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.