Two National Parks in Three Days
In 2021 my dad and I (two adults) took a roadtrip together, two of the stops being Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. We’d done this trip before when I was young, but going back as an adult is an entirely different experience! I distinctly remember seeing moms at their wits end, kids in tears, “just smile so I can get this picture and then we can go!”, all those moments we all know so well right? At the time I’m thinking “you poor woman, just trying to give your kids a great memory by bringing them to Yellowstone…”
Flash forward, now, here we are having the same experience. I am that poor woman who for some reason thought this was going to be different from any other mom’s trip to Yellowstone. Dont get me wrong, there were some great moments but, guys, this was a challenging trip. As I sit down to reflect I’m distracted by the roller coaster of highs and lows, my own unrealistic expectations, trying to write a knowledgable story about traveling with kids and how much better humans they will be in the future because of it. That’s a hard balance to find! I have to remind myself that the boys will remember this trip for all the good moments. They’ll remember swimming in the lake and giggling all afternoon. They’ll remember seeing “Great Faithful” (as Shae says) and the grizzly bear. So as we talk about it let’s think about it through that positive kids lens. We had to give up on a lot of things in order to make it through the day (there will be a list of that coming) but what’s most important is the list of memories that we DID make, quality time that we had, and experiences we shared. Positive and medium positive, and “convince yourself this is positive.”
So all that said, here’s 3 days in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons WITH kids. For those of you brave enough to try it.
Dreamcatchers Tipi Hotel
Our boys are currently not big outdoorsmen. We’re working up to it. One of those steps was easing into the idea of sleeping outside. I stumbled on the Dreamcatchers Tipi Hotel, a glamping set up, and immediately fell in love. The kids would get a taste of sleeping outdoors but we’d still be in a bed, they’d still have a bathroom, it would feel like a great first try to camping.
The Tipis did NOT disappoint, they were everything I wanted them to be. We surprised the kids thinking we’d get a killer reaction. What we actually got was confusion which was a major let down but I’m going to say that’s just because they were expecting a big typical hotel. Although the reaction was underwhelming we all still loved the Tipi experience. We opted for the “King Tipi” which had a king size bed for Michael and I, and a trundle bed for the boys. Plenty of room inside for us to all spread out, stand up to full height, get dressed. None of that crouching over or changing laying on your back that you get in a regular tent. The property had nine full bathrooms with clean showers, real toilets, and soft towels to rejuvenate after a day of adventuring. For our family, being a blended family, I’m always a little… over-aware that these boys are not my biological children when it comes to my body. I assume this is less of a concern in a bio-family, but I try to be careful about changing in front of them just to be extra conservative. Although I am their mom through and through that’s still something in the back of my mind. Having a clean, spacious bathroom gave me the privacy to shower and change clothes which was important to me in our family dynamic. For evening life, the property has a communal campfire with drinks and s’mores supplies, there are barbecues with BBQ tools if you wanted to cook your own meals, and corn hole overlooking the valley where we regularly saw herds of elk grazing across the Yellowstone River. Each Tipi also has their own private fire pit which I particularly loved after a long day when I’m a little tapped out on the socializing. This fire pit is where Michael and I were able to share a quiet moment together after the kids went to bed.
The only downside to the property has nothing to do with the property and is strictly because of our plans: we wanted to check out Grand Tetons while in the area. Dreamcatchers is only 10 minutes outside the Yellowstone gate, which is SO convenient. However, it’s 10 minutes from the NORTH gate. I admit, I didn’t realize this when I booked. Because we were at the North gate, and because we planned to visit the Grand Tetons, that meant that we had to drive all the way through the park, out the South Gate, and THEN into Tetons (not to mention all of that in reverse on the way home for the night). This, obviously, is not a fault of Dreamcatchers at all. In hindsight, would I have passed on the Tipi’s to stay somewhere just outside of, say, the west gate? Probably not actually. I loved staying at Dreamcatchers even though we had a little extra driving to do. Besides, Yellowstone is a pretty great place to drive through. But we’ll get into more details on that day later. Lets start with day one:
Yellowstone Day One
Day one is all about GEYSERS! I wanted to hit the kids with the good stuff right away! We went with what Michael and I now call “The Parthenon Method” (if you want the details on that you’ll have to read about our Greece trip) When we entered the park we went straight for Old Faithful. Yellowstone has a reputation of being crowded, with millions of people visiting every year you definitely want to pack your patience. The least crowded times for viewing Old Faithful are morning and evening so when we entered through the North Gate we picked up our Junior Ranger books at the Mammoth Ranger station and drove straight south. The downside to the Parthenon Method is we drove past a lot of stuff the kids wanted to see and I had to keep telling them “not yet”. The upside: we easily found parking, had only a small crowd to work around for viewing the eruption, and then had the rest of the day to keep my promise “we’ll stop there on our way back North!”
Old Faithful is a significant attraction! After she’s finished her show, however, don’t miss the boardwalk behind her. The walk is easy for the kids to do and you get close access to a lot to really great thermal features. From our Junior Ranger books we had learned about the types of geysers and that the variation of colors actually come from the different microbes that live in specific temperatures. Right off the bat we were able to view the things we had been learning about on our drive!
A word of caution with the geysers- Shae in particular could not get a grip on himself with the smell. I think the steam was another component but he was pretty beside himself. Because of this, we did the shorter of the two loops at this spot and then opted to load up in the car and head out to see the things we’d missed on the way in.
After Old Faithful, next stop traveling North is Biscuit Basin. With some recent uhm explosions in this Basin… we obviously skipped that one and headed to Midway Geyser Basin, the big star here being Grand Prismatic Spring. From this boardwalk you actually get a better view of the Excelsior Geyser than you do the Grand Prismatic. Excelsior, a little less talked about for whatever reason, is a vast, steaming and beautiful cool blue (which we learned is actually 198 degrees!!) Grand Prismatic on the other hand includes ALL the colors! The best way to see the spring is actually not from this boardwalk. About a mile south from the Midway Geyser Basin is a pull off for the Fairy Falls Hike. I had originally planned to do this hike in it’s entirety (more deets on that in the “List of things we didn’t do”) but given the current vibe we opted to do the 1.7 mile (round trip) hike to the viewpoint and skip the falls. From the higher vantage point you get a clear view of the size and colors of Grand Prismatic, this was a view I hadn’t done on previous trips and SO worth the short walk! On our way back to the car we spotted three moose running across the hillside. They were not super into being viewed, we had to chase them for a while before losing them. But it’s all about the search right!?! Very exciting!
From Midway Basin north the next stop is Lower Geyser Basin where we saw our first of the Paint Pots and got a show from geysers like Morning, Jet, and Silex Springs. The Fumaroles here were pretty impressive as well! For paint pots however we didn’t get much variety in color (which I’d unfortunately been talking up). A big bubbling mud pit is still a cool sight, though, even if it’s only the white pot.
From the Lower Geyser Basin we made our way to Gibbon Falls overlook. This certainly doesn’t qualify as a “hike” in any way but the view point gives you a nice little walk to view the falls. Not to mention a potty stop where we met the cutest chipmunk! Another wildlife sighting! The kids hung out with this guy for quite a while, much more interested in him than the falls, which gave Michael and I one of those rare moments to sit together, take a breath, and enjoy our surroundings.
On the road again! The kids seemed to be losing interest in the geysers and we were getting pretty late in the day at this point so we decided to skip the Monument Geyser Basin and viewed Beryl Springs from the road rather than try to park. Our next stop we tried our luck at the Norris Artist Paint Pots. From my trips in the past I remember these paint pots being a lot more… full? Apparently, the mud thins or thickens depending on the seasons and precipitation levels giving the illusion of “drying up”. While we were there you could see the evidence of the different colors but not much activity in the painters pots. Which was a little underwhelming for the kids who have never seen them any other way.
Continuing our journey north and out of the park to our Tipi for a campfire dinner, our last stop was the Mammoth Hot Springs Boardwalk. This was a little mind blowing, and I admit by this point in the day no one is reading the signs about how this formation came to be. But, once we got home, we learned the Travertine Terraces are formed by the interaction of water and limestone. To be honest, that doesn’t do much to explain this one to me. You’d have to see it to believe it, it’s like walking into the set of some sort of sci-fi movie!
On this first day that was primarily about Geysers, we managed to spot a Grizzly Bear, several lone Bison, the three Moose at Fairy Falls, a family of Elk, several rodent animals such as squirrels, chipmunks, and what we later learned are called Uintas. On our way out of the park we spotted a massive herd of Elk crossing the road and what I’m pretty sure was an Osprey flying over head.
All in all a pretty elaborate first experience within the Yellowstone Park! The kids were pretty tired when we got back to camp, each with their own variation of exhausted melt downs. Which lent to an easy bedtime routine and a tall glass of wine for Mom around the campfire with a big sigh of relief. One day done.
Grand Tetons & Yellowstone Day Two
As much as I was looking forward to Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons really has my heart. I was aware that this day was more for me than the kids but it’s still hard to fight that hope that the kids will love something as much as you do. In the end, what sparked their excitement the most was swimming at Coulter Bay, not the majesty of where they were. But that’s kids right?!
The drive through Yellowstone is a little hard to estimate. Wildlife and crowds play a major roll in how quickly you can get around. We made it from North Gate to South Gate in about 2 hours. That two hours had zero Bison traffic jams, very little crowds on the road, and one stop in West Thumb trying to find some more impressively colored paint pots for the kids. From South Gate the Grand Tetons is only another 30 minutes. Too close to pass up in my opinion!
After picking up our Junior Ranger Books we made our way to Taggert Lake Trailhead, our Southern-most stop of the day. Taggert Lake is a popular trail, the full loop being just under 4 miles. Prior to our trip I had read to take the loop counter-clockwise for more gradual elevation gain which turned out to be a good choice. According to the guidebook there’s 400-900 feet elevation gain throughout the loop but by going counterclockwise we took the bulk of that on the decent. The first 1.6 miles gets you to the Lake, which was beautiful, clear, and glassy! We took our warm boots off and played in the cool water for a bit until Shae fell all the way in and we had to dry off. At this point you have the choice to return the way you came (another 1.6 miles) or continue the loop the next 2.4 miles. We opted to continue the loop and I’m so glad we did! As the loop twists around back south you come out of the woods to a gorgeous view of the mountainside, fields of wildflowers stretched out around you, Tetons standing tall at your back. Michael and I may have been the only two in the group to gawk and stare but I like to tell myself that one day the kids will look back on the video and pictures and they’ll appreciate it. This second leg of the hike is where the elevation really came into play. I was relieved to be leading the kids downhill in this section and not up!
“Bear Aware” is marked on signs all over both parks. And I’ll admit that this trip, being responsible for two littles versus traveling with my dad, I was VERY Bear Aware. I picked Taggert Lake because it is the right distance (we’d been “training” the kids for this hike all summer), it is a moderate elevation for them, and it is supposed to have killer Teton views (which it did!). The other reason I chose this trail is because it’s popular. Which seems a little counterintuitive but I wanted the crowds for this. I was prepared with Bear Spray but I also very much did not want an encounter with a bear. The first leg to the lake the trail was very crowded. There were lots of people talking, lots of groups going both directions so I knew that the likelihood of a bear having any interest in this trail was very slim. The second leg of the hike, however, was not so popular. And it was here that I was very glad for my BELL! Yes, Bell. And yes, everyone made fun of me. But I’ll tell ya what, it worked! Caed’s best pal took him to a Hockey game one time and Caed came home with a cow bell. This cow bell is insanely annoying inside the house, but tucked into the pocket of my Hike Pack it made the perfect amount of noise for a bear to know there were people around. And that was what I wanted the most. No surprises. That did mean, however, that we really didn’t see any wildlife at all on this hike. Which I was ok with, knowing what kind of wild there might actually be, but left the kids with a bit less spark.
To perk them up, we made our way to Coulter Bay. We had finished our Ranger Books at this point and were ready for our oath, our Badges, and a cool swim! About a mile down the road from the Ranger Station is a great swim beach. Be advised, it’s a rocky swim beach not sandy. So any sort of swim shoes you have would save you some cringy moments on the hot stones. The kids swam and screamed and laughed oblivious to the backdrop. Biting back the feeling “we could have just taken them to a lake at home” I can appreciate that they enjoyed the park in their own way.
For the way back home for the night, we took the opposite side of the Grand Loop Road. This takes you around Yellowstone Lake, over Dunraven Pass, then across Blacktail Deer Plateau. Our goal was WILDLIFE! We knew that a good time for spotting wildlife was early morning or early evening and this was a good chance to see a different side of the park at a different time of day in hopes of some good sightings. I may have been overambitious with this plan. It was a little later in the day than we planned so by the time we made it over the pass it was totally dark on the Blacktail Deer Plateau. We did see a coyote and some new geysers on the way, not to mention a hilarious bathroom situation that will live in our family memories for the rest of time. But we were particularly hoping to find the wolf pack and another bear and we struck out on both accords. The late night however did mean the kids slept in late the next morning so, small victories!
Yellowstone Day Three
For our final day in Yellowstone there was really only one area left unexplored: Lamar Valley! This time when we’d cross the Blacktail Deer Plateau it would be daylight! We stopped at Undine Falls to view the waterfall, which was beautiful but also a very quick stop. We were distracted by a second coyote sighting and missed the turnout for the one-way Blacktail Plateau Drive so it’s possible we missed out on some sighting there but our next stop was the Petrified Tree. In preparation for the trip we’d watched a bunch of the National Geographic documentaries on the park and Caed had been really interested in the Petrified Forests. This stop was thankfully on the way and also put us at the trailhead for the Lost Lake Hike. Lost Lake is a mile round trip, the only elevation being the hill at the very beginning, the rest of the mile is completely flat. We saw more of the Uinta ground squirrels everywhere, which made for a fun scavenger hunt through the wildflowers. The lake itself was beautiful, sparkling in the sunshine, but we didn’t stay much longer than a quick sighting. We’d had an active couple of days and we were losing the interest of our smaller hikers. So off we go to continue our last day in the park!
Although we saw Bison every day of the trip, this day was THE Bison day! We had FOUND the herds! Groups of 50-60 Bison everywhere! Every pocket of open valley floor had a new group! We saw some disagreements (that we were anxiously awaiting to break into a massive fight), we saw lots of baby Bison (which Caed really wanted to see) and we saw a handful of singles or pairs out on their own (which we later learned were referred to as “bachelor groups” which just really cracks me up). From the main road there is a turn out for Slough Creek. We took this, still on the hunt for the wolf pack. I think we were too late in the day for wolves but we did see a heron and several more bachelor bison enjoying the sunshine. Our plan was to turn back at Pebble Creek but our trip got delayed a few times by multiple bison crossings and one fella who was determined to walk on the yellow lines of the road! We followed him for quite a while hootin’ and hollering at what this guy was thinking!
The List of Things We Planned But Didn’t Do…
Remember in my hiking with kids post I talk about “Reasonable Expectations”? (Click here for a refresher)… well… I may have gotten excited about this trip. I admit, I really wanted this place to be as special to the boys as it is to me. So I planned out so many things thinking we’re all going to be pumped up and ready to rock! But, as it happens, there are super charged emotions, and heat, and “sore ankles”, and Shae’s several falls, and a whole other list on its own. So, here’s the list of things I wanted to do but didn’t get around to in case you can fit it into your trip.
- Fairy Falls
- As mentioned earlier, the Fairy Falls trailhead is just south of the Grand Prismatic Spring parking area. The entire journey, to the Grand Prismatic overlook and the Falls, is about 6.8 miles in total but only 129ft of elevation change. So that would be on the high end of mileage for our kids but with minimum elevation I was hoping we’d be able to make it
- Fairy Falls is Yellowstone’s fourth tallest waterfall, cascading 200ft to a small pool beneath, said to be a great place for a rest and a picnic lunch.
- Boiling River
- Because we were staying just outside of the North Gate this seemed like a great place to stop after a day of adventuring!
- Boiling River is actually the Gardner River right on the boarder of Montana and Wyoming, where runoff from the hot springs connects. Because you’re actually in the Gardner, this makes the temperature safe to swim in. You can control how hot you want your dip to be by how close you are to the incoming stream.
- Moose Falls
- The plan here was to stop at Moose Falls on the way back from Grand Tetons as a way to break up the drive. This waterfall is right at the South entrance to Yellowstone so the only time we would pass it was on our Grand Teton day. Short walk to view the falls but beautiful reward for your time.
- Artist Point & The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
- Because we’ve been on a bit of a waterfall kick this seemed like a no brainer. My plan was to do this stop after the Lamar Valley on our last day but we just didn’t make it. When I’ve done this stop on past trips you can either park at the Artist Point viewing area and walk the short, paved path to the overlook or you can take a trail to get views of the entire canyon as well as the falls.
- Depending on where you’re coming from, there are several trails to take. The south rim trail is the one I’ve personally taken in the past, this one starts at the Wapiti Picnic Area and includes several viewing areas throughout the walk.
- Oxbow in Grand Tetons
- The Oxbow wildlife viewing area has always been a special spot for me. I remember going here as a child and again as an adult with my dad. I had planned to stop here after our hike but with the uncertainty of any wildlife we opted to keep going and give the kids more time to swim at the Bay.
- If you do stop, be sure to snap a picture of the Tetons reflecting perfectly on the Snake River. It’s a sight you won’t forget but will love to show.
- Jackson Hole
- I did try pretty hard to fit Jackson Hole into our plans. But it was just far enough south that I thought we’d be pushing a little too much to do it.
- If you ever have the chance, Jackson Hole is a great stop. Classic cowboy town with great shopping, dining, and atmosphere.
When it’s all said and done…
I have to believe that these memories will stick somehow. With littles, we only scratched the surface of what these parks have to offer. Who knows if we’ll ever make it back there in the future to explore again. But for now we’ve made a full loop of the park, seen so much of what there is to see and, hopefully, are better humans because of it.
When we talk with the kids about nature we have those discussions: “what was God thinking when He designed the Killdeer birds? Or the Bison? Or the wildflowers? He was so creative!” “Look at this vast creation all around us! What would happen if every visitor to the park took a rock or picked a flower, what would be left?” Does any of that mean anything to two little boys? I don’t have any answer to that. But I know the value that it gave my life to be exposed to the world at a young age. There may be places out there like Disneyland or Legoland but there’s also God’s creation. And as stewards of this earth aren’t we responsible for passing down a reverence for that?
Although the journey can be exhuasting for the parents who just wants to show their kids something amazing, we all have to believe it will pay out one day. I’m thankful for the memories that were made. And I believe that one day the kids will look back and realize what kind of men they became because they were exposed to a world bigger than they are, a world that’s real and not on a screen, a world that’s ours to protect.
