Fifteen minutes south of the Canadian border, we made the last turn West toward Many Glacier Campground and into Glacier National Park. Immediately, we realized it was going to be a long, remaining twelve and half miles to our destination. The road was in terrible shape and every tiny pothole sent the camper bucking. Then, barely five minutes in, I spotted a mother moose and her spindly, newborn calf clambering up the bank next to the road! I lived in Wisconsin for ten years and never saw a moose! The boys and I were whooping and calling for Mike to stop. He refused. White-knuckled and bent over the wheel, he was sick of the road. I wondered if I'd made a mistake planning this route. Would there even BE a campsite when we got to the campground? PLEASE. Let there be a campsite!
Now that we have survived the 5,000+ mile journey, from Birmingham to Glacier National Park and back (with kids!), we are sharing with you how it went, in three parts. This is part two, documenting our stops at Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. You can find part one, about our stops at Badlands, Wind Cave, the Mammoth Site and Mount Rushmore HERE. We got into all the National Parks for free with our fourth grader thanks to the Every Kid in a Park Program! Find out about the program HERE.
Glacier National Park
Eventually, after much bumping and under-our-breath cursing about the state of the road and insufficient national park funding, we rolled into the campground. Thankfully, there were plenty of spots available. I'd like to say that we uneventfully set up camp and went straight to bed. But, the night wasn't over yet. On our way into the park, we'd read one too many warnings about grizzly bears and wondered out loud (one too many times), whether our hybrid tent-camper was safe enough to store food in. We decided it was, but then Cole, who was sleeping with me in the tent side of the camper on our first night in grizzly bear country, decided it wasn't. He had a total meltdown right before bedtime, believing a gang of grizzlies was going to come for us in the middle of the night and tear us, screaming, from our sleeping bags. I managed to convince him that I would have enough time to grab a broomstick and protect him, should that happen. But then I couldn't get to sleep, wondering if I had just told him a big fat lie. Needless to say, we made it through the night. The next day, we were reassured by some friendly rangers that although we needed to follow regulations to stay safe, we didn't really have to worry about being dragged from the camper in the middle of the night. After several days in grizzly country, we realized that if we did see one, we would be counting ourselves lucky! Alas (or maybe thank goodness?), we did not see one.
 Glacier National Park is filled with panoramic views of jagged peaks like this one. |
We DID, however see many, many more amazing animals and scenery. Our first day, we explored the Many Glacier area, on foot, right out of the campground. We were in search of a moose and ended up seeing two (a mom and older calf)! The guys loved seeing and playing in the few remaining snow banks and tossing rocks into the rushing, snow-melt filled creek. Then, we drove to the "Going to the Sun Road" area to explore the visitors center and hike some more. First, we drove as far as we could along the road (we made it close to Logan Pass where the road was closed to traffic), and saw a young black bear cub munching on flowers right next to the road. Then, backtracked and chose to stop and hike the trail to St. Mary's Falls. This beautiful hike has gorgeous views of the surrounding peaks, lots of wildflowers and spooky, dead trees, all along the way to the falls. A trail maintenance crew was busy constructing a bridge at the falls, so we were unable to get close, but by the end of this summer, it should be ready for close-up viewing. From a distance, it looked awesome. All day, the weather alternated between cold/drizzly and sunny/warm. We were glad we arrived prepared for mountain weather with full rain gear (jackets AND pants) and winter coats for in camp.
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The second day, we chose to explore the Two Medicine area of the park. The road there is gorgeous, but our favorite part was a short hike along a rushing river to Running Eagle Falls, which is a double falls (water comes over the top AND through a cavern below the top).
 A panoramic view of the Two Medicine area from Running Eagle Falls |
 There was no one here to take a family portrait, so we selfied it. |
 An perfectly imperfect wildflower. |  The guys enjoying one of their favorite pastimes, throwing rocks and skipping stones. |
Glacier Tips
Because we visited in late May, the Going to the Sun Road was not yet fully open for traffic. This is a fact I wished I'd known earlier, because maybe we would have chosen to arrive in Glacier a bit later on. If you are planning a trip to Glacier, you should know that many parts of the park and concessions (such as boat tours, restaurants etc.) don't fully open until June 15th. Arriving earlier is great for beating the crowds, but hampered our ability to move through the park freely and do some of the things we'd hoped to do. Be prepared for unpredictable, mountain weather. We were really happy we brought winter coats, beanies, warm pajamas, extra blankets and full body rain gear. Even with the right gear, after two days exploring, we were ready to head south to warmer climes. If more roads and concessions had been open, we would have been happy to stay and explore more. Two days was a nice "taste" of the park.
 The guys dance on a bear box in our campsite at Many Glacier. The view is stunning. |  Campfire in the drizzle. Thank goodness we came prepared for mountain weather. |
Yellowstone National Park
The fact that I can vividly remember the last time I visited Yellowstone (I was three years old), is a testament to the impact this place can have on your soul. I am so excited I had the opportunity to relive old memories and create new memories with my own children. If you only have time to visit one national park, in my opinion, Yellowstone is the one to choose. There is just so much here to explore: mega-fauna wildlife, super volcano hydrothermal and geothermal features, endless, ever-changing scenery and American history. Where do I start?
Not knowing exactly where we were going to be and when, we did not make reservations for a campsite within Yellowstone. Our plan was to camp as close as possible to the northern border, then wake up early and bee-line to our chosen campground. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that the park's online campground status website is not entirely accurate. We were nervous, but thought we would get a site, since the park website said the campground we wanted "did not fill," the day before. But, in fact, it had filled and it was full again by 8:30 am, long before we arrived a couple hours later. It didn't help that we encountered another bad-for-towing-a-camper road within the park (the north-western portion of the Grand Loop Road was under construction). So we had to camp outside of the park. And with Yellowstone being the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined (2.2 million acres!), that was a bit inconvenient and made for a LOT of extra driving. This was in early June, so you can imagine what it is like further into peak visitors season.
There are so many amazing things to see and do in Yellowstone, this article would be way to long (it is already going to be long!) if I highlighted everything we saw. So, here are my top THREE do-not-miss recommendations.
1. Mammoth Hot Springs Area and anywhere you find "mud pots" or "paint pots" - In my opinion, the terraced hot springs were the coolest geothermal formations we saw in the park. We saw them from the road on our way in, but I'm really glad we took my Dad's advice and drove way out of our way to return to this area so we could see them up close on foot. The colors and patterns created by the springs must be experienced both from a distance, for the grand scale, and up close, so you can see how the larger terraces are being formed by tinier and tinier micro-terraces building one upon the other. The mud pots are what I remember most from my childhood trip and were again a favorite of mine. Cole really loved them too, and together we lingered wherever they occurred, mesmerized by the thick, popping mud bubbles. The rotten-egg sulfur smells and wet heat emanating from all of these geothermal features add to the full-body, sensory experience of the park.
 I tried my best to get a good picture of the Mammoth Hot Springs terraces, but no picture does this area justice. |  The features found here are so bizzare and amazing up close! |
2. Evening (or early morning) wildlife viewing - Ask the rangers where people are spotting wolves and grizzlies (or just drive along and look for groups of people with large cameras and/or scopes). We wanted to visit the Lamar Valley area (aka The Serengeti of America), but it just didn't work out timing wise, being in a part of the park furthest from our home-base on the western side. Instead, we timed one of our days to end up in Hayden Valley (conveniently located right on the Grand Loop) at dusk, with a PB&J picnic dinner. Our first stop, at a pullout overlooking nearly the entire valley was stunning for bison, elk and especially birds. You MUST bring binoculars, and if you can beg, borrow or steal a spotting scope, it is really worth it. We thought we would stay in that one spot, but we yielded to a determined bison bull. I'm glad we did, because we found another great pull out overlooking another section of the valley, and there we spotted a coyote working the edge of the river below. The guys just about lost their minds, running back and forth with their binoculars and fighting over my spotting scope. We never did see any wolves or grizzlies, but seeing the a coyote behaving naturally in the wild (and not just darting across the road at night) was a memory none of us will ever forget.
 A view of Hayden Valley, one of the park's best areas for wildlife viewing. |
 Watching wildlife in Hayden Valley was one of the highlights of our entire cross-country trip! |
3. Drive the entire Grand Loop Road - Don't be tempted to think that the scenery around the giant figure eight shape that makes up the Grand Loop Road is all the same, because it is all contained within one park. It isn't. The scenery is fantastically diverse here, and it is well worth driving the entire thing. And all along the way are famous sights you will want to stop and see: Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Springs, Yellowstone Lake, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and so, so many more. One spot that might not be on your radar, that everyone really enjoyed, was LeHardys Rapids, just north of Fishing Bridge. I had heard from a fellow birder that you can spot the relatively rare, and very cool-looking harlequin ducks near the rapids, so I made a big deal about going on a "duck hunt" to find them. We found one, and we really enjoyed seeing the rapids too! It took us three very full days to drive the whole loop and stop at the major attractions along the way. But we could have spent so many more discovering all things we didn't have time for.
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Yellowstone Tips
Camping - I think we really missed out not getting to camp within the park, so if you know exactly when you will be in Yellowstone, it would be well worth making reservations for a campsite. I've heard this needs to be done at least six months to a year in advance.
Timing and number of days to visit - It already felt crowded and hot to us in early June; I can't imagine going in July. If you are able to visit during non-peak season, do it. It would be really easy to spend an entire week just in this park. Three days felt like a good visit for a cross-country parks tour, but if you are a one park at a time type family, definitely plan more time here. We have friends who spent a week backpacking with their girls this summer. I can't wait to hear what they discovered!
Grand Teton National Park
So many people told us not to skip Grand Teton, and I'm so glad we heeded their advice. Here we found some of the most beautiful mountain scenery and one of our favorite campgrounds. We left the crowds behind in Yellowstone, so getting a campsite at Gros Ventre Campground was, thankfully, easy. We found a nice spot within a few minutes walk of the Gros Ventre River. Other campers told us that normally the river is calm and kids can play safely along the shallow banks. However, when we were there, the river was running high, so we were careful not to let the kids play by themselves. It definitely made for some exciting rock-throwing adventures though!
One of my favorite activities for the entire trip was taking the kids for a bike ride along one of the bikes-only trails in the park. You get to see the scenery in a whole new slower-but-faster-than-walking way. With the numerous wildflowers, it certainly smelled good.
 This will be one of my favorite memories of the whole trip! |
We also took a hike along the creek flowing out of String Lake and into Jenny Lake. Alongside the trail, some hikers pointed out a newborn elk calf not five feet from the side of the trail. She was curled up, laying perfectly still, but her little nose was going in and out a million miles per hour, so I know she was aware of us. You just never know what you are going to find or where!
 Baby elk! |
Grand Teton Tips
Although you can drive into Grand Teton directly from Yellowstone, we decided we wanted to avoid Yellowstone tourist traffic while pulling the camper. So, we drove around the west side of the park, and entered from the south, through Jackson. We only spent one day here, as we were beginning to suffer from what we liked to call "grandeur fatigue," but there was so much more here that we didn't get to see. I wish we would have had time to see Jackson Lake. We also missed out on riding to the top of the Tetons via the aerial tram from Teton Village (saw that in a guide somewhere later).
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Thanks for following along for Part 2 of our journey, and stay tuned for Part 3: Fossil Butte and Dinosaur National Monuments and Rocky Mountain National Park, coming next week! For more pictures, visit our Instagram and Facebook pages.
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