Natalie with her fourth-grade national park pass
We began dreaming.
What if we camped at both national parks and wrapped it all into a weeklong adventure?
I signed up for newsletters and blogs. I followed the parks on Facebook and Instagram. I checked out books from the library and ordered up others from Amazon (see list below). I ordered up two more extra-warm sleeping bags, found a huge LED lantern at Costco and stocked up on some more smaller camping accessories - hello, griddle for the cookstove. I even ordered bearspray.
We booked our campsites. I'm just too nervous about not finding a walk-in site, especially after driving so far. Good thing we planned ahead too. While Teddy Roosevelt was easy to find a campsite 3-months out, Yellowstone was another story. With 1,700 reservable campsites, I kept coming up empty. I flexed our dates, tried calling instead of reserving online and kept trying for days - hoping for a cancellation I could squeeze into. (Advice: book a year in advance.)
Eventually we snagged a campsite at Bridge Bay, not on my top campground list thanks to TripAdvisor. Many of the sites are crammed together in an open prairie. But we went with it anyway, deciding that staying anywhere in Yellowstone was better than not going at all. The way their system works, you book a general site and don't find out where you are at until you check-in. And what a great surprise that was! We ended up in one of the few wooded Bridge Bay loops with the most amazing view I've ever experienced while camping - huge pines, Yellowstone Lake, mountains in the background, and stunning sunsets and sunrises.
Our Cottonwood Campground site
Our Bridge Bay Campground site
As the trip got closer, we planned out more of the details. We would see the Medora Musical, use free tickets from my in-laws for the Pitchfork Steak Fondue, and go on an hour trailride in the Badlands. We would also do the Junior Ranger programs in each park and turn the kids loose with their own hiking packs and cameras. In Yellowstone, we planned to see the Geyser Basins and the Grand Canyon, with everything else being a bonus.
Junior Ranger badges earned on our trip
At the suggestion of a friend, we would finish the trip with a hotel stay involving ordered pizza and lots of pool swimming for the kids. And showers. Did I mention showers?
We planned for cooking all of our meals. Jason helped me create a loose menu for the week and I put together a grocery list. We stocked the cooler for just Teddy Roosevelt and made a cooler grocery list to pick up on our way to Yellowstone. I packed non-perishables in bags labeled either for Roosevelt or Yellowstone. (I ended up packing too many non-perishables and just the right amount of cold food.)
I used the same packing system for clothes. I gathered everything we'd need for each national park and sorted them into labeled tubs. I added a bag of warm coats and another of rain gear, just in case the weather turned extreme. Even in July, Yellowstone is 80 degrees during the day and 30-something at night. Brrr. (I ended up overpacking clothes as we used the "if it doesn't stand up on it's own, it's still clean rule. Welcome to camping.) We just kept all of the unused clothes separate and easily put them away in drawers when we got home.
For the long drives (our days averaged 6-10 hours), I packed a bag of entertainment goodies (coloring books, notebooks, Lego boxes, car Bingo, seek and finds, tiny workbooks) and four movies. Each kid received a flat, square plastic tubs that doubled as storage and a desk. With a blanket, pillow, water bottle, books, snacks and these tubs they had plenty to keep themselves comfortable and entertained.
I kept all of our reservation and park information, maps, to-do lists, and more in a folder in our parent backpack. I also tossed all of that information into Evernote, just in case.
Once we had crammed everything we could into the van, dropped the dog off at my in-laws, and fixed the suddenly broken sliding van door, it was time to hit the road.
With a strange combination of
Ready to go
Itinerary:
Day 1:
Drive to Theodore Roosevelt National Park (about 6 hours)
Camp in Cottonwood Campground
Day 2:
Enjoy Roosevelt Park
Camp in Cottonwood Campground
Day 3:
Drive to Yellowstone (Google maps says 6.5 hours. It took us 10. Plus another 1.5 hours to drive through the park to our campsite. Not my finest moment/day. More about this later.)
Camp in Bridge Bay
Day 4:
Visit Geyser Basins
Camp in Bridge Bay
Day 5:
Visit Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Camp in Bridge Bay
Day 6:
Drive through Lamar Valley to leave Yellowstone (favorite part of trip)
Exit through Northeast Entrance and Beartooth Pass (least favorite party of any trip! Ever! More about this later.)
Drive to Miles City, Mont. (10 hours)
Stay at SleepInn
Day 7:
Drive home (8 hours)
Start talking about the next trip
Recommend Resources:
- National Geographic: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks Road Guide We LOVED this book. Before leaving, I highlighted and flagged things we wanted to see. Then, while driving through the park, Jason read the nuggets of info aloud so we knew what we were driving past. It made it easy to find sites AND know what they were.
- National Geographic Secrets of the National Parks
- A Farcountry Field Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks
- National Geographic Wild Yellowstone DVD
- Junior Ranger Activity Book
- National Geographic Kids National Park Guide USA
- National Geographic Kids Funny Fill-In
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