8 Not-So-Obvious Mistakes Yellowstone National Park Visitors Make

Every travel blog or website out there has tons of information on planning your Yellowstone National Park vacation – including this one! I’ve got all kinds of articles on Yellowstone here for you to dig through. Everything out there tells you what you should see and where you should stay – and that’s all well and good. As someone who’s visited Yellowstone National Park more times than I can remember, I am going to give you something a little different – some of my insider tips — mistakes tourists make when visiting Yellowstone National Park. And I’m not about the obvious here – you know, the “Don’t approach wildlife!” “Don’t show up without reservations” “Don’t litter” – the “well, DUH” stuff.

While those tips are important, they’re obvious and you can get that information from the National Park Service website itself. The mistakes I’m going to give you are from someone who has visited Yellowstone National Park multiple times and is tired of reading the same drivel on every website out there.

One other thing to note – because these tips are, well, not obvious tips, you should at least have some basic knowledge about Yellowstone National Park and its features. This article assumes you’re already knee-deep in your trip planning stages and are ready for some specific tips to make your Yellowstone vacation better.

So let’s begin!

Don’t visit the Grand Prismatic Spring in the morning

Grand Prismatic Spring is one of Yellowstone’s most prominent features and you’re definitely going to want to see this beautiful, rainbow colored spring in person on your trip. And so does everyone else, making it one of the most frustrating areas – if not, the MOST frustrating area! – in Yellowstone to get a parking spot.

So you may think that “the early bird gets the worm!!” and head to Grand Prismatic Spring first thing in the morning – like, hit it up at 7am before the crowds show up.

And yes, you can do that but you are going to be very disappointed. Because in the morning, the air is cooler, the hot spring is, well, still hot, and this results in steam. Lots of steam. So much steam that you can’t see any of the pretty colors.

So you think hiking up to the overlook will do the trick, right? No. Still lots of steam and you’re not going to get those photos you wanted.

How to fix this mistake:
You have to suck this one up and brave the afternoon crowds. For the perfect conditions, you will want to visit on a bright sunny day in the mid to late afternoon. I also suggest seeing Grand Prismatic Spring from both the boardwalk levels and from hiking to the overlook – it’s speculator to experience both views.

I have no suggestions to ‘beat the crowds’ – you’re going to have to battle them to see this. I guess my only tip would be to just park on the side of the road (you will see everyone doing it and it’s okay to do this unless posted). Don’t bother trying to get a spot in the actual lot. For the overlook hike, park in the Fairy Falls parking lot – in the late afternoon, you should be able to snag a spot in the lot (it’s very big), as people are coming and going all the time.

For more specific information on Grand Prismatic Spring and the overlook, check out my article here.

Not being prepared for terrible traffic jams – especially along the “West Yellowstone” entrance road

If you are staying in West Yellowstone, you will need to drive the road between West Yellowstone, Montana to the Madison campground junction before you enter the main ‘Grand Loop Road.’ This entrance is notorious for horrible traffic jams in the morning and evening. This is due to people slowing down, pulling over/parking in illegal spaces to view elk and bison. There is a LOT of elk and bison in this area and many times, this is a park visitor’s first time seeing these creatures, so they go apeshit.

It’s not that the animals are on the road; they’re usually in the big meadows in the area, and people just want to see them. That’s fine – and there are plenty of pullouts for visitors to do just that, but people don’t follow rules and then the traffic jams ensue. For what should be a 15 minute drive from Madison to West Yellowstone, can take an hour or more. Be prepared.

Canyon Area: Thinking Inspiration Point and Artists Point are the same

First, a map to show the two different points in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone area:

When you arrive at the Canyon area in Yellowstone National Park, there are two roadways you can drive to see the canyon – and you should drive both if you have the time. But if you’re short on time, I recommend doing one over the other – take the drive along South Rim to Artist Point. This is where you’ll see the iconic waterfall and canyon shot.

Inspiration Point isn’t that great. It’s pretty, but if you’re expecting iconic, that’s not what you’ll get. You’ll simply get yet another shot of the canyon, with no waterfall.

Visiting Morning Glory Spring in the Morning

Shadows shadows shadows! I made this mistake on my last trip to Yellowstone National Park, thinking I was ‘beating the crowds.’ Ha. It’s a long, long walk – flat, but long – to Morning Glory Spring, so if you’re going, make it worth your while and visit in the afternoon when the shadows are gone so you can get the perfect pic.

Getting Food or Ice Cream at the Old Faithful General Store After Old Faithful Erupts

Big mistake. Huge. When Old Faithful’s eruption dissipates, the crowds do too, and where do they go? The Old Faithful General Store, that’s where. And what do they want? Food and ice cream.

I don’t typically eat the food in the National Parks (because it sucks), but the ice cream in Yellowstone National Park is from Wilcoxson’s (a Montana creamery), and it’s to-die-for. So I always have ice cream when hitting up Yellowstone. But if you arrive at the wrong time, you’re going to wait in a terribly long line.

The other stores/lodges in the Old Faithful area also sell ice cream and food, but everyone gravitates to the Old Faithful General Store (it’s the biggest). I like going there too because they have the most selection of flavors in the general store vs. the other spots in this area (as in, I can almost always count on the General Store to have Huckleberry Fudge, while the others aren’t as consistent.

Thinking you won’t get bored of thermal features

Thermal feature fatigue is real. I’ve visited nearly every geyser basin in the park multiple times (except the ones that require long hikes). I love me some geysers, mud pots, and bubbling hot springs, but man, after seeing them day after day, it gets a little old. They all start to look the same. There are many thermal basins within Yellowstone National Park that are easily accessible by car, and if you have only a short time in the park, it’s best to limit yourself to just a few of them. If you have more time in the park, you may want to visit them all on your trip – and that’s fine – but you might want to visit them on different days to break it up, especially if you are traveling with children.

Here are the different thermal basins within the park:

• Upper Geyser Basin (includes the Old Faithful area, Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin)
• Midway Geyser Basin (Includes Grand Prismatic Spring)
• Lower Geyser Basin (Includes Fountain Paint Pots, Artist Paint Pots)
• West Thumb
• Mud Volcano / Hayden Valley Basin
• Norris Geyser Basin
• Mammoth Hot Springs

So which ones to see if you have limited time and don’t want to get sick of them? Definitely make a point to see Grand Prismatic Spring, and Old Faithful, of course. I absolutely love Mammoth Hot Springs, as its terraces, are unique and can’t be found in the other basins. The beauty of the thermal features at West Thumb being on the shore of Yellowstone Lake is stunning, the Artist Paint Pot hike is fun, Norris Geyser Basin is huge and has tons of thermal features….ARGH!

Oh hell. Forget what I said. Just see them all.

Buying a new camera thinking you will get frame-worthy wildlife shots

No. You won’t. I can almost guarantee that. You will get great photos of everything else, but you won’t get an amazing picture of a bear. I have a telephoto lens meant for wildlife and it typically still isn’t good enough (though I have gotten lucky a few times).

The amazing wildlife shots you see taken in Yellowstone are taken by professionals or hobbyists who have invested thousands upon thousands of dollars into equipment and other photography gear. Hell, I’ve invested thousands of dollars in camera equipment and my wildlife shots are still shit.

But that’s because they know the park – they know where to wait to see a bear that’s been frequenting the area and are prepared to sit there all day, knowing full well that the animal might not even make an appearance. Is that how you want to spend your trip to Yellowstone? Probably not, and if you do, do your travel companions want to do this too? Likely not. I know I don’t have that kind of patience!

Most of my wildlife shots in Yellowstone go into the trash

You might get lucky – especially with a decent shot of a bison or an elk, but chances are low on the bear shot.

This is not to discourage you from upgrading your gear – this is just to toss in some realism here. You will get great shots of your family and the scenery, but that bear or wolf you want to photograph is likely just going to be a blurry brown dot in a meadow.

Not bringing your own food

Let’s be real – the food in Yellowstone National Park is shit (except the ice cream). And it’s expensive. I’ve seen what passes for “pizza” at the Old Faithful General Store and it looks worse than the pizza I was fed in the elementary school lunch line. Plus you have to be in one of the main park areas (Canyon Village, Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, etc) to eat said food. You might be 45 minutes away from one of these spots and the kids are getting hangry. Terrific.

Pack a cooler, hit up a grocery store (hell, even hit up the grocery section inside the park’s stores – I do that when I’m in desperate need of something – it’s STILL better than eating the slop in the park) and bring a picnic lunch. Yellowstone National Park has picnic areas at every turn along the road – you’re never too far away from one – and it’s so much fun to enjoy a picnic in the park!

Any other tips you’d like to add? Leave a note in the comments!