Gardiner is a popular destination for visitors to Yellowstone, as it offers easy access to many of the park’s most popular attractions, including Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, the Lamar Valley and plenty of animals.
Gardiner
Gardiner is located about an hour’s drive from Bozeman, Montana, and about two hours’ drive from Billings, Montana. The town is also accessible by plane, as the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport is located just 45 minutes away. We usually access it from the south through Yellowstone.
Things to do in Gardiner
Gardiner has a charming downtown area with a variety of shops and restaurants. There are also a number of hotels and motels in Gardiner as well as campgrounds and RV parks. Many visitors go fishing in the Yellowstone River, river rafting, hiking in the surrounding mountains, or horseback riding through the countryside. But the biggest attraction is viewing the wildlife.
The Gardiner High School football field is a great place to see elk. There are also pronghorn in the area and also sometimes on the football field.
Yellowstone RV Park
We’ve stayed at Yellowstone RV Park in the past. They have full service. The sites are tighter than some of the other RV parks we’ve stayed at, but the views of the Yellowstone River out the back of the rv are amazing.
Access to Yellowstone National Park
The North Entrance of Yellowstone National Park is located in Gardiner. From the entrance, you can drive to Mammoth Hot Springs, which is about 15 minutes away. From Mammoth, you can continue south to Norris Geyser Basin or east to the Lamar Valley, or you can head further south to Old Faithful and other popular attractions in the park.
The road to Norris is scenic, but we rarely see animals other than an occasional bison or otter on this route.
Lamar Valley to the northeast entrance is scenic.
There are large herds of bison. We sometimes see elk.
There are usually pronghorn.
Cooke City, Montana
In the past we’ve seen fox and moose in this area, but not so lucky this trip. We went to a restaurant that we’ve been to before. Sandy enjoyed the trout.
Beartooth Highway
Once again the pass was closed. This time from snow and before from flood damage, but we were able to drive a ways on this very scenic pass.
