Want to know the biggest secret 🤫 about visiting Yellowstone? It’s better if you slow down. You can spend all your time planning where to be and when, but in our opinion, the real magic of Yellowstone is what happens in the space between chasing the big-name places and animals.
You don’t have to rush from Old Faithful to Grand Prismatic to Lamar Valley, fighting the crowds and racing to hit all the highlights!
Our favorite way to see the park is to find and linger at the “unremarkable” places–locations most tourists pass right by without a second glance on their way to chase an eruption or a wildlife sighting. Places like this green mossy stream, literally right on the side of the road, teeming with bugs and life and the sweet sound of gently running water. Instead of walking the boardwalk at Norris Geyser basin with hundreds of people, I had this beautiful wetland all to myself.
I know it’s easy to say “but you live here. I only have a week to see x,y,z”.
I get it! Even I struggle with the temptation to chase after stuff: eruptions, bear sightings, etc. With social media, it’s easy to have some real FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), especially when folks are posting compelling photos of their sightings and experiences.
I’m here to tell you to fight the urge to “do it all”! Even though you may want to still see the big highlights Yellowstone is known for, try to make time for just being, not doing.
Here are things I witnessed in my recent “slow Yellowstone” approach to visiting the Lake area of the park last week. How did I do it? I went anywhere the crowds were not, I picked a few places to stop and linger for a while, and generally just followed my curiosity.
I didn’t have to follow the crowds to encounter this grizzly bear at sunset, or this owl perched nearby.
Find pockets of solitude. Go where no one else seems interested in going. Make space. Stop the rush, the hustle. Linger. You won’t be disappointed. In fact, you’ll find something even better.
Want to know more about how to avoid the crowds and find magic in Yellowstone? Read Five Ways to Beat Yellowstone’s Summer Crowds and Finding Yellowstone Magic.
Images © Jenny Golding
