If you were within 13 hrs of Yellowstone, and only had a weekend to get there (in August) and back, would it be nuts to make the trip? Exploring their website, it sounds like the main roads within the park itself could be enough of a bottleneck to undermine even the best laid plans.
Should I pass on this (potentially) one-time shot to go, and wait for a better, less insane, opportunity to present itself…maybe someday?
Yes, you’d be nuts.
You want to spend 26 hours in a car for maybe 12 hours of sightseeing? Plus, you are right about the traffic bottlenecks getting to and around the park in the summer. Yellowstone in the summer is so crowded that it feels more like Disneyland than a national park. I’d pass. There’s got to be something better 13 hours in the other direction.
The only thing Yellowstone is good for in the summer is spotting all 50 state license plates in about fifteen minutes on the road.
Where exactly will you be coming from? There are other parks and gorgeous scenery in that area (like Grand Teton National Park, directly south of Yellowstone…or the Big Horn Mountains, east of Yellowstone) that are well worth seeing and might be more accessible to you.
Second the “nuts” response. Every time somebody sees some mangy old bison, traffic backs up for miles in the park. Do it when you have time to enjoy the place.
I say go for it- you will just get a taste of it and you’ll come back for more in the future. Which direction are you coming in?
How much time do you really have? How experienced of a traveler are you?
The roads are worst between 11 and 3.pm, I’ve found. We are hikers and are usually up and out of the campground by 6-6.15 and enjoy the mornings as much as possible as there is no traffic and the traffic that is knows where it is going.
The things you need to see are:
If you leave off Mount Washburn and move along quickly, you could see the other 4 and have time to drive to the Roosevelt area for ice cream!
Count me in the crazy plan category.
You would do well to visit the Bighorn Mountains or the Black Hills instead, if you live east of Yellowstone. Got a mountain bike? If so, take it to the Bighorns. I saw more wildlife in one day biking the Bighorns than I have in years of pedaling around in SE Wyoming.
I just got back from a two week trip camping trip to Montana and Wyoming. We stayed in various forest service camp grounds, the last three days near Yellowstone because my wife wanted to show it to our kids. (I’d been to Yellowstone before a couple of times years ago.) While Yellowstone has many remarkable features, this time I found it vaguely depressing and annoying. It was a huge traffic jam. People slam on their brakes right in front of you if they see any wildlife. There were traffic jams miles long. There were idiots trying to pet buffalo and elk. The park rangers and police seem to spend their time rushing from one wildlife sighting to another in an attempt to keep traffic flowing and people from committing suicidal behavior with wildlife.
I agree with Mr. Duality. I’ve been to the Bighorns and Black Hills many times, and prefer them, although the Black Hills are getting pretty crowded now too.