First Come First Serve Yellowstone

We knew we had to get to Yellowstone early in the day if we wanted to secure a first-come-first-serve campsite in the park, so we set alarms and were back on the road again by 5:20am.

Early morning wake-up call!  At least it wasn't windy any more

Joey received a handheld vintage Oregon Trail video game and we’ve been taking turns playing it while driving. It definitely feels like on this trip we have set our pace to “grueling” - haha! The kids were lucky enough to be able to continue sleeping for a couple more hours. We pulled in for a rest stop at about 7:15 am and everyone went to the bathroom, and we let the kids all pick out a candy treat for being such good troopers.

We found a website where you can check which Yellowstone campsites had filled up, and another website that ranked the campsites, and had planned to refer to both as we approached Yellowstone so that we knew where to head to have the best chance of securing a campsite. We did not anticipate that in Wyoming we would have almost no cell service, so that kind of threw a wrinkle in the plans. We were only able to get online to check the websites in major cities on the way, and then it went dark. We had hoped to get a site in Norris, but the drive to Yellowstone was taking longer than we thought, and that campground filled up. Based on what was available that day, we were torn between Indian Creek and Mammoth. Indian Creek was ranked higher, but only had vault toilets; Mammoth had flushing toilets, but was a further drive, and had filled faster the previous day, so it was riskier that we wouldn’t get a spot. We decided to try for Indian Creek, and when we arrived at about 1:45 pm there were only about a dozen spots left. All the campgrounds at Yellowstone fill up every night, so we felt lucky to have a spot in the park at all - our original plans were to arrive before noon, but I guess it’s not surprising that things don’t always go according to plan!

Our campsite was pretty spectacular though. It felt very private and secluded and the pine smell in the air was amazing. We backed up to the woods and the kids were able to scavenge for some firewood (“dead and down”, according to the park ranger, was okay to collect). We set up our tent, hung up a hammock outside for fun, put out chairs and our table, hung up some wet things to dry - settled in at Yellowstone! We had lunch and rested a little while. We knew that Yellowstone tends to get the most busy and crowded and hot in the middle of the day, so we took our time and relaxed at the campsite. We had to be very careful about food and dishes being put away - this is bear country and there are warnings everywhere. Every campsite had a “bear box” where you could store anything that bears might be interested.

Buffalo crossing! They were running much faster than I thought

We headed north to the nearby Mammoth area and fueled up the van. Gas was comparatively expensive in Yellowstone - $3.19/gal.

At the Mammoth visitor center we bought the kids Junior Ranger booklets to complete. They cost $3 here - a bit surprising since they have been free at the other parks we visited. But these books were higher quality I guess. We also spoke to a ranger who gave us some great tips on which sites to hit up earlier or later in the day to avoid the crowds. Yellowstone is busiest between 10am and 6pm each day, so he recommended trying to get to the sites with smaller parking lots outside of those hours. We planned to wake up early and drive the “Grand Loop” around Yellowstone. The Fountain Paint Pots, Midwest Geyser Basin, and Norris Geyser Basin he said would have very limited parking, and to try to get there earlier in the day or later in the evening. We also wanted to see Old Faithful and West Thumb Geyser Basin and the Mud Volcano, but the ranger said those sites were more developed and better able to handle larger crowds, so we were going to try to hit those in the middle of the day.

Golden Gate Canyon. Photos don't do this park justice

The Mammoth visitor center is the only place in Yellowstone where there is Wifi available, so I got on my computer and frantically tried to answer as many business emails and messages as I could. Unfortunately I only had about an hour before the visitor center closed, but I did my best. We have a great team of people we work with back home, so I just need to remind myself that it’s okay to step away from work for a few days to spend some much needed time with family. Not only is there no Wifi, there is also no cell service at all in most of the park, so it forced us to disconnect from technology and reconnect with nature and with each other, so it’s probably a good thing.


On the way back to our campsite, we stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs area, since we probably wouldn't be coming back to the area. Once again, the pictures don't do justice to the springs, but it was incredible. There are so many springs in one area, and the landscape is always changing unpredictably, so some spring cascades were flowing freely and some looked dried up.

Joey carefully feeling the heat from a vent in the rock

Roadside grazing

We got back to our campsite after a long day, had a small campfire using the wood we found behind our tent site, made PB&J sandwiches for dinner, and went to bed. We have a busy day planned for tomorrow, so we're gonna have to be up early once again.