🐻 Yellowstone National Park -- what's new in 2021!

hey guys we are shawn and christy this is long long honeymoon and this week we have a fantastic topic for you yellowstone national park this time of year a lot of people are planning trips to yellowstone many are going for the first time and we receive a lot of questions how many days do you need in yellowstone to really do it right we actually probably get this question at least once a day if not more it's kind of an overwhelming place to visit and hopefully after watching this video you'll have some direction as far as where you should go what you should plan on things you should consider i've been going to yellowstone for more than three decades and in fact on my head you see an artifact from the early 90s i worked in the park for two summers uh summer of 91 in the summer of 93. and i'm pretty sure i got this cap in 91. and it looks like it probably came from the clearance rack even then so it probably was designed in like 1984. it must have because i have it not only in green but also in blue yeah if you have two of them it was definitely on the clearance yellowstone for the longest time had this great slogan oldest and best because yellowstone is the oldest national park it was the world's first national park it probably looks a little better if you've never been to yellowstone before the first thing you should understand is its size it is a massive park 2.2 million acres or i think it's like 3 500 square miles it's larger than the state of rhode island which a lot of places are of course so are many walmart parking lots but yellowstone is so big that if you've never been there when you go expecting a quote-unquote park a normal park even a national park you may be overwhelmed at the sheer size of the thing and it's very deceptive to look at things on a map in fact i have a little map of the park right here and you think oh you know from this part to this part well that's not that far on the map if you go from old faithful to grand canyon of the yellowstone now those two things on this map are not that far apart it's about 42 miles or 44 miles from one to the other but it will take you about an hour and a half to make that drive and that's if traffic conditions are perfect they're not doing any road construction and you don't get caught in a bison jam the thing to know about yellowstone not only is it a massive park there is one basic road that goes through the park and forms a figure eight all the visitors yellowstone are using that sort of one road system yeah and you just can't go very fast in yellowstone quite often the speed limits will be 35 or 45 miles per hour and quite often there will be wildlife near the road causing what are frequently known as bison jams bison may come out and stand on the road and they may stand on the road for 15 or 20 minutes or an hour can really slow things down so you can't go from point a to point b quickly in yellowstone but remember that's what you're there for you're there to soak it all in so when you see the bison jam stop and take some pictures and enjoy it because that's the beauty of yellowstone the wildlife that you see there is so incredible and it's not something that you can plan for it's just something that you have to keep your eyes open for and so you have to take the opportunity when you see it because if you see a bear on the side of the road you better stop and take a picture of it because you may not see a bear again your whole trip you just don't know what's going to happen where so you've got the points of interest that you're trying to check off but just remember the in-between spots are where you're going to see that wildlife and what you want to factor in time and know that there is a dedicated yellowstone app yes and actually i highly recommend everybody download this there's a national park service app that covers all national parks but yellowstone has their own app that is just for yellowstone it's so important to download this before you get there because once you're in yellowstone cell service is extremely spotty it's not reliable at all because hey you're in a national park that's 2.2 million acres so no big shocker that you're not going to have great cell service there but once you have that app you've got interactive maps you've got live updates of the campgrounds like what's filling what still has availability you've got information on when the geysers are going to erupt yes they can predict some of those so you can know if you need to truck on over if you've got a little time lots of really important good information on there audio tours guided audio tours so you can get specific information about whatever you're looking at by listening to your little app it's available on apple and on android so don't leave home without downloading that app because we all have different amounts of time when we're traveling and i've said before time is the ultimate luxury when you travel we have considered trips to yellowstone in terms of short trips medium length trips and longer trips we're calling three days a short trip and when i say three days i mean three full days not like arriving in the afternoon we're saying it's gonna take you three full days to really see these things and do them properly and soak it in soak it in enjoy it not be absolutely just run ragged at the end of the day you're going to be tired no matter what but there's a difference and tired and just flat out exhausted so we want you to enjoy your time there if you only have roughly three days to see yellowstone we have the the big three things that i think you want to put on your list they're kind of centrally located within the park kind of in that middle corridor area number one which is probably the most famous stop in all of yellowstone would be old faithful old faithful has of course the old faithful geyser that you're going to want to see there's the old faithful in there there's a lot of hiking around that area where you can see many other geysers that will erupt yeah to that point if you're at old faithful i encourage you not only to spend some quality time inside old faithful inn which is a national treasure but also to visit old faithful geyser basin there are a lot of fantastic geysers right behind the old faithful so take an hour to to stroll that geyser basin because it's really incredible it's a boardwalk that just runs right behind old faithful geyser and a lot of people just completely dismiss it but you'll see a lot of other cool things on that walk and it doesn't really take that long like you said maybe an hour and a half or so there are other trails you can do from there that will take longer the other thing is there's a visitor center there at old faithful inn next door that's really nice and new and so there's a lot of information you can learn about the park by spending a little bit of time inside that visitor center that's right and that's a relatively new construction visitor center the next place we absolutely recommend that you can't miss is the grand canyon of the yellowstone to me it's one of the prettiest canyons that i've ever seen anywhere certainly one of the most beautiful in north america may not be as large as the grand canyon but it has a unique beauty all its own there are unique colors in the sandstone there and really a couple of strikingly beautiful waterfalls especially the lower falls of the grand canyon the yellowstone something you may not expect at the grand canyon yellowstone it's one of the higher elevation points in the park if you think of a canyon you might be thinking you're going down into a lower elevation but actually you're already up on top of this super volcano kind of looking down into the canyon right so the air is noticeably more thin but if you want to get closer to the lower falls for example there are several hikes you can take that will take you down to those falls but the trip back up is going to take you a little while because you're probably going to be sucking wind on your way out of there and it can be really cold at the grand canyon and yellowstone because like you said it is at a much higher elevation so you could be visiting the north part of the park like mammoth where the temperatures are very usually moderate and then you go to the grand canyon and yellowstone and it might be 30 degrees colder there so it's something to think about when you're packing your clothes not only is the grand canyon just an amazing place to go visit and there are many different scenic viewpoints that you need to visit around the rim of the canyon but you're in kind of a central location i mean from the canyon you could go south to lake you could go north up to mount washburn or you could go west to norris so it's kind of a central junction point so if you're looking for a campground that's very centrally located the canyon campground is a good one they can accommodate a lot of bigger rigs you just have to look online and see what you find because it's higher elevation there by the way we've been there before when it's been snowing at the grand canyon yellowstone and sometimes it may not be snowing elsewhere in the park but it's snowing up there yes one other place that you can visit when you're in that area of grand canyon and yellowstone is hayden valley and that's an area where you're probably likely to see wildlife it's not a certain destination point it's just an area that you're going to drive through depending on the route that you take and it's just worth spending some time there yeah hayden valley is immediately south of the grand canyon yellowstone only a few miles really and if you're going to lake from grand canyon yellowstone you're going to be going through hayden valley we pretty much always see bison there and we have also seen wolves in that area and you know we've also seen you remember we saw the great gray owl yes at grand canyon the yellowstone yeah that was really fantastic so hayden valley to me is a very reliable place to go for wildlife viewing i personally have had probably more wildlife experiences there at least in terms of bison and wolves than i have in a lot of other parts of the park next up on our list for the the shortest trip would be the grand prismatic spring this is in the madison area of the park so kind of close to old faithful kind of close to grand canyon and yellowstone so that sort of makes a good little loop there for you but grand prismatic spring is probably one of the most photographed spots in the park it is that large pool that just has all the amazing colors in it and then there are several other attractions that are near there that you would want to stop and see but that's sort of like the big one there's actually a little hiking trail near grand prismatic spring where you can get a little bit more of a upper elevation view or a higher view because when you're standing down there at eye level with the spring in my opinion you don't really get the full impact of it because if you look at you know most of the photos you see of the spring are from directly overhead but you can't fly your drone in yellowstone but it's still one of those sort of bucket list type of experiences you have to go see it and to do that hike that he's talking about you actually don't do it from right where the grand prismatic spring is there's like i don't know you drive a couple of miles down and there's another parking lot that has a walk out to the trail that will take you up to that higher elevation so that you can look out and see the grand prismatic spring down below speaking of parking just something you should know parking can be pretty challenging in yellowstone during peak tourist season especially if you have a larger vehicle or a larger rv rig yeah we really don't recommend towing your rig or being in like a big class a or something while you're trying to stop and see these things because the parking is so limited and of course parking for larger vehicles is really limited it's just gonna really make it a lot more stressful for you so definitely unhitch from your travel trailer or your fifth wheel or drive your toad if you have a class a and that way you just have easier maneuverability within the park and and finding those parking spaces yeah if you have the opportunity to get into a smaller vehicle to navigate through yellowstone you'll be better off we'll put it that way and if you or somebody that you don't want to do the driving at all yellowstone does offer guided tours if you go to the national park service website for yellowstone they have a whole section about guided tours they have those sort of classic vehicles from like the 40s that have the roll top that open up that you can ride in and they have a tour guide that tells you everything you need to know and you just sit back and relax and enjoy the view so if that's something that would appeal to you that is something that is offered there so that kind of wraps up what we would call a shorter trip to yellowstone three days we pegged it at three days now i know there are going to be some people who will blow through all three of those places in one day and you could do that good and it would sort of be like that moment in the vacation movie with chubby jace when they see the grand canyon remember they stop and they look at it and they go like that then they run back to the car and drive away i mean if you want to do it like that you totally can we're just trying to share with you to really experience it i think you could do it but it is going to be a very long exhausting day you need to start at sunrise and you know plan on going until dark and by the way after dark you're not going to see much of yellowstone there's not much in terms of lighting anywhere so don't plan on doing a whole lot of sightseeing after dark other than stars so if you have a couple of extra days so let's say maybe you have five days to see the park so of course you want to see the first three things we talked about and then we're gonna add in the norris geyser basin that part of the park is really cool it's a lot of like hot pots and like little volcanoes and just really interesting geothermal activity that's going on in yellowstone personally i love norris geyser basin and i don't think you should miss it i mean if you're going to the park for the first time i would definitely circle that one too sure and be sure to visit because there are some really unusual fascinating just weird geothermal activity in there and then the next thing we would recommend if you've got the five days is to definitely do mammoth hot springs and that north entrance where you'll see the historic roosevelt arch entrance to the park that's just a really unique piece of american history and mammoth hot springs is its own unique weird geothermal destination i like mammoth hot springs because i have many fond memories uh visiting there because just north of mammoth hot springs you're going to find hot pots where you can actually get into the water in yellowstone now all this may be changed slightly depending on whether or not there's a pandemic happening at the time but there is a place right outside mammoth where you can put on your swimsuit and get in and enjoy some natural warm spring water coming in to the boiling river yeah we actually did a video on that a few years ago if you scroll back through the longland honeymoon archives there's also a fun little town called gardner montana that's just outside the park out of that entrance and you can find some pretty good little restaurants in gardner some craft beer grocery stores full hookup campgrounds if you need that yeah check out k bar if you want some good pizza in gardiner one other thing to mention in mammoth hot springs you're also going to find fort yellowstone which is actually now the park headquarters also in mammoth hot springs if you happen to break the law and get arrested and thrown into jail that is the park jail yeah that's where you're going to jail and that's where you'll see the judge and i don't know once you get sentenced do you just like spend your your term in the yellowstone jail i don't know that might be kind of cool i don't know if i'd say it's cool yellowstone rather than the other option i actually had a roommate when i was working in yellowstone who did get arrested and he did get taken to the yellowstone jail he was quite a character he was my roommate for about 24 hours by the way thank goodness it didn't last longer than that and in that 24 hours i got to hear his life story it was fascinating all right let's say that you have an even longer period of time to visit yellowstone maybe a full week what are some of the other places that you would want to visit on my list i i mentioned tower falls i think that's a really cool spot to stop and see it doesn't take long to see tower falls so you could definitely add it in if you had a shorter trip also lamar valley so we've pulled over into a turnout here in the lamar valley this is in the northeastern portion of yellowstone national park and for many this is maybe a little bit of a hidden gem because it's you have to go a little bit off the main loop to get up here and a lot of people don't make that detour basically you go towards the northeast out of roosevelt junction but in the lamar valley you can see all different kinds of wildlife in theory if you're lucky you will see not only bison and elk but also wolves and black bears if you're lucky a lot of people that we meet see a lot of great wildlife in lamar valley we haven't been quite as fortunate on that front but we also haven't probably spent as much time there as we have in other parts of the park yeah many people tell me that lamar valley is their favorite portion of the park i do think there are more wolves up there so if you really want to go find wolves then that may be the place to look and by the way you can talk to rangers and ask them where the wildlife has been spotted recently something that happens every year in yellowstone is there will be a carcass somewhere like for example a bison carcass or an elk carcass especially those bison carcasses because they're huge and grizzly bears will come in and feed off the carcass and sometimes wolves may come in and feed off the carcass for days and so it will be a guaranteed place to spot grizzly bears for example you never know when that's going to happen right it does seem to happen every year and we've been very fortunate at times to see some just incredible grizzly bear encounters rangers will also share with you places to avoid and areas that there's been too much bear activity and so it's not safe for you to go there anymore usually those hikes are labeled like they'll have a sign at the beginning of the trailhead that says this you know this trail is closed there's been too much bear activity it's not safe for people to hike this area if you have seven or more days in the park i think that's when you want to start looking at booking some of the experiences that you can do in the park like there's a chuck wagon dinner that you can do i think it's out of roosevelt area there's also horseback riding you can do within the park so those kind of things i think when you have more time to sort of go at a leisurely pace that's when you can start thinking about booking those kind of things because you just want to really soak in all the options that are out there and i always strongly encourage people to do a little bit of hiking in yellowstone if you look at yellowstone there are dozens and dozens of hiking trails that you can explore the number one complaint we often hear about yellowstone from first-time visitors is that there's too many people there were so many people there well if you get on those hiking trails quite often you won't find too many people most of the people going to yellowstone seem to go from parking lot to parking lot and they go out and do the walkways which is fine but they don't spend the time to get out and hike some of these trails and sometimes they can't because if they're on guided tours and the big tour buses then they're kind of locked into a schedule and can't do that you however may be able to do that and i think you will get a different perspective on the park when you get away from the crowds just a bit and get on some of those trails note to self we've been going to yellowstone for about 30 years we have stayed in most of the campgrounds we can stand we've seen all the sights but there are still a number of great trails we have not explored so personally my goal when we visit yellowstone later this year is to pick at least one trail that we've never hiked and get out and explore it and we really have to force ourselves to make that a priority because it's so easy to just get sucked into the big exciting spots like the grand prismatic spring or old faithful or whatever but yeah it's getting out into sort of those off the beaten path areas stay on the path don't leave the path that's another thing in yellowstone that's really important because of the geothermal activity there don't leave the trail especially if it's a boardwalk trail because that is usually a big flashing sign that there's thermal activity in the area and it's not safe for you to walk on the ground because you could fall through and end up burning yourself to death and sadly that happens on a regular basis even if people aren't scalded to death a lot of people suffer severe burns because they ignore the warning signs and walk off the trail when you go to yellowstone for the first time you may not realize there are typically no guard rails you know there's nothing really preventing you from stepping off these wooden boardwalks and just walking out across the geyser basin and people have done that some people have rolled the dice and have gotten away with it some people were not so lucky and they disappeared we're dissolved in sulfuric acid and we're never seen again yeah and it's something for you parents out there to really be aware of if you have a really small kids there are certain areas that you want to have them by the hand at all times which i know is difficult to do but it's just such a treacherous place where you know you step off the boardwalk two feet and you could be in boiling water so really have a conversation with your kids about how serious it is to stay on the marked trails in those areas and that also goes for pets i mean maybe you don't have to have the conversation with your pets but keep an eye on them because if your pets run away from you first of all they could jump into a pool of boiling water secondly they run away and are gone for too long the rangers will actually hunt them down and terminate them wow this video turned dark in a hurry didn't it yellowstone look i know they're going to be a lot of people who say i went to yellowstone and i saw everything in a day and if you did that you know i guess more power to you but i think you probably didn't enjoy it very much well i think it would just be constant movement and it would be almost stressful as opposed to you know really sinking your teeth in and enjoying your visit i mean you're on a vacation so have it at a pace where it's enjoyable just don't get overwhelmed and try to see everything in one visit you know like frank sinatra said always leave him wanting more yeah i was thinking it's kind of like going to the louvre in paris right i mean it's a fantastic museum and i know that a lot of people they go in the door and then they sprint to see the mona lisa and then they turn around and they sprint right out maybe swinging past the venus de milo on the way out but so a lot of people would say to really enjoy and appreciate the louvre or enjoy paris you need to take a more leisurely approach and so that's all we're saying about yellowstone it's not that you couldn't maybe drive around and breeze through some of these places more quickly but i don't know if you're really experiencing the park properly if you do that i think you'll enjoy it more if you are realistic about the amount of time you have in the park and you choose a few things to focus on just be realistic about what you want to do and what's important to you and don't feel like you have to do everything so we've talked about a lot of the great sites that you're going to see in yellowstone i wanted to briefly discuss wildlife because a lot of people go really hoping to have some great wildlife viewing i think you're guaranteed to see bison in hayden valley i think you're guaranteed to see elk in mammoth hot springs because the elk know they can go there and be safe from the wolves i think wolves i would look towards lamar valley and for grizzlies i would look to the northern portions of the park between tower and mammoth that's where i have seen the most bears both grizzlies and black bears there are also grizzly bears in the lake region of yellowstone and i've seen some there if you're going to see moose you're probably not going to see any moose you need to go south to grand teton national park and you can see lots of moose down there and if you're looking for bighorn sheep you can see them on mount washburn sometimes and also in those rocky mountainous areas north of mammoth hot springs just outside of gardner montana we see them there pretty frequently with that said talking about bears earlier if you were going to do any hiking in yellowstone absolutely 100 you need to have bear spray it's not a casual suggestion it is something you absolutely need to have on your person at the ready not stuffed in a bag somewhere it needs to be on your hip because you don't have time to dig in a bag for it if a bear is charging you and you can now rent bear spray in yellowstone so if you don't want to buy bear spray bear spray is not cheap sadly but you can rent it now in certain parts of yellowstone so that's it guys highlights of yellowstone national park and a discussion of how to maximize your time in yellowstone national park there's a lot to see in yellowstone you need to prioritize and just understand it's going to take you some time to get to some of these different places figure out what's most important to you and be sure to thoroughly enjoy your trip what about you guys do you have any recommendations tips you'd like to share with our audience please post a comment let us know what you thought about yellowstone how many days did you spend there did you breeze through in six hours or did you dig in for six months all right guys if you guys enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up down below if you hated it give it a thumbs down i mean you know be honest if you haven't yet subscribe to our channel please do so we would appreciate it so much we would love to have you be part of loloho nation and until next time what do we say we say lovely guys that's cool the bears are scary but they're way over on the other side of the lake [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Long Long Honeymoon

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Keywords: airstream, rv, camping, travel, loloho

Id: G-mxcvT5Huw

Length: 28min 27sec (1707 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021