Hello and welcome back to Nomad Dad Life!
If you haven’t read the first part of our Oregon Trail, please do so here. Today we continue our journey west. Our next stop on our trip to Oregon was Big Sky Montana. Before we even took off, we took our kids to a playground so they could burn off some energy. It was about a 7½ hour drive so the more time they could play before getting in the car the better. My wife and I drank our coffee and planned out our stops along our route. Typically, we stopped about every other hour to get the kids out of their car seats. We tried to plan our stops around where playgrounds were so I–I mean our children–could run around a play. This, of course, made our travels take longer, but made it easier for the children and helped us keep our sanity.
We had never been to Big Sky so we didn’t really know what to expect, but we knew we wanted to stop by Yellowstone on our way to Oregon. The middle of June is a busy time around the Yellowstone area. Lodging was limited so we stayed in Big Sky. Our drive to Oregon was over 24 hours, so what’s an hour’s drive from Big Sky to Yellowstone?
Big Sky, Montana
Big Sky is, of course, known for its skiing, so the summer months aren’t as busy as the winter. No matter the time of year there is no shortage of activities to do outside, including enjoying the amazing scenery. It truly is a fantastic area for people who love the outdoors. Besides the great skiing, it offers amazing mountain biking, hiking, fishing, and rafting. It was a great place for us to slow down and just enjoy our adventure. We’d been so busy with work, selling the house, and trying to figure out our nomadic lifestyle that we hadn’t really had a chance to just enjoy our experiences. This stop was the first time we got to do that.
We planned on staying in Big Sky for 5 days, as that would give us some time to explore the area. It allowed us to appreciate the opportunity we have traveling around the United States. The only downside we noticed in our time here was the cost of living. Groceries and gas were way more expensive than what we were used to in Minnesota and our short time in Deadwood. What we spent on groceries for the 5 days we were there would have been at least 2 weeks’ worth back in Minnesota.
On our first day we had really nice weather, so we packed the kids up and went for a quick walk to the park. Trails run throughout Big Sky so it’s easy to get to wherever you need to without driving. The trails are really well maintained and even though most were gravel, pushing a stroller was no problem. Ousel Falls Trail is one of the most popular trails in Big Sky. It’s paved and has spectacular views of the mountains, river and waterfall. It also is relatively flat making it popular for families. Children can walk by themselves or pushing them in a stroller is easy. It’s also great for people out of shape like me!
With two toddlers we of course didn’t do any white-water rafting or mountain biking. We saw many people come to the area just for those activities. Any time of day we took a drive there were groups rafting down the river. Big Sky Resort offers over 50 miles of trails and has the only lift-serviced trails in the area. They also offer bike rentals right at the resort if you want to try mountain biking. The fly-fishing opportunities are endless in the area, and you can fly fish year-round.
Yellowstone National Park
As I mentioned before, we knew we wanted to spend some time in Yellowstone on our journey to Oregon and it did not disappoint. We actually got really lucky with our timing when we went. The day after we were there they had to close the park due to the flooding and roads being washed away. We were only able to spend one day in Yellowstone because of this and that wasn’t nearly enough time. We will be going back one day; it is an amazing place!
From West Yellowstone we decided to do the lower loop. This is where Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful are located. This would allow us to get to see the main attractions with our limited time. Typically, it is recommended to have at least 3 days to explore Yellowstone. Our one day was worth it, though!
Yellowstone Attractions
Grand Prismatic Spring is by far the most photographed location in Yellowstone. It is huge (third largest spring in the world), over 120 feet deep, and 370 feet in diameter. The spring has bacteria living in it that produces bands of orange, yellow, and green rings around the dark blue water. The steam that comes off the spring can make it tough to see sometimes, as well as all the crowds there wanting to get pictures. This was by far the busiest location during our visit to Yellowstone, and for good reason.
Of course no trip to Yellowstone can be complete without a trip to Old Faithful! After Grand Prismatic Spring we traveled past herds of bison, elk, and deer to get to the most famous geyser in the world. The geyser erupts every 65-90 minutes for anywhere from 1.5 minutes to 5 minutes. The boiling water is shot anywhere from 100-180 feet in the air! There is a gas station, restaurant, general store, and gift shop located right by Old Faithful. This helps to kill time before the next eruption. Since it is a national park and a tourist trap, expect to pay more for anything you purchase here.
We continued our journey on the lower loop, hoping to get to a couple more places while our children were still cooperating and doing OK riding in the car. Once we got to Hayden Valley there was stand-still traffic for about half an hour. A herd of bison were taking their time crossing the road; this is pretty common in this area so plan for a little extra time here!
West Thumb Geyser Basin was the last place we got to stop in Yellowstone. Located on the west side of Lake Yellowstone, West Thumb Geyser Basin is one of the smallest but most colorful geothermal areas in Yellowstone. It’s an easy place to explore and only takes about half an hour to see everything. There was much more we would have loved to do, but with one day and an hour drive to the park and another hour drive back that was all we had time for. When we go back, we will give ourselves at least 3 days. Staying closer to the park will also give us more time to explore.
Bozeman, Montana
We did have one day of rainy weather, so we took a drive to Bozeman and took the children to the Museum of the Rockies. It has many exhibits but the main one, and the reason we went, was the Siebel Dinosaur Complex. I mean who doesn’t love dinosaurs?? This museum has one of the largest collections of North American dinosaur fossils in the world. It has Montana T Rex, one of the few mounted Tyrannosaurus Rex skeletons in the United States, Big Al (a nearly complete Allosaurus), and a series of growth range Triceratops ranging from juvenile to giant. I’m not sure if the children enjoyed this more or if I did. Either way, it was cool to check out!
We left Big Sky during a snowstorm in the middle of June. We were able to get out of the mountains and had good driving conditions to our next and final stop before Oregon, Boise, Idaho. Please continue to follow our journey on social media for more updates. Click on the links below.
Links
Big Sky, Montana https://www.visitbigsky.com/
Big Sky Resort https://bigskyresort.com/
Yellowstone National Park https://www.yellowstonenationalpark.com/
Museum of the Rockies https://museumoftherockies.org/
BJ Rylander
February 1, 2023 — 10:50 pm
Love all the tips in your post, and the pictures and captions are superb. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.