Rocky Mountain RV Park

Rocky Mountain RV Park
Gardiner, Montana
Happy Camper Rating 8.5/10


We stayed at the Rocky Mountain RV Park in Gardiner, Montana during our visit to Yellowstone National Park. The town had plenty to do. You could walk downtown easily for groceries, dining, shopping or to partake in the beautiful views. The RV Park itself had mini golf, small gift shop, dog yard and small cabins. They have showers, laundry and social bonfire in the evening. Each spot is provided a nice picnic table. Everyone at the park was friendly and the staff seemed to live there or within the vicinity. The views from the park were amazing.  At night the campers were out with their binoculars looking off into the mountains. I can only assume they were wanting to see the animals come out at dusk to hunt. The weather is confusing, 34 degrees in the morning and 70 degrees during the day. Dressing in layers is key. I would stay there again, the location was enjoyable for all of us.

Rocky Mountain RV Park

 Entrance to Park

Part of Down Town

 Mini Golf

Emergency Phone (what's that) hehe

Morning visitors 

Yellowstone National Park

6/14/15
Day 7

Did you know that Yellowstone National Park was the United States' first national park? I didn't and was very intrigued by that fact while spending the entire day driving through the park. Yellowstone is beautiful, though the smell is unpleasant due to the sulfur in the air (Sulfur smells like rotten eggs or fart, when you live with boys fart is definitely the best definition of the stench), the view made up for it. The Rocky Mountains, valleys, animals. waterfalls, springs, and basins were totally stunning. The drive was long and if you are afraid of heights like my mom, it could be quite frightening. This is a great place to go if you enjoy nature photography or painting/sketching. If you cannot walk for long periods of time going up and down stairs I wouldn't recommend this place. If you have kids or siblings as whiney as my brothers, I really wouldn't recommend it unless you could handle the constant, "Another hike, seriously?" "When are we going back home?" "It all looks the same!" We saw a few elk and lots of buffalo, but unfortunately, there were no bears in sight. Overall, Yellowstone is a beautiful place!

-Carmen

Day 7 Yellowstone

Day 7 
June 14, 2015

Yellowstone National Park
We decided to spend our entire day 7 at Yellowstone National Park.  Josh plotted out the most popular sites to see around Yellowstone before heading out for the day. The ones he planned were the must sees and the other stops along the way were a phenomenal bonus! The drive through Yellowstone is beautiful even if you don't plan on getting out of the car. I spent some of the trip staring at Josh as he drove around the Park due to extreme road drop off that scared me to death. I'm not a big baby, just have a little HEIGHT FRIGHT! The sites we stopped at starting at The North Entrance were Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Firehole River, Midway Geyser Basin Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, Picnic lunch at Gull Point Drive, Mud Volcano, Canyon Village Artist Point, Hayden Valley, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Tower Falls. If I had to choose a favorite spot I would choose Artist Point. It was located on a wrong turn we took through Canyon Village which turned out to be a beautiful gem. I also loved Prismatic Spring because it was fascinating to see all the colors, flow and steam rising. I will do my best to label the photos according to site but I may not identify them correctly, so please forgive me.

View from North Entrance Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone Post Office

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS 

Mammoth Hot Springs Elev 6239

Mammoth Hot Springs from a distance

Chandler, Charlie, Mom, Colin, Carmen

Josh and Kim

Kissy face 

(Eeewwww... Carmen said while taking this picture)

Chandler, Charlie, Josh, Colin

Father, Daughter

Father throwing Daughter over edge

(I'm kidding)

Cupid Spring

Beautiful drive

NORRIS GEYSER BASIN

Josh explaining the Geyser to the kids

Carmen and Charlie buddy up

Carmen, Colin, Charlie, Chandler

are all looking forward to the hike.

We chose the Porcelain Basin

Carmen

Where the Buffalo Roam

FIREHOLE RIVER

Midway Geyser Basin Grand Prismatic Spring

View of Prismatic Spring from main road

Fairy Falls 

Fairy Falls

Walkway to Prismatic Spring

The Grand Prismatic Spring steam displayed beautiful colors into the air

The Family

Grand Prismatic Spring View

Information about the Spring

OLD FAITHFUL

Old Faithful Geyser

Predicting Old Faithful

We were really lucky to show up just 5 minutes before the eruption.

Steam is a good indicator that eruption is coming

Eruption of OLD FAITHFUL

Carmen and Charlie at Old Faithful

Picnic lunch at Gull Point Drive

Mud Volcano

Mud Geyser

Churning Caldron

Dragon's Mouth Spring

It really seems like a dragon's mouth when smoke billows 

and even sounds like a dragon

Josh entertaining the kids doing the Bernie dance down the trail

Canyon Village Artist Point

The amazing Artist Point

The family enjoying the falls

My favorite place to be, with my man

Hayden Valley

The valley is full of wildlife and breathtaking scenery

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

It was crazy to see snow along the road in June

Tower Falls 

The kids relieved that this would be our last stop for the day.

When we returned to the RV Park after a full 10 hours at Yellowstone, Carmen stayed home with the little boys.  Josh, Chandler and I went to "Cowboys Grill" a local restaurant just down the street for dinner. They serve traditional "American" food which I really enjoyed to top off a great day.