Summer vacation 2022 to Yellowstone.

[BuckSutherland]

Took the family on a trip out west. We drove from MN through ND, MT and camped in Yellowstone for 4 nights and then 2 nights in Grand Teton. On the way home we spent 1 night in the bighorn mountains and 2 nights in Custer SD. We also snuck through the Teton pass to visit Idaho.


I will never go back to Jackson, Wyoming. We LOVED Yellowstone and the surrounding area, especially the Beartooth highway and Chief Joseph Highway. Highly recommend the Canyon Campground in Yellowstone. We saw everything but a grizzly bear. We got within 5 feet of about 30 bighorn sheep in Yellowstone. Saw 4 bears, 10 moose, few dozen bull elk, close to 1,000 cows and calves, lots of bison, lots of great bucks, pronghorns, and countless other enjoyable sights. I cant wait to see Yellowstone again. Next time we are gonna do Glacier and Yellowstone.

Here's a couple pictures. More to follow..... You must go if you have never been. Truly magical place. Sadly the Lamar Valley was still out of commision and we only got to see half of the beartooth highway. NO picture or video will ever do that place justice.

We hit: Theodore Roosevelt national park, Yellowstone national park, Grand Teton national park, Bighorn Mountains National forest, Devil tower National monument, Black hills and Custer state park, Badlands national park......


More to come.

 

[Telemark]

That is pretty darn cool. I think you would like Utah as well. Some of the country's best parks are there.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

You must go if you have never been. Truly magical place. Sadly the Lamar Valley was still out of commision and we only got to see half of the beartooth highway. NO picture or video will ever do that place justice.

If you made it from Red Lodge to Chief Joseph Highway on the Beartooth Highway, you saw the best stuff! Sounds like an awesome trip, it's definitely one of my favorite places if not my favorite. Lamar valley is great for seeing bison and maybe wolves but other than that it isn't all that interesting compared to other areas IMO.

Wouldn't be surprised if you drove right past us, we stayed around red lodge and on the clarks fork off chief joseph hwy the 22nd-31st.

Lookin forward to more pics.

 

[b116757]

I’ve been to Yellowstone it was groovy friends of mine that have been to Glacier and Yellowstone say Glacier is even better.

 

[TenPoint]

I’ve been to Rocky and Glacier. I liked Rocky better. Both are fantastic. Definitely want to do Yellowstone and Grand Tetons someday.

 

[DJN]

Beautiful! We leave in about 6 weeks to do 4 days in Yellowstone and 3 in Grand Tetons. Staying just into Idaho. Really looking forward to it.

We did a week in Glacier NP last late September, which I think will be hard to beat. Absolutely beautiful scenery and wildlife (especially for a guy that’s only been west of eastern Iowa I think 4 times in my life), and not too crowded that time of year.

Thanks for sharing pics and experiences Buck and everyone else!

 

[Foggy47]

I liked Glacier the best in my travels. Tho southern Utah is quite interesting as well. Big difference in landscapes tho.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

If you made it from Red Lodge to Chief Joseph Highway on the Beartooth Highway, you saw the best stuff! Sounds like an awesome trip, it's definitely one of my favorite places if not my favorite. Lamar valley is great for seeing bison and maybe wolves but other than that it isn't all that interesting compared to other areas IMO.

Wouldn't be surprised if you drove right past us, we stayed around red lodge and on the clarks fork off chief joseph hwy the 22nd-31st.

Lookin forward to more pics.

The best part of the Lamar valley is the Lamar!

 

[BuckSutherland]

If you made it from Red Lodge to Chief Joseph Highway on the Beartooth Highway, you saw the best stuff! Sounds like an awesome trip, it's definitely one of my favorite places if not my favorite. Lamar valley is great for seeing bison and maybe wolves but other than that it isn't all that interesting compared to other areas IMO.

Wouldn't be surprised if you drove right past us, we stayed around red lodge and on the clarks fork off chief joseph hwy the 22nd-31st.

Lookin forward to more pics.

We arrived for our trip 1 day before the Beartooth highway reopened from the flood damage. Never did get to see it from Red Lodge headed west. I went from Billings, MT down towards Cody, WY and then back up towards the Beartooth on the Chief Joseph road. Both of those highways and the area west of Cody, WY are just fricken awesome. The beartooth highway was closed at the Wyoming/Montana border so we parked the truck and got out to walk around. First we had a snowball fight, then we walked into Montana and found about 8 mountain goats just hanging out. There is some powerful water moving out of the mountains near the intersection of beartooth and chief joseph (2 waterfalls). We loved both. Pretty cool seeing the ranchers working their open range cattle as well. Lots of cows up there. Took some rubber off the tires on this trip for sure in those mountains.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Saw this tree by the Crazy Creek Falls off the Beartooth Highway. I'm not sure what type of tree that is. I thought perhaps an ancient western white pine. There were some huge trees like this in the area. What impressed me the most was the thickness of the bark. The stuff was at least 8" thick in some places. Bet that sucker has been standing there taunting wildfires for hundreds of years with that bark and greeting all the smiling people visiting the falls. We only had 30 mins there and wish we could have stayed all day. Absolutely love hearing all that cold mountain water roaring over all those rocks. We had it all to ourselves. Likely cause the beartooth highway was still closed for one more day.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

We arrived for our trip 1 day before the Beartooth highway reopened from the flood damage. Never did get to see it from Red Lodge headed west. I went from Billings, MT down towards Cody, WY and then back up towards the Beartooth on the Chief Joseph road. Both of those highways and the area west of Cody, WY are just fricken awesome. The beartooth highway was closed at the Wyoming/Montana border so we parked the truck and got out to walk around. First we had a snowball fight, then we walked into Montana and found about 8 mountain goats just hanging out. There is some powerful water moving out of the mountains near the intersection of beartooth and chief joseph (2 waterfalls). We loved both. Pretty cool seeing the ranchers working their open range cattle as well. Lots of cows up there. Took some rubber off the tires on this trip for sure in those mountains.

I typically stay with a friend/coworker out there who's family has been ranching for generations between dead indian pass and cooke city. Those folks running cattle in that country are fuggin tough! It's hard to explain to them how different it seems than back home in MN. They have some pretty awesome stories about rounding up cattle from the national forest in the fall and all the griz run ins.

Lots of mountain goats hang out near the beartooth highway, very cool to see them although they look pretty ratty this time of year.

 

[Tap]

We've been to just about every national park west of the Mississippi.
Yellowstone is fantastic.
Our favorites are Glacier, Zion, and Yosemite but I don't expect that we will be going back to the republic of Kalifornia any time soon.
September seems to be the best month overall. Fewer people.
National Parks during the summer can be jam packed with crowds.

 

[BuckSutherland]

We entered the park on the east side from Cody, Wyoming through the east entrance and around Yellowstone Lake. The drive from Cody all the way to Canyon Campground was awesome. Highly satisfying to this flatlander. Here is the first 24 hours of our trip...











Once in Yellowstone it didnt take long to find a buffalo...



Bathroom at Canyon Campground. Running water and flushing toilets. Extremely clean and well maintained. Hot showers at the main headquarters.




Old Faithful



Thermal feature in Black biscuit basin. The thermal features thoroughly impressed me much more then I thought they would...




Mystic falls. Ended up here after 4 mile hike to the top of the surrounding mountain/ overlook. North of old faithful a few miles in Black Biscuit Basin.




Me and the girls got right down in the rocks by the river. There was HOT water coming out alongside the cool falls. We spent 30 mins cooling off here. Pretty much had it alone.



Grand Prismatic Spring. I suggest going in the afternoon. Lots of steam in the AM. Excelsior geyser in the background is no slouch either. We had put on 10-11 miles by this point and decided to end it here.

 

[Tap]

Did you get to see Bee Hive geiser erupt? Absolutely amazing!

 

[BuckSutherland]

Did you get to see Bee Hive geiser erupt? Absolutely amazing!

Negative. Went and saw old faithful and then had to keep going. We immediately left after old faithful and went to find something else less crowded. Overall I didnt think the park was too crowded. Sure cleared out when you got 1/2 mile off the main roads.

 

[BuckSutherland]

On Day 2 at Yellowstone we decided to start out the day at Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. A short drive from our campsite in Canyon Campground. Within 2 miles of our campground we had to stop a couple times for wildlife. Once we had a bear cross the road right after I got pulled over, and then a couple hundred yards ahead we had some nice bulls putting on a show.







First we took in the Canyon from Artist point






Then we made the hike down right next to the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River. Absolutely WONDERFUL. The canyon and the river are far beyond what pictures or words can describe. We were up early so there were no crowds at all.







In the afternoon we decided to head to the north side of the park and look for a place to go hiking.







We ended up visiting the Mamouth Hot Springs area and some of the thermal features there before going hiking on the north side of the park in the hell roaring creek area. We got to see another bear there, then two more back by the petrified tree. I loved the north side of the park. My new vortex binoculars paid off huge up there.

 

[MRBB]

Yellowstone is a true national treasure, THANK GOD< our leaders way back when, had the foresight to protect it
every American should make a trip there IMO!

and it sure looks and sounds like you and your family had a great time there as well!, glad the flood didn;t lose things for you all!

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Yellowstone is a true national treasure, THANK GOD< our leaders way back when, had the foresight to protect it
every American should make a trip there IMO!

and it sure looks and sounds like you and your family had a great time there as well!, glad the flood didn;t lose things for you all!

Amen. I think it’s the greatest place left in the lower 48.

 

[Foggy47]

Amen. I think it’s the greatest place left in the lower 48.

Yep.....that is.....until you get to Glacier.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Yep.....that is.....until you get to Glacier.

I didn’t love glacier. I mean don’t get me wrong it’s pretty but it lacks the diversity of Yellowstone