One Day in Yellowstone National Park. Exploring this Amazing Park

Updated: May 2024

Is one day in Yellowstone enough? No. Not at all. BUT… if you have only one day, you can still see a good portion of the park.

Read about our One Day in Yellowstone National Park before you plan your one-day Yellowstone itinerary…

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One Day in Yellowstone National Park

My biggest rule is to never go into a National Park unprepared. If you are limited by time (and aren’t we all?), you will want to do your research to decide which parts of the park you want to see the most.

When we began planning our Yellowstone National Park road trip, that was my goal. But, Mother Nature had other ideas.

Road Trip Prep

Two weeks before the day we planned to leave for our road trip, massive flooding shut down Yellowstone National Park. We waited a week, with no change in park status and no opening day estimates, before we decided to change our road trip destination.

Since we had the route and activities mapped out (except for the Yellowstone activities + details), it made the most sense to stick close to the same area. So we chose the Grand Teton National Park.

Troubles on the Road

Our road trip plans did not go exactly as planned, but all was not lost since we always leave some wiggle room for unexpected events.

After exploring the Badlands National Park, and before making it to Mt. Rushmore, our car broke down. Repairs weren’t an option on a Sunday and the car was old-ish, so we bought a new car. Drastic? Yes. But it helped the road trip move along, close to “on schedule”

From Mt. Rushmore to the Grand Teton Mountains, there were no other issues. We spent an entire day taking in the sights of the absolutely gorgeous mountains and exploring the Grand Teton National Park.

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Luck of the Draw allows us One Day in Yellowstone

Yellowstone Opens!

While we were in the area, we heard that Yellowstone National Park would finally be reopened (the next day). We decided we could squeeze in ONE day at Yellowstone to at least get a glimpse of the park.

Visiting their website, we learned that entry would be on a license plate lottery system. This system looks at the LAST number of your license plate to determine days of entrance.

If your license plate ended with an even number, you could enter the park on even dates. And if your plate ended with an odd number, you could enter the park on odd dates.

The Stars Align for One Day in Yellowstone

As luck would have it, our new car’s temporary tags ended with an even number, and the first day of reopening was an even date.

This was our last planned day to be in the area before starting our return road trip route home.

We decided we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend one day in Yellowstone since the stars seemed to have aligned for us to visit the 2.2 million-acre Yellowstone National Park.

Our One Day at Yellowstone Adventure Begins

Our Arrival

We had NO idea what we were getting into. The park opened at 8 a.m., so we arrived at 7 a.m. And then the wait began.

We waited in a LONG line of cars, with many not knowing and/or understanding the license plate system being denied entrance and turned around.

We weren’t prepared for a 2-hour wait, but luckily we had plenty of gas in the car.

My biggest issue, as with many others, was the lack of restrooms along the waiting route.

After watching a few others get the courage to do so, I worked up the nerve to take off running into the woods to do my business (with my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t be eaten by a bear).

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Entering Yellowstone

We eventually made it into the park… YAH! There is something special about finally stepping into Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park, a place I’ve always heard of and dreamed of visiting “one day.”

Our plan for one day in Yellowstone was a lot of driving, and to see Old Faithful. Once inside the park, it didn’t seem that busy.

We entered the southern entrance and took our time on the roads of the South Loop, stopping at different overlooks and viewpoints.

I didn’t realize how massive Yellowstone is. We spent an incredible amount of time just driving. But the scenery keeps the drive from becoming boring.

Along the way, there are multiple places to pull over and view the scenery and wildlife at the road’s edge, or walk down a trail or path to a more hidden attraction.

The waterfalls (my favorite part) were way above average due to recent floods. And the animals (my second favorite) were scattered throughout. Elk and bison were the popular wildlife on our trip.

Old Faithful Geyer

When we reached Old Faithful, we parked and headed straight to the geyser. The park ranger at the Geyer gave us all the information we needed.

The next eruption was estimated in a half hour (with a +/- error of 10 minutes). We decided to take a front-row seat to wait for the next eruption and watch the nearby roaming bison.

Old Faithful Geyer is one of 500 Yellowstone geysers, the most predictable (roughly 90-minute intervals), and the first to get a name (in 1870).

Watching Old Faithful erupt was pretty magical, but that was not all there was at this section of the park.

There are walking trails all over the place with multiple other geysers and pools close by. We spent another hour roaming the grounds and taking in this spectacular scenery on a hot day (be sure to pack a hat and sunscreen!).

If you have just one day in Yellowstone, plan to spend 2-3 hours at this location to fully take it in.

By this point we were starving, so we stopped for a cafeteria-style lunch on the premises. With decent prices (for the inside of a national park), and a wide variety of options, we were both satisfied and ready to hit the road again.

In total, we spent 10 hours in the park for our one day in Yellowstone. We were exhausted but happy to have gotten the chance to experience Yellowstone National Park.

Wishing for more than One Day at Yellowstone

If we had the time to plan activities for one day at Yellowstone or another day in the park, I would have added the Grand Prismatic Spring to the “to-do” list.

If I go to Yellowstone National Park again, this location will be at the top of my list (the pictures are beautiful- check it out HERE).

But all in all, we were pleased with how this last-minute opportunity for one day in Yellowstone turned out.

Check out 7 cool facts about Yellowstone

And all the Yellowstone Park facts you can handle

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