Last Minute Yellowstone Trip

A couple weeks ago, Brandon and I realized that Meadow and Lark were free for the weekend. As we planned our weekend, Brandon wondered, what would happen if we went camping in Yellowstone. It was an novel idea for us because while we have visited Yellowstone many, many times, it had been only for day trips. And of course, we had to take Meadow and Lark to experience like our guests. We had such a great time, we both were left wondering what had taken so long.

Reserving a Campsite

First thing we needed was to reserve a last minute campsite within the park. We looked at Recreation.gov, which is our go to source of reservations for Forest Service campsites. But a better site to reserve campsites in Yellowstone is Yellowstone National Park Lodges website. We found a site for two consecutive nights at the Canyon Campground. The campground was almost full, with shaded campsites, clean bathrooms, easily accessible dumpsters. Even though the campground was full, it was still quiet in the evenings and in the morning.

A couple of logistics on the reservation process:

• Meadow and Lark is 22 feet long with the bike rack (which we had), so if you reserve ask for a site for an RV that is 30ft or less if you are renting our bike rack. If you are not renting the bike rack, you can look for a site that is 20 ft or less. Also, I think these bigger sites have a higher probability to have a flatter site (but you will still likely need to level the truck with our included leveling blocks).

• Don’t rent a Tent Only Site: the rules say you can’t sleep in your vehicle if you are in a Tent Only Site.

• Prices will vary, but the cost for our trip was really reasonable. Included in your campsite is two showers per day, and you can dump the black/grey water tank when you leave.

• Don’t be afraid to try to find a last minute site - we did.

Biking, Sunset Viewing, and Finding Wildlife

If you don’t know already, Brandon and I love mountain biking and spend most of our weekends riding Montana’s trails. You are not permitted to ride a bike on Yellowstone’s hiking trails, but you can ride on the the Fairy Falls Trail which is a gravel path that goes from Midway Geyser Basin to Fountain Flats Road. The round trip is just less than 9 miles, flat, and completely uncrowded. We rode by thermal features and a gorgeous lake. Because the trail ends near Midway Geyser Basin, we got to see the Grand Prismatic Spring, which is one of my favorite thermal features in the park. And once we completed our ride, we made lunch in Lark’s kitchen.

Later Saturday evening, we headed to the North Rim Drive along the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to see the falls and watch the sunset. We hopped from parking lot checking out the Canyon, looking at the sunset and seeing the falls. Again, I am not sure whether it was the time of day or just luck, but we avoided the crowds and almost had the place to ourselves.

We love visiting the Lamar Valley in the north end of the Park. Because of the flooding earlier in the summer, the Lamar Valley is closed to regular traffic while they work on fixing the roads. The Lamar Valley is one of the best places to see wildlife - during our past trips to Yellowstone we often try to see wolves, bears, elk, bison, big horn sheep, antelope and foxes. But Brandon still wanted to see a bear on our trip.

So we committed to getting up early and going to the Hayden Valley to see wildlife. And we hit the wildlife jackpot. Just getting into the Hayden Valley, we saw a fox next to the road. As we pulled past the fox, Brandon asked if the brown dot on the hillside was a bear. And it was! We quickly pulled into a pull out and grabbed the binoculars. The grizzly moved down the hillside and across the road. We moved the truck and camper to another pull out to better observe the bear as it swam across the Yellowstone River and moved up the hills. Within a few minutes the bear was followed by two wolves from the Hayden Pack. After they disappeared over a hillside, we moved to another pullout to watch and listen to other wolves within the Hayden Pack howl and patrol the ridgelines. It was a spectacular morning.

Our Hot Yellowstone Park Tips

Reflecting on this trip and the others we have taken to Yellowstone, we have a couple tips to have a great trip:

• To see wildlife and avoid the biggest crowds, explore early in the morning and in the evenings before sunset. The Lamar Valley, when it opens more fully is a great place to see large herds of bison, wolves and bears, but do not discount the Hayden Valley.

• Go for a hike or a bike ride in the park. The boardwalks near the bigger more popular thermal features are great, but to avoid the crowd try exploring off the beaten track within the Park. The Fairy Falls Trail is a great example of an easy hike or bike with lots of solitude and gorgeous views. We also love some of the short hikes to waterfalls on the north side of the park.

• Don’t be afraid to try to find a last minute reservation if you want to camp.

• Take a nap along Yellowstone Lake. After our bike ride in the morning, we drove the Lower Loop and parked at one of the picnic spots on the north side of Yellowstone Lake. It had big trees, a black sand beach and was a lovely place for lunch and a little midday nap.

And of course, we love Meadow and Lark for camping. It was perfect for our Yellowstone weekend. If you need help planning your Meadow and Lark adventure, let us know as we are happy to help with trip planning.

Finding Cool Temps at Altitude

This weekend we had two goals: first to explore new places and second to get high enough in the mountains to escape the heat wave. So we packed up Meadow and Lark with bikes, food and gear and headed out the door and drove west to the Gravelly Mountain Range.

The drive was hot - over 90 degrees and the AC worked very hard to keep us cool. We stopped for a cold milkshake in Ennis at the Sugar High (yup, that’s really it’s name). Then headed farther south to cross the Madison River at the Lyons Bridge. From there it was all dirt roads up into the mountains. As we gained elevation, the temperature thankful dropped to the mid 50’s, especially so as a thunderstorm rolled through, and we rolled down the windows and turned off the AC.

Just a few miles from camp, we spooked a cow moose on the road. By the time we reached our camp, the rain had stopped and set up camp. The Wolverine Basin has a large trailhead outfitted with a large parking lot and hitching posts. Nestled amongst rocky peaks, the Basin is a large open meadow surrounded by forest. While it was empty this weekend, I would expect that during hunting season, this would be a busy trailhead. We decided to camp in the trailhead parking lot, as it was empty and we doubted anyone would be joining us. We leveled Meadow, heated up dinner, and went for a walk.

The trail is a rough two track from the parking lot with a few campsites along it until it comes to a creek. At the creek crossing, the trail shrinks down to a reedy singletrack. A sign marks it as a motorized trailed, but with some date restrictions. A bull moose grazed in the large meadow before moving off as we walked down the trail.

The night got cool - perfect sleeping whether for us - and we snuggled under the blankets. In the morning we woke to clear skies. After our traditional pancake Saturday breakfast, we changed into our riding clothes and jumped on our bikes. We rode the trail up the Basin through the forest and open meadows. After another creek crossing, the trail heads up steeply and we had to push our bikes for 15 minutes before topping out on the ridge. We continued on through another open meadow filled with wildflowers and elk, before turning back and heading back to the trailhead.

Following lunch, we packed up the Meadow and Lark and drove up to the Gravelly Road further up on the mountain range. The Gravelly’s are beautiful, remote and full of wildlife. And we definitely need to do further exploration in this range. But that will wait for another time.

An Off Grid Weekend

A quick escape, a one tank adventure, an off grid weekend. I guess it doesn’t really matter what you call it, if in the end you come home with some new inside jokes, big smiles and perhaps a few bug bites, you know it’s a great weekend trip.

Friday afternoon we packed up the Meadow and Lark and headed south of Bozeman to one of our favorite places, the Taylor Fork. Bordered on the east side by the spectacular mountains of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, Taylor Creek is a fast moving creek that rolls through beautiful meadows and forests. With a pretty long dirt drive into the limited camping and absolutely no cell coverage, the crowds are mainly elk, deer and grizzly bears. It’s just the way we like it.

Friday evening we rolled into camp, leveled the Meadow and Lark and ate a quick dinner. And then we watched as a huge thunderstorm rolled over the mountains and into the valley where were camped. We watched lightning strike the mountains as rain pelted the Lark’s windows. The storm was fast moving and within just a few minutes the sky cleared as the alpenglow touched summits to the south and west. While we watched the sunset, we glassed for wildlife. Two young bull elk grazed through the meadow across the creek.

The evening was fresh and cool - perfect for sleeping under the thick blankets. And when Saturday morning dawned clear and crisp we were up and making our traditional weekend breakfast. Bacon sizzled in the skillet. We beat eggs and buttermilk with flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda and butter along with blueberries for our favorite buttermilk pancakes.

After breakfast we loaded our hydration packs with snacks, water and bear spray. Then we unloaded our bikes from the bike rack and rode up a trail on an abandoned logging road littered with elk prints and bear scat. We took our time climbing up the trail, stopping to scan the meadows for wildlife and gawk at wildflowers, and calling “Yo Bear!” loudly and frequently. We flushed several grouse through the spruce forests. Near the top of the trail, Brandon stopped and renewed his bear calls, as he saw a bear heading down the trail toward us. While it scampered away up the trail, it was too fast to determine whether it was a black bear or grizzly bear. After a fast downhill ride to the car, made some tacos for lunch.

Saturday afternoon was much of the same, with another fast moving thunderstorm rolling through camp. A full rainbow greeted us after the rain cleared and we were able to get a small campfire going while two deer strolled nearby.

Sunday morning warmed up quickly so we drove downstream to the trailhead for the Little Wapiti Trail. We snuck in a second mountain bike ride before the next thunderstorm rolled in. The Little Wapiti Trail winds through a meadow filled with my favorite wildlflowers: sticky geranium, lupine and larkspur. Frozen popsicles from Lark’s freezer were the perfect post ride treat.

And then, just like that we were back on the pavement and home. Two bike rides, three elk, three deer, one bear, lots of wildflowers, three thunderstorms, on less than a tank of gas, and no cell phone calls. Pretty much the perfect tally to the weekend.