6000 Mile EV Road Trip - Stay 5
Yellowstone National Park • June 22-26, 2024
Written by John Martinson
There is so much I could write about our experience at Yellowstone National Park. So, with brevity in mind, I will get into the basics for readers to understand the nitty gritty about Yellowstone for EV drivers and highlight a few experiences about our stay.
The drive from Park City was nearly an all-day affair. We tend to stay off interstates and opt for the rural roads less taken when we can. Suzanne drives and I look up each town on Wikipedia and other sites and read to her about the local areas. (Suzanne has designated me the travel navigator and color commentary.) There are ample Tesla Superchargers, so charging was never an issue. We departed from Park City for a short drive to Evanston, Wyoming on Interstate 80 and then joined State Route 16 (Utah) which became US-30 in Wyoming and US-89 in Idaho and Wyoming. We stopped at the Jackson Supercharger (and left a Tesla cache there) and then continued past Teton Lake to join the John D. Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway through the Grand Teton National Park into Yellowstone National Park.
We entered Yellowstone National Park at the South Entrance and then to the Grand Loop Road—a 140-mile double-loop that provides access to the major destinations of the Park, and followed it to our hotel, the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, which took nearly three hours. The national speed limit for these and many other National Parks is 45 MPH (or under). This protects wild animals who have unlimited access to the roads and makes the drive safer and more enjoyable, and for EV-owners, makes the trip more efficient, but also makes for longer trips than one might have planned.
Another aspect upon entering these National Parks is that there is no cell service or Wifi, except for the hotels and lodges, and that service is quite limited. You can make calls, but the ability to text is rare or very slow (like dialup service). For example, at our hotel, there is internet access only at the Business Center and in some guest rooms, but only through a painfully slow Ethernet connection. So, if your device does not have an Ethernet connection, you will need an adapter. A tip: if you do not have an adapter, you could ask for one (they did not inform us of this at check in) and they will loan it to you for the extent of your stay. And, since there is no WiFi, driving around the Park is not included with the TeslaFi data.
So, if you are camping or otherwise away from your lodge, you should consider a portable satellite service like Starlink® if being connected is important to you.
The elevation at Yellowstone National Park (not including mountains you may have climbed) is an average of 8,000 ft above sea level and some parts of the road reach as much as 9,000 ft. This is challenging for many visitors who live at much lower elevations. Common effects of what is called “altitude sickness” include nausea, headaches, lightheadedness, and shortness of breath. Mitigation strategies include drinking 3 to 5 liters of water (with lemon, if possible) daily, supplemental oxygen, electrolytes, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, and time (three to four months or more to acclimate according to seasonal staff with whom we talked). We experienced all these symptoms and employed all these strategies. We woke up every morning lightheaded, and after only walking to the dining room and back, experienced shortness of breath. Staying well-hydrated is critical and we used supplemental oxygen often. Caffeine and alcohol were effect multipliers, so we refrained from both during our stay. Note: a good friend of ours once had a drink at a high-altitude resort and the bartender gave her a double-shot without asking, which put her in hospital.
At Yellowstone, wild animals are not restricted and they can turn up anywhere and at any time. One morning I went down to get something out of our car and found two huge bison walking through the parking lot just outside the back door of the hotel lobby. Another day, a cow elk with three juveniles was outside our exit door in another part of the lot. Warnings about encounters with these animals are posted everywhere, yet some guests ignore the warnings and in one instance, Suzanne had to call away a young family with three young children who had gotten way too close to a bison.
By the way, I recommend signing up for wild animal tours before you get to the Park. Between the 4-hour Evening Wildlife Tour and the 2-hour Lake Butte Sunset Tour and just driving on the loop, we encountered bison herds, elk, bald eagle, an occupied osprey nest, plentiful waterfowl, hawks, grey wolves, pronghorn, black bear with cubs, cinnamon black bear, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and grizzly bear with cub. The tour guides know where to find them or are in touch by radio with other watchers in the Park.
Another interesting sighting was Ted Turner who, with his entourage, sat across the aisle from us at dinner one night.
Our hotel, the recently restored Lake Yellowstone Hotel, was the first hotel at Yellowstone National Park and our room was certainly well-appointed and very comfortable. Both vegetarian and vegan choices were available at every meal. The food was excellent, and the staff was very friendly.
And finally, electric vehicle charging was adequate. DC Fast charging stations can be found at various locations outside the Park like Jackson and West Yellowstone and we charged at L2 chargers at Canyon Village and Lake Village. For all of the Level 2 chargers within the park, see https:wwwnps.gov/articles/evcharging.htm. However, there is much room for improvement as there were many more EVs this year at the Park since the last time I visited 8 years ago. There should be at least one DC Fast Charging station on the Grand Loop at either Norris or Canyon Village. After all, there are at least a few gas stations.
Highlights of our trip were, of course, the wildlife, the nature tours, the active geysers (like Old Faithful and others), the volcanic acid and boiling water pools, steam vents, paint pots, travertine terraces, the Yellowstone River, especially through the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, huge waterfalls and rapids, Lake Yellowstone, the vast forests, the architecture of the historic lodges, and the extraordinary diversity of the landscape.
