Creating a Successful Yellowstone Adventure with Kids

Surviving Yellowstone with Kids!

Step 1 through the end to creating a successful Yellowstone adventure with kids is to PLAN! With an emphasis on Planning. And then more planning. I don’t think you can overplan this park. Thank goodness Sara is a master planner!

She puts up some great content on trip planning. Check those out.

Planning seems simple, except there are 100’s of websites that all claim to be the best or have 19.3 tips for the “Best” Yellowstone vacation. Rather than try to outdo what others have done well, I’ll share how we enjoyed Yellowstone National Park in 2023.

Day Minus 305

Seriously, we started planning about a year before our trip. When we bought the camper we thought we’ll cruise out west for a long weekend. That was a dumb thought! But, seriously, that’s how little we knew.

Neither of us had driven out west.

So, it seemed like a state or two away from Kentucky.

WRONG!

In August 2022, we were a couple of weeks removed from our Summer 2022 adventure through Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio! Check out our post on the western mid-Atlantic. We, by we I mean ME, were itching to go someplace. Sara and Madeline really wanted to visit Yellowstone.

So we took out the Atlas and started tracing routes. Lo and behold there are a lot of really cool places along the way. And no, I’m not referring to the giant ball of twine. That would be cool.

Route Planning

Within a few days, we had a rough route sketched out that involved corn fields and more corn fields and some soybeans and high planes states. Kentucky to Montana is a long haul.

With a shot of coffee as courage, I mentioned to the folks in the office we planned to take a 2-week trip to Yellowstone in 2023. I assured everyone I would procure a Starlink and remain accessible. Facing no pushback, we started booking campgrounds.

The best campgrounds fill up that early! We have some excellent campground reviews (I’m biased of course) throughout our blog. Check out Rafter J Bar Ranch, Billings KOA, and Grizzly West Yellowstone!

Onto Creating a Successful Yellowstone Adventure with Kids

First, we recognized we needed buy-in from the kids to keep them excited all year. I wish I could say we were master minds about it, but turned out the kids were super excited and stayed engaged all year. Especially Madeline. Jack was excited and I think checked out as many paranormal videos existed about Yellowstone as possible.

Our kids enjoy creating adventures. Sometimes we have to coach them a little. I think that’s natural. In the case of Yellowstone, the kids really bought into the Yellowstone Adventure with kids to the point of helping to plan meals and our activities along the route.

Find an Avenue to Engage the Kids

We found YouTube very helpful! Thank you A + K Adventures! Kara and Nate. And so many more. These creators created so much content that brought Yellowstone to life in ways that National Park books just couldn’t.

Time allowed us the opportunity to find other helpful trip-planning tools. We especially liked the outstanding content Ash from Dirt in My Shoes puts out. We used an itinerary from Dirt in My Shoes to plan our trip! The Guide Along app was really helpful as we drove around the park.

Dirt in My Shoes

Seeking the ultimate Yellowstone experience without the crowds? Our journey with ‘Discover the Wonders of Yellowstone: The Magic of Dirt In My Shoes Itineraries and A Thrilling Review of the Park’ was transformative.

As a retired National Park Ranger, Ash has first-hand knowledge of the National Park. She lived the crazy crowds. Following her plan kept us out of the crowds for most of the day. Avoiding crowds is nearly impossible, but if you follow her recommendations, you will maximize your visit to Yellowstone. Without her itinerary, I am confident I would have been frustrated and been a miserable travel companion.

In our time in Yellowstone in July 2023, we were stuck in traffic a few times. However, we found parking at every major must-see destination! That is due 100% to Ash’s guide! It’s worth the few dollars she charges.

Ash and her husband also have a podcast. They talk about what to see at the parks and their first-hand experiences. We enjoyed listening as we drove to the parks. Again, it made the parks come alive! We recognized features we may have otherwise passed right by.

Guide Along

This app uses some sort of geo-tagging which allows it to synch up the narrative for areas of the park as you drive through. In Gettysburg, we had a private guide ride along for 4 hours. Guide Along was virtually the same except we could not ask questions.

The app alerts drivers to upcoming points of interest, turn-offs, pull-outs, and more. Having a navigator who knows the park roads was HUGE! As the driver, I kept my listen ears on and took the apps prompts and we arrived exactly where we wanted. Plus we had a jump start on many visitors because we knew some of the history of the point of interest.

For instance, we learned about the bacteria, “Cyanobacteria found in some of the colorful mats and streamers of Yellowstone’s hot springs” (from National Park Service). It’s one thing to say this is “so cool” and another to have an elementary understanding of why it’s so cool.

Break the Trip Up

Think of Yellowstone as an outdoor Disney World. Disney World involves lots of planning and pushes visitors to go beyond their limits. Each day visitors pack in tons of activities like rides, shows, meals, multiple parks, etc. Our time is limited in a fun place like Disney so we cram it all into the number of days we have, right?  Except where Disney World has bubble wrap over everything, well Yellowstone doesn’t have kid gloves everywhere to protect you from you. So you have to be careful because the animals are wild and the cliffs are dangerous. Follow the guidelines and you will be fine!

This is a big IF, if your trip can spare a rest day or even a rest morning or afternoon build one in. We found this very important because we visited Yellowstone at about the midpoint of our 15-day 2023 EPIC adventure. After hitting the park hard for two days and visiting Grand Teton, our crew was tired.

We called an audible and let the kids sleep in on our final day in Yellowstone. We could have risen early and beat the crowds into the park, but all of us being grumpy would not have been worth it. Instead, we slept in, enjoyed a nice breakfast, walked into West Yellowstone, and bought tee shirts. After lunch, we took an opportunity to enter the park and visit Old Faithful one final time.

I bet you will find your Yellowstone adventure with kids will be much more enjoyable by breaking up the trip a little.

Creating Your Yellowstone Adventure with Kids

We found a rewarding part of creating this adventure was the build-up of excitement for nearly a year! As a family, we each contributed to the success of this adventure. We all planned, prepared, and got ourselves ready for this truly remarkable adventure of a lifetime! I’ve read and heard, life is not a dress rehearsal, so get out into the world and do something! Create adventures with your family. Create your own Yellowstone Adventure with your family!!!