Montana in Early May

[tarheelmjfan]

Once again, I'm hoping for planning help for a last minute trip. This time it's a trip to Montana. (This is assuming there's not a last minute change. ) We're planning to fly into Bozeman, unless there's a better option. We'll be spending time there & traveling to Butte, Yellowstone, Livingston & Gardiner. We're considering using Bozeman as a home base, but may move closer to Livingston, Gardiner & Yellowstone halfway through the trip.

We'll have two weekends (Saturday & Sunday one week, Friday & Saturday the next) & weekday evenings to work with. We will try to manipulate DH's schedule to have us near the more desirable locations over the weekends. I'm sad that the time of year will limit what is open, but we can't change the dates.

Our interests are history, culture & live entertainment of all kinds. At the top of DH's wish list, is a ghost town. We're always on the lookout for unique restaurants. We plan to spend some time in Yellowstone, but we're more interested in a quick drive through than an all day tour. We enjoy some nature & scenery, but once we've seen it, we're good. That's mostly due to me not being physically able to go on hikes or participate in other activities that are physically taxing. I need lots of rests throughout the day. All suggestions will be very much appreciated.

 

[barkley]

keep an eye on the weather-bring some warm clothes in case (weather has been crazy this year).

see if they have a convention and vistors bureau website to see when things like ghost town tours open for the season, when different events may be happening. may is the very begining of the tourist season so not everything may be up and running (or open-lots of places shut down entirely for months).

 

[tarheelmjfan]

keep an eye on the weather-bring some warm clothes in case (weather has been crazy this year).

see if they have a convention and vistors bureau website to see when things like ghost town tours open for the season, when different events may be happening. may is the very begining of the tourist season so not everything may be up and running (or open-lots of places shut down entirely for months).

Thanks

I noticed that a lot was closed, when I was looking for ideas. I got excited about a show only to find out they were dark, until Memorial Day. Oh well, we'll find something to do.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I will tell you that there are a lot of things to see in Yellowstone that do not require any hiking...or even crazy long walks for that matter. Some things, like driving through Lamar Valley or Hayden Valley don't really have to be hiked at all. The bison herds may not be all over the place that early in the season, but it may still be early enough for better wolf spotting. In general, early visits like this tend to be better for spotting grizzly bears. Many of the popular thermal features are easily accessed and may be a short walk from a parking lot to a paved spot or boardwalk area. Some of the falls and cascades are also designed for easy public access without a 5 mile hike. The colder air will also make the steam really stand out to help you spot thermal areas along the way as there are a number along the road between Mammoth/Norris/Old Faithful. It will still be very cold and you've got an above average chance of snow, but things are definitely starting to open up at that point.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/operating-dates.htm

I'm pretty sure dining options in at least Mammoth and Old Faithful areas will be open during your trip. A number of things in Mammoth are opening tomorrow. The Old Faithful Inn won't be open until later in May, but the Old Faithful Snow Lodge has things also opening tomorrow and is in the same general area. This map is also really good to see which roads are open. With current conditions, it looks like you can get from Gardiner to Mammoth, Mammoth to the Northeast Entrance through Lamar Valley, Mammoth to Norris and Old Faithful, to the edge of Canyon, and you can also get out the West Entrance. The roads to the south entrance and the east entrance towards Cody are usually the last to open. My parents were there around Memorial Day a couple of years ago and they were still discussing avalanche potential.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm
The webcams can also be a good gauge for conditions around.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

We're quite fond of Gardiner, as it's right outside of the northern entrance of the park and has some cute places to eat. I know we drove through Livingston on the way to Billings one time. It wasn't a major wow, but it is fun to follow the Yellowstone River along that route and I recall few neat ranches along the way. We also didn't really dig in to see what all was there.

If you hit West Yellowstone from Bozeman, you'll go through the Hebgen Lake area which is pretty and also has some significance from a major earthquake that hit the area. In general, there's a lot of history surrounding the park areas since you've also got the fort up in the Mammoth area and various political and society figures were critical in the foundation and preservation.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I will tell you that there are a lot of things to see in Yellowstone that do not require any hiking...or even crazy long walks for that matter. Some things, like driving through Lamar Valley or Hayden Valley don't really have to be hiked at all. The bison herds may not be all over the place that early in the season, but it may still be early enough for better wolf spotting. In general, early visits like this tend to be better for spotting grizzly bears. Many of the popular thermal features are easily accessed and may be a short walk from a parking lot to a paved spot or boardwalk area. Some of the falls and cascades are also designed for easy public access without a 5 mile hike. The colder air will also make the steam really stand out to help you spot thermal areas along the way as there are a number along the road between Mammoth/Norris/Old Faithful. It will still be very cold and you've got an above average chance of snow, but things are definitely starting to open up at that point.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/operating-dates.htm

I'm pretty sure dining options in at least Mammoth and Old Faithful areas will be open during your trip. A number of things in Mammoth are opening tomorrow. The Old Faithful Inn won't be open until later in May, but the Old Faithful Snow Lodge has things also opening tomorrow and is in the same general area. This map is also really good to see which roads are open. With current conditions, it looks like you can get from Gardiner to Mammoth, Mammoth to the Northeast Entrance through Lamar Valley, Mammoth to Norris and Old Faithful, to the edge of Canyon, and you can also get out the West Entrance. The roads to the south entrance and the east entrance towards Cody are usually the last to open. My parents were there around Memorial Day a couple of years ago and they were still discussing avalanche potential.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm
The webcams can also be a good gauge for conditions around.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

We're quite fond of Gardiner, as it's right outside of the northern entrance of the park and has some cute places to eat. I know we drove through Livingston on the way to Billings one time. It wasn't a major wow, but it is fun to follow the Yellowstone River along that route and I recall few neat ranches along the way. We also didn't really dig in to see what all was there.

If you hit West Yellowstone from Bozeman, you'll go through the Hebgen Lake area which is pretty and also has some significance from a major earthquake that hit the area. In general, there's a lot of history surrounding the park areas since you've also got the fort up in the Mammoth area and various political and society figures were critical in the foundation and preservation.

Excellent info! Thanks so much. It's good to have some suggestions for things we may want to see. It's definitely easier than having to start from scratch on the planning.

We may need to spend more time in Yellowstone than we originally thought.

I'm going to check out Gardiner. It sounds like we may want to move there for a few nights.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Excellent info! Thanks so much. It's good to have some suggestions for things we may want to see. It's definitely easier than having to start from scratch on the planning.

We may need to spend more time in Yellowstone than we originally thought.

I'm going to check out Gardiner. It sounds like we may want to move there for a few nights.

I'm really biased as it's my favorite park. It's actually a really neat time to visit the park. A huge benefit of going when you're planning is lack of crowds. Our first trip was pre-kids, after Labor Day and it was so much quieter than our subsequent summer visits. It's also different seasonally with colors and animals. You'll be arriving at the height of bison calving. You should see all kinds of brand new babies in the herds. I think you're more likely to see grizzlies vs. black bears in early May, but they should be out scavenging for food at this point. While we love national parks in general, we're not big into huge strenuous hikes. Part of why we love Yellowstone is that there is so much to see and do without having to hike for miles. While my videography skills leave a lot to be desired, this is a prime example of how many bison you could see just while sitting in your car along the side of the road in Lamar Valley.

This one is in the Old Faithful area. I'm just to the left of the Old Faithful Inn and the geyser going off is just to the left of Old Faithful. That boardwalk area in frame is filled with other geysers and pools. This area has a massive amount of parking and walkways as it's the most visited section of the park.

One last example...this is the boardwalk around Grand Prismatic. To access it, there's a foot bridge over the adjacent river that connects this area to the parking lot.

I was digging through some of my videos and it looks like I do also have a little bit from Gardiner.

I literally have thousands of Yellowstone pictures. So if there's anything you want to see from an accessibility/distance perspective, please let me know as I might have something.

 

[jimmymc]

Gardiner and Yellowstone are definitely more about the nature than the history. I highly recommend staying in Gardiner if you're spending multiple days in the park and not staying in one of the park hotels or campgrounds. Bozeman is a great town and has some nice restaurants, so it would be a good home base if you didn't want to move hotels too often.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Speaking of history, are you opposed to driving farther east and seeing Little Bighorn Battlefield NM? It's just off of I90, east of Billings.

https://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm

 

[bcla]

Gardiner and Yellowstone are definitely more about the nature than the history. I highly recommend staying in Gardiner if you're spending multiple days in the park and not staying in one of the park hotels or campgrounds. Bozeman is a great town and has some nice restaurants, so it would be a good home base if you didn't want to move hotels too often.

There's substantial history in the Yellowstone area, especially around the former Fort Yellowstone, which was where the US Army administered the park before there was a National Park Service.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/historyculture/fort-yellowstone.htm

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I did read the posts on my phone, but I'm horrible at typing on it. I needed to get back to using my computer to type more than a sentence or two.

I'm really biased as it's my favorite park. It's actually a really neat time to visit the park. A huge benefit of going when you're planning is lack of crowds. Our first trip was pre-kids, after Labor Day and it was so much quieter than our subsequent summer visits. It's also different seasonally with colors and animals. You'll be arriving at the height of bison calving. You should see all kinds of brand new babies in the herds. I think you're more likely to see grizzlies vs. black bears in early May, but they should be out scavenging for food at this point. While we love national parks in general, we're not big into huge strenuous hikes. Part of why we love Yellowstone is that there is so much to see and do without having to hike for miles. While my videography skills leave a lot to be desired, this is a prime example of how many bison you could see just while sitting in your car along the side of the road in Lamar Valley.

This one is in the Old Faithful area. I'm just to the left of the Old Faithful Inn and the geyser going off is just to the left of Old Faithful. That boardwalk area in frame is filled with other geysers and pools. This area has a massive amount of parking and walkways as it's the most visited section of the park.

One last example...this is the boardwalk around Grand Prismatic. To access it, there's a foot bridge over the adjacent river that connects this area to the parking lot.

I was digging through some of my videos and it looks like I do also have a little bit from Gardiner.

I literally have thousands of Yellowstone pictures. So if there's anything you want to see from an accessibility/distance perspective, please let me know as I might have something.

Excellent videos. You're helping me to get excited about the trip.

Where do you stay in Gardiner & where do you eat?

Do you have any touring suggestions for Yellowstone, like things to make sure we don't miss? We knew we wanted to see Old Faithful, but that's about all we know about the park. Thanks to your post we'll add Grand Prismatic Spring to the list. That's beautiful! Also, how much time do you think we will need to hit the highlights?

Gardiner and Yellowstone are definitely more about the nature than the history. I highly recommend staying in Gardiner if you're spending multiple days in the park and not staying in one of the park hotels or campgrounds. Bozeman is a great town and has some nice restaurants, so it would be a good home base if you didn't want to move hotels too often.

Thanks for the feedback. DH has four jobsites in the Gardiner/Livingston/Yellowstone area, so he'll be spending at least 4 weekdays in that area. His evenings will be free. We're undecided on whether we should stay there 2 nights & have him commute from elsewhere the other 2 or just stay there 4 nights. As I mentioned earlier, nature isn't our top entertainment preference, which makes that decision harder.

Do you have any suggestions for Bozeman hotels & restaurants? How about Gardiner?

 

[wabbott]

We found this an interesting stop in Butte, MT. Mining was a huge incentive for the migration and settlement in the Western US.

https://miningmuseum.org/

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Speaking of history, are you opposed to driving farther east and seeing Little Bighorn Battlefield NM? It's just off of I90, east of Billings.

https://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm

That's a great idea! We don't mind the drive, as long as we have the time.

I'm starting to work on a list of places of interest to see what we can group together to attempt to see as much as possible. The task seems a bit daunting considering we have another trip this week, before we fly to Montana. I wish I had more time. I'm so grateful that you guys are helping me out.

There's substantial history in the Yellowstone area, especially around the former Fort Yellowstone, which was where the US Army administered the park before there was a National Park Service.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/historyculture/fort-yellowstone.htm

Thanks for the info. I'll check out your link.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We found this an interesting stop in Butte, MT. Mining was a huge incentive for the migration and settlement in the Western US.

https://miningmuseum.org/

Thanks. We're big museum fans. I'll check it out.

 

[barkley]

op-keep an eye on the weather forecast. i see that gardiner mt, like us in washington is expecting some unseasonably cold weather through at least the next week-snow projected

 

[tarheelmjfan]

op-keep an eye on the weather forecast. i see that gardiner mt, like us in washington is expecting some unseasonably cold weather through at least the next week-snow projected

Eek! Thanks for the warning. I've started thinking about what to pack. Unfortunately, we left our thickest coats in North Carolina thinking we wouldn't need them & wouldn't want to deal with them on a plane anyway. I plan to carry a short dress coat on the plane & will pack a rain jacket & a couple jackets for layering with a top. Do you think that will suffice? We're South Floridians. Even though we've traveled up north some in the winter, I always end up packing wrong for colder weather. It seems I never guess right.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

@tarheelmjfan

This is one of the places I was thinking for lodging. https://yellowstonevinn.com/

It’s on the northern/far side of Gardiner, but it’s got more of a mountain cabin vibe and can be a little quieter in the busy summer months. If you want a cabin option, this place is cute and has rooms and cabins. It’s a little closer into town, but really…Gardiner is small, so either would be good.

https://www.guestreservations.com/t...7_PgVS5MKKY_pThoCyLEQAvD_BwE&ctTriggered=true

We ate here last time we were in Gardiner and really liked it.

https://cowboyslodgeandgrille.com/* everything right now seems to be going back to lodging inquiries. I can’t seem to get to their menu. I just remember them having this great huckleberry habanero sauce.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Thanks for the hotel suggestions. I'll check them out. I think the Travelodge & Super 8 are the hotels DH will be working at, but we don't have to stay at either of them.

As for the restaurant, as long as the theme is good, we're not that concerned with the menu. We'll mix in a few restaurants that we choose for food quality alone, but we're mostly look for fun, quintessential Montana themes. That restaurant looks perfect.

 

[amylevan]

I just wanted to note that you referenced a “quick drive” through Yellowstone. It is a massive park, and with bison road jams, it can be slow moving at times. You shouldn’t have people road jams in may, but it’s still a big park. The lower loop fully opens May 10 but the upper loop does not fully open until May 24. (The section from Tower Fall to Canyon is the last to open).

For what it’s worth, Yellowstone is amazing and truly worth a visit. There is a lot to see, with a lot of it visible from the car (the bison will literally be in the roadway with you) and a lot of beautiful geothermal features easily accessible from the boardwalks.

 

[amylevan]

Oh and I highly highly recommend the GuideAlong app. If you download the Yellowstone tour to your phone (prior to getting to Yellowstone since cell service is very spotty), the app uses GPS to tell you about different things in the park as you drive - including history, how/why the geological features work, different stories, what is worth getting out of your car and seeing, and where everything is. It is absolutely worth the money.

 

[jimmymc]

Thanks for the feedback. DH has four jobsites in the Gardiner/Livingston/Yellowstone area, so he'll be spending at least 4 weekdays in that area. His evenings will be free. We're undecided on whether we should stay there 2 nights & have him commute from elsewhere the other 2 or just stay there 4 nights. As I mentioned earlier, nature isn't our top entertainment preference, which makes that decision harder.

Do you have any suggestions for Bozeman hotels & restaurants? How about Gardiner?

In Bozeman, I stayed at the Comfort Suites Airport-University. It was brand new at the time and a step up from any other Comfort Suites I've been to. But if work is paying for the hotel, there are options from most of the national chains. For restaurants, Copper: whiskey Bar and Grill was my favorite. The downtown area is easy to drive to and has free parking, so you can stay most anywhere and have good restaurant access.

In Gardiner, I stayed at the Absaroka Lodge. The rooms were basic, but everything was clean, and you had a view of the river. The Park Hotel Yellowstone is probably the best hotel in town, but we were there over a holiday, and it was well out of my budget. There aren't a lot of restaurants in town, but Iron Horse Bar and Grill was good.