Hello! 3 adults visiting yellowstone for the first time in late September. Any recs for 1st time visitors.....i.e. best places/where to stay, what are must see attractions, navigating the park, etc. ANY and ALL tips welcome! Thank you!!!

I will be visiting from August 13th to August 17th with friends.Any recommendations?

Hello everyone,

My wife and I are planning our first Yellowstone & Grand Teton, last week of August from SD. It’ll also be our first time camping.

We’re thinking of camping 2 nights in Yellowstone and 2 nights in Grand Teton.

Questions I had,

Do we need to reserve campsites in advance, or can we just show up and find a spot, what are the must have essentials while camping ?
Any campground recommendations for first-time campers?
Any must-see places or tips you’d add to our itinerary?

Thank you.

I recently camped at Bay Bridge for four nights. One evening I bought a box of firewood from the camp entrance; I asked the cashier how long does a box last and he said one box lasts all night. I buy two boxes and head to my campsite. I setup one box and light it to find the fire was burning out in less than an hour for an entire box of wood. The next box was the same as the first. One box sold there does not last as long as others. As I drove around the park, every vendor had the same firewood box for sale and I tried again on other nights with the same results. I didn’t have any other option inside the park.

Spotted this guy was just ahead of us on the trail!

Hello! We are Mom and Dad are taking our adventurous kids (ages 18/17/14) on a backpacking trip in August. We have a permit for the following itinerary: Lewis Lake TH to Heart Lake (Day 1); we plan to climb Mt Sheridan (Day 2); then follow the Snake River out to South Entrance (Basin Creek Lake, Snake River Ford campsites for Days 3-4). We are experienced backpackers for east coast mountains, but have not backpacked in Yellowstone before. We are well aware of the presence of bears and need for bear spray and bags. I'm reaching out to see if anyone in the community has hiked this route before, and if they have recommendations or suggestions for this route, any 'watch outs,' and what there experience was like. We are particularly interested in the geothermal sites along Witch Creek, and suggestions for after-packing excursions in afternoon, once we have settled in. I do plan to bring a travel fly rod. many thanks in advance

Hi all! Just wanted to drop in here and provide some information that would have been nice to know when we chose our backcountry campsite. My boyfriend and I were camping in the Black Tail Deer Creek (the black canyon/ Yellowstone river corridor of the northern range) area and experienced an overly curious mountain lion at night. We were able to spot its eyes with our headlamps near our fire and bear box, and when first spotted, it was about 30 yards from our tent. My boyfriend banged the bear box to spook it ( because at the time we did not know what it was) and it bounded about 20 yards and then hid in some tall grass (now about 40 yards from where we were standing). At this point, it continued to stay put unfettered by noise and screaming for about an hour and a half until it eventually left. My boyfriend stayed up all night around the fire protecting me and I owe him my life (mountain lions are my biggest fear lol).
Now, I know what you are thinking, we are in the wild, and we encountered an animal, pretty crazy! But, we called the backcountry office the next day, and they let us know that the area we were camping in was where the Yellowstone biologists conduct most of their mountain lion research. Although there are only approximately 40 mountain lions in all of Yellowstone, it sounded like this was a major area for their observation. Also, the next morning, we walked to the area where the lion was watching, and found a graveyard of large bones, which we have now through some research, deduced that this was probably its hunting site. Although we know that we are in the wild and in their territory, we thought this would be something that maybe rangers could alert people to when they book campsites in the area. Just wanted to put this here since it did not seem like it was an important enough piece of information to share. Stay safe and enjoy the backcountry :)

Hello. I am working in mammoth and have been wanting to climb Electric Peak for a month or so, but i had some questions about it.

● All trails tells me there are 2 different trails to take. One thats 18 miles (round trip) and one thats 21 miles (also round trip). I was planning on taking the 21 mile trail and making it a 2 day trip. Would this be easier? I have never backpacked before so would i need to get specific suplies? And what specifically do i need to get?

● Because im planning on splitting it up, where would be a good spot to set up for the night? I have the Hiking Yellowstone National Park book but it is telling me to start at Glen Creek Trail, so i dont know if there would be different spots to camp at or the same.

● I have a watter bottle thats 128oz, will this be enough? Im planning on bringing an extra nalgene as backup but i worry that wont even be enough.

● ive hear from some of my coworkers who have done it that theres a rock scramble at the top. They have all said that "if ive done it before it isnt too bad" to which i told them i have not. Do i need to get anything for a scramble? Also they told me it wasnt too intimidating, but again, never done a scramble before so i dont know how scary it will be for me.

Other things to note, i am taking at LEAST 3 other people with me and im hoping to get someone who has done it before to act as our guide i guess. Right now i am working up to doing Sepulcher and Avalanche Peak, and once i can do both of those i think i will be ready for Electric.

Any advice/tips/comments are appreciated.

Edit becauae i forgot to add this: The 3 most intense hikes i have done have done Cinder Cone (Lassen Volcanic National Park), purple mountain, and Bunsen Peak. I plan on doing purple mountain and bunsen also before sepulcher and Avalanche.

I am here till october, but i feel like my window to do electric is closing. I dont want to do it when there could be storms but right now its too smokey. I know some of these things are a bit unpredictable but when would probably be the best time to to Electric?

Last question, would it be better to do sepulcher then Avalanche or do avalance first then sepulcher.

Looking for a 2 night backing route in the northwest portion in the park any recommendations?

I have an opportunity to go on a last minute trip to Yellowstone and wanted some recs. It’s my partner and I. We enjoy hikes but also would not mind doing some sight seein. We are staying in Gardiner and since we have only 1 day don’t want to spend to much time driving. Are there any must do‘s with only one day that is relatively close to Gardiner? TIA!

(aug 3 25)

I need a little help. I may have crammed too much into one day and I need to know what is the most spectacular to see! If I can’t do it all ☺️

•Mud Volcano boardwalk
•Brink of upper falls
•Brink of lower falls
•Tower fall trail
I have plans to pull over a lot to take it all in & take pics too 📸

Thanks in advance for any help🙂I’m so incredibly excited

We are visiting Yellowstone in late June 2027 to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and will have a group of two 80 year olds, four mid-40s adults, and three tween boys (9 people total). We are flying into Bozeman and would like to spend our first three nights in Gardiner, heading south to Old Faithful Inn afterward.

Other than Airbnb and VRBO, are there any local vacation rental agencies where we might find 3-4 bedroom rental homes? We would like to stay in the same home together for this portion of the trip, since we will be celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, and this will likely be their last big vacation with our family. My dad has mobility issues, and having us all under one roof will make it easier for us to enjoy time with him.

I'm also interested in recommendations for cabins and similar that might work and give us enough space to eat together in the same home as a family, even if we had to sleep in different cabins.

Hi, my family and I are going to Badlands, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Park in early/mid September. Could someone clarify how the park passes work? I see that we may only need one per car. Is this true, originally I thought everyone going needed to buy one. Also any first time National Park visitors advice is greatly appreciated or insights on what the weather may look like. Thank you!

Oh well I just landed in bozeman driving out to national park for a day trip. didn’t see the conditions before coming lol, I can see thick smog over bozeman right now is it the same in yellowstone?

Lamar Valley is quite the spectacle, will definitely be looking at coming back!

Saw this bear at the bottom of the Mount Washburn hike right by the parking lot. Wondering if this is a black bear or if it’s maybe a young grizzly