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Dunanda falls leaves from the Bechler ranger station and sounds like a good fit, under 8 miles to get there with not a lot of elevation gain. Plus there is a pit toilet and there are some hot springs at the bottom of the falls.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/wyoming/dunanda-falls-and-silver-scarf-falls-trail

Union falls is a nice trip back and an incredible sight to see. This is technically in the Bechler area but most people approach it from the Flagg ranch area coming out of the south entrance. The approach from the bechler ranger station is significantly longer.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/wyoming/union-falls-trail

Nine adults gets kinda pricey for in park accommodations. If it's not an issue, call the Xanterra reservations line and talk to a person, they can help with larger groups, can make sure the rooms or cabins are near each other and have current openings that the website might not show.

There are nice big rental cabins in Gardiner, MT and further north into Paradise Valley on VRBO and Airbnb. Also search the West Yellowstone, MT area, Jackson, WY and finally Cody, WY or Big Sky, MT. But the further out you are, the longer the day and the mileage really adds up.

Yellowstone is fine for most ability levels. There is a lot of see from the car or features that only require short walks from the road.

One really easy hike that most less-in-shape folks can handle is Lone Star Geyser. You can rent bicycles at Old Faithful area and take those instead of walking. I've only seen a handful of folks back there (though it does get a few around the predicted times for eruption - posted at Old Faithful).

The government is prepared in every way necessary for such a large disaster.

Hall of Records behind Mount Rushmore and The Georgia Guidestones.

You can't actually expect your goverment to somehow save you from a potential catastrophe that would, over the course of the next decade, kill at least 15 out of 16 people on the entire planet.

Get some of these. They are pretty great. Easy to transport and dispose of properly.

To catch a fish without spending a bunch of time to do it...the Gibbon river is right there on your journey from West to North. It'll be little fish (10" or less...most likely less), but it'll be a fish without much effort. If you plan to fly fish for the prettiest Westslope Cutthroat Trout you've ever seen, hike up Slough Creek in the Lamar Valley. It'll take all day to get to the 2nd meadow, fish a bit, hike back and the mosquitos can be bad on the way...but its worth it.

For your time at the North entrance, consider having a dip in the natural hot-tub where the Gardinier meets the Boiling River. There's a parking lot and trail and everything, you can't miss it.

As someone else said, find some time to get into the Lamar Valley. In all my trips to YNP, the Lamar has provided the widest diversity of wildlife viewing. Bears. Wolves. Bison. Coyotes. Hawks. I've seen everything up there. Depending on how you are fishing, the "muddy Lamar" river has some big trout.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, "A Rangers guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes" is an exceptional text for planning some hiking in YNP. https://www.amazon.com/Rangers-Guide-Yellowstone-Day-Hikes/dp/1560371579

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Amazon Product | National Geographic Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks Road Guide: The Essential Guide for Motorists (National Park Road Guide)

>Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. By using the link above you get to support a chairty and help keep this bot running through affiliate programs all at zero cost to you.

Guide books and maps are great. https://www.amazon.com/dp/142620597X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_QVMHDW9CB0CDJKRACT9M this is my favorite little travel guide for use in the car

We find this book to be very helpful in planning day hikes, as well as for daydreaming about overnights!

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https://www.amazon.com/Hiking-Yellowstone-National-Park-Regional/dp/0762772549

The Discovery of Yellowstone Park, Nathaniel Langford's diary from the 1871 expedition that confirmed and cemented Yellowstone in American consciousness, is a surprisingly good read and currently available as a free Kindle download.

Both radios you linked are for GMRS and would require multiple people get licensed.

On the issue of range, as with any other VHF or UHF radios, that will be determined by how far your antenna can 'see'. If you are on top of Mt Everest the handhelds can get you a range in the hundreds of miles, while a mobile unit with an antenna on the roof of your car in Florida would get you maybe 6 miles. At the bottom of the Grand Canyon either will reach under a mile. Wattage makes very little to no difference, it's all about height.

In areas of dense foliage, particularly conifer trees, VHF does a little better than the UHF frequencies of GMRS. MURS handhelds, which operate on VHF frequencies, might actually be a better choice for you. In open terrain they will perform just as well as GMRS despite the lower wattage, and better in woodlands. They are also completely license free.

Maybe get Midland MXT275s. They plug into the cigarette lighter and come with a magnetic roof mount. This would make them easy to get in and out of vehicles.

https://midlandusa.com/products/mxt275-micromobile-two-way-radio

For handhelds, the Radioddity GM-30 is a good, inexpensive radio.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SLR7W7F?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

The Beaten Path in the Absaroka Beartooth wilderness up by the NE entrance. Easy to find more information. Lots of good hikes in the Beartooths.

There are several books about the ordeal of Truman Everts, who got separated from his party in 1870, and (barely) survived alone for 37 days.

37 Days of Peril (Surviving Yellowstone) https://www.amazon.com/dp/150066460X/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_VPM3GW4NKD5MFS0H2CKQ

As for years and years...are you talking employees? American Indians? Because apart from them and maybe Yancey, not a lot of people ever stayed for years.

this article discusses the other side of the argument. Guy doesn’t deny wolves are a vital part of the ecosystem but says the story has been romanticized, most of these changes have been attributed to other things such as changes in precipitation and stream flow. Edit: also the author says that we still have a long way to go in recovering beavers.

On the day you see Old Faithful you should do the Upper Geyser Basin Trail. Another Map It's 4.5 miles so will wipe out your kids for the day but it's probably the best bang for your buck in the whole park (aside from Grand Prismatic). If you only had one day to see the whole park I would say do those two things, Grand Prismatic and Upper Geyser Basin. Also Biscuit Basin is really good and you can hike to Mystic Falls which should be no problem for your kids.
It seems like Big Sky is a really long drive every day. Have you looked at West Yellowstone and Gardiner?

As this is supposed to be Yellowstone, I'll only add a few more comments.

I've been to the famous Bonneville Salt Flats (for racing) several times and when dry, the experience is unworldly. It, along with all other easily public accessible salt flats, will be under water next month. A trip there would be a huge detour to get a few selfies next to a "lake". SLC is just a meh metropolis.

"A few days" in Bryce may be a bit much. At 8,000-9,000 feet, it is subject to spring snowstorms; the snow is slower to melt and the trails will be muddy. I'd shift more time to Zion which is 3,000-4,000 feet, plus along with some other places like Capitol Reef and Arches, is less muddy/more rocky.

Grand Staircase Escalante is great and under appreciated. If you are not already aware, consider hiking the Spooky and Peek-a-boo slot canyons. The road to the trailhead is unpaved so be sure to talk to the rangers at the visitor center in the town of Escalante before heading there; recent rains may make it difficult. You don't want to get your rental car stuck; tow truck business is quite lucrative.

Since you are traveling during spring break/Easter, expect youthful crowds in some areas. Cheap accommodations will be booked up.

Have fun.

Well Xanterra also manages several other parks as well, so not every other fed agency. Xanterra actually seems to have a better system than reservation.gov. Also, Reserve America is a privately owned too, by Aspira. They used to have the same parent as Match.com .

The only problem with doing this with Google maps is that Google only allows it when you have two destinations. The ability to change "leave now" to "depart at" disappears if you have multiple destinations like you would in planning a road trip.

I'm not endorsing bing maps, but they do have the "leave now"/"leave at" capability for a multiple destination road trip.

We booked last night for early June. Hotels.com has the best rates for outside the park hotels, though you're still paying ~$200 per night (we got one place in Cooke City for $135 but Gardiner and West Yellowstone were both over $200). You can stay in Cody for a little cheaper but it's a longer drive.

I didn't have any luck with AirBnb or VRBO, most places were small (there are 4 of us, including two teens, so one tiny room isn't going to cut it) and still pricey.

Check out r/trailmeals for ideas - backpackers eat like this all the time. You could get a tiny stove very cheap once you’re there, but if you don’t want to do that, do you have electric outlets at the cabins? You can’t use a hot plate or anything, but you can use a portable hot water heater like this and it will allow you to eat a huge array of things without actually cooking. Backpacker meals are really easy to make with just hot water, and there are companies out there whose stuff is actually quite good. You can also eat oatmeal, soup, instant coffee, and all kinds of other stuff this way. You’d need a small pot and a cozy for it, but that’s about it.

The book Death in Yellowstone has a whole section on people who landed in hot water that way. It's sobering.

Get the book Yellowstone Treasures and read it. It is a great place to start.

Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733103201/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_M7RA5ZMG1G2GH8M149M1

There are about 250 waterfalls (25 taller than 100 feet) in Yellowstone itself, although many require an overnight hike to reach. If you can find a used or otherwise discounted copy, this is an excellent guidebook to nearly every known waterfall in Yellowstone: https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Yellowstone-Waterfalls-Their-Discovery/dp/156579351X

There are two official swimming holes in Yellowston: one on Firehole Canyon Drive, and one in the Gardner River where Boiling River flows into it. They're often closed on a seasonal basis depending on current depth/current and temperature (too warm = possible parsites). Apart from that, there are lots of rivers and lakes you can wade or swim in, depending on your tolerance for insanely cold water.

Outside Yellowstone, there are several hot spring resort areas where you can swim, including Thermopolis, Chico, and lots of others. Swimming in hot springs in Yellowstone is prohibited because many are boiling hot, highly acidic, toxic, or some combination of all three.

Yellowstone is a daily road trip as you move from one place in the park to the other. Just pick a direction and enjoy the ride. Remember the road is closed on the NE section so that will impact your planning.

I like this National Geographic book as it is set up for the drive, moving from page to page as you travel and giving a description of what is around you. We have used it on a number of trips.

Leave your lodging each day planning to be out and about the entire time. Pack the clothes, food and drinks you need so you are not forced to go to a visitor center to get the basics.

my wife and I used a product called dude wipes with pretty good success. they're like wet wipes but thicker and much bigger. was able to get reasonably clean with just one. Personally being dirty is part of the charm of camping but ymmv

I just bought this one this one on Amazon. Seemed about the same price as buying a sprayer and the attachments. I will be in Yellowstone for a week in July. Now just trying to figure out if I should get a pop up shower or just bring a tarp to hang off the back of my van

I think you might be in luck, Recently I developed an app to book lodges in Yellowstone (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.scubalabs.yellowstone)

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I went to Yellowstone a few years back and was surprised how inconvenient Yellowstone booking website was and how hard it was to find a suitable room to stay inside the lodge. After coming back, I decided to write an app for the same.

My app directly fetches data from Yellowstone website but lets you search room in every lodge/hotel (inside Yellowstone) just with a single click. The app also lets you monitor for the room with specific criteria (dates as well as price), you can simply add a monitor and it will check every 24 hours for availability. You will see a notification on your phone as well as email you. I think it may be useful for you to use 24 hour monitoring feature for finding rooms for dates you are planning to visit. Let me know if I can be of any help!

Which campground are you booked at?

I ask only cause the ones with a lot of trees, like Canyon or Madison are quite shady. While this is exactly what you want for camping, the solar backpacking charger I use needs every ounce of sunlight to fully charge a phone in less than 3 hours.

If you're only in the park for 4 nights, a high capacity charging pack is definitely a good solution.

I might one-up the suggestion, however, and suggest that at least one person in the party get a car jumper pack (not necessarily this model specificaly, there are cheaper ones), and charge it up fully in the last hotel night before you enter the park. These can recharge a phone several times over, OR be used to jump start an SUV should the battery get drained by everyone leaving their phones plugged into the charging ports.

This book is really cool for driving the loop road in Yellowstone as each page has a map on one side and a brief description of what is on that section of the road. Great to have someone narrate the drive.

Cell service is virtually nonexistent for all services save for Verizon, and Verizon is awful. Towers are few and far between and you are lucky to be able to send/receive texts in main populated areas. I would not count on cell phones unless you use them as cameras, and make sure you have space as you will not be able to back up to the cloud while you are in the park.

I am not sure about a solar generator for electricity to charge phones--many of the campsites are shaded and you may not get sufficient sun to charge well. I also can't imagine leaving a solar generator unattended, unless you had some way to lock it to the picnic table, which may or may not be in sunlight. Most serious RV campers relied on generators for electricity though beware that most tent camping spaces prohibit generator use (you need to be in an RV area for that), and the time for generator use is limited. Someone has to be at the campsite for generator use, so that is also a downside as however long you are running the generator, someone can't be out hiking, etc.

Tent sites have no hookups. There is usually a cold water spigot nearby for multiple tent sites to use to fill water. There are no electrical hookups. Sometimes there is a single outlet in the bathroom that may be used for hair dryers, etc, but I honestly can't recall seeing anyone charging phones in one in either Madison or Grant Village.

You may do better by investing in something like a heavy-duty power core that will give you multiple charges. I have this Anker charger and have been happy with it--definitely a brick to carry around but nice when I know I'll need multiple charges and will be a while without access to electricity.

Which direction are you coming from / going to?

What interests you the most? Geothermal, wildlife, scenery, history/historic buildings/sites?

If you have time, get this book - it has good suggestions for short and longer trips, which will give you a lot of detail to help decide what is your best time investment: https://www.amazon.com/Frommers-Yellowstone-Grand-National-Complete/dp/1628873345/

Personally, I'd say drive the Grand Loop and the must-see's are

• Yellowstone Falls / Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
• Midway Basin (Grand Prismatic Spring)
• Old Faithful / OF Inn
• Lamar Valley if it fits your routing
• Grand Tetons from Teton Park Road / stop at Jenny Lake -- again if it fits your routing

I honestly think you're making this harder than it needs to be. A few good books should tell you all you need to know about the region. Buy now and read for the next 9 months, and you will appreciate the place so much more. The 'roadside geology' series is generally quite good. https://www.amazon.com/Roadside-Geology-Yellowstone-Country-William/dp/0878425810/ There are dozens of hiking guides, and more than a few books dedicated to the wildlife and fauna of the region.

Depending on the length of your vacation, you might consider also camping in an adjacent national forest. I camped for 5 days in the Wind River mountains to see the eclipse and saw moose, antelope, badgers, etc., in a gorgeous setting. And even with the eclipse pending, the people density was orders of magnitude lower than any place in Yellowstone. The Beartooth mountains NE of the park are some of the prettiest in the region.

Yes, the Old Faithful area geyser basins, along the Firehole River (I had never heard the term Firehole Basin) are easy to access on a self tour. You might also listen to an audio tour.

You could also get out and see the areas you find interesting. I recommend, Fairy Falls, Firehole Lake, Midway Geyser Basin, and Old Faithful Observation Point.

Find this book in a library, used bookstore, or friend's shelf. Clearly not on amazon, yeesh. Bible of Yellowstone area climbing!

Also THIS is the book you want for climbing (in southwest Montana at least) https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Climbs-Southwest-Montana-Vassilopoulos/dp/1933009128 enjoy your summer tons of fun stuff to do around here!

If you are in a campground as big as that one, there is zero chance of bear attack. But, if you want to suitably freak yourself out about the ways Yellowstone is trying to kill you besides bears read this book while there, (in every gift shop) http://www.amazon.com/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217

I've only been there once, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

If you are planning to do any backpacking, I highly recommend this guide: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0762772549?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

It has a bunch of hikes in it, and some very handy indexes (by length, by strenuousness etc) so that you can find you perfect activity.

Be aware of the fact that you have to book campsites through a pretty complicated process, so you should get on that right now.

If you like looking at plants or tracks and figure out what they are, this field guide is excellent. They also have it in the park book stores:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560375558?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

Don't buy or rent bear spray. You can go to any of the back country offices and the park rangers will give you bear spray for free, under the condition that you bring it back to one of the back country offices in the park (honor system).

Did you look for a trail guide? I used this on a couple trips and found it helpful. Not a lot of maps but great descriptions. I enjoyed the hike to Fairy Falls and just beyond to a group of thermal features, just down the trail.

Looks like it is out of print, but, you can get a used one for almost nothing or a new edition.