about God's incredible creativity. The fact that one place can contain steaming geysers, bubbling mud, colorful hot springs, enormous waterfalls, forests, lakes, mountains, and such an incredible variety of wildlife is amazing.

But Yellowstone also surprised us in another way.

Jessie and I expected to fall in love with it.

We didn't.

After leaving Grand Teton already talking about when we could return, Yellowstone felt different. The crowds, traffic, parking lots, lines, and sheer amount of tourism surrounding many of its most famous attractions sometimes made it difficult for us to connect with the wilderness around us.

That doesn't mean we had a disappointing eleven days.

Far from it.

Because Yellowstone became about something else.

For the first half of our stay, we explored with friends.

For the second half, family traveled to meet us.

And somewhere between the geysers, grizzly bears, campfires, ice cream cones, surprise reunions, 4:00 a.m. wake-ups, and some absolutely ridiculous bison traffic jams, we made memories we'll be talking about for years.

Part One | Into Yellowstone With Friends

We left Grand Teton National Park after five days beneath mountains that had completely captured our hearts and pointed the motorhome north toward Yellowstone.

One of my first surprises was just how close the two national parks actually are.

It felt almost strange that we could leave one of the most spectacular landscapes we'd ever experienced and, in such a short amount of time, enter an entirely different national park.

Our home for the first half of our Yellowstone adventure would be Canyon Campground, near Canyon Village and Canyon Junction in the east-central portion of the park.

Canyon is a great central base for exploring Yellowstone. It's close to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and provides relatively convenient access south toward Hayden Valley and Yellowstone Lake or north toward parts of Yellowstone's Upper Loop.

But before reaching camp, we already had exploring to do.

Our First Yellowstone Surprise: West Thumb

Our first major stop was the West Thumb Geyser Basin, sitting directly along the shore of Yellowstone Lake.

I wasn't prepared for how beautiful it would be.

Brilliant pools of blue water appeared beside the enormous lake, surrounded by light-colored rock and sand. Some of the thermal pools were such an intense shade of blue that the entire landscape almost looked tropical.

Macie stared at it and announced that she felt like we were in Florida.

Which made us laugh.

She's never been to Florida.

For just a moment, though, I understood exactly what she meant.

The blue water.

The lake.

The light-colored shoreline.

It didn't look like the Yellowstone I had pictured in my head.

Then the smell hit us.

Sulfur.

There was no mistaking where we were anymore.

The smell quickly reminded us that those beautiful pools weren't tropical swimming holes.

And so did the people.

Cars everywhere.

People everywhere.

Searching for a parking space.

Waiting for people to back out.

Walking crowded boardwalks.

It was our first introduction to something we'd experience repeatedly during our eleven days in Yellowstone: an incredible natural feature surrounded by a tremendous amount of tourism.

Still, once we made it onto the boardwalk, the geothermal features themselves were fascinating.

Nothing we'd seen on our trip looked quite like this.

Bubbling Mud and a Whole Lot of Stink

From West Thumb, we continued toward the Mud Volcano area, another of Yellowstone's geothermal areas.

If West Thumb was beautiful, Mud Volcano was...

Stinky.

Very, very stinky.

The kids definitely didn't let us forget it.

Boardwalks and stairs carried us through an otherworldly landscape of steaming ground, bubbling pools, and thick mud that seemed to boil directly out of the earth.

It was fascinating and disgusting all at the same time.

The bubbling mud was unlike anything the kids had seen before, and even though everyone complained about the smell, nobody could stop watching it.

That became one of the strange things about Yellowstone.

You'd hold your nose...

And then walk closer.

Our First Home in Yellowstone

With two Yellowstone sights already checked off, we continued through Hayden Valley toward Canyon Campground.

Hayden Valley follows the Yellowstone River through a broad, open landscape in the central portion of the park. Along with Lamar Valley farther north, it's one of Yellowstone's premier wildlife-viewing areas and is especially famous for its large herds of bison.

We would become very familiar with those bison later.

For now, though, we were ready for camp.

By dinner, we had reached Canyon Campground and found our campsite tucked deep among Yellowstone's lodgepole pines.

Hudson and Lincoln immediately disappeared into the trees.

After months of deserts, red rock, and open landscapes, being surrounded by thick forest again felt familiar.

Hudson kept talking about how much he loved the smell of the trees.

Lincoln told us over and over:

"It feels like home."

I knew exactly what he meant.

There was something about being surrounded by tall trees again that reminded all of us of the Pacific Northwest.

Then the boys discovered something even better.

We could have a real campfire.

They didn't need to ask twice.

Before long, we had flames crackling in the fire ring and marshmallows on sticks.

A few smashed graham crackers, melted chocolate bars, sticky fingers, and very messy faces later, we had officially arrived in Yellowstone.

It was the perfect first night.

Exploring Yellowstone With Friends

The next several days became the final chapter of the road trip we'd been sharing with our friends.

After Fort Collins, Grand Teton, and now Yellowstone, we'd spent nearly two weeks traveling together.

And Yellowstone gave us plenty to experience.

We watched grizzly bears in the evening.

Found elk and deer.

Sat through our first bison jams.

Explored geysers and hot springs.

And ate a whole lot of food.

But some of my favorite memories weren't necessarily the Yellowstone attractions.

They were the sounds.

Kids laughing.

Children chasing each other around camp.

Adults sitting together after long days.

Friends sharing another meal.

Hudson loved being the oldest kid in the group and naturally became the leader of the pack.

Macie found her own role, happily helping with the younger kids and enjoying being one of the little babysitters of the group.

Lincoln became Jessie's wildlife-spotting partner.

Whenever we were driving during those early mornings or evenings when animals were most active, Lincoln was watching.

Every meadow became a possibility.

Every movement in the trees deserved investigation.

"Dad! Look!"

Sometimes it was an animal.

Sometimes it definitely wasn't.

But they kept looking.

Old Faithful—and the Ice Cream

Of course, you can't spend eleven days in Yellowstone without visiting Old Faithful.

Old Faithful is Yellowstone's most famous geyser, known for its relatively predictable eruptions. The surrounding Upper Geyser Basin contains one of the greatest concentrations of geysers in the world, making this one of the park's busiest destinations.

And busy it was.

Crowds gathered around the viewing area waiting for the next eruption, and the entire Old Faithful complex felt very different from the quieter places we'd grown to love during our travels.

But the kids discovered something at Old Faithful that may have impressed them almost as much as the geyser.

The ice cream.

The scoop ice cream at the Old Faithful area was some of the best we'd had in a long time.

And the scoops were enormous.

The kids' eyes grew about as large as their ice cream cones when they were handed over.

Sometimes you can take your children to one of the most famous geological features on Earth...

And ice cream still wins.

Those first days weren't perfect.

We fought crowds.

Sat in traffic.

Looked for parking.

And started realizing that Yellowstone wasn't giving Jessie and me quite the same feeling Grand Teton had.

But that didn't diminish the time with our friends.

After nearly two weeks traveling together, Yellowstone became the ending to an adventure we'd shared across two national parks.

Eventually, it was time for another change.

We packed up the motorhome at Canyon and headed west.

The second half of Yellowstone was about to begin.

And this time, family was coming.

Part Two | A New Basecamp and a Family Reunion

For the second half of our Yellowstone adventure, we moved out of the park and established a new home base at Henrys Lake State Park in Idaho.

Henrys Lake sits west of West Yellowstone in the mountains of eastern Idaho. The high-elevation lake is surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery and is well known for its trout fishing.

After spending several days deep inside Yellowstone, Henrys Lake gave us something different.

Water.

Open views.

Fishing.

Swimming.

And a quieter place to return to after busy days inside the national park.

To explore Yellowstone from here, we'd drive toward West Yellowstone, the small Montana gateway town immediately outside Yellowstone's West Entrance.

West Yellowstone offers hotels, restaurants, shops, and many of the services visitors need before entering the park. It also funnels a tremendous amount of Yellowstone's visitor traffic through the West Entrance.

Our Yellowstone experience was about to change completely.

My family was arriving.

And we couldn't wait.

"SHELBY!"

We knew Mom, Dad, and Aunt Tracy were coming.

What the kids didn't know was that someone else had made the long drive with them.

Cousin Shelby.

She had traveled roughly twelve hours to surprise everyone after we'd been away for four months.

When the kids opened the car door and saw her, there wasn't even a moment of confusion.

"SHELBY!"

Everyone erupted.

Hugs.

Shouting.

Laughing.

Four months of missing each other disappeared in about five seconds.

Shelby moved right into our RV with us for the visit and lived it up with her cousins.

That first day wasn't about Yellowstone.

It was about being together.

The kids played.

They swam.

Everyone caught up.

And by evening, we were already making plans.

Mom had one major request for Yellowstone.

Animals.

She wanted to see wildlife.

We knew exactly where we were taking her.

Lamar Valley.

There was only one problem.

If you want the best chance of seeing Yellowstone's wildlife, sleeping in isn't really part of the plan.

The 4:00 A.M. Wildlife Mission

Yellowstone's main road system forms a rough figure eight, commonly described as the Upper Loop and Lower Loop.

For our first big family exploration, we'd be tackling much of the northern portion of the park and traveling all the way to Lamar Valley in Yellowstone's northeastern corner.

Lamar is one of the most famous wildlife-viewing areas in North America. Its broad grasslands provide habitat for enormous herds of bison along with elk, pronghorn, bears, wolves, and other wildlife.

But the best wildlife viewing generally comes early.

Very early.

From our campground at Henrys Lake, we first had to drive roughly thirty minutes to meet Mom and Dad in West Yellowstone.

Then we still had the long drive across the park toward Lamar Valley.

The alarm went off around 4:00 a.m.

Nobody was particularly excited about that.

But we had animals to find.

By around 5:30, we were leaving West Yellowstone.

It was completely dark.

The entrance booths weren't even staffed yet. We simply drove through the entrance and continued into Yellowstone with nothing but our headlights illuminating the road ahead.

As we wound deeper into the park, Jessie and I kept thinking about one thing.

Please don't let a bison be standing in the middle of the road.

Seeing a bison in daylight is incredible.

Discovering one in your headlights would be an entirely different experience.

Slowly, the darkness began to fade.

The mountains appeared.

The sky brightened.

And everyone's excitement started building.

Then somebody spotted something in a meadow.

A bear.

Everything stopped.

Cars pulled over.

Hazard lights started flashing.

People pointed.

Binoculars appeared.

This is how wildlife sightings work in Yellowstone.

If three cars are pulled over, you start looking too.

About 300 yards into the meadow was a grizzly bear, quietly grazing as the morning light spread across the valley.

We watched for a few minutes before continuing toward Lamar.

Mom wanted wildlife.

Yellowstone was delivering.

Welcome to the Bison Jam

It didn't take long after reaching Lamar Valley to find the bison.

They were everywhere.

This was during the rut, and the valley was alive with them.

Bison grunted across the grasslands.

Huge bulls moved among the herds.

Others wandered directly onto the roadway.

Traffic stopped.

And suddenly we experienced one of Yellowstone's most famous traditions.

A bison jam.

The kids thought this was hilarious.

Lincoln laughed every time another enormous bison lumbered past his window.

Shelby couldn't stop giggling.

And Macie?

Macie started grunting back at them.

Every time another bison walked past, she'd make another bison noise.

The other kids would laugh.

Then she'd do it again.

For Jessie and me, having an animal that can weigh well over a thousand pounds walking inches from the vehicle was slightly more concerning.

For the kids, it was apparently comedy hour.

Within roughly an hour, we'd seen bison, elk, deer, pronghorn, and a grizzly bear.

By about 8:30 that morning, Mom's Yellowstone wildlife wish had pretty much been fulfilled.

And we'd barely started the day.

The Upper Loop, Mammoth and Grand Prismatic

Rather than turning around, we continued exploring.

The Upper Loop carries visitors through Yellowstone's northern section and connects areas such as Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower-Roosevelt, and the roads leading toward Lamar Valley.

One of our major stops was Mammoth Hot Springs, where geothermal water has created huge terraces of mineral deposits that cascade down the hillside.

It looked completely different from the deep-blue pools we'd seen at West Thumb.

That became one of the fascinating things about Yellowstone.

Just when you thought you understood what a geothermal area looked like, the park showed you something entirely different.

We also made our way to Grand Prismatic Spring, perhaps Yellowstone's most recognizable hot spring.

Its enormous blue center surrounded by bands of yellow, orange, and rust-colored microbial mats creates a landscape that almost doesn't look real.

It was another example of the incredible variety God placed into this one corner of the world.

After an incredibly early start and a very full day, everyone was exhausted.

Dinner that evening was in West Yellowstone before we finally called it a night.

Nobody needed convincing to go to bed.

A Slower Day in West Yellowstone

After our 4:00 a.m. Yellowstone mission, we were ready for something easier.

Thankfully, West Yellowstone gave us exactly that.

There happened to be a huge car show happening in town, with hundreds of cars filling the area.

We wandered through the show, explored some of the downtown shops, and simply enjoyed a slower day together.

The kids eventually ended up back at the hotel pool.

After days of geysers, wildlife, driving, and crowds, they were perfectly content swimming.

Sometimes that's the funny thing about traveling with kids.

You can show them one of the most famous national parks in the world.

And they'll still ask:

"Can we go to the pool?"

One Last Yellowstone Adventure

For our final big Yellowstone outing together, we intentionally waited until later in the day.

The morning belonged to Henrys Lake.

Grandpa had bought RC boats, which immediately became a hit.

The kids raced them across the water while Hudson found another opportunity to fish.

We soaked up the sunshine and enjoyed having nowhere we needed to be.

It was exactly the kind of slow family morning we'd grown to appreciate during this trip.

Later that afternoon, we loaded everyone up and headed back into Yellowstone to explore more of the Lower Loop.

The Lower Loop contains many of Yellowstone's best-known destinations, including Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley, and the Canyon area.

Our biggest destination that evening was one we'd been looking forward to seeing up close.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

We hiked down into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and this became one of the places in Yellowstone that truly gave us the wow factor we'd been expecting.

The canyon was incredible.

Steep walls of yellow, orange, and reddish rock dropped toward the Yellowstone River far below.

And then there was the waterfall.

Standing there looking at that enormous amount of water crashing into the canyon was humbling.

Pictures couldn't capture the scale.

This was one of those places where I found myself thinking about creation again.

How does something this enormous form?

How much water has passed through this canyon?

How many years has it been carving its way through the landscape?

There are moments when nature makes you feel incredibly small.

This was one of them.

After our hike, we headed into Canyon Village for dinner before beginning one final wildlife mission.

Destination:

Hayden Valley.

Our Final—and Longest—Bison Jam

Hayden Valley looks peaceful from a distance.

Broad meadows stretch along the Yellowstone River, creating one of the most important wildlife habitats in the park.

At dusk, the valley comes alive.

We hoped for another bear.

We didn't find one.

Instead, Yellowstone gave us bison.

Lots and lots of bison.

We saw elk.

We saw deer.

And then traffic stopped.

Another bison jam.

Except this wasn't like the others.

This one lasted roughly an hour and a half.

As darkness approached, bison began moving back and forth across the road.

They weren't simply standing beside us anymore.

They were running between the cars.

Huge adults moved from one side of the road to the other while baby bison tried desperately to keep up with their mothers.

Jessie and I watched them weave between vehicles and had one primary thought:

Please don't hit the 4Runner.

The kids had a completely different reaction.

They had the giggles.

Again.

Every time another bison ran past, the laughter started.

For them, being trapped in traffic for an hour and a half wasn't frustrating.

It was entertainment.

And eventually, we couldn't help but laugh too.

Only in Yellowstone could an hour-and-a-half traffic jam become a family memory.

By the time we finally escaped Hayden Valley and made the long drive back to Henrys Lake, it was around 11:00 p.m.

Everyone was exhausted.

The next morning, Mom, Dad, Aunt Tracy, and Shelby packed up and began their trip home.

Our Yellowstone family adventure was over.

And what an adventure it had been.

What We'll Remember

Yellowstone is difficult for me to summarize.

There were moments during our eleven days that were absolutely incredible.

I'll remember that first view of the brilliant blue pools at West Thumb and Macie telling us it looked like Florida, despite having never been there.

I'll remember Hudson and Lincoln running beneath the trees at Canyon Campground because the forest finally smelled like home again.

I'll remember sticky s'more faces around the campfire.

I'll remember grizzly bears in distant meadows.

I'll remember Lincoln pressed against the window as bison walked past.

Shelby giggling beside him.

Macie grunting back at the bison.

I'll remember the kids opening that car door and screaming:

"SHELBY!"

I'll remember getting everyone out of bed at 4:00 in the morning and driving through Yellowstone in complete darkness, praying we wouldn't suddenly find a bison standing in our headlights.

I'll remember Grandpa's RC boats racing across Henrys Lake while Hudson stood nearby with a fishing rod.

I'll remember the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and standing before a waterfall so enormous that it was impossible not to think about the power and creativity of God.

And I'll remember the animals.

Grizzly bears.

Bison.

Elk.

Deer.

Pronghorn.

Wildlife was everywhere.

Yellowstone showed us things we'd never seen before.

Geysers erupting from the earth.

Brilliantly colored hot springs.

Mud literally bubbling from the ground.

Huge herds of bison wandering across open valleys.

There is no denying Yellowstone is an incredible place.

God's creativity is on display everywhere you look.

And yet...

Jessie and I learned something about ourselves during those eleven days.

We don't necessarily love a place simply because everyone tells us we're supposed to.

The crowds were difficult.

The traffic could be exhausting.

Parking sometimes felt like an activity of its own.

And many of Yellowstone's most famous attractions felt so heavily visited and developed for tourism that we sometimes struggled to experience the peaceful wilderness we'd hoped to find.

We left Grand Teton already talking about when we could come back.

Yellowstone was different.

We were thankful we'd experienced it.

We were thankful our children had seen it.

And there are things inside Yellowstone that we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

But we weren't leaving with that same pull to return.

Maybe that's okay.

Travel has taught us that the places everyone else loves don't necessarily have to become our favorite places too.

We've learned what our family loves.

Quiet trails.

A river where Jessie and the boys can make a few casts.

Wildlife we stumble across unexpectedly.

Campgrounds tucked beneath the trees.

Mountains that make us stop talking when they first come into view.

Places where we have enough room to slow down and actually experience what's around us.

Yellowstone was beautiful.

Grand Teton captured our hearts.

But when I think back on those eleven days, I don't think the crowds or traffic will be what I remember most.

I'll remember our friends gathered around the campfire.

I'll remember my family driving twelve hours to experience this part of our adventure with us.

I'll remember Shelby sleeping in our RV every night because four months away from her cousins had already been long enough.

I'll remember my mom finally seeing the Yellowstone wildlife she'd hoped to see.

I'll remember the kids laughing through bison jams that tested every bit of their parents' patience.

And I'll remember standing together in places unlike anywhere else on Earth, looking at geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, mountains, forests, and wild animals and being reminded again of just how extraordinary God's creation really is.

Yellowstone may not have captured our hearts the way we expected it to.

But the people we shared it with did.

And ultimately, those are the memories we'll carry with us down the road.

-Kayla