Traveling Huntleys

Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.

Yellowstone National Park

Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone: The Bridge Closed to Fishing and the Trout Nobody Invited

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Last Updated: October 10, 2026

Since 1995 the National Park Service has killed more than three million trout in Yellowstone Lake on purpose. It does it with gillnets, from contracted boats, every summer, and the whole point of it is to save a different trout.

Fishing Bridge over the outlet of Yellowstone Lake where the Yellowstone River begins, June 11, 2022, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Fishing Bridge is where the lake turns into the Yellowstone River, and it is the place where that story is easiest to see. We spent a week here at the end of May and into June 2022, parked in the RV park just east of the bridge, and it snowed on us.

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Cody, Wyoming: Shell Canyon, Dead Indian Pass and the Argument Over Buffalo Bill’s Body

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Updated Last: September 20, 2026

In 1948 the Colorado National Guard posted soldiers on a grave. The grave was on Lookout Mountain above Golden, it already had tons of concrete poured over it, and the man in it had been dead for thirty-one years. The soldiers were there because an American Legion post in Wyoming had publicly offered ten thousand dollars to anyone who would go and get him.

Snow-capped peaks of the Absaroka Range west of Cody, Wyoming

Buffalo Bill Cody founded the town of Cody, Wyoming in 1896 and is not buried there, and a good many people in Cody have never entirely accepted it. We used the town as a base, and mostly what we did was drive — over the Bighorns on U.S. 14, up the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, and on toward a gate into Yellowstone that turned out to be shut.

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Lamar Valley, Mammoth, and Norris Geyser Basin

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Last Updated: July 18, 2026

Lamar Valley from West Yellowstone is over a two-hour drive one way — but every mile of it rewards you with geothermal wonders, wildlife encounters, and sweeping fall scenery. In the past we’ve stayed in Gardiner at the north entrance, which puts Lamar Valley much closer. Along the way, Norris Geyser Basin, Terrace Spring, Beryl Spring, Gibbon Falls, and Mammoth Hot Springs all make excellent stops. Yellowstone National Park — established in 1872 as America’s first national park — never fails to astonish us, and autumn is one of the most magical times to visit.

Golden cottonwood trees reflecting fall foliage along the road to Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
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West Yellowstone, Montana in the Fall

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Last Updated: July 17, 2026

West Yellowstone in the fall is typically less crowded than summer and a wonderful time to see fall foliage and Yellowstone’s many attractions. The risk is cold weather and snow — and we had both on this trip. Because of COVID, international travel was largely off the table in 2020, so many people were exploring domestically instead, and there were more visitors than usual for the season. The animals were getting ready for winter, putting on their coats and building up reserves, and the elk rut was in full and dramatic swing along the Madison River.

Old Faithful erupting with a massive steam plume against a clear blue sky, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
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Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks, Wyoming: Moose, Grizzlies & Fall Color

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Last Updated: July 17, 2026

Grand Teton National Park is in northwestern Wyoming, just south of Yellowstone National Park, established in 1929 and covering approximately 310,000 acres of some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in North America. We hadn’t been here in over ten years, and were looking forward to reuniting with the striking Teton Range — though wildfire smoke from blazes across the West would test our patience, nearly obscuring the peaks on some days. From Thayne, Wyoming it was a two-hour drive north along the Snake River corridor.

Jenny Lake with wildfire smoke filling the air creating a moody sunset at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
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North Yellowstone & Gardiner, Montana

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Last Updated: May 25, 2026

We spent a full week in Gardiner, Montana, at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It was the perfect base — a short drive to the entrance gate, and each morning we were greeted by elk and pronghorn antelope right along the road. We explored the park on multiple days, covering the Lamar Valley, Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, the Madison River corridor, and more thermal features than we could fit into one visit.

The Lamar River flowing through a wide, green valley with snow-capped mountains in the distance, northern Yellowstone National Park
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