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While many plan for a whole week to visit Yellowstone, we didn’t have that kind of time and knew that we would be returning to Yellowstone another time. We decided to focus on the more popular activities in the park on this visit, so here is our itinerary on how to see the best of Yellowstone in 3 days with kids.
The Best of Yellowstone in 3 Days
Day 1: Beartooth Highway, Lamar Valley, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Gardiner, Montana
If you are arriving from the east and the road is open, the Beartooth Highway is a must do! We spent day “0” of this trip in Billings, Montana and it was the perfect base to head into Yellowstone. Another great option is Red Lodge, Montana, which gets you into the park sooner and is a fun, small mountain town.
Our separate Beartooth Highway post will have all the details and a series of photos, but the 68 mile All American Road gives amazing views as you climb the 5000 feet of elevation to the top. It is amazing that this road was completed in 1936 and is best to plan about 3 hours to drive it because you will want to stop at the Rock Creek Vista Point, Top of the World store, Beartooth Lake, Lake Creek Falls, and Clay Butte Lookout (closed when we were there).
As you pass through Cooke City and Silver Gate, you may want to grab a meal or you can enjoy a picnic after entering the Northeast Gate. We spent our afternoon driving through the Lamar Valley, hiking the Lamar River Trail, hiking the Lamar River Picnic Area trail, and getting dinner in Gardiner, Montana.
We checked into our lodging, the Yellowstone Basin Inn just north of Gardiner, unloaded the car, and headed back into the park to Mammoth to explore the hot springs. It was the perfect finish to the day!
Day 2: Canyon Village, Hayden Valley, West Thumb Geyser Basin, and Island Park, Idaho
Leaving Gardiner first thing after enjoying the homemade breakfast at the hotel, we drove south, stopping at Roaring Mountain and Twin Lakes for photos. Reaching Norris, we headed east to Canyon Village where we wanted to see the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone before it got busy.
We chose to visit the North Rim first, and were glad we did. Since the Brink of the Lower Falls trail was closed for maintenance, we did the Red Rock Point trail that leaves from Lookout Point. This short hike, just 0.6 miles round trip, has 262 feet of elevation gain but gives a fantastic view of the Lower Falls. After the hike we stopped at Grand View and Inspiration Point overlooks.
Leaving the North Rim, we swung into the Brink of the Upper Falls parking area and did the short walk to the viewpoint. This was a short stop that has a bathroom and was a neat place to get up close to the waterfall.
We finally arrived along the South Rim and parked at Uncle Tom’s Point to see Upper Falls View. Uncle Tom’s Trail was closed, so our priorities focused on Upper Falls View and after that heading out to Artist Point. Artist Point was beautiful and despite doing all of the North Rim overlooks was still a unique view of the Lower Falls and we were glad to have stopped here. We had lunch at the Chittenden Bridge / Wapiti Lake Trailhead picnic area, where we saw some deer, used the restroom, and had a nice meal in the shade.
Leaving Canyon Village we went south through Hayden Valley and stopped at the Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron. This interesting stop gave us up close views of the bison hanging out at the Mud Volcano and watching the puffing of the Dragons Mouth Spring made it an interesting stop!
Our next destination was the West Thumb Geyser Basin and it was worth the drive. Yellowstone Lake was much bigger than I’d expected and seeing the mountains across it with snow on top was beautiful. The geysers and pools contrasted against the lake brought some great photos and the variety was interesting. After the walk we turned west and drove over the Continental Divide toward Old Faithful.
If you have more energy left you can stop at any of the sites you drive past, but we were heading for our rental home in Island Park, Idaho and wanted to get settled and eat dinner at the home.
Driving the road from West Thumb to Madison and eventually West Yellowstone gave us the awareness of just how busy this southwest part of the park is. It was crazy town!
Day 3: Midway Geyser/Grand Prismatic, Fairy Falls, Biscuit Basin, and Old Faithful
On this 3rd day we left Island Park early and headed straight to the Fairy Falls Trail parking area. Sadly, we left right away because there is no bathroom here and we all needed to go before starting out on our hike! So, we went back to the already nearly full parking area at the Midway Geyser Basin where Grand Prismatic Spring is located to use its’ restroom. Since we found a spot eventually we did the walk around the boardwalk, which was interesting but because it was early you didn’t really get to see the beauty of the Spring due to the steam/fog.
Heading back to the Fairy Falls trailhead and finding a parking spot, we set off on the Fairy Falls trail. One mistake we made was to climb the overlook on the way out. It was mostly covered in steam and we should have saved the time and energy. The Fairy Falls trail was fun and we were glad we did it. At the time we got there we were the only people at the waterfall and as people started coming after that we were glad to have made the hike early. Most people only go to the overlook, so don’t let large crowds concern you as most won’t be heading to Fairy Falls.
On our way back we climbed the overlook again and it was fully worthwhile as you can see from our photo!
After returning to our car we all had to go to the bathroom again and headed for Biscuit Basin, which sadly had no bathroom but we were able to wait and ate a picnic lunch here and did the short boardwalk. I bring up the bathroom here again because they are poorly planned in this super busy part of the park. You have really just 2 options that are convenient – at Old Faithful and Midway Geyser Basin.
We finished our day at Old Faithful, capping a great day with a timely eruption and brief walk through the Upper Geyser Basin.
Bonus if you have time!
As a bonus, we had a half day on our way from Yellowstone down to the remarkable Grand Teton National Park. We chose to use that morning to walk through most of the Upper Geyser Basin and if you don’t do the Beartooth Pass you can swap in the Upper Geyser Basin.
While we could have always spent more time, seeing the more popular areas of Yellowstone in 3 days was a great overview of the park for our family. We loved our time and did miss a few things, namely the Norris Geyser Basin, Wraith Falls, Undine Falls, Mystic Falls, and many of the visitor centers and historic areas closed because of COVID-19. But, as with anything when you have kids and jobs to return to, you do the best you can! We visited during COVID-19, so we have some tips here if you are also visiting during this time and our traditional favorite sites posts to enjoy.
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