If you have visited Yellowstone NP come on in please

[LAS in LA]

When visiting 30 years ago, I remember my siblings and I begging our parents to stop along the road so we could get out, point into the distance (at nothing in particular), and see how many people we could get to stop and ask what we were looking at. 😁 I can’t even remember if they let us try it or not.

14 hours ago, Tiberia said:

or for groups of people with spotting scopes- which indicates that there's something to see. 

 

[mommyoffive]

I hear Island Park come up a lot in Airbnbs, is that a good area? 

[plansrme]

7 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I hear Island Park come up a lot in Airbnbs, is that a good area? 

We also looked at Island Park for this year's trip, but before this year, I'd never heard of it before. I had actually booked a cabin there before the host pulled the listing. What I learned is that it is pretty far from the West Entrance (40 miles, maybe?) and that parts of it are much, much farther than others. IP is a super-long, very narrow strip of land on each side of a highway. After the host pulled her listing, I found somewhere in West Yellowstone, where we've stayed before. West Yellowstone is walkable and has a grocery store, restaurants and a few shops (although no one goes there to shop). I don't think IP has much in the way of amenities, and it is not walkable. On the other hand, it seemed to be close to ATV trails and fishing areas.

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, plansrme said:

We also looked at Island Park for this year's trip, but before this year, I'd never heard of it before. I had actually booked a cabin there before the host pulled the listing. What I learned is that it is pretty far from the West Entrance (40 miles, maybe?) and that parts of it are much, much farther than others. IP is a super-long, very narrow strip of land on each side of a highway. After the host pulled her listing, I found somewhere in West Yellowstone, where we've stayed before. West Yellowstone is walkable and has a grocery store, restaurants and a few shops (although no one goes there to shop). I don't think IP has much in the way of amenities, and it is not walkable. On the other hand, it seemed to be close to ATV trails and fishing areas.

Thank you so much!!

[skywards]

On 5/25/2021 at 7:43 PM, BeachGal said:

I just asked my family members out there and they said that usually it is safe to drive but that a late snowstorm could make the drive less safe. Montana does not typically salt their roads and you could hit patches of black ice. However, my guess is that by May you’d be fine.

Here are two links that provide road updates in Montana that you might want to bookmark:

https://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/hwy191/

https://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/511.shtml

 

 

We just had snow here in MT like 2 days ago, its hit or miss this time of year.  Correct about the no road salt! Proceed with caution and make sure you're driving something thats good in snow as you really never know what you'll find. Lots of the old timers swear they've seen snow on the flats in every month of the year. Also it can get CHILLY at night year round. Bring pants and sweatshirts and maybe even a decent jacket. 

[NewnameC]

This thread made me go back and look the pictures from our Memorial Day trip. It snowed on Memorial Day; I also have a pictures of my kids building snowmen and having a snowball fight at the hotel.

[Hyacinth]

This thread made me go back and look at photos from our trip, too. Now I want to go back.

[mommyoffive]

Sounds like a Hive meetup place!

[Ottakee]

22 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I hear Island Park come up a lot in Airbnbs, is that a good area? 

We stayed in Island Park but that was after Yellowstone and on our way to somewhere else.

You need to remember that 40 miles in the mountains might take WAY longer than 40 miles on the highway.

[Lilaclady]

Yellowstone is my absolute favorite national park. It’s got pretty much everything- the bison, the geysers, the waterfalls, the vegetation- just spectacular. We did a Midwest thing some years back and that was absolutely enjoyable. So many different animals, we went to badlands so saw lots of prairie dogs too. 
we stayed at a small cabin on the northeast entrance in Montana in Silver gate/ Cooke city. We found it through Airbnb. It was a small city. 

[plansrme]

57 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

We stayed in Island Park but that was after Yellowstone and on our way to somewhere else.

You need to remember that 40 miles in the mountains might take WAY longer than 40 miles on the highway.

So true, especially at night. I drove from West Yellowstone to Bozeman (about 90 miles) to get my daughter to her early morning flight out of Bozeman. The weather was fine, and I am a confident driver--snow, rain, hail, bring it on; but this was harrowing. It was so incredibly dark, and the road was so twisty. I was convinced I was about to slam into an elk for the whole 90 miles. Thank goodness the sun came up for the drive back.

[BeachGal]

On 5/26/2021 at 9:27 PM, skywards said:

We just had snow here in MT like 2 days ago, its hit or miss this time of year.  Correct about the no road salt! Proceed with caution and make sure you're driving something thats good in snow as you really never know what you'll find. Lots of the old timers swear they've seen snow on the flats in every month of the year. Also it can get CHILLY at night year round. Bring pants and sweatshirts and maybe even a decent jacket. 

Yep, yep. It snowed a few inches in Yellowstone mid-June the first time I took my husband out there. He still talks about it decades later. lol

Beartooth Basin (and Highway) are often open for skiing in summer, too. Some ski over the highway. Only for crazies and experts!

https://snowbrains.com/skiers-boarders-jumping-beartooth/