14 Yellowstone Tips To Help Plan Your Park Visit

Tips For Visiting Yellowstone

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1. Bring Binoculars

Trust us, you’ll want a good pair of binoculars for spotting wildlife. Bison tend to be right next to the road or in some cases, right in the middle of the road, but for animals like Elk, Bears, Wolves, and Moose, they stay tucked away from crowds. To see a bear strolling through the valley or a moose crossing a river, you’ll want a good pair of binoculars to see that off-in-the-distance animal up close.

2. Start Your Day Early, Especially If You Want To See Wildlife

The best time to see wildlife is in the morning. So best get up before sunrise and make your way to Hayden Valley or Lamar Valley to catch wildlife. Plus, seeing a Yellowstone sunrise is never a bad thing. For us, we found bringing a thermos full of hot coffee helped with the chilly mornings and our tired eyes.

3. Pack Your Lunch & Bring Snacks

If you’re tight on time or looking to make the most of your time in the park, packing a lunch is always a great idea. It’ll save you time (and money) from stopping at one of Yellowstone’s in-park restaurants or, having to venture outside of the park for food.

Plan to have a cooler with you and pack it full of snacks, your lunch, and beverages. You can plan to nice little picnic at one of the many pull-offs along the park or by Yellowstone Lake.

4. Stay Up To Date On Yellowstone Road Closures

Yellowstone has frequent road construction, so to avoid any bumps in your Yellowstone itinerary, know if there are any road closures that could affect your route. Yellowstone’s National Park website is the best place to stay up-to-date on road construction projects.

5. Don’t Underestimate The Time It Takes To Get To Yellowstone Attractions & Visit Them

We’ve been to Yellowstone twice now and we always seem to forget just how much time it can take to get places! Seriously, this place is big! Be it the distance/miles, the traffic jams due to animal sightings, or the time it can take to find a parking spot, definitely allow yourself extra time to get to different attractions within Yellowstone.

Plus, not to mention once you’re at your destination, allow yourself the time to explore the area you’re in! For instance, the boardwalks around the Geysers are long and do take some time to walk. Enjoy your time in the park. Don’t rush through it!

6. Respect The Wildlife & Be Bear Aware

Please, whatever you do, do not get up and close to wildlife. It seems like a no-brainer, but every time we’ve been to Yellowstone, there are always people that get a little too close to the wildlife. Not only are wildlife WILD, but provoking them can cause harm to yourself, your group, or the animal itself.

Enjoy wildlife from the proper distance and make sure you have binoculars with you if you want to get a closer look.

Now, for being bear aware, it just simply means you are in bear country, and bears LOVE food. Do not leave food in your truck bed or displayed in your campsites or RV sites. Keep it locked up in bear proof containers and you’ll be just fine.

7. Layer Up

One of our biggest Yellowstone tips is layers. People can forget that just because your visiting Yellowstone during hotter months, doesn’t mean it’ll be hot in Yellowstone. Trust us, you’ll want a jacket.

Yellowstone is chilly and can be downright cold in the mornings and evenings. Bring a jacket or fleece that you can easily pull on and off as the temperatures change throughout the day.

8. Leave No Waste

Ok, not really a tip but we definitely wanted to drop in this reminder. Please do not litter. Don’t be “that person”. You should always be leaving nature better than you found it. Also, if you see trash, please pick it up. Yellowstone is a space for everyone to enjoy. She’s beautiful, so please, let’s keep her that way.

9. Know The Best Time To See Old Faithful

If you’re looking to escape the crowds of Old Faithful, plan to watch the geyser erupt in the morning. If you’re staying at Old Faithful Inn, you can check the estimated eruption time at the visitor center or Old Faithful’s twitter feed to plan your morning visit. Please know that times are not accurate so plan to show up 10 minutes (at least) before the next guessed eruption.

10. Book Yellowstone Accommodations & Tours In Advance

Yellowstone is one of the most visited National Parks in the U.S., meaning things book up fast. If you’re wanting to stay inside the park or just outside the park, we recommend making your reservations at least 6 months in advance. Once you have your planned reservations confirmed, it’ll be easy to plan your itinerary and route from there.

Same goes for any Yellowstone tours your looking to take. Definitely make booking your accommodations your first priority, followed by any Yellowstone tours you may be interested in booking.

11. Cell Reception Doesn’t Exist

No lie. Getting texts or calls out while in Yellowstone is a tall task. With so many people in the park, everyone is trying to use the same little reception the park has. To avoid getting in a bind, plan to download anything you need before entering the park like:

Podcasts or music playlists to listen to as you drive
Maps of the park – maps.me is our go to
Any accommodation confirmations you may need

Also, it’s not a bad idea to let anyone who may try and get ahold of you that you are going into Yellowstone and will have limited to no cell reception. We don’t want anyone worrying about you 🙂

12. Have A Plan

There is a lot to see and do in Yellowstone Park and depending on how much time you have, you may not get to experience it all. It’s best to plan ahead to know 1) what sights you absolutely consider are your must-see 2) What are the nice-to-see’s and then 3) plan your route based on this.

Check out our Yellowstone itinerary to help you plan an amazing route!

Not gonna lie. The first time we went to Yellowstone, we winged it. We stopped as we pleased and ended up missing some pretty great spots, like West Thumb Basin. When we came back, we had a plan of attack and route to make sure we saw what we wanted.

13. Know How To Avoid The Yellowstone Crowds

The last on our list of Yellowstone tips is the infamous question, “how to avoid crowds in Yellowstone.” To be honest, it’s sorta unavoidable, especially if going during peak season.

Tip 1 is to go during the shoulder seasons. Think mid-May to the end of May or after Labor Day weekend in September. We went the first week in October and it snowed, some facilities were closed but crowds were far and few in between. We loved our early October trip.
Tip 2 is to start early. Not a lot of people are morning birds. So if you can get up and the morning at first light, the earlier you get to popular sights like Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful, the fewer crowds you’ll encounter.

14. Be Patient

If you happen to be visiting Yellowstone during its peak season (summer months), be prepared to practice your patience. There will be lots of visitors who, just like you, want to see the best of Yellowstone and snap some incredible pictures.

There will be traffic jams due to animals crossing the road. You may have trouble finding a parking spot that may require you to circle the lot a few more times or park down the road. You may have to wait behind a few slow walkers on the geyser boardwalks, but just remember you’re in a beautiful place so enjoy it.

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For more travel tips, guides and awesome travel shots, be sure to poke around our site, follow us on Instagram @wanderingstus, Pinterest and on Facebook. Oh and if you have any questions, let us know in the comment section. We’re happy to answer. Or, just leave us a positive note!

Happy Travels,

– Lauren & Jesse Stuart (The Stüs)