Guided Adventures Yellowstone to avoid the crowds
For how long?
And 'the lament heard from parents as their family car in the crawling traffic on the roads in Yellowstone National Park – some 466 miles – as vehicles slow to gawk at the wildlife.
But we're not driving. Together with our Austin-Lehman Adventures guides, Matty and Katie Kirkland Gugliotta, we kayak on Yellowstone Lake in a desert area called 7M7. We paddle five miles from where a fishing boat dropped us off and spy osprey and deer along the road, but no other people. We will spend the next two nights in a tent with pottys outdoor showers and no Internet or phone service, and we can not wait, especially since we have not set the tents and cooking. Is that a bald eagle flying head? Wow!
There are many campsites along the big lake at a distance, which stretches for 20 miles north to south and 14 miles from east to west and has 141 miles of coastline – and we are heading as far away from the crowd, as we can get. Last year, Yellowstone had a record 3.6 million visitors, registering a record card for the third time in four years. The National Park Service has recorded 906,935 visitors in July – the second highest level ever recorded monthly visit, although a slight decrease since last summer – to make reservations in hotels in the park sometimes difficult to obtain.
When we visited the last week of July, the park is full of families – especially around Old Faithful (only one of the park's 300 geysers) and in the discovery of the new children at the Old Faithful Visitor Center. And despite all the space to get away from the crowd – Yellowstone covers 3,472 miles square in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho with 1,000 miles of trails – the National Park Service, says the vast majority of visitors do not get more than a quarter of a mile from the road , even though only 3 percent of the vast park you can see from this point of view.
Paving the way is why we opted to leave Austin-Lehman opened the road. The company was driving families in Yellowstone for 25 years – hundreds of summer – and even if they offer trips around the world, including many specifically for families, Montana and Yellowstone remains their most popular travel (look for a Montana family further journey next summer to include more camping) if you sign up for a ride with other families or arrange a trip just for your family alone, as we have. On our family including my cousins James and Mike Sitzman from Denver and their children, Ethan, 9, and Hannah, 6.
"The guides were able to take us to places we would not have even noticed if we were alone," said Katherine Shatrau, visiting from suburban Chicago. He had just finished a trip with Austin-Lehman's husband and 7 year old son to Chico Hot Springs Resort & Spa Day at the gates of Yellowstone.
"This trip has not had any kind of stress," added Shatrau. "No worries about where to get gas, if we're lost. All we had to do was wake up and bring our camera / bottle / sense of adventure!"
Mike Sitzman agreed. The guides cover meant he could have fun with her children in a place so beautiful and memorable, rather than sweating the details. "That was huge," he said. Equally significant, with the amiable guides leading the way, children do not whine or argue (much anyway), nor does it appear that they want the electronics can not live without a home.
When we spied a bear from the street, Kirkland Matty did a U-turn (no mean feat in a van and trailer), parked and ran up the hill to create an area so you can watch at a safe distance (guard Forest said visitors must be at least a football field away) while he chowed down on the green of a field of wildflowers. When it was time for children to be sworn in as Junior Rangers, Gugliotta Kirkland and whispered in my ear the ranger to make a "production" of it, thrilling the kids and making everyone around smile, as they were delivered Ranger badges area.
Keeping children occupied our guides knew exactly where to hunt for frogs and balloon animals for a style scavenger hunt in our camp, had a magnifying glass on hand for nature walks so you can take a close look at insects and flowers helped the children build a bona fide rock arch along a path and taking pictures all along the way, putting together a CD they gave us at the end of the trip chronicle our adventure.
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"With kids, it's always about the journey not the destination," Kirkland said Matty, who was driving to Austin-Lehman family for 15 years.
Of course it costs more to visit the park in this way (usually $ 400 per person per day, less for children), but that includes everything – lodging (no worries here about getting rooms at Park Lodges), stellar meals (how about a picnic while the taco guys bang away at a piñata at a picnic area?), activities (we ended the trip with a rafting trip down the Yellowstone River) and the most experienced guides who not only important to understand what we are seeing (did you know pine sap is good for chewing gum?), but also entertain the children with an endless supply of jokes, riddles, songs, walks on the shoulders and snacks.
Of course, there were defects. The mosquitoes were terrible at our campsite. The crew that set up the field has not brought the promised fishing rods for children. A hot springs where we planned to swim in the park was closed due to high water. But because our guides were always ready with a plan B (ready to fly a kite, instead of fish) that can derail another trip turned out to be only minor annoyances, and adults can relax rather than rush to the alternatives.
Other touches made us smile all. Think ice cream made with a special gadget REI and served in cones on top of a path with the brilliant turquoise Grand Prismatic Spring – the third largest hot spring in the world – spread across all its glory below us or yogurt parfaits presented on a silver platter under a waterfall.
"Absolutely worth the money," said Tim Tree Atlantan, whose Austin-Lehman also our family trip overlapped. His wife and three daughters had a good time – their first on a group trip – they're already thinking about next summer.
Our last morning in Yellowstone, 9 years, Ethan said: "It 'better than Disney World! I do not want to leave."
© 2011 Eileen Ogintz … Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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