We decided to go down to Yellowstone yesterday for the first time in the 2020 season. We stayed in the northern part of the park, from the Gardiner entrance over to Roosevelt Junction and ventured a bit into the Lamar River Valley. The traffic in this part of the park was brisk, but noticeably lighter than most summers. There were a good number of California plates in the park yesterday, but zero tour buses and zero international tourists. The traffic at the Gardiner entrance was backed up 100 yards or so, but that is not unusual for July. The Mammoth Hot Springs area had plenty of parking and was not the frantic node of activity that it usually is. All of the trail heads we passed had ample parking. We did two hikes today: The Yellowstone River Overlook Trail and the Hellroaring Creek Trail. We've never done either of these hikes, but really enjoyed them. They are both fairly low-investment hikes; each about 4 miles round-trip and with lots of great views along the way. The Overlook Trail follows the cliff on the north side of the river, opposite the Tower Falls area. For the first 3 miles of this trail, we didn't see a single person. The Hellroaring creek trail crosses the old pedestrian suspension bridge that spans the Yellowstone River for some really spectacular views of the river through a very narrow canyon. It's hard to imagine how they even built the bridge in this back-country area.
If you want to see Yellowstone but really despise the summer crowds, this August would be a great time to do it. And if you've already seen the "check the box" tourist sites in the park like Old Faithful and the Yellowstone Falls, it's a really great time to get out and do some hikes in the less famous areas of the park with practically zero other tourists.
If you want to see Yellowstone but really despise the summer crowds, this August would be a great time to do it. And if you've already seen the "check the box" tourist sites in the park like Old Faithful and the Yellowstone Falls, it's a really great time to get out and do some hikes in the less famous areas of the park with practically zero other tourists.