Falling for the planet, again | Yellowstone

We drove from Vancouver to Yellowstone in early May 2025 and got two sunny days back-to-back inside the park — luck the shoulder season doesn’t promise. The customs queue on Day 1 ate three hours we hadn’t planned for. The cell signal inside the park was better than every Chinese-language guide had warned us about. And the heat vent in our Old Faithful Inn room was loud enough that we’ll pick a different cabin next time. Here’s what worked and what we’d change.

The route at a glance

Day 1 — Vancouver → Seattle (T&T Supermarket for instant noodles + gas) → Spokane. About seven hours of driving plus a three-hour US customs delay. Start early. Stay: Fairfield Inn & Suites Spokane Valley.
Day 2 — Spokane → Missoula (lunch + gas) → West Yellowstone. About seven hours. Stay: Kelly Inn West Yellowstone.
Day 3 — Into the park: Lower Loop (Grand Prismatic, Old Faithful, Morning Glory Pool). Stay: Old Faithful Inn.
Day 4 — Upper Loop and Middle Loop: Mammoth Hot Springs, Lamar Valley. Stay: Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel.
Day 5 — Out the North entrance → Spokane. About seven hours. Stay: The Davenport Grand, Autograph Collection.
Day 6 — Spokane → Vancouver. Home.

The cell-signal myth, busted

Before the trip every Chinese-language guide I’d read warned that I’d be offline inside the park. I downloaded movies. I screenshotted maps. I prepared for a digital detox. It wasn’t necessary.

We had usable signal at Artist Point, near Old Faithful, near the Mammoth Hotel, on the Fairy Falls Trail overlook, and along the boardwalk from Old Faithful to Morning Glory Pool. From a bed inside Old Faithful Inn I streamed Xiaohongshu videos at full speed. I tethered my partner’s phone and we watched together — no lag. My carrier was Koodo (Canadian, US–Canada roaming plan) on an iPhone 15 Pro; AT&T users we ran into in the park reported the same.

If you’ve been planning around being offline, drop the planning.

Hotels worth picking carefully

Six nights, four hotels worth talking about.

Old Faithful Inn (inside the park). The selling point is the location — you’re a five-minute walk from the geyser, watching it from the upper deck. Rooms have private bathrooms (the recurring XHS warning about communal toilets is outdated). Cell signal works inside the building. But the walls are thin enough that you hear the next room and the bathroom exhaust fan, which keeps running after you flip the switch. The heating vent rattles. Check-in is strict — we arrived at 3:45pm and were sent away until 4:00 exactly. Next time we’d try Snow Lodge or Canyon Lodge instead — but stay inside the park either way.

Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel (inside the park). Excellent across the board: big room, quiet, private bathroom, WiFi works, the front desk let us check in early. The bison burger at the restaurant is $18 — for an in-park restaurant that’s a real price.

Kelly Inn West Yellowstone (gateway town). A few minutes’ drive from the West entrance, plenty of restaurants nearby, larger room and quieter than the Spokane Fairfield. Worth it as the overnight before park days.

Fairfield Inn & Suites Spokane Valley (outbound, Spokane). Sits next to a freeway. Loud at night, small room. For the return drive we switched to The Davenport Grand, Autograph Collection — top-floor view, walking distance to Spokane Falls. Parking isn’t free, runs around $30 a night.

Booking the in-park hotels

Book in-park lodging on the official site (yellowstonenationalparklodges.com), not a third party. Two things worth knowing:

Free cancellation up to a month out. Book aggressively early — if your plans change, you cancel without penalty.
Same-rate price-match. If you see a lower rate after booking, contact customer service and they’ll match it. No need to cancel and rebook.

Rooms with private bathrooms exist at every in-park hotel, including the historic ones. Don’t let the “old hotel = shared toilet” XHS panic talk you into a more expensive newer lodge.

Park timing — getting the photos you came for

Grand Prismatic from above. Navigate to Fairy Falls Trail. From the parking lot it’s about a 20-minute walk to a small hilltop overlook where the whole pool is in frame. On a cold day, go between noon and 2pm — less steam, clearer color.

Morning Glory Pool. Avoid mid-day, when the sun reflects off the surface and turns the pool into a mirror. Early morning or late afternoon is the window. From Old Faithful, two paths reach Morning Glory: a fast concrete walkway with no views, and a longer wooden boardwalk lined with thermal features. Take the boardwalk on the way in, the concrete walk on the way back.

Old Faithful erupts for one to two minutes. Check the predicted next eruption time on the NPS app, and be at the bench ten minutes early. You can’t sprint over once you see the steam.

Other geysers: don’t wait around. Walk past whatever’s not erupting and move on.

Lamar Valley at sunset. The road from Mammoth to Lamar Valley is the trickiest in the park — slower, more curves. With wildlife and photo stops you’ll spend three-plus hours; the navigation says 90 minutes. Returning to Mammoth at sunset means the sun is straight ahead. Sunglasses are not optional. Drive slow.

A few more practical notes

Customs heading south on Day 1 can run three hours. Start early.
Public restrooms inside the park are plentiful and easy to find.
Daily driving inside the park is shorter than it looks on a map — except the Mammoth ↔ Lamar Valley road, which is the trickiest. Stick to the posted speed limit; the rest is easy.
Sleeping warm: every hotel on this list, including Old Faithful Inn’s old wing, had working heat. No need to pack extreme layers for the rooms.

Worth it?

A baby bison ran past our car. Two adults head-butted each other across the road. The hot-spring minerals scattered light into colors that look painted. We learned that active springs slowly die — and that dead ones can come back. Thanks to the earth for putting all this in one park and letting us walk through.