5/15/2022:

Today we left The Tetons bound for Yellowstone. We checked to be sure the South entrance road connecting The Tetons to Yellowstone was actually open as it had opened for 1 day then immediately closed again because of heavy snowfall. Fortunately they opened again this morning, which eliminated our having to drive hundreds of miles out of our way or again through Grand Teton Pass which was definitely not in the cards again.  The South entrance opening will save us a lot of time, effort and money today! When we made reservations, in late December for this trip,  nearly all Yellowstone campsites that are reservable in the park were already fully booked. This seems to be the typical experience nowadays with camping being what it is post Covid. We didn’t want to take a chance on not being able to get a walk-in site so we had decided to reserve a private campground outside the west entrance of the park in West Yellowstone. In thinking about it now it was probably a good thing because we have been dry camping since we left the desert, with only vault toilets, no sinks or showers at any of the campgrounds we have stayed at so far.

The drive through the South entrance takes us through some gorgeous areas and because the last few days in Teton were cloudy and the views of the mountain peaks were not visible we were so happy to have a clear day for our last views (and picture taking moments) as we left.

As we entered Yellowstone through the South Gate the views began to change. There is still a lot of snow around and Craigs Pass was beautiful! The snow, the rivers, waterfalls, mountains…all incredible.

5/16/2022:

Our first full day in the Yellowstone National Park area we find the weather not great… We delayed our departure into the park but then decide to pack our wet gear and head in anyway. We head over to the famous Old Faithful area but the drive in took forever because of traffic hold ups with herds of bison on the road. Lots of rubbernecking on the roads with those bison… We’ve seen our share of bison over the years, though they are still always  fun to witness on the roads!

We stop at a few of the pull out areas on the way to Old Faithful including Firehole Lake Drive, Fountain Paint Pot, Midway Geyser Basin, Grand Prismatic Spring, and Kepler Cascades.

Once at the Old Faithful visitor center we watch the National Park  film ( if a park has a film it is usually how we begin our visit), and then talk with the some rangers. Joanne had looked online at “What to do in Yellowstone on a rainy day” and saw that there are guided tours of the Old Faithful Inn (free) so that could be a possibility. We head outside to watch the Old Faithful geyser. As the day goes on the rain stops but it is still windy and cold. We missed the last Inn tour (hoping to come back later in  the week),  then head home. Lots of bison on the road and in the meadow areas. Still Fun to see like earlier in the day…

As we head to bed we make a plan to get up early to head out to Lamar Valley to see some wildlife early in the morning. This will take several hours to get to so we set the alarm for 4:30😫

5/17/2022:

Yellowstone National Park

It’s a very early morning but we make our tea and get going to see some wildlife! As we get to different areas of the park it is hard not to stop for pictures but if we do it will take too long and we won’t get to Lamar Valley early enough. As we get closer to the area we see people on the side of the road with big camera lenses and scopes. We pull over a few times to see if they spotted some grizzlies but none had and they are just standing around talking “just in case” they see some. Neither one of us has the patience to “stand around and hope” so we continue on and eventually see a grizzly with two cubs! Exciting (though they are a distance away and we can only see them with binoculars!).

As we drive on we see a gathering of some people and Mike gets out to check. He see’s another grizzly this time the bear is laying on his back so harder to get any good pics.

 

From Lamar Valley we head back to Mammouth Hot Springs for some breakfast. We stop first at the visitor center (not as good as Old Faithful’s) then head over to The Grill for something to eat. They are out of eggs and out of bagels! So we get a blueberry muffin and a bacon and cheese breakfast sandwich on a biscuit. Very limited menu here and wouldn’t recommend this stop to others. (We should have packed something besides cheese and crackers. Not really what we were in the mood for at  8:00 in the morning!

After breakfast, we headed over to the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. This was awesome! Probably a 2 mile boardwalk through various geysers and hot spring pots. Definitely recommend a visit to this part of the park… Beautiful!!!!

This park is so big and takes a lot of driving to really see… As you can see we definitely captured some great photo’s of  our day driving to and back from Lamar Valley!  As we head back to the campground we know we won’t get back until after 5. A long day for us remembering that we got out of bed to start the day at 4:30. Once home neither of us are good for much so we open a few cans of soup for dinner and shower and head to bed. We both can’t believe how soundly we slept!

5/18/2022

Yellowstone National Park

Because we had such a tiring day yesterday we have a later, more relaxing morning today. We felt like we hadn’t done justice to the Old Faithful area so we headed back over to that area to walk the boardwalk, hike up to Inspiration Point, walk out to Morning Glory Pool and try to get the tour of the Old Faithful Inn.

This proved to be a great day! For the most part the weather cooperated when we had anticipated poor weather at the onset of the day. It was a little windy and chilly but we had dressed for the weather. Everything we did on this day we loved! Great exercise as the boardwalk “hike” including Inspiration Point, which is not on the boardwalk, was approximately 4 1/2 miles. The tour of the inn was excellent! Our tour guide was Sarah and she was very knowledgeable! For a free tour it was well worth our time and we came away knowing a lot more about the inn’s history. We did get to see an average room (no bathroom in the rooms and at $229 for the smallest room with no bathroom it’s a little steep for our travel taste…). We came home to more wind and cold with the chance of snow.

5/19/2022

Yellowstone National Park

We can see early on that today is going to be a bust. When we woke up there was a little snow on the ground but the wind and cold was just not going to make for a great day for what we had planned. We had also planned to get the last of our laundry done (sheets, towels, and hiking clothes) as we won’t have another opportunity to do this again until mid June!

We get the laundry done by early afternoon hoping the weather would change and we would still be able to get in our planned excursions. But that is not going to happen. It is just too brutal out so we get some chores done inside and around the camper instead. Mike thought he might be able to work on the bike rack but it is just too miserable out! As the day goes on we begin to rethink where we are going. We got an email from the campground letting us know the water would be off and there would be no facilities available. We talk about this for awhile and think we will head to Thermopoplis instead and maybe warm up using the hot spring pools there? As we head to bed this will be the coldest and windiest night we have so far this year…

5/20/2022:

Changing the plan!

As we head out this morning there is snow on the ground and it is very cold. We already know we are not heading to Bighorn Canyon Recreation Area. Thinking we will head to Thermopolis State Park.  With this new tentative travel goal for the day we decide to take the northern route from Norris to Canyon Village, down to Fishing Bridge, and then out the Yellowstone East Gate. We had planned to stop in Cody for groceries and at that point looked at the map and decided Thermopolis was just too far south and out of our way. So we plan to just begin our travel to Keystone SD for Horsethief Recreation Area and find a place to boondock somewhere in between.

We see we will have to go right through Buffalo, WY and remember that Kim and Jay from DSRV live there. Mike gives a quick call and we change our plans to moochdock in their driveway! Some of the best parts of this lifestyle is being to live with some spontaneity.  Full-time RVers often have to be flexible with plans and just go where the road and weather takes you.

The drive out the East Gate of Yellowstone is steep in several places and in a snow blizzard we definitely have an adventurous day on the road. The East Gate of Yellowstone is one of the least used entrances because of its remoteness. Departing the park the drive to Cody, WY takes you through East Yellowstone Valley or also referred to as Wapiti Valley, Shoshone River Valley, and then on to the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway. About 6 miles West of Cody you drive by the Buffalo Bill Cody Reservoir area. Descending into Buffalo, WY has you on several steep grades that continually challenge you to test your brakes along the way or pull over and cool them off. Glad we have the (Tow/Haul feature ) on the RV…

As we arrive we are able to pull right up in front of their house and get level. We say our hello’s and quickly make a plan to get a tour of the town! Kim has cabbage soup in a pot but she turns it off to come back to later.

They drive us around a bit to show us a few properties they own or have owned in the past. Then we end up at the Occidental Saloon (an historic place). We get a table and ooh and aah over the historic bar and hotel. After some apps and beverages, a three piece band starts and we get to watch some pretty awesome country two step! A serendipitous, very FUN night in Buffalo, WY… We talk with our friends until almost midnight when we head to the camper for a good night’s (well deserved) sleep!