Unlimited Awesome - Henrys Lake and Yellowstone
So I’ve been to Yellowstone before - twice! - and had only good memories. My first trip there was with my parents, we tent camped and had such a good time that we wanted to come back in a hard-sided trailer so we could stay deeper in the park and see more of it. That 13-foot travel trailer took us back to Yellowstone, and many other places too. It was a grand time, and much much simpler than our current setup.
The other thing that’s changed since then was how gosh darn busy Yellowstone has become. Reservation demand and cost has gone up dramatically, and this summer saw the highest visitor counts in Yellowstone’s entire history as a park. This was one of the few destinations where we absolutely had to plan far in advance, and thankfully we did. The only campground inside the park that would fit Solomon, Fishing Bridge, is closed until 2022, so we had to stay outside the park, which can be terribly expensive. The hot tip from other full-timers was to stay in Henrys Lake state park, about 20 minutes from West Yellowstone and itself an idyllic little lakeshore park. This made a 2-week stay quite affordable, though it did reduce our time in Yellowstone proper quite a bit due to the extensive driving required to see destinations inside.
I snagged these reservations back in February, with a back-in site right by the water that was labeled as 53’ long but we barely fit. It was so bad we had a crowd of onlookers and even asked a retired trucker for help. He got us in, but really I think that site was mislabeled. But it sure was worth it, because views like this are exceedingly rare for us.
Apparently Henrys Lake is a very famous fly fishing spot, and on the weekends in particular the boat launch was a very busy place. That’s neat but kind of wasted on us non-fishers. What we really enjoyed was the free kayak use. They had about 6 kayaks anyone in the park could check out, so we used those as much as we could.
We weren’t even sure whether we’d be here right now, because with my foot so messed up, hiking around Yellowstone might not be a good idea. But I stayed in the boot and off the foot as much as I could, saving my energy for the park. We spent two weeks here, and I took the second week off, but in the end between my health, RV repairs, and other commitments, we spent only 3 days actually in Yellowstone. But what days they were!
Day 1 was straight to Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin. This was a chunk of walking and we wanted to be sure I didn’t overdo it, so we borrowed a wheelchair from the lodge and I rolled around the boardwalks to see the geysers.
Old Faithful is at the center of a huge space (you might call it a basin), with boardwalks all around. It didn’t feel overly busy and it’s great to watch it erupt, right on time. That whole geyser basin has tons of pools, geysers, steam vents and formations and is a major destination. We got to walk (or roll) the whole loop, and see the incredible Old Faithful Lodge. Kristin’s new life goal is to be the ranger that winters over in the lodge, curled up by the giant fireplace reading books in the beautiful lodge for months!
Day 2 was the paint pots, and the Norris geyser basin. I forgot my boot this time, making hiking a delicate operation, as there were no wheelchairs available here. We saw about half of Norris basin: most of the porcelain basin, and the back basin up to Steamboat Geyser. While not as inviting and picturesque as the Upper Basin, there is a wild amount of diversity here, and the drama of the back basin geysers surrounded by pine forest is high indeed.
The paint pots we almost missed because the parking lot is just so very small, but we got in on our second try and hiked up. The pots are hilarious to watch in person. The blurp, blurp and messy splash every time - just delightful. These were Audrey’s favorite.
Day 3 was Mammoth Hot Springs, the furthest drive for us and busiest location. It was so far and so busy that it required the earliest of starts, and even then parking was far from simple. No chance of using a wheelchair here either, so I was clomping around the terrace boardwalks in the boot. But the previous day seemed to be not so bad on my foot, and I was able to really see a lot of the terraces, and keep up as we went into the Mammoth area’s buildings and gift shops.
I’m glad we got to see Mammoth, as I don’t remember visiting before, and it is the oldest and most historically significant section of the park - for many decades, Mammoth hot springs was the park’s front door, and the larger geysers and lodges were a guided horse ride away. As the oldest section though, it’s very cramped by modern standards, and the ease of traveling through the other, more visually stunning sections makes it feel tame by comparison. Next time I’ll go to the falls instead.
It was hard to say goodbye to Yellowstone. Kristin in particular was absolutely smitten, and many vows to return were taken. I think to us Pacific Northwest natives, Yellowstone is an incredible confluence of Western forest beauty, preservation, and unique attractions. We’ve seen a lot of beautiful deserts, mountains, and lakes but the scale and singularity of what’s here is just breathtaking.
From here we point our headlights toward home by way of I-90, with stops to see family on the way.
