July 12-14

We finally made it to our big northern destination. We had a nice early start to the day so we could scope out a good camping spot by mid afternoon on Sunday. We had read about a road with dispersed camping south of Yellowstone’s southern entrance. With hopeful aspirations, we headed in. Those aspirations were pretty quickly let down when each site we drove past was already occupied. We did get Flossie down one somewhat sketchy driveway to what would have been a beautiful and remote lake front spot, but we spent an hour trying to park her on a somewhat level spot to no avail. Hopes dashed, we headed back to the main highway to try other pay options.

>>Quick caveat: we are cheapskates when it comes to camping, having grown up spoiled in Colorado before it was overpopulated, one could simply hop in one’s car on a Friday night to get out of the city and roll up to a camping spot either off the national forest road or a government owned campground, spots were plentiful and no reservations were required. We know the camping world generally doesn’t work like that anymore but we are hard to convert to planning 6 months in advance. Actually, we did make a few reservations at the beginning of the New Year planning out for June and those reservations were cancelled due to corona. Ok, back to the situation at hand.<<

We went for gas and to check on any possibilities of lodging at the already very full looking Flagg Ranch RV park, no luck. We went to the southern entrance to the park to ask for suggestions since we also didn’t have any cell service to google search, the park ranger gave us a printout list of campgrounds out of the park but in the vicinity so we proceeded to the first one. By now it was closer to 6:30pm and we were tired, hungry, and anxious, I was expecting another few hours driving around to find a home for the night.

We circled around this Sheffield campground, about 5 miles southeast of the park entrance. The 8-10 sites were of course full, but I got out to ask the camp host for suggestions and he said if we could sit tight his wife would be down from helping someone else and they’d find us a spot. What a huge relief! These hosts were a somewhat eccentric older couple but cute and endearing. I don’t think they turned down a single camper in the time we were there. What a racket, people parked and camped right next to no camping signs, similar setups stationed close together, they definitely had a method to the madness and we were 100% there for it. We got our spot near a trailhead right by some stock gates, paid for three nights, and proceeded to watch them stuff in as many additional people after us as possible. At one count there were at least 15 additional parties of campers around us, but the atmosphere was one of gratitude as everyone who arrived there seemed as relieved as us to have lucked out on this place.

Our first day in YNP we made a beeline to the West Village and Old Faithful. Natalie was our tour guide having visited the park on a school trip two years prior. The day was filled with waterfalls and geysers, short hikes (that actually by day’s end added up to 9 miles), all the snacks and protein bars, a lot of people (fortunately most wearing masks), a drive in a hailstorm through a canyon, wide vistas and views, and ice cream. We hit our beds exhausted but happy.

Day two was similar with driving and hikes, but entirely different terrain wise as we headed east to Lake Yellowstone and the Yellowstone River. We encountered plenty of bison, elk, mosquitos, people (but less than day one), wildflowers, and our favorite – some moments of solitude at small lake Eleanor and adjacent waterfall closer to the east entrance. This was quite the reprieve after being in hoards of crowds with people, seeing dum-dums trying to snap selfies with the wildlife, full parking lots and traffic, lines for toilets. I started wondering if we were fit for this National Park, but then realized maybe we’re just too judgmental to be mixed in with this scale of people during a pandemic. We were so happy to have that waterfall solitude moment to end on and also realized we’d been going hard for two weeks straight, maybe it was time for a little camping like we’re used to. We packed up and headed west towards Idaho the next day.

Another early start got us out of Yellowstone NP on the west side by 10:30am. We stopped to get back into cell service so we could do a more thorough campsite search before heading out. We’ve definitely already recognized the pattern of travel and how it quickly increases day by day to choice destinations peaking by the weekend. We wanted nothing to do with the rest of Yellowstone until we could get back at the beginning of a new week. So Wednesday’s traffic was heavy in the opposite direction we were traveling, this would fare well for vacancy at our next camping spot- a boondocking place near Island Park, Idaho