Yellowstone is massive. So massive you could spend a week there. BUT, if you don’t have a week or you have a very antsy symphony in the backseat, Yellowstone in 2 days is not only doable, it’s necessary. This itinerary will get you to all the main attractions within the park in just 2 days…AND wow your often hard-to-please cargo.
The Lay of the Land
All of Yellowstone’s major sights are located on or near the 142-mile Grand Loop Drive. This drive is shaped like a figure 8 — or two stacked circles — referred to as the Upper Loop and Lower Loop, and is a convenient way to break up the park in 2 separate days.
We rented a cozy Air BnB on Bills Island in Island Park, ID, about a 25-minute drive to the West Yellowstone entrance, so each Loop itinerary starts from this vantage point.
Yellowstone Day 1 – The Lower Loop
About 15 miles into the park from the West Yellowstone entrance you’ll come to Madison Junction, this is where you can decide to go north to the Upper Loop or south to the Lower Loop. We decided to start day 1 with the Lower Loop, and hand-over-fist, this loop was our favorite. It has a LOT of highlights, but we didn’t get to all of them due to a later start, bad timing and some impatience, so we opted to bypass a few here and there. Here’s what we did stop to explore:
- Midway Geyser Basin with Grand Prismatic Spring
- Upper Geyser Basin with Old Faithful
- Kepler Cascades
- West Thumb
- Hayden Valley
- Mud Volcano and Sulphur Cauldron
Pro Tip: Pack your lunch as food options are few and far between…and we all know what happens when the hangries show up.
Geysers + Wildlife
After visiting Grand Prismatic Springs, we motored on to the main attraction: Old Faithful. But, when we arrived, it had just erupted. This meant we now we had to entertain 3 kids during what we’d normally call nap time/quiet time and after a not-so-filling lunch. It got interesting, but I’ll spare you the deets. 2 hours later, we finally got to see her erupt. Was it worth the cranky wait in the 100 degree heat? Yes. Will we do it again? No.
Pro Tip: check the Old Faithful eruption schedule and plan your day around that. We did not do that. Whoops.
We knew that wildlife sightings were common, and that Hayden Valley was THE place to see some. I was dying to see a bear, but I’d settle for some buffalo or a bald eagle too. Because of our poor timing with Old Faithful, it was pushing 4pm by the time we got to Hayden Valley, so patience was thin and so were the snack options. However, it did NOT disappoint. Hayden Valley was the most exciting experience of our Yellowstone experience. Here’s why:
Yellowstone Day 2 – The Upper Loop
We covered a LOT of ground on Day 1, so we took it easy on Day 2. Again, we started our day at the West Yellowstone entrance, but today headed north at Madison Junction toward the Norris Geyser Basin. We still hadn’t seen a bear, but did see and would say these Upper Loop highlights are not to be missed:
- Norris Geyser Basin with Steamboat Geyser and Porcelain Basin
- Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
- Lamar Valley
- Tower Falls
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Roaring Mountain Fumaroles
We learned a lot of new vocabulary on Day 2, including salacious sinter [the vast, white porcelain-like sheet that covers most of the landscape around a geyser] and fumaroles [a steam vent], but bear spotting was high on our agenda in Day 2. So we made the detour to drive into Lamar Valley in search of one. We saw nothing. Not even an elk.
Da Bears.
We continued on to Tower Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs and the Roaring Mountain Fumaroles before deciding to head back to our cabin. The road out of Yellowstone winds along the Madison River, a tributary of the Missouri River. It’s a beautiful drive full of fly fishers, grassy marshes, thick forests and steep cliffs. Along the route are a few turn offs that take you down to the river’s edge. At the last second, we turned onto one of these drives. It was a quiet, single lane road running just along the river. Not 1 minute into the detour did someone shout “bear!”. Not a single bear had been seen on this tour, so the likelihood of seeing one now was slim, and skepticism was high. But sure enough, as our eyes followed the pointing fingers across the river to the opposite bank, we saw a mother black bear and her cub enjoying an evening stroll. Success.
In retrospect, 2-days in Yellowstone was a bit intense, there was little time to take a hike or stop and sit [probably would have seen more wildlife that way]. Had we planned Day 1 a bit better, it wouldn’t have been such a whirlwind. All in all, we learned a ton and saw some pretty spectacular scenery, wildlife and nature.
Pro Tip: Try Gyspy Tours, a narrated audio tour tracked by GPS that plays commentary automatically based on the route of your choice.
