Yellowstone National Park – A UNESCO World Heritage Site | Wyoming, Montana & Idaho

Yellowstone National Park is so extraordinary that it exists in three states, with the majority of the park in Wyoming. Even if this national park was only in one of those states, it would still be considered extraordinary in my book. Yellowstone is known for its geothermal features, such as Old Faithful and the thermal basins, as well as the roaming wildlife throughout the park.

Yellowstone National Park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

Fun Fact: In 1872, Yellowstone was created as the first United States National Park, and it is also held as the first national park in the world.

I had visited Yellowstone in the Fall of 2020 with a travel friend of mine, the year that we were all social distancing. As I write this we are still social distancing, but travel is still a necessity for most people. The parks were filled as people needed to be out in nature and not cooped up in their homes, although that was recommended. I will never get political but my friend and I needed this road trip, we needed to travel. So we found ourselves driving through Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming- our pandemic road trip!

There were two park entrances that we drove through, the first was from the south via Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park. The second was the West Entrance which was on the Montana and Idaho side. Whichever enterance you come in through, the drive will be spectacular although the Grand Teton route was my favorite.

There are many places to visit in Yellowstone, and we tried to do it in two days. We did get through a good chunk of it, but I do see the benefit on one or two more days.

The best way we found to tackle Yellowstone was to visit Old Faithful on the way in, since we were arriving from the south. We knew that would be the most popular site in the park, and we were thinking time efficiency. It was a great idea because the next day we had more time, and looped the whole park.

Old Faithful Geyser
Crowds waiting for Old Faithful
Old Faithful…

On our second day, we started early from the West Entrance, drove north and circled the entire park. If you arrive to the park at around 8:00 AM (or earlier), you will beat the crowds and you can take your time. This park is meant to be relaxing, and not someplace to rush through. We also packed a picnic lunch, so to save time from eating in one of the crowded cafes inside the park.

We had pulled off the road and got out of our car many times at Yellowstone, but that was the fun of it. Especially when we would see many cars parked, and not know what was up ahead. If you see people pulling over and rushing out of their car, follow suit because more than likely it will be grazing bison or a heard of elk. So give yourself time, pull your car over, and get out.