Speaker 0 00:03 What
Speaker 1 00:03 could the two travel. That's podcast here we share our favorite destinations, travel tips, ideas for saving money and stories from our adventures. Be sure to check out our show notes at two travel dads.com/podcast-episodes. Hey, welcome back to, to trouble dads podcast. I'm Rob. I'm still Chris. Yup, that's true. Uh, and today we are finally starting our series on Yellowstone national park, which I'm really excited about because it's my favorite and yeah. Yeah. What state is that in? Well, that's a great question. It happens to be in several States. Yellowstone is in both, um, Wyoming and Montana. Oh, got it. Yeah. So it is in the Northwestern corner of mine, excuse me, of Wyoming. And yeah, it overlaps just a little bit into, um, Montana it up in that same corner. There's some parts of the park that you can get to without having to go through the Gates.
Speaker 1 01:05 Yeah. All that. We'll talk about it anyways. Um, so what do you love about Yellowstone national park? I think it's all the geothermal areas. Um, everything from, uh, the mud volcanoes, uh, to the paint pots. And in geysers and all of the the Springs. Um, I think that's what's, that's what I love about Yellowstone because it's not something that you find anywhere else. Um, at least that I have been. It's easy to <inaudible> actually New Zealand, Iceland, China. Yeah. But in the us, yeah, it's true. Yeah. No, I think that is, and you know what, we've got a whole podcast episode coming up all about geysers and all that cool geothermal stuff. So, um, yeah, that is definitely one of my favorite aspects of Yellowstone and I think that's what makes it so cool for the kids each time we go. Um, but the other thing where there's two other things that I really, really love, um, one is the abundance of wildlife.
Speaker 1 02:08 And it's really interesting because, I mean, I've been going to Yellowstone since I was tiny, tiny and watching how the wildlife has changed is really fascinating. So we'll talk about that when we actually dig more into wildlife in a different episode. But yeah. Um, so wildlife is one reason I love it. And the other is the views and stuff. So, I know that might sound kind of generic, but Yellowstone has some of the most incredible views, both, um, across unique formations as well as just like beautiful lakes and random ponds. It's yellow, I think you'll see a lot of pictures of Yellowstone earth pegs. Oh yeah, that's true. Yup. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous. So I think what's also cool about it is that it frequently, meaning like with the seasons, right? You're going to see something different in summer than you are in winter, like drastically different <inaudible> yeah, it's, and because Yellowstone is so high, you know, it's up in the caldera of a huge, not going to say an extinct volcano because clearly when you go there, it's not extinct.
Speaker 1 03:19 It just hasn't done a massive super explosion in a long time. Um, I'm okay with that. Oh, I'm totally okay with that too. But um, yeah, no, it really does change so much over time as well as season to season as well as within a season. So I was just thinking about, um, what was it? I think 1991 it's a long time ago. I was in like seventh grade. Yeah. Um, we were in Yellowstone at the beginning of July. This is me and my family growing up. And, um, one day it was hot and then that night it started dumping rain and then in the middle and I got quiet and we're like, okay, whatever. It stopped raining, finally got up and we had four inches of snow and it was insane and it was kind of amazing cause driving through the park, you know, there's bison everywhere and the bison had snow covering their like front hunches that you know, has that really super thick Lear for and then not their rear ends.
Speaker 1 04:16 And yeah, it was just amazing. Yeah. And that was just in a two day span in the summer. Not something I would want to experience while camping unless I was prepared for it. I will say that that experience colored how I look at camping and why I like to stay in cabins and lodges over camping. Camping has its moments for sure. It's true. What's something fun that you enjoyed? Like what's one of your fun memories from Yellowstone? I mean you've been three times, been three times. Um, I think one of the coolest places to check out is mammoth hot Springs area. Um, it's super unique. Um, and you can always find elk around there, um, which are really cool to see. Um, so I really liked that area. And then just hiking in general, um, you know, there's so many beautiful places to go hike.
Speaker 1 05:10 Um, you know, one of my other favorite places is, um, Yellowstone falls. So we've got some really great, beautiful pictures and stuff there. And I think taking the trails to go out and see that viewpoint is really amazing. Yeah. So we'll talk about that in a different episode. Well, you asked me what I liked. I know I was talking about, I was talking about like what's a fun memory that the you have either like from our first trip when we were way, way younger, like what was that like 2006, maybe. I just remember your wedding and we're five minutes into our, Oh, it's the worst. We were, I had this like brand new camera. I hadn't gotten to use that yet. And we were going to the paint pots area, artists, artists, paint pots, and I have my camera out. I was ready to take pictures and I think I took a couple and then I was like relaxing my hand on the fence or something.
Speaker 1 06:02 And there's just, I looked down, there's this massive like Hornet or something on my hand and I coined my hand, I smacked the like fence area and my camera hit the fence too. And it broke. I'm pretty sure it was just like, if it gets stolen. Oh. So I do remember that. Uh, but I also remember just, um, being stopped by the herds of Buffalo, uh, bison, sorry, bison. Whatever you want to call it. Your hip, you'll hook. If I could only speak, you'll hear both when you're in the park. Um, so I don't know what it is really. Um, I think it's like tomato, tomato, Buffalo, bison, something like that. Uh, but just, just getting stopped by them. Uh, you know, and I remember just taking pictures of them outside of the sunroof because it felt safe. Yeah. Good times. I think this, uh, this last time it was hilarious going through, Oh gosh, what was it?
Speaker 1 06:54 The, um, an area with a lot of, um, like geysers geothermal areas, but it was so smelly. I remember the kids, like what was that place that we were at? Oh, by the barrel spring where every time we drove past it, it's like a dragon spring. I think that was there to like, Oh, well that's the mud volcano. That's the what I'm talking about. The volcano early in the morning with the boys. Right. And we were hiking through there and it was cold outside, but it stunk so bad and that's all they can. The kids are so dramatic that it's, you know, ruining their experience because it smells so bad. Yeah. Anyways, I got some good video of it. It's hilarious. Um, yeah, no, that was, that was great. I think my most special, and this is kind of weird and emotional, my most special Yellowstone memory was on our first trip to Yellowstone as a family.
Speaker 1 07:44 Like the four of us. It was, um, five years ago. It was in 2015 and it was when we first drove into the park and I'm, Oh my gosh, I'm totally gonna cry. Anyways, when we first drove into the park and I realized that we got to take our kids to Yellowstone anyways. Um, I never got to go to well up when I talk about emotional things. And for me that was really emotional and I thought it was the most special thing cause I didn't think we'd get to ever have kids or anything like that. And then we actually got to have them and take them to Yellowstone, which is a really special place to me. So, yeah. Anyways, it was awesome moving on. I loved it. Um, but yeah, and then, um, this last year I got to go to Yellowstone three different times, which I thought was awesome.
Speaker 1 08:32 Oh yeah. For you it was great. I know. Yeah, no, it was, um, it was delightful to get to spend so much time in the park and really, did you stay in the park? Where'd you stay? We're not, are we there yet? Oh, we are where? Okay. So we have an outline that we're going with to make sure that we stand out. I don't know where this outline is. I just had a question anyways. Uh, you know, we've stayed in several different places, but why don't we go ahead and transition into that and where to stay when you want to visit Yellowstone national park. Um, cause there actually, there are lots of choices and you don't have to stay in the park. Um, or, but you want to but you want to. So, and we'll explain why you want to in just a moment. Cause you only have so much time to be in the park.
Speaker 1 09:13 You don't want to waste like an hour and a half trying to get out of it. Yeah. So there's, there's some really awesome and amazing camping in Yellowstone. Our number one pick is always going to be camping at the Canyon campground because it is, it's a huge campground and there's plenty of very private spots. And there's also, you know, less private spots in the woods. Um, but it's also right by the grocery store that's available in the park. That's by a gas station. Um, there's actually some restaurants. It's by the biggest of the visitor centers, laundry and showers. So if you're camping, Yellowstone Canyon is the winner. Just got camp, but I still need showers. Yeah. So I mean Canyon is going to get our top vote. Um, other places that you can camp though, um, include like down at fishing bridge, which is right by Lake Yellowstone or Yellowstone Lake. You can camp over by the, um, Madison area off the Madison river.
Speaker 1 10:12 Uh, by mammoth. There's so many campers. There's a lot. Yeah. So, um, to do that though, you do want to make sure that you make a Campion reservation. As soon as you know, you want to go to Yellowstone because where do you do that? You do
[email protected]. Yeah. Um, and that way you can, and there'll be links in the show notes. That way you can both pick your site as well as make sure that you actually get a spot. So, um, there are very few same day walk up places in Yellowstone and in the middle of summer it's going to be busy. So yeah, it is good times. Um, so that's camping in the park. That's, that's gotta be probably our number one pick. Um, if you've got it in the budget though, there are several lodges slash hotels slash cabins in the park as well. So, um, Canyon lodge is right there by the area we were talking about by the Canyon camp ground.
Speaker 1 11:03 It's pretty cool. Um, it's very retro. When I say retro, I'm talking about like sixties, so the dining room is super retro with um, some cool mid century fixtures and stuff. There is the really cool like soda fountain area that's um, available for like simple lunch and stuff. Um, that's all at the Canyon lodge, the mammoth up at mammoth. There's the hotel and it just went through a huge renovation and it's beautiful. Um, and it's just right there walking distance to the big Hill of terrorist hot Springs. Um, the Lake hotel that's going to be at the upper end of prices. Um, it's beautiful. It's right on Lake Yellowstone, right by the bridge Bay, um, visitor center, which that's a really cool visitor center. I like it. It's got all the taxidermy birds. That was interesting. I liked that place. Um, and then there's the Roosevelt cabins and those are over by, um, tower junction.
Speaker 1 12:01 There's the grand loop road that goes all, you know, around the park and connects all the different spots. The road that heads, um, East towards like Cooke city and Lamar Valley right there. Um, where the road branches off, you find the Roosevelt cabins and that's also where you can do horseback riding stuff. Um, and then there is, Oh gosh, at old faithful. That's where the bulk of the hotel rooms are for the park. There's the old faithful in the old faithful lodge and the snow lodge. Um, and those are, you know, those are all going to be, yeah, I'd say probably booked up pretty far in advance. Um, the snow lodge is the only one that's open in the winter though. And it's not even open all winter, I don't think. I don't know. You don't know either. I have no idea. I will research and I will put the seasons on there.
Speaker 1 12:50 Um, but yeah, it's, it's really, if you can afford it and your Yellowstone plan, which a lot of people plan national park trips because you know, it's camping, it's being out outdoors. I think it depends on where you're coming from though. I mean there's so many international visitors to Yellowstone and I think that, um, they also book up a lot of the lodges too as well because it's a once in a lifetime trip. Sometimes. It's true. There are some huge tour groups that come through Yellowstone and they do stay. Yeah. And they do stay at most of the national park lodges. So that's a good call out. I forgot about that. Yeah. Um, yeah, so lots of options there. Um, this last trip that we did, we stayed in West Yellowstone, you know, just right outside of the park. Yeah. So we've got some feedback. So it was nice to be able to stay in West Yellowstone cause there's lots of hotels for like if you want to stick to like a travel brand that you work, that you visit a lot of places with.
Speaker 1 13:49 Like we do a lot with best Western in the past. We've done work with holiday and so like we've got points and stuff. Um, there's lots of those sort of places in West Yellowstone. It's actually a cool little town. Um, it's got its own. It's got its own businesses, its own culture. That's good restaurants. Yep. It's got restaurants, some cool museums, all that and access to the park and access to the park. So it's a really popular entrance. Um, but here is where the pickle is. When you say entrance, what do you mean? Cause you're staying outside of the park. It has a park entrance, like a gate that you go through so that you can pay how many discounts? Two and a half. Like which one is this? This is the West interest is the West Yellowstone interest. There's five different entrances to the park. So there's um, West Yellowstone.
Speaker 1 14:35 There is Gardner, which is on the North side and that's where the Roosevelt arches, which is really cool. Um, and then there is the cook city entrance, which I finally, I went through that for the first time this summer. And then there is the, um, uh, all of a sudden I spaced on what the other entrance on the East side of the park is called. So I will look that up. And then there's the one that goes down to the grand Tetons to the South. So yeah, there's lots of, there's five different entrances. Um, what were you just gonna say? What was going to save while you were looking at, uh, the names of the other entrances? I was just gonna say, uh, what's great about being in staying in West Yellowstone is that, um, you know, you do, you can get lodging that is, uh, more economical than what you would get inside the park, uh, and you don't have to camp.
Speaker 1 15:30 Um, so that's a real good pro and you have good dining options too. Um, which is really nice. Um, there's also other activities that you can do in West Yellowstone if you wanted a break from the park. So I guess that's a bonus too. Um, but what I'll say in terms of the big negative is that, um, it, to get into the park from that entrance, it takes a long time to get to your destination and other parts of the park. Um, it's pretty easy getting in, but when you're ready to leave Yellowstone, um, play out appropriately because you will, you will be stuck in the car for a long time. And that's for, you know, because not just because of car traffic, it is totally wildlife, wildlife. Um, there will be one bison on the road and it will back you up for two hours.
Speaker 1 16:17 Yeah. And it's literally because it's like a one single bison who's lonely and has nothing better to do than to walk as slow as possible. Yeah. And weave in and out of traffic. Yeah. So I mean, it's, it's great that with building roads in Yellowstone, we've created these wonderful thoroughfares for wildlife, but it's the same elk and bison that just jauntily go for an afternoon stroll that make it so that stain in West Yellowstone is the biggest pain in the butt, but no pun intended. Also, you can get some Nat geo quality photo. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Because usually when you end up passing the wildlife that's there, it's pretty close. Which is what happened this last time that we were there. Yeah. It's um, yeah, good times. But you know what though, that time that we went in at like six o'clock in the morning like, Oh, that was called life.
Speaker 1 17:08 That was perfect. Yeah, that was, that was awesome. We got in there and we saw lots of great wildlife crossing the Madison river in like the early morning steam. Yeah. It was, Oh my gosh. That was meaningful. Um, and just to see, yeah, exactly how the air looks so different in the morning. Uh, when we got there, I think it must've been like 30 degrees in the morning. Um, but it was so beautiful. But yeah. So I mean, I guess that's also a perk of stain in West Yellowstone is that every time you come into the park you have this gorgeous drive along the Madison river where, I mean, we've seen swans and bald Eagles and elk and bison. I've seen moose there. It's been a long time since we've seen a moose in Yellowstone, so we'll talk about that more later. Um, but yeah, man, it's gorgeous, but it is really a time suck to go in and out of the park from staying in West Yellowstone.
Speaker 1 18:00 Yeah. So that's that. You know, like I said, it's a good option. So if you don't want to camp and you can't afford the lodges or they're not available, uh, inside the park, at least you have an option to be able to still go. Yeah. And you know, Gardner is very similar to that and that just outside of the Roosevelt arch, the North entrance, um, Gardner has lots of both small hotels, cool little like trendy and boutiquey, um, rustic places. Um, I actually, this summer on a different trip, I got to stay in the Sage lodge, which was, um, gosh, what does it maybe 40 minutes North of the Yellowstone entrance. And it was absolutely gorgeous. It was, it's a boutique mountain lodge that they do their own, like fishing trips and stuff. Um, and it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever gotten to stay.
Speaker 1 18:53 And you're just right there at the base of the mountains, right outside of, um, Yellowstone national park. And it's amazing. So, but I'm in the town of gardener, the <inaudible> itself, there's plenty of options. So it's another good choice. And I would actually, um, for our next day, if we're don't stay in the park, I would opt to stay in Gardner over West Yellowstone. So, um, two other spots to consider though. Um, cook city is the Northeastern entrance, so that's when you are coming down, um, out of red lodge. Um, you go through the bear tooth mountains and on the bear tooth highway, it is the, um, I drove it and it was nerve wracking, absolutely gorgeous and amazing. It's, um, the scenery is one of a kind with the most beautiful Alpine lakes and um, yeah, it's beautiful. Um, so that's the bear tooth side. And then the, um, East entrance that we were getting ready to talk about is the Cody Wyoming side.
Speaker 1 19:58 So Cody itself has, um, it's, it's its own town, right? It's very, very old West and super cool. Um, but also if you're going to be staying in Cody instead of in the park, that is going to be a long drive cause then you have to drive around Yellowstone Lake to get to anything. So just things to consider. Um, one other town that we stayed in and access the park was big sky. So, um, we've probably actually should record a podcast just about big sky because it's just crazy. Well, there's only one thing you need to know. Oh, is it about barbecue? It's about barbecue. Yeah. What was the name of that river? So each of our times going through big sky this, this summer with the Galatin video, I liked it. Yeah. We'll talk about it in the big sky episode, but no big sky's another place.
Speaker 1 20:46 You can stay, again, going to be one of those situations where you're going to have to drive pretty far, um, to get into like the main attractions of Yellowstone national park. But it is an option and itself, big sky is a resort town full of hikes and just beautiful spots. So, um, it's kinda like the bonus to go into Yellowstone. So, um, yeah, gosh, I'm just trying to think if there's anything else really to call out about, um, staying outside the park. But no, I, I think we kind of nailed it. I mean, yeah, just be, be aware that there are many options, but they come at the price of a long drive to some of the main attractions inside the park. Yeah. It all depends on where you're at, but you also never know what you're going to see each time. It's unique experience.
Speaker 1 21:37 Yeah. So with that, let's take a quick moment just to chit chat about wildlife. Is that good? Sure. Okay. Um, so what is your favorite thing to see in Yellowstone? As far as wildlife goes? Um, it's usually the, uh, the Buffalo or bison, bison, bison. It's usually the bicep. Um, and it's because it's kind of a guarantee. Um, so I've seen it each and every time. Um, elk, it's a little bit more rare I guess, unless you're out in mammoth. Gosh, that was re, that was a guarantee. Um, but, um, but yeah, so I'd have to say the bison just because I see it every time and their numbers are shocking. Like they're literally huge. You'll see one and you're like, Oh my gosh, the babies baby bison are durables or cure. Elliot freaks out when he says baby bison cause they're just so cute.
Speaker 1 22:28 But um, yeah, no, so you could, you could see one and you're impressed because when you see one, it's usually just, you know, this huge bull bison and then you'll come around the corner and Oh my gosh, there's a thousand more just sweeping across the hillsides and it's, it's amazing. So I mean the best places to see them. Um, and we'll get more into this across the other Yellowstone episodes, but the best places to see them are going to be the Hayden Valley, which goes in between, um, in between tower and, um, I just blinked tower and I'm fishing bridge, like down West thumb. Guys are based in area, um, the hidden valleys right there. And then the other spot is the Lamar Valley, which is in between tower junction and, um, the Northeast entrance. So those are the two spots where you're basically guaranteed to see a herd of bison.
Speaker 1 23:24 So, yeah. And then the elk, you know, like the Christmas ane mammoth. Um, I think we always see them go to mammoth. Yeah. I mean they will, they'll close off parts of the trails because there'll be a bowl who just decided to set up shop, you know, right next to the path. And you know, they've got their big racks of antlers and it's just not safe. So I actually at, gosh, I was there in September and, um, it was hiking at mammoth with some friends and all. We were kind of watching this bull elk come down a trail across this little Valley from us, you know, probably like 200 yards away and just kept on watching him. And he kept on stopping and bugling and it was very, you know, it's the start of the bull, the elk rut. And, um, we kept watching him and kept getting closer and closer and closer.
Speaker 1 24:09 And then he, um, went and he sat on a hot spring and it was really amazing and he was kind of rubbing his antlers on it and he was rubbing his nose in it and he looked like kind of like he had a cocaine nose because he had so much to the white, travertine calcium stuff all over him. And then people were yelling at him, so he was starting to get, um, <inaudible>. Yeah. Um, so yeah, so elk, bison, they're both big really cool big ticket items to get to see. Um, moose used to be really, really common in Yellowstone and um, Kevin's seen it. Yeah. Chris has never seen the movie Yellowstone. I've seen many, many, but not for years. Um, they've just, they've migrated. So now the place to go for moose is down in the Tetons. So seeing it there. Well, you've only been in the Tetons.
Speaker 1 25:04 I've seen it in Rocky mountain national park. Yes. We've seen moose and Rocky mountain national park and up in glacier national park too. So it's just, I bet. Yes, you have in glacier. Yes. I've been with you when you've seen almost cows, babies see them. We looked through the binoculars and we thought that was them, but it wasn't as clear as it was when I saw them in. So I'll be sure to add to the show notes. A picture of Chris standing in front of a mama moose and a baby moose in a Lake. Do you remember that? The kids remember it. I remember it. Do you want me to pull up a picture to show you? Why? Do you remember? Okay, there you go. Yup. And then on that same hike on the way back, there was a bull moose in the bushes. Do you remember that?
Speaker 1 25:46 As we walked back? That there was a boldness. Oh, okay. Yeah. So that did happen. Okay. Anyways, so yes. So now we re we remember the Darra moose in glacier. Oh, I didn't say that there wasn't, it's whether or not I saw it. Anyways. Um, so there are most in Yellowstone, but they are few and far between and just got to watch from in marshy areas close to the Lake. Um, other highlights in Yellowstone. Are those geysers talking about wildlife? Oh, you're gonna just lay out there. No, I'm kidding. What about those acorns? Oh, the trumpeter. Swans. I haven't seen big horn sheep. Dark. Oh, not Yellowstone. I've seen him in glacier. We just saw big horn sheep and Yellowstone. Yellowstone. Yes, I have pictures. Okay. I saw them in glacier for sure. Yes. We also saw them in glacier. Um, good times. Uh Oh, the trumpeter swans is what?
Speaker 1 26:43 Getting ready to talk about those trumpeter swans. You can see them on the Madison river, um, which is on the West side of the park coming in from West Yellowstone, uh, in Swan Valley. Who didn't think that you'd see him in Swan Valley. And that goes in between like Norris Geyser basin and mammoth hot Springs and then, uh, on the Yellowstone river. And we had a really special special experience tonight, unfortunately, um, destroyed the video files by accidentally deleting them and then trying to restore them so we don't have the video anymore. But we got to watch, um, a small flock of trumpeter swans just hanging out on the Yellowstone river early in the morning while the steam was rising. So beautiful. And then they started honking and then they all took off and just swam. So earth flew so slowly. You saw that reflection. Beautiful. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 27:29 Yeah. Um, so I think trumpeter swans is also like a big, I'd call them a big ticket wildlife for Yellowstone. Yeah. And then you can also, um, watch out for things like antelope, which we saw some great antelope. Um, the wolves there, they hang out over in the Lamar Valley, um, bears both grizzly and black bears. Um, which this last time we just saw some black bears. Oh yeah. You're done. Yeah. Um, we saw briefly, it was hard to see. Yeah. And you know, we've seen coyotes. We've seen deer, but yeah. And, um, Rosa all, uh, not a groundswell. Um, marmots Mermet Prairie dogs, Prairie dogs, Prairie dogs. Yeah. No. So basically there's plenty of wildlife in Yellowstone, even if you don't get to see a moose, which I mean, that's what a lot of people are going for. But um, yeah, either way. No, you'll, you'll see bison.
Speaker 1 28:26 Yeah. Bison if nothing else. So, well, I think that kind of wraps up this episode, just giving you the, the rundown of Yellowstone and kind of where to stay and what to look forward to. Um, we're going to have some more episodes that focus on the geysers and, um, food and the park. No, we're not going to, just kidding. Oh gosh. No. Um, uh, you made me lose my train of thought. Oh yeah. Uh, we've got an episode coming up all about geysers as well as, um, recommended routes for touring the park, including like picnics
Speaker 2 28:59 and stuff. So watch for those. And, um, if you get any questions, be sure to leave us comments on the blog, give us a rating whenever you want to do. And, um, I guess we'll talk to you later. All right. All right guys. See you next time to trail dad's podcast is written by Rob and Chris Taylor and produced by Rob Taylor is Squamish Washington. If you would like to be on two trout Ed's podcasts or sponsor it, please visit it to traveled ads.com/work.
