I'm going to be in/around YNP for several days. What're some things that no one should leave here without doing or seeing?

Also, any recommendations on fishing spots? I'm hoping I come across a place where I can rent some fly fishing equipment.

I'm jealous. That's on my list for when the kids get alittle older.

I caught probably 60 brown trout out of the madison river and some of the feeder streams with a simple spinning rod and a gold bladed orange rooster tail. They couldn't lay off it.

Fly fished the firehole for one morning, and not a bite. Tried leeches and egg imitators since there was not much of any hatch at the time.

Some of the isolated lakes have artic grayling in them. I caught one, which was kind of cool.

You MUST see the falls, and the canyon. There is the firehole basin where Old Faithful is. Basically drive around the loop and look for waterfalls and other things to stop at, and then the open valley in the middle you see bison and other critters at.

One of my best vacations was spending 3 days by myself in Yellowstone.

Spend an afternoon around Old Faithful, but get the heck away from that geyser and go watch some of the others. I've got photos that I took of two different geysers erupting on my wall here at work. Neither of them are Old Faithful. There will be 1000 people watching Old Faithful then they'll all get back in their car and drive away saying, "well we've seen Yellowstone!" Never realizing what they could have seen with a 2 hour walk around the boardwalks just behind it.

No one gets off the road in that park. If you find a nice trail, you'll be relatively alone on it.

Yeah, I spent hours hiking around on boardwalks and hiking trails.

1. Old Faithful....a must since you are there already.

2. All of the other geysers, and especially the colorful ones...you can see most of these on brochures, or look them up so you can target them.

3. At least one hiking trail

4. Must drive all or most parts of the double loop just to see what or how many buffalo and other things you can see.

5. Cody, Wyoming if you go out or in that way...the museum which houses the Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Gun Museum, and Western Art Museum.....all in the same museum building.

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No one gets off the road in that park. If you find a nice trail, you'll be relatively alone on it.

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+1

we went for a long weekend a couple of summers ago. during the days we did lots of day hikes, hit the high points, etc. At night we ate dinner in a trail head parking lot and then hiked in a couple miles to a backcountry site. Never saw another soul once we left the lot. So much better than those damned camp grounds.

Make the short hike up Avalanche Peak. Good views of the whole park.

Go to Cooke City in the NE corner of the park and drive to Red Lodge Montana over the Beartooth highway, one of the most beautiful drives in the lower 48!

In the early evening take a sack lunch to Hayden Valley and just park on the side of the road and watch the wildlife. We did this almost every night there since we were staying in Canyon Lodge. One evening we saw a pack of wolves take down a baby elk. We got it on video too. Pretty awesome thing to see.

^^^link or it didn't happen!!

From my trip last fall, Old Faithful was definitely the least interesting thing we saw, but to each his own. I'd recommend the following:

Grand Prismatic Spring


Lower Falls (several viewing areas, I recommend Artists Point, Lookout Point, and Red Rock Point):


Hayden Valley


Lamar Valley


Tower Fall


Moose Falls


It all depends of course on your particular interests, are they wildlife, landscapes, waterfalls, hot springs, or geysers? If you're interested in wildlife, the two best places by far are Lamar Valley (in the northeast corner of the park, best place to stay nearby is Cooke City) and Hayden Valley. Lamar is the top place for finding wolves, and both places have grizzlies. Hayden Valley is also great for seeing bison. I also recommend going to visit the falls (both Upper and Lower) in midmorning for ideal lighting. I spent one night at the Old Faithful Inn, woke up at before sunrise, drove to Hayden Valley, saw my first grizzly there and a bunch of other things, then was up to the waterfalls by about 9:30 and stuck around that area for an hour or so and it was perfect. Then hit up Tower Fall on the way to Lamar Valley for a terrific afternoon of wildlife-watching. If you head down to the southern part of the park (as if you're heading into the Tetons which would be fantastic if you have time), don't forget to check out the less well known but beautiful Moose Falls not far before exiting the park.

Bottom line, you can't go wrong. Have fun!