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Ultimate Yellowstone National Park Guide and Itinerary

Yellowstone National Park is world-renowned for its epic landscapes, unique wildlife, and fascinating natural history. Each year millions of people come from all over the globe to witness Yellowstone’s wonders, and for some, it has been a lifetime dream. In this blog post, I am sharing everything you need to know to plan your own trip to Yellowstone National Park, including all the best things to see and do!

If you’re new to my blog you may not know that I visited all the US national parks in 2017 , so this guide truly comes from firsthand experience. To date I have visited Yellowstone National Park five times, and I plan to visit many more times in the future!

Disclaimer : This blog post may feature some affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you make a purchase (at no extra cost to you). It’s one of the ways I can keep producing free guides and resources for my readers. Learn more about my affiliate policy  here . Thank you for the support!

Yellowstone National Park Guide

Yellowstone National Park has a rich history. It was established as a national park by US congress in 1872 , and signed into law by president Ulysses S Grant. This was the first national park in the entire world, and paved the way for the protection of future national parks all over the globe.

Today, Yellowstone remains as probably the most well-known of the US national parks, and in recent times has opened its gates to roughly 4 million people each year . It sits in the north-western portion of Wyoming, but a small part of the park extends into both Idaho and Montana. Within the boundaries of the park also happens to be the Yellowstone Caldera , a 34 x 45 mile super volcano within the national park. With this comes extreme volcanic and seismic activity, the reason for its thousands of geothermal features, geysers, and springs.

Taking a road trip to Yellowstone is a dream for a lot of Americans, and it’s also a huge draw for visitors from all around the globe. Thankfully it is quite easy to get around Yellowstone, and can be rather affordable if you are willing to camp or plan ahead. In this guide I will go over everything you need to know , including how to get there, where to stay, the best things to do, photography tips, and more! I hope this is able to make your Yellowstone adventure the best it could possibly be.

When to visit Yellowstone

Yellowstone is technically open year-round , but there are a lot of closures during the winter period in the park from October till May. The most popular times to visit are June through August, but personally my favorite months in the park are May, September, and early October when the crowds are smaller and it should be free of snow. You can still visit Yellowstone during the winter , but personal vehicles will be limited to the road between Gardiner (MT) and Cooke City (MT), the only part of the park where the road is open and maintained in winter. To reach the other parts of the park you will need to have a means of cross-snow travel such as a snowmobile, or take a tour through the park on one of the snow-cats. Be sure to check out the park’s website to research road closures before visiting as dates change every season depending on the weather.

How to get to Yellowstone National Park

The Yellowstone region is in a pretty remote area of the country, located almost 5 hours from the nearest major city (Salt Lake City). There are a number of ways for guests to access the park , and I will go into detail about some of them below.

Arrive by car

Yellowstone has five entrance stations that are each located in different sections of the park. Where you are driving from previously will determine which of these you will want to enter. The most popular entrance is West Yellowstone as it is the quickest entrance to reach from Salt Lake City (4.5-5 hour drive). Salt Lake City is the nearest major city from which you can fly into and drive from. Another popular way to enter the park is the south entrance station, being just a short drive from Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole Airport.

Use Skyscanner to find the best flight deals and for car rentals compare using Kayak across multiple rental agencies.

Arrive by plane

While you cannot fly directly into Yellowstone National Park, you can fly into one of a few nearby towns . The closest of which is West Yellowstone, only a short 5 minute drive from the West Yellowstone entrance. Bozeman (MT) and Jackson Hole (WY) are a couple of alternate options, both being less than a 1.5 hour drive from Yellowstone entrances.

Arrive on a tour

There are a variety of options if you would prefer to visit the park on a guided tour . The advantage of this is that the logistics are all sorted for you! Here are some amazing tour options:

• 4 Day Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nature Tour
• Private 2-Day Tour of Yellowstone National Park
• Yellowstone National Park – Full-Day Lower Loop Tour
• Yellowstone Private Fishing Trip
• Yellowstone Lake Guided Sea Kayak Tour

Where to stay

Guests have a range of options for accommodation during their visit to Yellowstone National Park. You will have the choice to stay in Anything from camping in a tent to a stay at the historic Old Faithful Inn,

Yellowstone hotels

• Old Faithful Inn : historic lodge located in the most popular part of the park. Walking distance to Old Faithful Geyser, as well as many others on the Upper Geyser Basin Loop. Also features a beautiful dining hall, cafeteria, gift shop, and coffee cart. Lodge rooms and suites available.
• Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Cabins : famous hotel located near the Mammoth Hot Springs. Options for hotel rooms, suites, or cabins. Walking distance to Mammoth Hot Springs area and nearby dining hall, general store, and gift shop. One of two accommodations open in the winter, and the only accessible by car in winter.
• Canyon Lodge & Cabins : Largest hotel in the park, featuring more than 500 rooms, restaurants, and a gift shop. Options for cabins, suites or standard lodge rooms.
• Old Faithful Snow Lodge & Cabins : beautifully located right next to the Old Faithful Geyser. One of only two accommodation options in the park in winter, and only accessible by snow cat in winter. Has a dining room, grill, and gift shop. Other options include Lodge Lake Cabins , Old Faithful Lodge and Cabins , Lake Yellowstone Hotel , Roosevelt Lodge and Grant Village .

Yellowstone camping

• Twelve campgrounds located in the park. Five can be reserved through  here  (options to tent camp or stay in a camper van/RV), rest are first-come, first-served.
• Nearby dispersed camping can be found through  freecampsites.net ,  Campendium , and   iOverlander
• Alternatively use The Dyrt to find your campsite, use my code reneeroaming for a free 30 day trial.

Stay outside of the park

There are a range of options outside the park , but the closest are in the towns of West Yellowstone (MT), Cooke City (MT), and Gardiner (MT). Here are a few of my recommendations:

• Crosswinds Inn : comfortable and affordable hotel that is walking distance from West Yellowstone restaurants, and a 3 minute drive from the west entrance station.
• Under Canvas Yellowstone : try out glamping and be located just 10 minutes from Yellowstone’s west entrance.
• Travelodge by Wyndham Gardiner :  affordable accommodation just a few miles from the north entrance station.
• Alpine Motel of Cooke Cit y : basic accommodation in the heart of beautiful Cooke City. Great base for wildlife viewing at the Lamar Valley.

Nearby vacation rentals

Below are some suggested vacation rentals close to Yellowstone National Park, including near the west, north and east entrances:

• Trapper Cabin : adorable cabin in West Yellowstone with covered porch.
• Kozy Cabin : larger cabin option also in West Yellowstone with views over Denny’s Creek
• The F ishing Shack : located on the Madison River this spacious cabin sleeps up to 8 people and is in beautiful peaceful setting
• Denny Creek Cabin : basic newly built cabin in West Yellowstone with gorgeous wooden rustic beds
• Yellowstone Beauty Loft House : as the name suggests this beautiful loft house is an amazing place to stay in Gardiner
• Rigler’s River Rest : Riverside cabin with beautiful deck and firepit for cosy evenings near North Yellowstone entrance
• Riverfront Cabin : Spacious cabin with incredible views to the north entrance
• Carbella Cabin : Beautiful A-Frame cabin with huge windows and wonderful views across the park.

Best things to do in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is a huge park, with so many stops along the way to keep visitors busy. As such, below you will find each area broken down into it’s own section along with my top recommendations.

Old Faithful / Upper Geyser Basin

Upper Geyser Basin is the busiest area of the park, and for good reason! Here there is ample parking, a gas station, lodging, a variety of food options, and access to many hiking trails. It is also home to the famous Old Faithful Geyser , which was first discovered in 1872 and named for its long history of predictable eruptions. This is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the park, and can get very busy. I recommend visiting it in the early morning or later in the evening when it will be a little quieter. You can see the estimated time of the next eruption on the board at the nearby visitor center..

This area is also home to the most densely populated geyser basin in the world, the Upper Geyser Basin. It can be seen via an easy 3 mile loop , and is one of my absolute favorite things to do in Yellowstone National Park. It’s hard to go wrong on any of the hikes in this area (they’re all spectacular!) but you can join a guided hike if you want to get a little more local knowledge while you explore.

Many of these geysers along this walk go off at regular, predictable intervals, so be sure to check in at the Old Faithful Visitor Center before beginning your hike to help you plan when to see the eruptions. Some of the must see stops are Castle Geyser, Riverside Geyser, Grotto Geyser, and Morning Glory Pool. Beehive Geyser is incredible if you can catch it going off!

While you are in the area, I also suggest you going inside the Old Faithful Inn , even if you are not staying there.

Built in 1903 using local wood and stone, this is considered the largest log construction in the world and is absolutely stunning. The dining hall food is also quite delicious if you’re feeling hungry! If you are after something a little faster and cheaper, the Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria on the other side of Old Faithful geyser has some great options.

Biscuit Basin

Just north of the Old Faithful is another beautiful part of the Upper Geyser Basin, Biscuit Basin . The best way to explore Biscuit Basin is via its short loop trail (0.65 miles). Along the way you will see geysers and colorful hot pools, including Black Opal Pool, Jewel Geyser, Sapphire Pool, Shell Spring, Mustard Spring, Avoca Spring, and Black Pearl Geyser.

Grand Prismatic Spring

The Grand Prismatic Spring is possibly the most recognizable feature in all of Yellowstone. Due to its popularity, I recommend getting here early in the morning or later in the afternoon so it’s a little quieter in terms of crowds. If you don’t want to plan all your stops yourself, consider taking a guided tour! This full-day tour includes Grand Prismatic as one of the highlighted stops.

There are two ways to see the spring. The first way is to park at the Grand Prismatic Spring Parking Lot and take a short boardwalk loop trail that goes right by the spring. This is beautiful, but if you will also want to see that famous postcard viewpoint from. To do this you will need to park at the Fairy Falls Trail Parking Lot and hike a short 1 mile round-trip trail to the overlook . Be aware there is a short but relatively steep uphill section, so those with difficulties walking may want to stick to the boardwalk mentioned previously.

Norris Geyser Basin

The Norris Geyser Basin is one of the most impressive geyser viewing areas of the park. It is home to the hottest and oldest of the geysers in the park, with some thermal features in the area dating back at least 115,000 years. It is also the home of Steamboat Geyser , the tallest geyser in the world, which can erupt up to 400 (120m) feet high! Unfortunately Steamboat’s eruptions are not on a predictable schedule, but you might just get lucky! There are two sections to explore in the Norris Geyser Basin, one being the Porcelain Basin (3/4 mile, 1.2km), and the other being the Back Basin (1.5 miles, 2.4km). I recommend checking both out as they are relatively short walks and both have some really unique features worth seeing. If you only have time for one, Porcelain Basin would be my pick.

Mammoth Hot Springs

The travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs are a unique and beautiful sight within Yellowstone National Park. The soft, earthy tones here and so pleasing to the eye, and there are some really amazing textures throughout the landscape which are always really cool to see. The area has a few different parking lots that you can use to park for exploring these terraces, just pick one that has space and walk as far as you like. There’s a nice boardwalk that takes you from the parking lots to all of the features, but do be aware there are quite a few stairs. Mammoth Hot Springs is a popular stop on any visit to Yellowstone, so you can always explore this area with the help of a tour. This 2-day guided exploration of Yellowstone and this 4-day tour both include stops to explore here.

If you’re a history buff, you can also check out the historic Fort Yellowstone . In the early days of the national park US soldiers were sent into Yellowstone by the Secretary of Interior after issues with poaching, vandalism, etc. Their living quarters remain to this day and tours are available through the park. In this area is also the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel , as well as a gas station, public restrooms, cafeteria, dining hall, gift shop, and general store.

Lamar Valley

America’s Serengeti – this is a name often used to describe Lamar Valley . This is probably my favorite part of the whole national park, and one that I spend a lot of time in with each visit. The Lamar Valley is a large river valley surrounded by mountains and filled to the brim with wildlife. It is home to the famous Junction Butte and Lamar Canyon wolf packs , as well as huge herds of bison, pronghorn, grizzly bears, badgers, bald eagles, and more. What I love about the Lamar Valley is that you are always bound to see something exciting. Whether it’s being held up by a large herd of bison crossing the road , a lucky encounter with one of the wolf packs, or getting to see a grizzly bear cross the Lamar River, I’ve always been left in awe by this place. Your best chance at these special sightings is getting there very early in the morning , or staying out close to sunset as the animals are more active during these times. Remember to bring binoculars! IT is also a really fun experience to visit Lamar Valley with a naturalist guide. You can book a tour that will provide all the scopes and binoculars you need, too.

There are no hotels in the Lamar Valley, but there are a couple of small primitive campgrounds (Slough Creek and Pebble Creek). These are first-come first-served, and are definitely hard to secure with their limited availability, so plan to get there very early if you want to snag a site. Another option is to stay in nearby Cooke City . One of my favorite things to do in Yellowstone is to head to the Lamar Valley in the late afternoon , drive up and down watching wildlife until sunset, and then finish up the day by driving north-east out of the park to Cooke City (MT) and getting a delicious pizza at the Miner’s Saloon … SO GOOD!

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is one of the most dramatic views in Yellowstone National Park. I remember the first time I saw it I was blown away. The powerful Lower Falls drop into a gigantic canyon, which is accented by steaming thermal features and colorful walls.

Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon can be viewed from many viewpoints, but the classic view is from Artist Point . Another of my favorite viewpoints is from Uncle Tom’s Point which requires you to walk down 328 stairs down (and subsequentially back up) and 500 feet of elevation to the overlook. The payout is a really close view of the impressive lower falls, and on a sunny day, you will probably even get a beautiful rainbow! This is one of the highlighted stops on one of my most recommended guided full-day West Yellowstone tours .

West Thumb Geyser Basin

West Thumb Geyser Basin is the first large geyser basin that visitors coming up from the south will encounter. Although in my opinion there are more impressive geyser basins in other areas of the park, West Thumb is unique in that it sits right next to the gigantic Yellowstone Lake which provides some pretty epic views. The two most beautiful and impressive features in West Thumb Geyser Basin are the Abyss Pool , Black Pool , Collapsing Pool , and Fishing Cone , so make sure to check these out!

Fun fact – Fishing Cone was named in the old days when visitors would catch a fish from the lake, then cook it while still on the hook over the geyser. This is now prohibited and actually has been found to be unhealthy, so please don’t try to replicate this haha.

Hiking trails in Yellowstone

Yellowstone, although a very beautiful national park, is not one that’s famous for its hiking trails. Due to the geothermal activity in the area and abundance of wildlife, trails are kept to a minimum in the park. In saying that, there are still some really great options for those wanting to get out and move their legs. Here are a few hiking trails I recommend:

Dunraven Pass to Mount Washburn

Dunraven Pass to Mount Washburn is 6.5 miles (10.4km) roundtrip and has 1400 feet of elevation gain. One of the most famous in the park, this hike takes you to an old fire lookout at the summit of Mount Washburn. Keep an eye out for Bighorn Sheep that are known to frequent the area!

Bunsen Peak out-and-back

Bunsen Peak out-and-back is 4.6 miles (7.4km) roundtrip and has 1285 feet of elevation gain. This hike has great 360 degree views at the top including the Gallatin Range and Mammoth Hot Springs area.

Trout Lake is 1.2 miles (1.9km) and located near the north-east entrance. This hike is an short loop trail that takes you to a picturesque lake that has plentiful wildflowers surrounding it in the summer. Not surprisingly, this is also a great lake to fish for trout (make sure to have the right permit!).

Avalanche Peak

Avalanche Peak is 4.7 miles (7.5km) round-trip and has 2073 feet of elevation gain. It’s a fun, steep hike up to Avalanche peak which features epic views down to Yellowstone Lake and beyond.

Fairy Falls

Fairy Falls is 4.9 miles (7.8km) and has 216 feet of elevation gain. This is a classic Yellowstone hike that is mostly flat and a great one to get out and see the park by foot. Fairy Falls at the end is also a pretty great payoff for the exercise.

Yellowstone photography tips

Yellowstone National park is famous for its wildlife viewing and photography . Large game roam free throughout the valleys and mountains here, and you are guaranteed to come across something cool on your visit here. Not only that, but the vibrant springs and dramatic geysers also make for great photography subjects. Below you will find tips to help you capture images you will be proud of during your visit to Yellowstone!

My tops tips for Yellowstone photography

• Bring a zoom lens . Something like a 100-400mm will be great for capturing wildlife while still staying at a safe distance. A 70-200mm lens can work for animals like bison and elk where you only need to keep a distance of 25 yards (25ish meters), but most likely won’t be enough for bears/wolves.
• A teleconverter can help to give your current lens some extra range. I use a 1.4x teleconverter often when photographing wildlife and it definitely helps me capture some images I otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
• Always have your camera set up and ready to go. Wildlife can appear at the most unexpected times, so having your camera ready to go will help you capture those fleeting moments instead of having you miss them while you fumble through your camera bag.
• Explore Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley for the golden hours just after sunrise, and just before sunset. The light during these times is beautifully dramatic and golden, much better for photography than the harsh light in the middle of a sunny day.
• Try using a wide aperture to create separation between the animal and the background. This will help create better photos in busy scenes and also has the benefit of helping to draw the viewers eye to the subject.
• Pack a wide angle lens (like a 16-35mm ) so you can also capture images of the various hot springs and geysers.
• Bring a circular polarizer (like this one ). These are fantastic at cutting annoying glare that you might get on the springs, helping you see deeper into them and assisting to bring out more of the natural colors. It also often helps bring some more definition to the eruptions from the geysers.

Getting around the park

Yellowstone is a big park (the largest of the national parks in the lower 48 states to be exact!) and it can be confusing to navigate. Below you will find all the insiders tips for getting around!

Get a Yellowstone pass

Firstly, to enter Yellowstone National Park you will need to purchase a 7 day Yellowstone pass which will cost $35 for a private vehicle, or an annual Yellowstone pass for $70. Alternatively, you can use the America The Beautiful pass which covers you for all National Parks (+ other places) for a year. These can be purchased for $80, and is the best option if you plan to visit a variety of national parks in a 12 month period. Read this blog post for tips on how to plan your trip .

Driving around the park

Yellowstone is an easy National Park to drive around from May-October . Depending on the season, most/all roads should be open during these months, and they are all well maintained. Parking lots can fill up and be pretty crazy during the busiest months of June-August , so I recommend getting to the most popular areas such as Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic early in the morning or later in the afternoon.

Winter travel

As I spoke about earlier, it is much more difficult to travel around Yellowstone in the winter once the snow settles in. All roads are closed to private vehicles, except the one up north between Gardiner (MT) and Cooke City (MT). To visit any other parts of the park during this time, you will need to take a tour on one of the snow cats , or have your own cross-snow travel vehicle.

Bison traffic jams

Something unique to Yellowstone is the “ bison jam “. Sometimes you may come across a herd of bison that just decided to cross the road when you arrived. Give them space, snap a few photos, but be sure to move on as soon as it is safe to go around them so you don’t hold up traffic . Please also make life easier on the rangers (and fellow visitors) by pulling completely off the road whenever you want to stop, and only doing so in purpose built pull-outs. Just because you see something cool doesn’t give you the right to block traffic, find a safe spot to pull off and walk back if necessary.

Be sure to check for and observe all road closure before your visit to Yellowstone National Park.

Take a tour

If you prefer a guide there are a lot of amazing tours available, this Yellowstone Tour with Local Guide is a great way to get the locals perspective as you explore the park. If you go in the snowy months this Snowmobile Tour avoids any road issues, as does the Private Snowcoach Tour . For anyone interested in wildlife spotting it can be really helpful to go with someone who knows the patterns of the animals habits, this Wildlife Watching Tour or the Winter Wolf and Wildlife Tour are great options for optimal wildlife spotting. For longer guides this Full Day Lower Loop Tour will cover all the bases in one day or take the Self Guided Audio Tour . Another great option to think about is the Old Faithful and Hot Springs Tour .

Yellowstone National Park itinerary

There are numerous itineraries you could take for exploring Yellowstone National Park. In my opinion three nights / four days is the perfect amount of time to explore the park, so that is the itinerary I have created for you below! This itinerary is perfect for spring through fall when the park roads and accommodations are open.

3 night / 4 day Yellowstone itinerary

Keep in mind that I chose West Yellowstone as a starting point because it is the most popular entrance to the park. In saying that, you can tailor the itinerary to suit wherever you are coming from.

Enter Yellowstone National Park via the west entrance station . You can get to West Yellowstone by driving or flying and I suggest arriving as early in the day as possible.

Your first stop will be Lower Geyser Basin where you will take the Fountain Paint Pot Trail . Spend about 30 minutes strolling past hot pools, mudpots, steaming fumaroles, and erupting geysers.

Next stop by Midway Geyser Basin to explore Grand Prismatic Spring. I suggest stopping at both the main boardwalk and also take the hike up the Grand Prismatic Overlook Trail (via the Fairy Falls Parking Lot). I would allow at least one hour to explore both these areas, but you may want longer.

A quick stop to walk the Biscuit Basin Loop will be the next thing on your list. This short boardwalk trail will take approximately 15 minutes and you will see plenty of colorful hot springs and spurting geysers.

Your last stop of the day will be at Old Faithful Inn , where you will stay the night. Check into your accommodation, make a dinner reservation, and check the lobby for predicted geyser eruption times. Then spend the last remaining hours of the day viewing Old Faithful Geyser and walking as much of the Upper Geyser Basin Loop (3 miles) as possible. I highly recommend viewing Castle Geyser, Riverside Geyser, Grotto Geyser, and Morning Glory Pool.

Set your alarm early because today will be busy! If you didn’t get a chance to properly explore Old Faithful and Upper Geyser Basin, be sure to do that this morning. Then check out of the Inn and start driving east.

Your first stop will be West Thumb Geyser Basin . Take a short walk around the area (about 30 minutes) and be sure to stop by Abyss Pool, Black Pool, Collapsing Pool, and Fishing Cone.

Jump back in the car and start heading north to the Canyon area of the park. On the way you will see beautiful views of Yellowstone Lake and the Hayden Valley . Be sure to look out for wildlife!

Next up you will be exploring the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone . I suggest viewing the canyon via Artist Point . If you are feeling adventurous then also take the short walk to Uncle Tom’s Point (keep in mind that it requires walking up/down 328 stairs).

The day isn’t over yet! Get back in the car and start driving northeast towards the Lamar Valley . On the way you should definitely look out for wildlife as we have spotted numerous bears between the Canyon and Tower Roosevelt areas.

You will want to arrive in the Lamar Valley at least a couple of hours before sunset. Take your time driving around valley as you take in the beautiful landscapes and wildlife . You are almost guaranteed to see bison and may very well also see moose, antelope, wolves, and bears.

After sunset make your way out of the northeast entrance and stay the night in Cooke City . I suggest having dinner at the Miner’s Saloon .

Wake up early so you can be driving back through the Lamar Valley at sunrise or just after. That will give you the highest chances for wildlife watching and enjoy the valley with beautiful golden light.

Once you are done exploring the Lamar Valley you can start heading west towards Mammoth Hot Springs. This is a great time to get a Yellowstone hike in. Some suggestions are Trout Lake (1.2 miles) or the Dunraven Pass – Mount Washburn Trail (6 miles).

Make your way over to Mammoth Hot Springs and spend the rest of your day exploring the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces . Walk as far or as little as you want and if you’re a history buff you can also check out nearby historic Fort Yellowstone . Stay the night in Mammoth Hot Springs or Gardiner.

Your first stop today will be Norris Geyser Basin . There are two sections to explore in this area, one being the Porcelain Basin (3/4 mile, 1.2km), and the other being the Back Basin (1.5 miles, 2.4km). I recommend checking both out as they are relatively short walks and both have some really unique features worth seeing. If you only have time for one, Porcelain Basin would be my pick.

Next up you will have some time to explore anything you missed on day 1 (e.g. Lower Geyser Basin or Grand Prismatic Spring) before driving back out to West Yellowstone.

You could also join an organised multi-day tour to take the planning out of your hands. These are great options with different meeting points.

• 2-Day Guided Tour
• From Jackson: Grand Teton and Yellowstone Winter 4-day Tour
• From Salt Lake City: Grand Teton and Yellowstone 4-day Tour
• 4-Day Tour with Lodging
• From Bozeman: 4-day Winter Tour

Map of itinerary

How to stay safe

Yellowstone National Park hosts some of the most breathtaking, but also some of the most dangerous natural sights on the planet. As such, it is vital to follow the National Park Service’s rules when visiting the park.

Stay on trail

Firstly, never stray from the path . Yellowstone’s geothermal activity spreads all throughout the park, and falling through what looks to be safe ground into a boiling hot spring is not a nice way to go. Many people have died or become disfigured as a result of this, so for the safety of yourself and the protection of these areas, stick to the trail.

Keep your distance from wildlife

Secondly, give wildlife space . They are called WILDlife for a reason, and these animals are unpredictable. They may look cute, but if you get too close and they feel threatened, they may threaten your life in retaliation. The national park recommendations are to keep a distance of 100 yards (90m) from bears and wolves, and 25 yards (23m) from bison and other animals. If you get too close and an animal attacks, not only are you in trouble, but the animal is likely to be destroyed in response. Give them space.

Bear safety

It is important to note that Yellowstone is home to some large predators, including grizzly bears . You shouldn’t need to worry too much in busy geyser basin areas, but if you are planning on hiking less busy trails it is recommended you hike in groups of three or more, and carry bear spray with you at all times. Bears should not be feared, but you do need to take extra caution when hiking through a region like this with such a high population of them. Check our my bear safety blog post for more in-depth information.

What to bring

What you should pack for a trip to Yellowstone will depend on the time of year you visit and the activities you have planned. Below you will some general items that everyone should consider bringing on their trip.

It’s a good idea to bring a pair of binoculars to Yellowstone. These will allow you to see wildlife from a safe distance and zoom in on the interesting geothermal landscapes. Invest in a pair ( like these ) or rent them once you arrive at the park.

Reusable water bottle

There are free water bottle refill stations almost everywhere in Yellowstone, so be kind to the environment and bring a reusable water bottle on your trip. Some of my favorites include those by Hydroflask , Nalgene , and Stanley .

Walking shoes

Even if you don’t plan to hike, you will be wanting a pair of walking shoes when exploring Yellowstone. The boardwalks can sometimes get slippery and some trails may be muddy, so a waterproof and grippy pair of shoes will be ideal. I also have a blog post all about the best hiking shoes for men and women to help you choose what is best for your needs.

What you pack for layers and outerwear will heavily depend on what time of year you visit. During the summer months I would recommend a lightweight windbreaker or light down jacket . For the spring and fall I would suggest a warmer insulated jacket as the temperatures can get down to freezing. For winter I would recommend a heavy insulated parka .

Sun protection

Even winter can bring sunny (but cold) days in Yellowstone and sun protection should be a consideration year round. I would suggest packing sunglasses , a sun hat , and sunscreen .

You will definitely want to pack your phone or a camera to capture pictures in Yellowstone! Click here to read all about what’s in my camera bag .

Nearby places to explore

Yellowstone is located relatively close to many other incredible destinations. These are some of my top recommendations for nearby places to explore :

• Grand Teton National Park ( read my in-depth park guide )
• Jackson Hole, Wyoming
• Glacier National Park
• Yellowstone Hot Springs
• Big Sky, Montana
• Cody, Wyoming
• Stanley, Idaho

PIN for later planning

Related guides.

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Discovering the Best Things To Do in Punta Gorda: Florida’s Hidden Gem

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10 comments

Hi i am planning a five days four nights trip from salt lake city to yellowstone this June. Kindly help me routing my trip.

René muchas gracias por esta guía está maravillosa! Super facil y guiada, es la mejor guía de todo internet! Estaba estresada por estar leyendo y buscando en otros sitios, entoces me dije, pero yo sigo a René, ella debe de tener algo en su sitio web, y bingo! Lo tienes todo!

How do I save your my google maps so I can edit it to make it work for me?

I visited Yellowstone National Park when I was 6, I don’t remember much but I do remember it was beautiful and Old Faithful was amazing to me at the time. I hope to go back in the next couple of years so I can see it again and take more time to explore some of the sites you’re recommended and appreciate the wildlife more. Thanks for sharing.

I agree with Idalis above. I have researched and read and read and just got more and more overwhelmed. Your blog is wonderful. Just what I needed. Thank you.

Great guide. Road tripping this summer from PA. Thanks heaps Renee. Cheers, Erik

This is literally the best guide ever. I have seen so many and they all ended up confusing me more. Thank you!

I’m planning a trip for my sister’s family this June. They will be staying in Island Park, they will have 4 kids, 4 adults, and 2 seniors in their party. Im looking at your 4 day itinerary, can you provide me with which color is for each day and would this itinerary fit their family and place they are staying?

Awesome blog – very helpful – Thank you !

I was lucky enough to visit Yellowstone a few years back and it was one of my most memorable trips. Reading your blog and seeing your photos brought back so many wonderful memories. Thankyou Renee.

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How I get paid to travel the world – Interview with Renee Roaming

This interview with Renee Roaming is part of our “How I get paid to travel the world” series with your favourite travel bloggers, photographers, writers and influencers. If you’d like to see someone you love be profiled, leave a comment below!

Renee Roaming is one of our favourite travel photographers to follow on Instagram.

Not only are her photos a form of escapism, but her humble personality and warmth shine through to the point of me thinking, before conducting this interview, that we’re already friends.

But in some ways, we kind of are.

Renee and I have been following each other on instagram for years it seems, occasionally commenting on each other’s photos and sometimes sending a DM with love heart eyes. It’s an internet friendship that began out of a mutual love for travel, adventure, and exploration.

When I log on for the call it is early in the morning in Australia, where I’m living, and later in the day for Renee who is based in Seattle, Washington.

However Renee hasn’t always been half a world away, for Australia is also her home. Or at least it was until she migrated over to the United States on a green card with her husband, who Renee travels with on her adventures.

Her husband Matt is a professional photographer, which can explain how she manages to capture destinations in such a whimsical manner, all the while standing in frame.

The two of them together are a powerhouse couple – a term I’d use to describe any couple who share the same passions and work together toward a common goal.

So, how did it all begin? And how does Renee Roaming get paid to travel? We’re here to answer all your burning questions and hopefully inspire you to also live a life you love.

Our Interview with Renee Roaming

After a good ten minutes of catching up for the first time over a computer screen, I take a deep dive into the basics. I know most of the answers already, for Renee Hahnel is one of the world’s most celebrated adventure travel bloggers. Her story is not new to me, but I’m eager to dig a little deeper and uncover how her journey began.

Firstly, I’m interested to know – what do you define yourself as professionally?

That’s always a hard question to answer – but I find I associate myself with photography most. I would describe myself as a travel/adventure photographer. I also feel like when you say you are a blogger, there is some sort of association with blogging as a hobby rather than a career. But as you know, blogging is a full-time job and certainly a career choice in the times we live in.

Speaking of blogging as a hobby vs a career, at what point did you start to feel legitimate?

There have been a few times over the years where I’ve really felt like I’ve made my passion my career. A few times that come to mind include magazine covers, seeing myself and my photos in print media, and certainly publishing a book has been a huge highlight for me. To be on Amazon as an author, a published author, was a pretty big moment in my life and career.

How did your blogging journey begin? Do you remember where you were when you decided you were going to start a blog/Instagram?

I started my first blog in 2012 when I went on a holiday to the United States. It was a way for myself and Matt to keep our friends and family updated on our travels. In fact, I bought your first World of Wanderlust Ebook about how to become a blogger! And even when I read that book, I remember thinking “wow, good for her, but I could never do that”.

Then it was much later, in 2016, when I started the blog as it is today. It was a year after Matt and I moved to the United States on our green card and we were already sharing all of our hiking adventures on Instagram. At that time I would have had around 30,000-50,000 followers, so I was starting to receive a lot of questions regarding hiking, photography and traveling in the United States. I didn’t have any intentions to ever make money from blogging at that point, but my blog quickly evolved into that. In July of that year, I decided to take a risk and start blogging as Renee Roaming full time. But even then, I thought I would just be doing it for a short period of time and eventually go back to my full-time job as a speech pathologist. And then in October of the same year, I landed my first paid campaign with Kathmandu – a brand I already admired and was so excited to work with.

There’s a turning point in any creative’s career where you suddently realise this is not just a passion, you’re discovering a viable business plan and career. Do you remember the moment you realised this could be your full time job?

Even when I landed my first paid campaign with Kathmandu, I wasn’t aware this could become my full time job. I was cautiously optimistic and still thinking I would need another job to supplement my income as a blogger.

There was certainly a turning point, however. When Matt and I were back in Australia for Christmas in 2016, we were offered a lifechanging proposition. It was an opportunity to explore all of the United States’ National Parks, working with a brand who would cover all of our living and traveling expenses, plus additional income we would be able to save on top of that. Suddenly we were faced with a decision to leave our home for 7-8 months on the road and from that moment, we never looked back.

Instagram is still in many ways considered the premier platform for the travel blogging/influencer industry, why do you think that is?

From all of the reports i have read, Instagram is still the platform where people are most influenced and spend the most time. For me, my highest following demographic are millennial females, who are one of the brands I work with most sought after audiences because they buy things from the app. Brands know the return on investment is greater on Instagram than other platforms and I think that is why it is still the most popular app. For creators, it is certainly the easiest and most lucrative way to make money in this industry.

Now for the big one:

How do you make money? Break it down for our readers who are interested to know the nitty gritty.

The most lucrative way for me to make money has always been Instagram and it still is. This is where I work on brand sponsorships the most.

Secondly, I make money through ads on my blog. I was always cautious in the beginning to use ads on my site for fear of how they would look aesthetically, but it is a great way for creators to earn a steady income for their free content they offer readers. I sue the platform Adthrive for my ads.

Thirdly and maybe equal to blog ads is photo licensing for brands. I sell my images to catalogues, print magazines, and companies like American Airlines. They typically license a photo for two years and use it for their own marketing campaigns or in this instance, an in-flight magazine.

Finally, I make a small income from my book royalties.

P.S. Buy Renee and Matthew’s book, Roaming America, here .

How did your book deal come about? For me it kind of came out of noweher when I was approached by Penguin Random House to publish a book. Was it similar for you?

It was quite the same for us. We were approached by a publisher after the National Parks trip, where we explored all of the United States’ parks. The book is a reflection of that journey.

Readers often see a beautiful end product in a book, but not all the hard work that goes into it. There’s also quite a misconception that you get paid a lot for publishing a book, when in reality there isn’t a lot of money in publishing. Would you say publishing a book is worth it?

100% I think publishing is worth it from business perspective. It enabled us to get more work from being published authors and photographers. Then there is also the clout that comes from being a published author, which also led for us to be verified on every platform.

Publishing a book is quite a highlight of any person’s career, is there anything else you have on your career bucket list?

At the moment I am working on creating own products, i.e. merchandise, for readers and followers to purchase. This type of thing is much more popular in the United States and after so many people asking for it, I’m finally working on my own line of products!

Lastly, for our Book Club readers, what are you reading right now?

At the moment I am reading Where the Crawdads Sing. Well, if I’m honest, I’m listening to the audiobook (ha!) And on my Kindle, I am reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

P.S. Visit the Book Club here.

Follow up question (and I promise the last!) What are your favourite books of all time?

The first book that springs to mind is The 7 husbands of Evelyn Hugo .

Another great book in the non-fiction category is On writing by Stephen King .

Thanks for reading our interview with Renee Roaming. Visit Renee’s travel blog or follow her on Instagram for more!

Brooke Saward founded World of Wanderlust as a place to share inspiration from her travels and to inspire others to see our world. She now divides her time between adventures abroad and adventures in the kitchen, with a particular weakness for French pastries.

Find me on: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

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My Solo Road Episode 46 | ft. Renee Roaming

Are you dreaming of traveling the world and working online? Take a lesson from today’s guest Renee Roaming who has been traveling since she was a child. She has a passion for travel and photography while sharing it with the world. Listen in as we talk all about her experiences and how you too can travel. 

FIND THE PODCAST

Introduction.

Renee has traveled all around the world with her husband from South America to finding themselves falling in love with the United States. Their travel eventually created her brand, Renee Roaming a travel blog and photography site which supports their travels. In this episode she talks all about her experiences and shares advice on how others can begin traveling and what it is like to start your own business with a partner. 

The start of full-time travel

• From around her Kindergarten days and until she was on her own, her family constantly took road trips around their home country of Australia. This started her love of travel and ended up stemming into travel in her teens and 20s.
• Since 2012 Renee and her husband quit their jobs and decided to travel the world. Starting with a three month trip in the United States, it solidified for them the desired to travel full-time.
• They decided they wanted to move to the US on the green card lottery. After the second year of applying they won. ​
• Their plan was to come the United States, work 9-5 jobs and travel when possible.
• They started in Colorado and have moved since to Seattle which is now their home base.

tips for starting travel

• Start by saving as much as possible. Cut out eating out, coffee stops, random subscriptions etc.
• Don't forget to travel locally, take day trips or short weekend trips to places 1-2 hours away.
• Roadtrips and camping are a fun and budget friendly way to begin traveling.
• If you are nervous about traveling, Renee recommends getting a group of friends together or going on a group tour like Contiki. This can take some of the pressure off of traveling for the first time.
• Once you start traveling, if you are open to the experience you end up making friends from all over the world which can spiral to new travel experiences/partners.

Having a business with a spouse

• When Renee and her husband started travel photography they had completely seperates websites and instagram accounts. They quickly learned working together was way more effective.
• Renee Roaming began to produce more work and it only made sense for them both to focus on her brand.
• They both split tasks and are feel equally talented at photography, editing, and writing.
• Renee recommends if possible, to share finances as it makes the process much easier and produces less fights or issues.

FINAL ADVICE

Traveling and pursuing a business in travel is completely achievable. Take the time to save up, travel slow, and get an idea of how you like to travel. There are many ways to travel from solo travel, group travel, and travel with a partner. If it is your dream then take the steps to make it possible. Find Renee on Instagram and on her website, Renee Roaming .

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What I Learned from Full-Time Travel—And Why I Stopped: Women Who Travel Podcast

By Meredith Carey and Lale Arikoglu

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

For Jada Yuan , it was the job opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to visit 52 places in 52 weeks as The New York Times's 52 Places traveler. For Renee Hahnel , known on Instagram as Renee Roaming, full-time travel was a photography gig that meant piling into a tiny 15-by-six-foot van and photographing 59 national parks over nearly seven months. The two travelers did what we'd all love to do: pack up and just go, traveling without stopping for months on end. This week, the two—Renee just back from another photography trip to Kenya and Jada on vacation in the French Riviera—called in to share how they got started traveling full time, what it was really like, and how they're settling back into "normal" life. (Clearly, they haven't stopped traveling, after the fact.) Whether you're looking for the push to start traveling full-time yourself—or want to step into Renee or Jada's shoes, even just for 30 minutes—this episode is packed with travel tips, highs and lows, and inspiration.

Thanks to Jada and Renee for calling in this week. And thanks as always to Brett Fuchs for engineering and mixing. Check back every Tuesday for the latest installment of Women Who Travel. To keep up with our podcast each week, subscribe to Women Who Travel on the iTunes store or Spotify and if you have a minute to spare, leave a review—we’d love to hear from you.

Read the full transcription of the episode below.

Meredith Carey: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Women Who Travel, a podcast from Condé Nast Traveler . I'm Meredith Carey, and with me, as always, is my co-host Lale Arikoglu.

Lale Arikoglu: Hello.

MC: This week, we're talking about something that's a bit of a dream for those of us that love to travel—and that's spending weeks, months and even years on the road as a full-time traveler . We've brought in two experts on the subject who have each packed up, gotten rid of their apartments and homes, and traveled for extended periods of time around the U.S. and the world. Calling in from France, we have Jada Yuan, the former New York Times 52 Places traveler who tackled 52 destinations in 52 weeks in 2018, writing about each stop along the way. She's now a political features writer at The Washington Post . And from Seattle , we have blogger and photographer, Renee Hahnel, also known as Renee Roaming , who tackled a seven-month journey to visit every national park in the U.S. with her husband Matthew. Thank you both so much for joining us.

Jada Yuan: Great to be here.

Renee Hahnel : Thanks for having me.

LA : So, we'll kick things off with a question I'm sure you have both gotten asked before, but I'm still desperate to know the answer, which is what made you both decide to go on this wild adventure in the first place? And you both have very different stories, so I'd love to know how you both kind of reached that point and how you got started with it all.

RH: So, I've been a freelance photographer and blogger and I'm also a new author as well. But I've been doing that for about three years now, and it wasn't always my career path. I was a speech therapist before getting into photography. You can probably tell by my accent, some people are probably thinking, "She doesn't sound American." I'm actually Australian, and I moved to the U.S. five years ago. And it was three years ago that I decided to take photography full-time, and my photography is focused mostly around traveling and exploring the outdoors and unique travel destinations. Essentially, how my full-time traveling came about was my husband actually got laid off from his job back when we lived in Colorado, and we were looking to go on a little bit of a trip.

So, essentially, I thought, "Okay, I'll quit my job as a speech therapist, and we'll just see if we can do this whole photography thing full-time." That's what we did, and we traveled for, I guess, almost a year when we got presented with this really amazing opportunity to travel to all 59 U.S. national parks. It was a client project based around our photography, and of course, we couldn't say no because that's just an incredible opportunity. So, yeah, that's how we got into it. It kind of just got presented, and we had the choice whether to do it or not, and yeah, we took the chance, and it ended up being fantastic.

LA: And Jada, obviously, it wasn't like you just got up and decided you were going to do this trip yourself. You applied for a highly publicized job at The Times . What prompted you to kind of make the leap and be like, "All right, I'm going to give this a shot"?

JY: Well, I mean, I think that it was a job listing that I saw on The New York Times homepage. It wasn't even like I went looking for the job listing. I was a New York Times subscriber, and I logged in, and in my top 10 articles, there was a job posting, which I don't think has ever happened. It said, "Do you want to travel around the world for the New York Times," and I said, "Well, I'll click on that." I clicked on it, and the reason it was in my top 10 is because it was so popular that by the time I even just pressed that button, I think around 3,000 people had already applied for the job. Luckily, I didn't know that. I just sort of saw the job listing.

It was very vague. It was to go to all 52 places on The Times' 52 Places to Go list, which is a list of the best travel destinations of the year for whatever reason. It could be that a new airport opened in a remote place, or that there's an anniversary celebration. For instance, in my year, there was a lot of celebrations for World War I, the centennial.

I wanted to do it because I love traveling, and I was working a full-time job. I had been working full-time since I was in my early 20s at New York Magazine , and it was a great job, interviewing celebrities. I worked my way up to that, obviously, over many years, but like most Americans, I didn't have any real vacation time. I had maximum, four weeks. I would try to get as far away as I could, but you just can't get that far. If you took a two-week vacation, you have two days of traveling, probably, within that. I just thought, "What a great idea," and also I wouldn't have to quit my job. Being a journalist is really important to me, and it was sad to me. I didn't understand the kind of courage it would take to just sort of take off and quit your job like Renee did. It seemed just so unfathomable to me. I was like, I really like what I do. I thought that you sort of... To travel the world, you needed to be dissatisfied with your life and want something entirely new. I didn't want something entirely new. I wanted a chance to be a journalist and see the world at the same time.

MC: I'm curious just on both of your trips. Obviously, the way you traveled was very different. I know that, Renee, you guys were traveling around in a van. Can you just talk to us a little bit about what life was actually like on the road, how you created a routine or how you had any semblance of normalcy when you were waking up in a different place every day?

RH: Yeah, so my husband and I, we did live in a van for seven months on that trip, and it was a pretty small van. It wasn't one of these decked out, sprinter vans. It was absolutely amazing, but it was quite small. For anyone who knows them, it's a Westfalia Vanagon, so they're pretty small. Anyway, my husband and I, we always joke because we literally, other than having showers and using the bathroom, we spent every single waking minute of every single day for seven months together. And I'm sure any introvert out there can understand that that's pretty full-on, not having any time to yourself and also just going, going, going every single day.

It was really hard to have a routine. I wouldn't say we necessarily did. Because it was a photography trip, we had to get up for sunrise pretty much every single day, and we were out until sunset pretty much every day, capturing those photos. Particularly over summer, that's some really long days. It barely even got dark in Alaska . So yeah, we pretty much just napped whenever we could. We tried our hardest to eat healthy and to still workout, but most of the time it was just going on walks or hiking in the parks. I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't really say we had a routine or any resemblance of it.

LA: Once the trip was over and you were back to kind of so-called regular life, did you feel like you still needed to spend every waking second together?

RH: No. We actually have completely separate offices now. We obviously love each other, we're married, but we work very differently and we have some different interests, which is normal. We actually just bought a house, but right now, we're still living in our apartment. It's a very skinny three-story apartment, and we each have our own office. I'm on the very top floor, and he's on the very bottom floor, so we're literally as far away from each other as you can get, so it's pretty funny.

MC: Jada, you were on your own for most, if not all, of your trip. What was that like, and how did your day-to-day go?

JY: Yeah, very different than Renee's. Yeah, I was not with anyone for a large portion of the trip . I had some friends visit me sometimes, especially when I was traveling in the U.S. I had people who I could meet up with, who I knew, who lived in some of the states. I like to say that my friend Sarah's couch in Seattle was my favorite hotel that I stayed in. But, yeah, I mean, it was a lot of the same kind of thing where I had to take my own photos and video and also write articles. The 52 places happened within probably more like 11 months, so I was going to a new place every four to seven days.

The Times estimated that I traveled around 75,000 miles last year, and that that's around a third of the way to the moon. It was on every conceivable form of transportation that you could have, from boats to planes. I don't know, I didn't have any kind of routine whatsoever. The most routine thing I could do was just sleep whenever I was tired. I think that that's sounds like what Renee did too. Naps are the most essential part of traveling.

LA: Jada, you're a reporter, and obviously to be a reporter you have to be very good at plucking up the courage to talk to complete strangers and ask them questions. I'm wondering whether having that skill helped you find social opportunities and combat that loneliness when you were off the clock?

JY: Well, I was never really off the clock. That was the hard part. The only times I was really off the clock was when I was stuffing my face with food, and often I would do that alone while doing an Instagram story. But, I do think that being a reporter has, for my entire career, been a real social crutch and a good one. I would say that a lot of reporters are introverts, and that it's sort of a veneer and a way to have a construction around talking to people.

So, because I'm a reporter then I kind of have a purpose when I talk to someone, and so I'm able to just work that calculus in my mind that takes away the shyness. I would also say that the number one way to make friends is to just ask someone to take a picture of you, or to ask if you can take a picture of them because it's a really non-threatening, simple way to just have something in common, and then you have a little interaction time. Often, a lot of friendships came from that. Also, similar to Jada, we were creating guides for each of the national parks, and we had to do writing around the trip as well.

We also just published a book about it. So, I was focusing a lot on that, and my husband was focusing a little bit more on the photos, and then I was also creating a video of the trip. While he was taking photos, I would take some video content. Also, similar to what Jada said, it was just very go, go. We barely had any breaks. We weren't really switching off at any point other than taking the occasional nap. Even those times when we were driving, I was usually in the back of the van working on my laptop or thinking up Instagram captions and things like that. It definitely wasn't as glamorous as I think some people would think that it would be.

JY : I will say that the important thing is even when you're working all the time on this thing that looks incredibly glamorous and fun from the outside, and it is, is to really remember that you are experiencing something wondrous and once-in-a-lifetime, and to take moments just sort of sitting, taking in the scene every once in a while. It's hard to remember to slow down like that, but I think that when I did, it was really important, and those things are sort of logged into my memory. And a lot of the work also. The writing work, I don't know if, Renee, you feel this way, but I feel like I had my photos that I can look back on, and they'll jog my memory, but the writing is what really embedded me in those places. Even though the writing was really hard, I remember conversations with people, and I remember scenes better than I would if I hadn't had any kind of structure.

RH: I totally agree with Jada because I tried to keep a journal every single day. Sometimes it was a little bit hard late at night to always write in it, and also, you just always didn't feel like it. But I tried to write as much as possible about those moments, like what Jada said. Those special moments where you met people or you saw an incredible sunset or you just got to experience something really amazing. I must admit, reading back on those, it definitely feels so much more nostalgic, and I can really feel myself in those moments compared to if I just look at those photos. So, there really is something to be said about writing.

LA: To both of your points, again, I feel like the conversation when we talk about traveling full-time always has to come back to being like, "It's not as glamorous as it looks. It's very physically exhausting. It can be very emotionally exhausting." I feel like you've kind of both touched on this a bit, but I actually want to know what were the best parts of traveling full-time? What are the bits that you really miss?

RH: Yeah, so definitely there's some amazing things that come with full-time traveling, and I hope we're not making it sound like it was hard or woe-is-me because it certainly wasn't. But I think where maybe we have some differences to some people... Because I know my sister took a year off, and she traveled the world, but she wasn't working at the same time. I think there's a big difference between someone taking a gap year or going traveling around the world on a vacation. Not that that doesn't have challenges because I've done extended travel for fun, and that still has challenges too, but I think what Jada and I did is quite different in that we were working every day, and we weren't switching off from work. There weren't weekends, and there weren't days off. So, yeah, I think it's a little bit different.

But in terms of all the good things, for me, being more based in nature and doing all the outdoors stuff, there's definitely those moments of hiking up a mountain peak and watching sunset, or maybe seeing a wild animal out on the trails, and just getting to meet some really interesting people in the States. Because being Australian, I had only lived in Colorado before. I had done some traveling around the country, but obviously I hadn't at that point been to 39 of the states and got to meet so many people, so really just getting such a great idea of American culture and the people of this country. Yeah, just getting to kind of get out of my comfort zone and experience some new things, that was the highlight for me.

JY: Yeah, for me, I mean, it was going to countries that I just never knew where I was going to find the time to get to. Honestly, Australia was sort of on the top of my list because I had never been to that continent. I had never been to that part of the world, and I got to spend a month in Australia, New Zealand , and Fiji . That was just really special for me. Getting to go all the way around the world. Pushing myself to do things that I wouldn't have done on my own if I weren't working and if I weren't trying to sort of live an experience to share with other people.

I went paragliding, I did canyoning, I climbed, very stupidly, up multiple mountains in very bad weather by myself. I got lost a bunch of times, and I met extraordinary people. I think that the big takeaway for me was... I think living in New York , and being a woman living in New York, I had built up a kind of suspicion of other people. I don't think that you can totally make that go away . We've heard lots of things about women travelers and just sort of in your own everyday life, there's always some sort of element of you have to watch your back. But what I found was kind strangers everywhere who helped a lost traveler. I was lost all the time, and I had to ask for help all the time. I met wonderful people who invited me into their homes and gave me whatever they had. It was a really beautiful experience, and all of those sunsets, I will not forget any of them.

MC: I'm curious if there were any place that you thought, "I should just stop now and live here. I'm going to just stop." I know that the working part probably would have thrown a wrench into that, but was there anywhere you were like, "I really wish I could just stay"?

JY: Yeah, I still want to go back to São Tomé and Príncipe , which is a dual-island nation off the west coast of Africa. I just found the way of life there so incredibly different from what I have experienced. There was no way to even get money out of an ATM as a foreigner. Very few people spoke English. Most people spoke Portuguese or Cajun. Principe has a population of 8,000 people.

I was driving around with some Portuguese nationals who were living there, and I was just like, "This is an amazing life. You spent this morning getting your car out of the mud." That was how you spent your morning. I couldn't think of anything more delightful. I really loved it there, and I loved Patagonia in Chile. It was just so gorgeous, and I'm sure my experience there was a lot like yours, Renee, in the national parks. It's just a string of all of Chile's national parks down a highway, and it was beautiful and rainy the entire time I was there.

LA: Renee, what about you? What place did you think, "Actually, maybe I'll just stay here and ditch the rest of this project"?

RH: Yeah, I mean, so many of the parks are just beautiful. I will preface, there was 59 in 2017 when we did the trip. There's actually 61 now , just for anyone who didn't know that. But, I mean, pretty much all the parks in the west just stand out. Not that there's not beautiful ones on the east, but the west just is home to so many incredible parks. I mean, I could just talk about them all day, but essentially, one of the reasons we ended up in Seattle after this project was that we loved the parks in Washington.

So, you've got Mount Rainier National Park , and you've got Olympic National Park , and North Cascades , and they're all just so beautiful. They're quite close to the city, so you can get there really easily and just do a day hike or a weekend trip. I guess, to answer your question, finding ourselves in Washington about, I would say, two-thirds of the way through the trip, it really solidified that we wanted to move there after the trip, and that's definitely a place we could live.

MC: I'm curious because both of your trips had a pretty hard end date with the 52 weeks and the 59 parks. What was it like when you could start seeing the end in sight? What was going through your head in those last couple weeks when you knew you were going to have to rejoin everyone else?

RH: We started getting a little bit nostalgic. I found my husband and I, we were like, "Oh, do you remember this thing at the start of the trip?" And, "Oh, I can't believe it was that long ago." We started really, for the first time I feel like the whole trip, we started reflecting on the trip. I feel like before that it was just so fast-paced and there was no time to do any reflection and no time to really think about anything other than just what we were doing right then in that moment—which was also a really great way to live, in a way. But, it was nice towards the end of the trip that we started talking about what was our favorite, and what were some of our top experiences, and what would we want to do again, and that sort of thing.

I would say that in those last few parks in particular, because we ended our trip with the parks in the Pacific. So we went to Hawaii and went to the two parks there. And then we actually, our very last national park was American Samoa National Park, so we weren't even kind of in, what do you call, the continental U.S. when we finished our trip, which was really bizarre, in a sense. It kind of didn't feel like we were even in the national parks. So, when we finished it, we were like, "Okay, well, I guess we're done now." Because we were so close to Australia at that point, we flew home to spend some time with our family, and it just, honestly, it felt really weird.

It was like it hadn't really finished. Part of that might have been because we still had so much work to do related to it, but yeah, in a way, it was a little bit of a letdown, the very end of it. But it was also a really incredible feeling of, "Wow, we accomplished so much, and we just had the trip of a lifetime," so it was good and bad.

JY: Yeah, I can really relate to a lot of what Renee is saying. I had a really tough, personally, time at the beginning of the trip. I wasn't a full-time traveler. I wasn't even doing anything remotely travel-related, and here I was, taking a pretty big leap, which was quitting a job I had had for 17 years and taking on this new job at a prestigious publication. It was a project that neither I nor they had ever done. So, there were a lot of hiccups in terms of support and logistics. How was I getting from place to place? How was I getting things on deadline? I missed a ton of deadlines, and it wasn't... I kept being in sort of constant fear that they were going to stop the trip and fire me.

Once I got towards maybe August, I kind of started to calm down because I realized, okay, at this point I've done enough of this trip that they'll probably let me go to the end. That hit me, and then what also hit me was that, oh my God, this is going to end, and I need to get out of my head. I need to stop complaining about small things and really just soak this experience in. What happened was I just started taking a lot more moments for myself as the end came along. I was in places I had never been, so I was in Africa and I was in the South Pacific and I was in Asia. As I kept getting further and further away from home, I stopped having friends visit me, so I was just by myself doing these parts of the trip and really taking it in for myself. My writing improved. I started hitting deadlines more. Everything just sort of started clicking into place, and then it was over.

I still had a ton of work to do. I had to write up a giant wrap-up piece about it, which I did in a week, and then I had to get my expenses in, which was also very difficult. I came back to the States to go to The New York Times Travel Show, and all of my friends and family came to see me. That was really great. So, I came back in January, earlier than I thought I was going to come back. I had allowed myself to have a holiday at the end. I had friends who were coming into Bangkok from Seattle—the friend whose couch I stayed on. She met me in Bangkok, and we had a holiday together. When I saw my friends and family, I was so happy to see them, but also, I just felt weird. I felt like a fish out of water.

So, the first thing I did was go to Sundance Film Festival right after that. I dropped down, I spent about two days in New York, and then I went off to do something else. I was in my apartment—I had subletted it—and all of my stuff was gone, but all of the paint problems, the peeling paint on my walls was still there that I had never gotten fixed, and it was just... It's been a long comedown from it. I had agents approach me about writing a book, and I just wasn't in a place where I could do it. I'm just now feeling like I can do that, even though I have a new job. Now I don't have as much time as I did, but I finally feel like I'm ready to process the trip.

LA: I did want to ask, you talked about how tough it was at the beginning, and it really took you seven, eight months to hit your stride. You left a job of 17 years to take on this gargantuan task. Do you think you kind of fully knew what you were getting into when you embarked on that year-long trip?

JY: No. I mean, it was not an opportunity I could turn down. I would never make a different choice than what I did. I wish that I had known a little bit more. I kind of just wish I had hired an assistant.

MC: Don't we all, all the time?

JY: I just wish I had hired an assistant, and I think I would have been fine.

MC: I’m curious now that time has passed if you both feel, like, settled.

RH: It's a funny thought. I mean, my husband and I, we still travel. We run our business together, and we still travel, I would say, at least 50 percent of the year, but we're trying to not do more than two weeks of every month. So, I don't know. To be honest, I don't really feel settled. I feel more settled than what I felt like on that trip. It's so funny listening to Jada talk about her experience because literally everything you're saying, Jada, I'm like, "Oh, my gosh. Me, too." But seriously, it was such a weird feeling ending that trip. It was almost like I couldn't sit still. I was hanging out at my parents' house, and we were kind of just trying to come down from the trip.

I didn't really know anymore how to have time off, and I'm still working that off. Tomorrow is my birthday, and I think I'm going to work all day, which is really lame. It's because I have a lot of deadlines, but I honestly just don't feel like I really know how to switch off anymore. I'm not complaining because I feel like it's a really cool thing that I got to do, but it definitely changed who I am. I kind of took me up a notch in the sense of how fast I go through life. I'm still trying to find that balance of coming down from it all and just learning how to do nothing again , which is really weird to say.

JY: Yeah, everything you're saying, Renee, I completely agree with. It's funny, I feel like mine is mixture of just completely not knowing how to manage my time anymore. If I'm traveling, I know exactly what I'm doing. If I'm on the road, I'm sort of locked in, and I know what I'm doing. Then, when I'm at home... I was trying to freelance, and I was having trouble figuring out freelance deadlines and how to just manage a day where you didn't move. Oftentimes, I would just sort of wind up binge-watching television for a whole day on end. I guess the nice part for me is I came back to New York, and I haven't felt settled in New York, but I did start dating someone, which was a brand new thing. His birthday is tomorrow, also. He's been a kind of anchor for me in a way that the place where I live is no longer an anchor. Right now, I'm living in between two cities, and I don't feel like I really live anywhere. But I don't mind it. It feels very natural.

MC: I'm curious because you're talking about feeling kind of out of water in the day-to-day life. I'm curious how the way you both travel has changed because of that ultra-long stretch.

JY: I think I'm calmer. I think that whatever happens—I notice this when I travel with other people—is that things happen and I just take care of them, whereas maybe I would have blown up at a ticket agent or something like that in the past. I think I'm just chill. I'm a lot more chill than I used to be.

RH: Yeah, I'm exactly the same. We had so many things that came up on that trip that we just had to get over it and move on. The van would break down. That's it, we had to change our plans. Something would be closed, and we would just have to work around it.

Just what Jada said, I definitely notice now when I travel with other people other than my husband, everyone kind of seems a little on edge about everything, and everything has to be planned out so perfectly, and I guess I used to be like that too. Now we kind of just go with the flow. We obviously still have to plan things, particularly when it's related to work, but when things happen that we weren't accounting for, we just get over it and just fix it right there on the spot. I guess it really did teach us how to be better travelers.

I learned to be able to pretty much sleep anywhere, which if you knew me before that trip, you would be like, "What? Are you kidding?" I was always that person who needed the room to be perfectly dark and no sound and all these things, which I still prefer that, to be honest. But we would sleep in Walmart parking lots, and we would be in a tent in the middle of grizzly bear country, and all these things. We very quickly had to get over the whole sleeping in a perfect environment, which yeah, it's funny.

JY: Yeah, in the final article I wrote for The Times , I said that sleeping anywhere was my superpower. I sort of feel like it's not just that you're able to do it. It's that it allows you to travel.

LA: I'm jealous of that super power. And to wrap things up, given that the two of you have been to so many places, non-stop, over the last couple years, do you have plans for a big trip? Jada, I know that you've just committed to a brand new job, so maybe vacation days aren't on your horizon yet.

JY: Yeah. I mean, this was the trip. I am in the south of France . BJ, my boyfriend, knows these musicians, and we're staying in their house that has no Wi-Fi. I'm using a cellular signal right now, and it turns out that they're a family of circus people actually. And so, it's been just a really incredible, wonderful trip out here. So, I'm happy with this.

RH: Yeah, so I have lots of travels coming up. It is a very large part of my work. I'm going to Canada in a week or so, and then in early September I'm going to Spain for a work trip. But in terms of any kind of personal travel I have coming up, my husband and I, we're planning an eating tour of Italy in October, so I'm really excited for that because, yeah, I just can't wait to get back to Italy and eat all the delicious food.

MC: Amazing. Well, we will wrap up there. We're going to include a link to Renee's book, Roaming America , in the show notes, but Renee, where can people find you on the internet to follow your journey?

RH: Yeah, so all the social media channels, it's Renee Roaming . And then my travel blog is reneeroaming.com .

MC: Amazing. And Jada?

JY: You can see me on Instagram at @alphajada , A-L-P-H-A Jada, and on Twitter at @Jadabird , and I will be writing political features for The Washington Post .

MC: Perfect. It's like a nice 180 from the travel contents.

LA: Yeah. 2020 election. What a way to return to real life.

JY: Yeah. I'm going to wind up in Iowa, I think, a lot.

MC: Well, I'm @ohheytheremere .

LA: I'm @lalehannah .

MC: You can find new episodes of Women Who Travel every Tuesday on iTunes, Spotify and anywhere you listen to podcasts. You can find more stories at womenwhotravel.com , and we will talk to you next week.

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A millennial Lyft driver who used the gig to explore all 50 states explains his strategies for maximizing earnings and tips

• Kreskin J. Torres, a Lyft driver, has traveled across all 50 states, documenting his dining experiences.
• Torres is working on a book, an app called Rideshare Foodies, and is organizing a national potluck.
• He said gig driving is just temporary and has helped him achieve his larger goals.

Kreskin J. Torres, 35, has eaten his way through all 50 states — including Alaska and Hawaii. His ticket to doing so? Driving for Uber and Lyft .

The Army veteran and Baltimore native has documented his dining on his blog Rideshare Foodie . After seven years, he's learned the most profitable times of day to drive, the best locations to find riders in each city and the optimal strategies for maximizing tips .

"You just got to work smarter, not harder," Torres said. "From my experience, I've been in every state, so I know how every city works now."

At the same time, he's been able to pursue his foodie passions. Torres is now working on a book called "Taste of the States," his recommendations app called Rideshare Foodies, and planning a series of events to honor dishes from various states and their history.

While driving for ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft can be a flexible way to earn money for people like Torres who have more than one hustle, it can also be a recipe for burnout. Among the dozens of drivers Business Insider has spoken with over the past few months, many are already dreaming of what's next — starting a business or finding new modes of employment .

And that's Torres' main career advice for those considering it. After all, he's not planning to do the job forever, as he hopes to transition away, though it helped him jump-start new paths for his future.

"Do not make this the end all be all," Torres said, noting how Uber and Lyft have threatened to pull out of Minneapolis. "When it started, it was advertised as a gig, a side hustle."

Traveling the country as a gig driver

As a veteran, he said this job has been relatively stress-free and helpful for not feeling lonely, a similar sentiment he's heard from veterans with PTSD.

"I enjoy meeting and connecting with different people and getting to see different places," Torres said.

He decided to spend his next few years on the road using driving to fund his adventures and to meet locals who could point him to the best restaurants and experiences.

"The great thing is you get to learn about different cities and how everything operates," Torres said.

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He moved to San Antonio , though he works mainly around the more-profitable Austin area, and has explored the South and Southeast.

While he doesn't make much money from his blog, he said driving has allowed him to try everything from Navajo tacos in Arizona to biscuits in chocolate gravy in Arkansas to huckleberry swirls in Montana. Driving has led him to some of his favorite restaurants like I693 Red Zone Grill in Jackson, Mississippi; Strawberry's BBQ in Holcomb, Missouri; and Rice & Roll by Xing Xing in Wichita.

Learning the most profitable places and times to drive

Torres noticed he would get more profitable rides driving around suburbs, airports, and sports stadiums, locations coveted by drivers as they get more tips and sometimes elevated fares.

He learned New Year's will always be profitable , though rides slow down around February before picking up in mid-March. It's led him to be more methodical about the types of rides to take, as well as planning when to save more of his earnings and when to splurge a little on food and travel.

"After seven years, I'm a lot more experienced. It depends on the time of the season, so I usually can do a lot more business in college towns," Torres said. "I would visit a city, see what they're known for, a little history behind it."

Torres was making enough to comfortably travel the country, though he's always been careful since he said passengers are sometimes confused by his out-of-state license plate. He also faced a permanent deactivation from Uber last year over a dispute over the color of his car.

He doesn't have a wife or kids, nor does he have an apartment, as he mainly lives out of his car to save money. He acknowledges that growing competition on the road and lower earnings could put a greater dent in savings for people with families or permanent residences.

Torres has transitioned to driving full-time for Lyft , and he typically is online for 12 hours a day but only actively drives five to six hours in between waiting around airports.

He said he's increasingly put himself in his passengers' shoes to determine the best places and times to drive — he likely won't put in the effort to drive during rain, and he's more likely to do later trips around concert venues or bars.

To continue supporting his travels, he said he sometimes does airport rides at 3 or 4 a.m., as well as rides between 6:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. during the morning rush. He also said being online around noon is fruitful for corporate workers, while 3 p.m. is right when schools let out. He usually tries not to drive around evening rush hours but sometimes resumes later at night.

He also devotes more time to driving between Wednesday and Sunday, when rides are more frequent, whether for "whiskey Wednesdays" or Friday afternoon happy hours. This is also when he can best network with passengers and hear their stories, as he said he occasionally gets to drive famous people.

Torres said drivers should consider this a short-term opportunity while working toward long-term goals. As he eases off the app, he has his eyes set on more international travel in the coming months. He's also investing more time in his food app, a local recommendation tool that functions like a Facebook group in which people ask questions about, for example, the best bartender in the area or where to go for particular dishes. It has launched on Android and set to be released on Apple by the summer.

"The most positivity that you can get out of it, do whatever you can and get the most out of it," Torres said. "The next few months will probably be my last time doing this because I'm focusing on other things, so I always had a plan for the things I was going to do."

Are you a ride-hailing driver who's struggling to pay bills or has had recent success? Have you recently pivoted to a new career from driving? Reach out to  [email protected] .

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