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I'm leaving tomorrow to take my 3-year-old daughter for a couple of days in Yellowstone. I've been there before, know all the official, main attractions that everybody always visits.

What I'm asking is if anyone has suggestions for great, but lesser-known (and less crowded) spots in the park that a 3-year-old would enjoy. (Plus, they have to be spots that are easy to get to with a 3-year-old - nothing that requires 5 hours of back country hiking. I realize that limitation may eliminate the potential for ANY responses.)

Uncle Buck wrote:I'm leaving tomorrow to take my 3-year-old daughter for a couple of days in Yellowstone. I've been there before, know all the official, main attractions that everybody always visits.

What I'm asking is if anyone has suggestions for great, but lesser-known (and less crowded) spots in the park that a 3-year-old would enjoy. (Plus, they have to be spots that are easy to get to with a 3-year-old - nothing that requires 5 hours of back country hiking. I realize that limitation may eliminate the potential for ANY responses.)

You may have to put up with a little crowding because the memorable spots in Yellowstone will invariably attract people. Bear in mind that this time of year can be quite chilly and even downright cold there. The snow will still be melting at higher elevations and you might find some spectacular snowplow cuts as the road winds through snowfields there. The upside is that you might find some attractions more accessible because the crowds haven't arrived yet.

Old Faithful, Yellowstone Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Falls, etc. are all places where you can get photos of her and the attractions. These pictures should become treasured mementos. When you seen wildlife you might have more photo opportunities. The fly fishermen may not be along the Firehole River, but it's a nice drive. The mountain scenery isn't all that spectacular but the old volcanic caldera and its residual thermal wonders are what Yellowstone is all about. Check out the maps here if you haven't already done so: http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/interac ... pslist.htm

It's difficult to get bored there. Just make memories with her.

I toured Yellowstone for a couple of days 30 yrs. ago with a Mamiya 645 medium format camera and a 20"x30" photo of tower falls hangs above my laser printers, the same size picture of Mammoth Hot Springs hangs next to my weather station console on the other side of the room, and another photo of Yellowstone Falls hangs in the downstairs hall here...good memories!

I have an uncle who has lived in Ennis, MT on Ennis Lake for the past 40 yrs. and driving to there from here always means a trip through Yellowstone. Ennis is on the Madison River west of Yellowstone which flows north from there to help, along with the Jefferson and the Gallatin Rivers, form the Missouri at Three Forks, MT.

I'll echo what gwwilk said, but with the caveat that the temperatures have been (and are predicted to be) pretty nice around here for the next week or so. There is still quite a bit of snow in the higher elevations (but not much on the ground in the park), but with the warmer temperatures we've been having, run-off has pretty much blown the rivers out. As a result, the flyfisherpersons have yet to really make an appearance.

You'll have crowds; that's a given. Yellowstone is such a well-known park that most of the attractions are easily accessible and most always crowded. Be prepared to spend a few hours in your car in a traffic jam if ANY wildlife is spotted. It's tourist season now and wherever there are bison, elk, or bald eagles, you can expect to stop or crawl along.

I enjoy the views along Firehole Canyon Road and Firehole Lake Drive.

The NPS is doing road construction along some of the roads in YNP. This link will give you a heads up as to where and when:

http://www.nps.gov/yell/travelalert.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank

Have fun. My girlfriend and I enjoy going to YNP during the week to hike and fish.

Steven "considered buying a Mamyia 645 before he bought a Canon dSLR three months ago" Ranney