Would you go to Yellow s.tone in June?

[flygirl]

Are there too many places closed yet?  
Any tips if we do go?

[steamboat185]

Do you have reservations? Yellowstone is great but lodging and camping books up very far in advance.

[flygirl]

May 21, 2021 10:57:37 GMT -5 steamboat185 said:

Do you have reservations? Yellowstone is great but lodging and camping books up very far in advance.

No, but I did find a place outside the park we could camp at.

[steamboat185]

May 21, 2021 13:17:58 GMT -5 flygirl said:

May 21, 2021 10:57:37 GMT -5 steamboat185 said:

Do you have reservations? Yellowstone is great but lodging and camping books up very far in advance.

No, but I did find a place outside the park we could camp at.

Which side of the park is it on? The park is obviously huge! We’ve been there 4 times, but we’ve gone in August every time. I’m sure June will be great. More bugs, but also more babies.

[flygirl]

steamboat185,northeast

[steamboat185]

May 21, 2021 18:51:36 GMT -5 flygirl said:

steamboat185,northeast

That is a great section especially for seeing wolves. If you can get up before dawn and check out Lamar Valley and Hayden valley I’d do that. The area up by Mammoth hot springs is also very neat, but can get super backed up. We had great luck with geysers on Firehole lake drive last year and caught almost every geyser with no people around. The road closures are tricky when we were there last year the whole east side was closed and right after we left the entire area around Old Faithful closed due to fires. You have to be a bit flexible and if possible checkout the busy areas before 10am and then again after 3pm. With kids last year we spent a lot of time by Lake Yellowstone. If possible hike down to Artist point it’s a bit of a climb back out but it’s so pretty with a constant rainbow.
Also check the campsite availability in the park. People cancel all the time and you might get lucky. Getting into the park can take a while if you go during peak time.

[flygirl]

steamboat185 , thanks for the info-we are early risers so we’re hoping to get there early in the day.
I’ll also try your tip and see if there are any cancellations in the park (I think people have to cancel a month out though so I think we might have just missed that window.  Plus we need a longer spot so might be tough)

[steamboat185]

May 24, 2021 10:39:24 GMT -5 flygirl said:

steamboat185 , thanks for the info-we are early risers so we’re hoping to get there early in the day.
I’ll also try your tip and see if there are any cancellations in the park (I think people have to cancel a month out though so I think we might have just missed that window.  Plus we need a longer spot so might be tough)

Campsites are three days or were last summer. We moved a reservation 3-4 days out last time. Definitely try calling you never know!

I hope you have good luck we saw very very few animals last year, but had been super lucky every other time!

[dutchgirl678]

We went in August last year and on our first visit we camped there in early June (however this was a long time ago and it has been more crowded these last few years). However, you said you are camping in the northeast, outside the park. Do check out the road closures: www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/road-construction.htm

With the road between Canyon Village and Tower Roosevelt closed, you will have a longer drive to get to Old faithful etc.

Last summer we slept in a hotel in West Yellowstone and on our camping trip we stayed at the Bridge Bay campground. We were only there for two full days but here is what we did:

- arrived in West Yellowstone Monday evening. Had dinner at 5:30pm then went into the park. We saw Old Faithful erupt around 7pm and there were very few people there. The people that were there all ran to their car after it was over. We went for a walk around the boardwalk. It was perfect, still light out and hardly anybody on the trail.

- first full day Norris Geyser Basin, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake (we saw lots of bison in Hayden Valley (driving from Canyon Village to Fishing Bridge), Artist Paint Pots

- day 2: drove from Madison via Firehole canyon drive south to Biscuit Basin and Black Sand basin. We parked at the trailhead for Fairy falls and hiked up to the viewpoint to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. This was seriously the best view of it, so spectacular. We were there at around 10:30-11 AM and that is the perfect time. Any earlier and all you will see is steam. Afterwards we tried to go the the parking lot and boardwalk around the Grand Prismatic, but it was so packed we left and came back later in the day. We then drove north out the north entrance to the town of Gardiner where we had a late lunch (Yellowstone Pizza Company, highly recommend). At around 4pm we drove back down to Mammoth Hot Springs which is another must-see. And not that busy around that time. After that we went back to the Grand Prismatic and had no trouble finding a parking spot. And the light was gorgeous at that hour. On the way back to our hotel we found another interesting loop called the Firehole Lake Drive. There were very few people there (it was after 6pm) and we saw a few more geysers including the gorgeous Great Fountain Geyser which started erupting just as we parked there.

We debated going back on the morning before driving home but we had seen all the things we had on our list to see and had a long drive ahead of us so we didn't. Because of COVID, most of the restaurants were closed. We brought most of our snack and lunch food in.

[rubytue]

Oh hey... can I jump in? We’ve been planning to go to Yellowstone for 2 years. Was literally researching flights in 2019 the same weekend I had a minor stoke that found cancer. 2019 canceled. 2020... covid. 2021, booked, but... have some stress reasons for pushing back again.

I’m wrestling between late July (my birthday) and September (Labor Day). We have reservations for both. Which would choose?

We have reservations already bc some of this year’s got canceled, so we had early access to booking next year. This cancellation is part of what added stress to this years, last minute shuffle to rebook something in the middle of the trip when everything is booked for the year.

[steamboat185]

May 26, 2021 18:40:55 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Oh hey... can I jump in? We’ve been planning to go to Yellowstone for 2 years. Was literally researching flights in 2019 the same weekend I had a minor stoke that found cancer. 2019 canceled. 2020... covid. 2021, booked, but... have some stress reasons for pushing back again.

I’m wrestling between late July (my birthday) and September (Labor Day). We have reservations for both. Which would choose?

We have reservations already bc some of this year’s got canceled, so we had early access to booking next year. This cancellation is part of what added stress to this years, last minute shuffle to rebook something in the middle of the trip when everything is booked for the year.

We went August 1-8th last year (grand Teton/Yellowstone) and have been to Yellowstone 2x over Labor Day.

Positives for late July- better weather- it’s more likely to be warm if you want to swim/kayak whatever. More wildflowers.
Negatives- it’s busier and we saw far fewer animals maybe because it’s warmer and busier? It might be harder to find parking at the popular spots especially middle of the day.

Labor Day- positives it’s quieter kids are back in school. We saw way more animals both times. Fewer bugs.
Negative- the weather can be starting to change. We’ve had multiple days of snow (not a ton, but enough that we changed our backpacking plans). Further into fire season- could be a non issue, but you are more likely to have forest fires.