Eric: “Do you want to go to Yellowstone in July?”
Clare: “Are you crazy? That’s only two months away & is the busiest time. There won’t be any lodging & we’ll have to fight the crowds. Plus, we just went to Greece & Alabama this month!
Eric: “If we go to Yellowstone with my family, then you don’t have to spend a week in Park City, UT watching baseball.”
Clare: “SOLD!”
And thus we found ourselves making last minute plans & scrambling for lodging at the 6th most visited US national park. Our original plans were to fly into Salt Lake City & attend a world series for his brother’s baseball team, so we just changed our flight dates. Lodging was the tricky part, as nothing was available within the park (except tent sites). We Colemans do NOT camp, especially in grizzly territory.
If you want a glimpse of Eric’s take on camping, watch Jim Gaffigan’s camping sketch — it’s spot on!
We had to settle for higher prices than we usually pay, but it was worth it for a week of memories & the chance to see the American frontier in all its splendor. The following posts will be a brief travel diary of how we saw all of Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Park in just four days, including scenic stops in Idaho.
Day 1: Salt Lake City to Gardiner, MT
Drive Time: 6hrs
Our flight arrived late at night, so we stopped at the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel in Fort Hall, ID for a few hours of sleep. There wasn’t much there to stop for, but the hotel/casino was very nice & had an amazing gift shop full of beautifully crafted moccasins. We ate breakfast at the Homestead Family Restaurant in Blackfoot, which is famous for its huge selection of pies. The waitress was super friendly & the pies did not disappoint! And believe it or not, we were totally entertained by the Blackfoot Walmart, which had a special section just for emergency prep — something new for these Louisianians who’ve never experienced harsh winters. Backcountry hikers & end-of-the-world preppers must LOVE that Walmart!
We continued heading north & took scenic byway Highway 47 from Ashton to Mesa Falls. If we had more time, I would have loved to stop in Idaho Falls, which looked like a beautiful town with plenty of great dining options & walking paths along the Snake River. But Mesa Falls was our top priority & was well worth the detour. It’s part of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest ($5 fee). This was a family trip, so we did very little hiking. Instead of taking the Mesa Falls Nature Trail (a 2.2mi route from Upper Falls to Lower Falls), we opted for the Upper Mesa Falls Boardwalk Trail. The boardwalk trail was a .6mi handicap accessible route with GORGEOUS views of the falls! We also stopped at a neat little junction called Warm River to feed trout & watch people fly fish.
Warm River Fly Fishing
Lower Mesa Falls
Lower Mesa Falls
Lower Mesa Falls
Lower Mesa Falls
Upper Mesa Falls
Upper Mesa Falls
Upper Mesa Falls
Upper Mesa Falls
Feeding fish at Warm River
Another stop before heading into Yellowstone was a quick jaunt along the lake at Harriman State Park, which is part of the Caribou-Targhee forest so our Mesa Falls pass covered it.
If the bugs hadn’t been so terrible, we probably would have enjoyed Harriman more. It’s an historic ranch site, complete with old ranch buildings to rent, horseback riding, 22mi of hiking, & trumpeter swan watching.
We ended our travel day with a comfy pizza & beer stop at the Wild West Pizzeria & Saloon in West Yellowstone, followed by evening photo ops of elk along the northern drive of Yellowstone National Park into Gardiner, MT.
Raven in Yellowstone
waterfall in Yellowstone
Sunset in Yellowstone
Elk in Yellowstone
Lower Mesa Falls
Sunset in Yellowstone
Sunset elk in Yellowstone
