Since we were already in Wyoming, we knew we had to check out the two National Parks nearby – Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Unfortunately, since we’re on a bit of a schedule to get to my brother’s wedding in Oregon, we only had a couple of days to check out both of them.
We started out in the Grand Tetons Park and enjoyed the scenery driving in right away.
The traffic pouring into the park was very heavy, and there was a lot of construction. We were worried about getting a campsite so when we found one at Colter Bay Village around 2:00, we took it. Unfortunately that also meant the end of our driving around since we don’t have a towed vehicle. Luckily Colter Bay has a restaurant and marina, so we were able to do a little more sight-seeing, and we had a nice dinner at the lodge restaurant.
The next day we drove up to Yellowstone, and even though the skies were cloudy and gray, the scenery was fantastic.
We stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks and trails, and at one of them a man was nice enough to take our picture.
Since we were in Yellowstone, we had to do the typical touristy thing and go see Old Faithful. And apparently so did everyone else. The traffic had already been heavy and the parking lot here was no exception.
Old Faithful was erupting about every 90 minutes, and we had about an hour to kill before she was scheduled to blow again, so we walked around the many pathways through the geyser basin. There were several geothermal pools around, with boiling, steaming hot water. They’re very pretty, but very dangerous. Accidentally falling into these pools is actually a leading cause of death in Yellowstone.
There was a huge crowd gathered on the platform nearing the time Old Faithful was supposed to blow.
And then, right on time, she lived up to her name.
We drove around some more, and there were several other geyser basins. We didn’t stop at them all, but I took some pictures as we drove by. I’m getting pretty good at taking pictures from a moving vehicle!
As beautiful as Yellowstone was, the crowds were terrible. We learned that we didn’t need to just look for wildlife, we just needed to look for the traffic jams that result from a wildlife spotting. A few times we spotted the tell-tale cars stopped on the road and the shoulder, but were actually surprised at what they were looking at. For instance, the traffic jam below was caused because all of these people were looking at…..a goat. I guess we have become a nation of city dwellers, and perhaps seeing one goat is very exciting to some people. At one point I even saw a group of 5 or 6 people taking pictures of a chipmunk!
We drove for hours that day and didn’t even get through half of the park – Yellowstone is huge! We got a campsite at the Mammoth Springs campground that night, where we were chased by a momma elk.
We had a great time in both parks, I just wish we had more time to explore them both. I guess we’ll have to plan a return trip for next year!
Nealys on Wheels 
Yes, return again…with a toad! We are avoiding Yellowstone this year for exactly the reason you mention: the crowds. I wonder if it is much better early in the spring (if the weather allows) or late in the fall? That’s when I’d like to try to visit! Beautiful scenery though!
Yes! My husband and I spent a week in Yellowstone in late May (before the kids got out of school). We were able to move freely around the park and the animals were coming out of hibernation. We saw grizzly bears, black bears, coyotes, fox, buffalo and big horn sheep. It was absolutely amazing and still my favorite place to this day.
We spent 3 days in the Tetons and 3 days in Yellowstone last year and that wasn’t nearly enough time o explore it all. As you experienced, the crowds at Yellowstone are out of control. Frankly it was a bit hard to enjoy with so many cars and rental RVs out on the road. I agree that the way everyone just pulls over wherever they see wildlife is quite humorous. We saw one guy chasing after a HUGE elk trying to take a photo with his ipad. Never saw anyone taking pictures of chipmunks though- that tops it all!
We’re definitely going to try to plan a return trip when we can spend more time there – and hopefully not in the middle of the summer next time! The chipmunk thing was pretty ridiculous – it just makes me wonder where these people live that seeing a chipmunk is something special!
Yellowstone is one of my all-time favorite national parks. When we lived in Utah, we visited once each season. Summers are the worst because of crowds, but spring and fall are very nice and some of our best memories are from a late spring trip when the park was much quieter … and winter is magical, though getting in and out the park is not easy.
We’re going there in late May and although I don’t bet on it, but I sure hope we’ll be lucky and get to experience the park without it being overly crowded. Seems like an amazing place.