Re: Yellowstone/Mt. Rushmore Advice
My favorite is the Upper Norris Geyser basin; I could spend a month there and not get bored. Really love the area beyond Old Faithful, because you get to be close to the geysers, and there's always something going on.
If you get a calm clear morning, take advantage of it. Viewing is best in the hour before sunrise, when the steam plumes rise the furthest before dissipating. As the day goes on, it gets less impressive. (It also gets more crowded.) Worth getting up at 5am, and our 9- and 11- year old daughters liked it too.
P.S. also a vote for taking the Beartooth Highway in to the northeast entrance, instead of the East entrance. Simply spectacular, and worth the extra 100 miles.
Funny Norris is pretty low on my list of favorite places in the park. But it does have some interesting parts to it. It is a much older thermal area than the area around old faithful, so therefor not as active but you can kind of get an idea of what different time periods of thermal activity would look like (as compared also to mammoth with is an even Older thermal area, but really quite dead, the thermal activty in mammoth actually orginates from norris).
I sadly never did the beartooth, but I did make it as far out of the park as Cook City, which I LOVE!!!
Well, just made the reservations, and Canyon was only available for three of the days we wanted, so we switched to Madison. Good that it's close to the hydrothermic areas...
The canyon village just reminds of me of a highway rest stop, althought they did a very nice job on the new vistor's center but they took out my favorite video!!!
This one has one of the clips that was in it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNvTHOrTf_Y
Madison is a nice area, I am not sure where the road construction is this year, but last year it looks like they are shifting the road near gibbon falls, which is just north of madison. The traffic wait generally wasnt too long, but they did close the road early last year (mid august) and that can effect how you go about the park.
As Timothy A said, make sure you cross the Big Horn Mountains on the way there and/or back. US Highway 14 cuts west across the Big Horns just north of Sheridan WY. Aside from the views going up and down both sides, once you get at the higher elevations of the Big Horns it's very beautiful high mountain country. Perhaps not as spectacular as Yellowstone or the Grand Tetons, but nevertheless really nice.
And if you go through Cody, check out the Whitney Gallery of Western Art. Remington and Russell are featured, but there are a lot of artists' works there. There are several museums co-located at the same site, including one for Buffalo Bill.
Like I said before I have not seen the beartooths, but the big horns I have been to and they are pretty neat. But the tetons I could just stand at the foot of and stand in awe for weeks.
you can't go wrong with anything in Yellowstone. the paint pots, old Faithful, the historic lodge (be sure to go in even if you aren't staying there - its right next to old Faithful. the mountains. the hiking. the lake. buffalo stopping your car.
Wall Drug is a good place to pick up snowdomes!
I agree on both!!! I love wall drug, I also love south of the border. But especially Wall Drug because South Dakota is friggen brutal to drive through.
Ok, so I was a tour guide in yellowstone many years ago, I went back last year as a private tour guide for someone's trip and I almost went back to work this season if I didnt score the current job I have.
So I will share some of the battle tested advice that can make your trip to the park a little more enjoyable.
Ok first off, you should know that last year was the busiest year in park history. Camp sites saw activity that havent seen in years, I tried to get into a couple of parking lots (like artist paint pots are usually not busy and it was friggen insane).
But most of the people that visit the park are lemings and quite predicatable.
So keep the following in mind:
The park is not open just 9-5.
You will be amazed at how crazy parking lots are that hour, and how at 5 oclock everyone turns into a pumpkin. I almost suggest getting up early, taking a nap and then going back out for dusk. The animals are not usually active during the hottest part of the day anyways (why cause its hot man!)
If you are doing picnic lunches, which I suggest you do, eat either before noon or after noon. Again everyone has to eat at noon. Eat at 1 and you will have no trouble at all finding a picnic table. Also some of the picnic area are in really nice spots. There is one area that I cant think the name of, but it is just south of Hayden Valley, and there are tables right along the yellowstone river.
You could over course eat in any of the villages, but the food is ok, and you go back insides, and you have to deal with the lines and all that crap. You generally will eat quicker, have a better experience and eat healther if you picnic most of the time. I would get most of your supplies outside of the park, but the hamilton stores (or whatever they are called now) can certainly fill you up.
Take all the dirt roads! I love taking the side roads, there is usually a fraction of the automoblie traffic and all of them were old park roads at one time. You might finds something neat in there too.
Take a tour of the old faithful inn. I say this not just cause I love Ruth Quinn one of the old faithful inn tourguides but it is a really neat building.
I say this cause I used to be a tour guide there, but if you are looking to have someone else do the driving for a day, sign up for a tour. The tour guides strive to have the most up to date correct information about the park, the know a little about everything and if there is a particular topic you want to know more about they can point you in the right direction.
You can see bears anywhere anytime.
Lamar valley is not only beautiful but bountiful when it comes to wildlife. If you dont have a spoting scope often the people that have them would be willing to share if they see something. But of course dont hog it. You could also sign up for a wildlife tour, but the wildlife sightings happen on the tour or on your own. (I often spent alot of time talking about ruppert evert and if I could of made a bear appear on my tour everytime I would have!!)
Ok other suggestions.
The day you decide to do gesyers (probably when you are staying at madison) go straight to the old faithful vistors center, do not pass go, unless of course grand fountain is going off. The visitors center does predictions for some of the more predictable geyers, so you can take down the times for the day and plan some of your geyser visits around that. Of course see old faithful, and if you have time the geyser area around old faithful is a nice walk, so is fountain paint points, artist paint points. If you have the chance (which it might be too much with younger kids), I have always wanted to do the hike up to look down at grand prismatic spring. Because the fires burnt out that whole area you can get an amazing view of that spring.
If I had to pick 3 areas (because the kids would proably get geysered out), I would do old faithful area, aritist paint points (spitting mud) and the midway geyser area (with excelsor and grand prismatic, midway name might be wrong). You could also do a shorter of the loop walks at norris, steamboat and a couple of other geyers are pretty steamy and the kids would proably enjoy. But norris is a very open and hot area, so do that early or late in the day (it will also be less croweded).
Mammoth is cool, the terraces are fun to walk, and if it is a hot day you can take the kids to boiling river. It is north of mammoth on the north entrance road. A spring runs into the gardner river. There is also swimming on firehole canyon drive (which is south of madison). If the dirt road from mammoth to the entrance of the park is open it is a GREAT place to see pronghorn.
) at fishing bridge the second or third week in July and the mosquitoes were as big and mean as buzzards there.