It was FINALLY time to head into Yellowstone! We left Cody around 1:30pm. Talk about a gloomy day! It was rainy and chilly. It took an hour and a half to drive to the eastern entrance of Yellowstone. We paid the $35 fee and entered the park. Unfortunately a couple roads were closed so we had to take the long way around to our campground. Thank god we have an easy tent setup because it was a cold day! The long drive around Yellowstone Lake ended up being pretty cool! There were geothermal features along the shoreline that we spewing plumes of steam. It made the whole scene, with the rain and the steam, look ghostly and melancholy.
We finally arrived to Canyon Campground! It was time to unpack the car. We have our camping set up down to a science. First, we like to put up the kitchen canopy. This was important because there was a possibility of rain and we could use it for shelter if we needed to.
Easy Tent Setup
Next came the tent. The tent we use is the Alps Mountaineering Extreme 3. It is super nice and allows for a really easy tent setup. There are only three poles so even one person could set it up. We lay down a very thick piece of plastic for the footprint that we custom cut (we prefer to use that over the footprint that comes with the tent because it does a better job keeping the tent dry in the rain). It has two doors and the fly provides two vestibules that we can store things in to keep dry, like our suitcase and shoes. I looked this tent up on Amazon to find you a link, but the newer versions only have one door. That is the tent that I will link below. An easy tent setup makes camping that much more user friendly.
Camp Kitchen Setup
Next, we moved on to setting up our camp kitchen. Our stove is a Coleman camp stove that is reliable and easy to use. We also have two main kitchen camp bins that hold everything we need. We put the stove on this dope little white fold up table that we scored when we were camping in Kettle Moraine State Park in June! The previous tenants of the campsite we stayed at had left it there. It’s a super solid table too! So we put that table under the canopy and put the stove on top. Underneath the table goes the two to three kitchen bins for easy access.
The final area to set up is around the fire. We LOVE our camp chairs. They have a little fold down side table and they are very sturdy. I will link them below as well. I think the only downside to the chairs is that they are heavy. That’s fine if you’re camping in a normal campsite, but if you have to hike back to a site, these can be a bit cumbersome. In addition to the camp chairs we have a tinder box that we fill with mini duraflame logs, different paper and kindling, and a couple of lighters. And we don’t go anywhere with out our handy dandy fire poker! We got this thing at a gas station in northern Wisconsin (random) and it is the best fire poker we have ever used.
Dinner and Cold Weather
Dinner on day one was burgers and grilled vegetables. We had bought premade pub burgers at a grocery store in Cody so that was easy to prep. We grilled those on our Coleman stove. After cutting up an onion and a bell pepper, we grilled those over the campfire. We fried up some bacon and an egg for each burger as well.
It was super cold the first night, probably down to about 25 degrees. We froze our butts off. We never cuddle but we were that first night! I think we are going to need to invest in some cold weather mummy style sleeping bags or maybe a down blanket.
Origin of Love for Camping
My love for camping comes from my childhood. I grew up camping because my dad and grandpa were Boy Scout leaders. I was quite the tomboy growing up and kind of wished I was a boy so I could go on all the campouts. Instead, I helped out with the pinewood derbies and went on family campouts. Goran grew up in the city and had few opportunities to camp as a kid. But, he did go camping with the Boy Scouts and really loved it. He rediscovered camping as an adult and is excited to do more camping in the future.
Since the pandemic, camping seems to provide an extra layer of needed solitude, stress relief, and calm that we both need. There is something about being out in nature that calms the soul. Actually, forest bathing is a real thing! If you’ve never heard of it, click on this link to learn more.
Check out our post about the Top 3 Places to Skip in Yellowstone. We also have a great post about making foil packs for camping!
Products Mentioned in this Post
- Alps Mountaineering Extreme 3 tent: https://amzn.to/2RLqEOg
- Great camp chairs: https://amzn.to/3hWsJ4
