Yellowstone National Park Review

Overall 4.83 of 5 view all 6 reviews

Matt
Chicago, IL

Yellowstone for young kids...

family traveler, father of three kids under 8

Pros

amazing animals, amazing geysers and formations

Cons

can be busy and slow moving

JAN

2008

We took our three young kids (8,6,3) to Yellow Stone National Park in late August of 2007. We started in Montana because we were visiting family in the Big Timber area. Although traveling with kids can always be a bit of a challenge, I am very glad we went and I would recommend it anyone who loves natural beauty and gets a kick out of seeing a real part of American history.

We rented a car in Bozeman, MT and drove down to the north entrance to the park. We spent the entire day driving and stopping to see the sites. I know many other people stay in the park at a few different lodges or camp out. For us, that was not much of an option. We were on our way directly to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

In general I found the scenerey within Yellow Stone breath taking. Along the way, particularly in the northern part we had bison walking up to the side of the car so close that you could see their breath. We also saw several moose sightings. One of the most amazing animal sightings was a huge elk with the biggest rack I have seen in my life. This animal was about three times the size of the largest horse you have ever seen.

We stopped by Old Faithful and fortunately timed it about right so that we only had to wait about 20 minutes. It was spectacular and made a real impression on the kids. I would highly recommend making this detour.

The kids got a bit bored in places and feel asleep. There was a bit of yelling such that we nicknamed the park YellStone, but all in all it was well worth the trip.

My tips/suggestions:

1. If you can go the last week of August when most kids are back in school, you will encounter very light traffic like we did. It would have been less enjoyable if there were many more people in the park.

2. Try to call ahead and find out when Old Faithful is set to go off.

3. If you are not on your way somewhere else like we were, you will probably want to stay in one of the lodges and stay for a few days.

4. Think about driving down to the Grand Teton National Forest. We went hiking down at Jenny Lake and really enjoyed our time there.

For general information about Yellow Stone check out this other Yellow Stone review from our star national parks reviewer. http://www.viewpoints.com/aboutme/Jo

Here is a link to our other Yellow Stone related reviews including some of the lodges in the park. http://www.viewpoints.com/search?q=yellow+stone&commit=Find

Last edited on Dec 08, 2008

Yellowstone National Park is recommended by Matt

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Comments about Matt’s Review

I want to go there! My friend, and co-worker, just returned from there.

Great info--I'll bookmark this one if we plan a trip in that direction.

Our family is heading there in 2008 and I am so grateful for your tips.

In response to mrkstvns's comment from Jan 24, 2008 at 1:22PM:

I swear. When you get there they have a sign posted about roughly what time it is going to erupt. If you call the visitor center, they will tell you. This is from there web site:

OLD FAITHFUL
Temperature 199° Interval 30-120 minutes. Duration 1.5-5 minutes. Height 110-185 feet. The Washburn Expedition in 1870 named Old Faithful for its nearly regular schedule of eruptions. It is the grand old geyser of Yellowstone because of its frequent and predictable eruptions. The intervals between eruptions average between 45-90 minutes and the average duration is about four minutes. To predict the next eruption, its first continuous surge is timed until the final splash. If the total eruption is less than four minutes, the next eruption will occur in approximately 40-60 minutes. If the eruption is four minutes or longer, the next interval will be 75-100 minutes.

You can call ahead for an Old Faithful schedule?? Ummm. Okay, I guess I'd better do that. I'd hate to get there and find that the eruptions were cancelled due to maintenance.