All Roads Lead to Yellowstone National Park

Ever since I was a kid, I have wanted to go to Yellowstone National Park. Hearing about places like Old Faithful and mudpots as well as the wild animals really piqued my interest. However, I never made it until this year. As we searched for a place to travel to get some relief from the pandemic, we finally settled on Yellowstone. I was excited.

I didn’t spend a lot of time planning for this trip. Most of the planning was in reference to where we would stay. However, in the end I realized that a little more thought and research might have made this a better trip. So before I share my park experiences in the next few weeks, I want to share some thoughts about the visit overall.

First I didn’t realize how big the park actually is. I look at a map and even read about mileage, but when we were actually there, it somehow seems bigger. Many national parks can be visited in a day. There are roads visitors can drive that will take them to see the main elements and sites of the park. We’ve done that at Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree and the Grand Teton among others. That’s not true at Yellowstone. To really see the sites, one has to get out and walk around, or perhaps wait for a geysers to erupt or animals to cross the road. One day will not do it. There are just too many things to see.

I would say you can visit the main highlights in about three days. We took four partial days and still missed a few things along the way. It’s important to go in with a plan so that you are efficiently seeing all the different areas. It seems that the main sites are more on the western side of the park, but there are some sites on the eastern side you won’t want to miss as well.

One choice that will have a big influence on your visit is where you are staying. Unfortunately Yellowstone is not close to any major city where one might obviously stay. Of course one option is to stay in the park itself. There are a number of lodges and cabins available. However, these tend to be on the pricey side for a budget traveler. I didn’t find anything for less than $200 a night when I was looking. Of course staying in an old lodge might be a worthwhile opportunity to splurge a little.

If camping is an options, there are also opportunities for that. Camping sites are less expensive, however, there needs to be a real commitment to making sure that one’s food is stored safely so as not to attract animal such as bears.

So what are the options outside of Yellowstone? Let’s look at that based on getting into Yellowstone. Because of its size, there are actually five main entrances to the park. We went through each one. Based on my observations, let me share my thoughts about options one might consider.

We flew into Bozeman and came down Hwy 191 to get to Yellowstone. That is a beautiful drive as it travels along the Gallatin River for much of the time. The drive comes out at West Yellowstone, which is still in Montana. When I was looking over options, I somehow missed this town. If I were to return, I think I would seriously look into staying here.

We didn’t really visit the town, but as we drove through it, it seemed like there were a number of options for both hotels and restaurants. A quick check online revealed that there are some moderately priced hotels here. One of the benefits of staying here is that the West entrance to Yellowstone is right there. You can quickly enter the park and not waste time traveling. From this side of the park it is easy to reach such sites as Old Faithful, Norris, and Canyon Village. Its proximity to these options makes it a good choice as a place to stay.

The next entrance to consider is the south entrance. This entrance comes up from Grand Teton National Park. The John D Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway lies between the two parks. The Snake River flows near this entrance, but there is no town here. The closest town would be Jackson which is south of Grand Teton National Park. Besides the fact that it would be a long drive from there to Yellowstone, it is also an expensive town to stay in.

The east entrance to Yellowstone lies at the end of Hwy 20. This road comes from Cody, Wyoming which is about 54 miles from the park. In my research I felt this was the best choice for us, but it didn’t turn out to be as convenient an option as I had hoped. The actual entrance is pretty far from any of the sites to visit within the park. Therefore after driving an hour to get to the park, it takes another half hour to an hour to get to a major site.

While we were able to get a room at a very reasonable rate in Cody, the amount of time we spent driving didn’t seem worth it. However, the drive along Hwy 20 to the park is a very beautiful drive, and doing it once was worthwhile, but more than one day was too much. One stop of interest along the way is the Blackwater Fire Fighters Memorial which honors the 15 men killed in the Blackwater fire of 1937.

The northeast entrance to the park comes through the small town of Cooke City just before one arrives at the park. There are a few lodging places available here, but this is a pretty small town so there aren’t a lot of options for restaurants or other amenities. However, the lodging costs are lower than other areas. While Cooke City is just minutes from the park entrance, like the east entrance it is a distance from many of the major sites to see. Currently the northern section of the main north/south road on the eastern side is closed making this entrance even further from the sites in the southeast section of the park. Of course that is only temporary.

We approached this entrance after traveling on the Chief Joseph Highway out of Cody. It is an alternate route to Yellowstone. The road is quite interesting and passes through some beautiful landscapes, but it is much longer than simply going to the east entrance on Hwy 20. However, we enjoyed the drive and getting acquainted with some different parts of Wyoming. We followed the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River as we got closer to the park. There’s a section with a very deep canyon which we had to cross.

The final, and perhaps most commonly used entrance is the northern entrance. This entrance arrives close to the main offices of the park with the greatest number of park services. The entrance is close to a number of important sites such as Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris. Just outside the entrance is the town of Gardiner. There are a number of hotels and restaurants here that cater to visitors to Yellowstone. It can be a good choice as a place to stay, but I found it a little on the pricey side when I was doing my research. We left the park through this entrance on our final day, and in the city park a herd of elk was relaxing, apparently unaware that they had left the boundaries of the park.

From the north entrance it would also be possible to stay in Livingstone which is about 45 minutes away from the entrance. However, that would be a long trip down to the southern part of the park and the sites to see there.

Because of the size of Yellowstone, choosing a place to stay presents unique challenges. Places close to the park are generally more expensive while places farther from the park means increased drive times. Getting from place to place inside the park can take enough time on its own without adding travel time to and from the park. There’s no obvious options, but hopefully you can weigh the alternatives and come up with a plan that works for you.

For those of you that have visited Yellowstone, I’d love to hear about your choices. When did you visit Yellowstone last? Where did you stay and for how long did you visit? What are your thoughts concerning a visit to Yellowstone? Thanks for taking the time to comment, and don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t done so already.