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Our Road Trip Itinerary: Minnesota to Yellowstone National Park and Back

Day 1: Farmington, MN to Moorhead,MN

  • Minneapolis, MN area to Fargo/Moorhead area

We started out in the Minneapolis area of Minnesota. We had a soccer game for our son that day, so we left in the evening. We traveled about 4 hours to Fargo and stayed with family to get our trip started out! We traveled in a mini van that we rented for the trip.

Day 2: Fargo/Moorhead to Medora, ND

We left Fargo in the morning and drove to the Medora, ND area where we set up camp at the Medora Campground. We spent the rest of the day exploring the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and had dinner in Medora with John’s good buddy!

Day 3: Medora, ND…Billings, MT… Gardiner, MT

We got up early to get ready and pack up our campsite (we tent camp) and get back on the road. We drove through Billings, MT and made a stop at the Pictograph Cave State Park. We had a quick picnic lunch there and continued along through the AMAZING Beartooth Highway towards the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Just before the entrance is Cooke City where we stopped to eat dinner and then made our way through the north side of the park. We drove from the Northeast Entrance through the Lamar Valley and back out the North Entrance at Gardiner, MT. We camped at the Yellowstone RV Park. We arrived a little late and had to set up the camp in the dark!

Day 4: Gardiner, MT… Yellowstone National Park… West Yellowstone, MT

We again got up early to pack up our campsite, then ventured into Yellowstone National Park and visited some of the features on the north side of the park. Mammoth Hot Springs, Undine Falls, Wraith Falls, a picnic lunch at a roadside stop by Lava Creek, and then we headed back to Gardiner to do a river raft ride on the Yellowstone River. Stopped for dinner in Gardiner and then drove back through the park from the North Entrance to the West Entrance, where we camped at the KOA West Yellowstone. (Again arriving in the dark to set up!)

Day 5: West Yellowstone, MT … Yellowstone National Park

Up early to pack up the campsite and drive into the West Entrance through the Madison River Valley towards the Norris Geyser Basin where we met my brother and his family! We went through the Norris Geyser Basin, picnic lunch along Virginia Cascade Drive, and then onto the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. A drive through the Hayden Valley for dinner at the Lake Yellowstone area at Lake Village, and then a stop at Kepler Cascade and finally arriving at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. (We stayed here for three nights.)

Day 5: Yellowstone National Park

A walk right over to see Old Faithful with a stop inside to grab some coffee and a muffin, a walk around the Upper Geyser Basin, over to the Midway Geyser Basin (where the iconic Grand Prismatic Spring is located), the Fountain Paint Pots, Firehole Lake Drive, dipped our toes in the Firehole Canyon River, and made our way back towards the Hayden Valley to look for some wildlife, stopped in the Canyon Village area for dinner and went back toward the Yellowstone Lake where we saw the most amazing buffalo stampede, then back towards the Old Faithful Snow Lodge for the evening

Day 6: Yellowstone National Park

Up early to make the hike to Fairy Falls with a stop at the Grand Prismatic Overlook, met my brother (who had gone to Gardiner to do whitewater rafting) for a picnic lunch at the Gibbon River Picnic Area, and then they made their way back home, and we went on to the Firehole Canyon Drive, and then on to the Biscuit Basin and the hike to Mystic Falls. Then back for our final night at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.

Day 7: Yellowstone National Park… Cody, WY… Hullett, WY

Packed up early and drove by Yellowstone Lake on the way to the East Entrance of Yellowstone and on to Cody, WY where we made a stop at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, then through the Bighorn Mountains and to the Devils Tower area, where we stopped at Hullett for the night. (We had meant to make it all the way to South Dakota to camp, but didn’t make it that far! We got a hotel instead as a big thunderstorm was rolling through!)

Day 8: Hullett, WY… Deadwood, SD… Rapid City, SD… Farmington, MN

Visited Devils Tower, drove to South Dakota, stopped in Deadwood, SD to visit Mt. Moriah Cemetery where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried, next on to Custer State Park to see Sylvan Lake and drive the Needles Highway, see Mt. Rushmore, and then make the loooonnngggg drive home late into the night!

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