In July of 2020 my husband and I decided to add on a day trip to Yellowstone while enjoying a week in Montana. I’d been to Yellowstone once before but my husband had never been. As the first national park, Yellowstone is insanely popular- and with good reason.
To make the most of our limited time, we planned for a very early, very full day. Since we were driving down from Glacier National Park, we opted to stay in Belgrade which is about 1.5 hours from Yellowstone’s north entrance. As with any national park, the earlier you get there, the better. We entered the park around 7:30am and didn’t exit until close to 6pm.
At nearly 3,500 square miles, Yellowstone is a gigantic park. The driving distance between each attraction can be upwards of an hour. Luckily, there are plenty of sites to see that make all the driving well worth it.
Below is the itinerary that we followed to make the most of our day in Yellowstone.
One Day in yellowstone national park
Mammoth Hot Springs
Since it was so early, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We also got an up close look at some elk that were grazing along the walkway. We also spotted a bear (from a very safe and not very photographic distance) as we drove to our next stop!
Old Faithful
We pulled up to Old Faithful around 10:30- just in time to see it erupt from the parking lot. Since the next predicted eruption wasn’t until 12:12, we had some time to kill. We walked around, ordered some food, and claimed our spot off to the side on some front row benches for an unobstructed view. Keep in mind the predictions are just that- a prediction. The geyser ended up erupting a bit before the anticipated time. Since it was a super windy day, the eruption wasn’t quite as tall as it normally would have been.
West Thumb Geyser Basin
This area of the park was probably one of my favorite spots. The walkway takes you through geysers and hot springs as well as along the edge of Yellowstone Lake. The lake itself has geysers in it- some of which you can easily see from the walkway.
Uncle Tom’s Point
We stopped here for a view of the Upper Falls. From a different area, you can also catch a glimpse of the Lower Falls as well.
Lookout Point
An absolute can’t miss for the best view of the Lower Falls.
Moose Exhibit
We stopped here in the hopes that we’d catch a glimpse of its namesake. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Earlier in the day someone had asked a park ranger where the best place was to see a moose. Their response? Grand Teton National Park. Turns out there are only about 200 moose total in Yellowstone so the odds aren’t in your favor
Roosevelt Arch
On our way out of the park, we stopped for the obligatory picture of the Yellowstone park sign and to check out Roosevelt Arch. At the top it reads ‘For the benefit and enjoyment of the people’. If that doesn’t perfectly describe our national parks, I don’t know what does.
I hope this itinerary is helpful in planning your own trips to Yellowstone! Keep in mind this is the order of sites from the north entrance. Depending on the direction you’re coming from, the order will be different.
There are also plenty of hiking opportunities throughout the park. Since we only had a day, we focused on seeing the sites instead of hikes.
This guest post was written by Rachel of Pretty in Pieces.
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