Family Road Trip to Yellowstone via Bronco Turns into Quite an Adventure

[mikeeshim]

Great report! Glad you enjoyed your visit to my home state of Utah.

I find one of these invaluable for road trips where cargo space is limited but you don't want a rooftop box:

Very easy to throw on and take off when needed/not needed and very inexpensive too.

If you do get one, the rear cargo door does not swing open when this is affixed to the hitch. I learned this the hard way when I got to the campsite, and had to unload everything out of the front doors on my 2D (i used a locking hitch pin and left the key in the shorts I was wearing during loading)

I ended getting one of these, but used it upside down so that it lowers the height of the basket by 4", which was just enough clearance to open the hatch.

All said and done, it's a real life saver for the 2Ds because 1 60L cooler fills up more than half of the inside cargo space with seats folded up, and I usually pack a 60L and a 45L. Also great for firewood and hauling out trash afterwards.

Also folds up when not in use, but I usually take it off and store it because it interferes with the rear sensors and camera.

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[lilthom]

We made almost the same trip in reverse two weeks ahead of you in our Badlands. Left Wisconsin on May 23rd for Moab Bronco off rodeo on the 26th. Then we hit Flaming Gorge, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore and Badlands on the way back. The southern entrance was closed due to snow so we had to come around the west entrance from Idaho. We left just days before the flooding. There will be some sights and roads that will never be the same, I imagine. I managed 19.8 for our 4,500 mile trip. We had no issues whatsoever and rode very comfortably.

 

[shieldsy]

Curious OP if you took your roof or doors off at any point during the trip?

 

[Tricky Dick]

Awesome story. I was supposed to be in Yellowstone 6/17 with my Bronco but neither part of that worked out.

 

[Villageidit]

The Yellowstone portion of our trip in August was cancelled due to the flooding. Thanks for giving me some ideas to salvage that part of the trip. We are planning almost 5000 miles from east Tennessee to Yellowstone and back. Two full weeks on the road. Looks like you had a great trip.

 

[SethPoeski]

This was so cool to read! Thank you for sharing, I can’t wait to get my Bronco to go on trips like this! We’re also in Southern California, and plan on taking it to Yosemite and Moab. This got me so excited for those trips!

 

[68 galaxie]

West Yellowstone was great ,spent 5 days in May at the park got to see pretty much everything. Was sad to here about the flooding and all the damage. Rushmore was awesome I’m sure your boys had a great time. Thanks for the pictures. Safe travels

 

[bsmith922]

Awesome trip and write up. Sucks about Yellowstone.

Surprised you find the Bronco more comfortable than your F150. It’s like pulling teeth to get the wife and kid to agree to take my Bronco on any trip. Her F150 is definitely more comfy and roomy, but not near as cool lol.

The F-150 was definitely more comfortable in terms of space, but I felt like on long trips, the leather seats were stiffer than the MGV in the Bronco, which made me feel like the Bronco was more comfortable for the long stretched of driving.

 

[bsmith922]

If you do get one, the rear cargo door does not swing open when this is affixed to the hitch. I learned this the hard way when I got to the campsite, and had to unload everything out of the front doors on my 2D (i used a locking hitch pin and left the key in the shorts I was wearing during loading)

I ended getting one of these, but used it upside down so that it lowers the height of the basket by 4", which was just enough clearance to open the hatch.

All said and done, it's a real life saver for the 2Ds because 1 60L cooler fills up more than half of the inside cargo space with seats folded up, and I usually pack a 60L and a 45L. Also great for firewood and hauling out trash afterwards.

Also folds up when not in use, but I usually take it off and store it because it interferes with the rear sensors and camera.

Great advice, thanks!

 

[bsmith922]

Curious OP if you took your roof or doors off at any point during the trip?

I kept the roof and doors on the whole time. Since we were staying at a different place every night (since we bailed on our 3-night reservation in West Yellowstone), I had to keep all of our luggage onboard, so there would have been no place to store the roof panels or doors. If we were able to stay in Yellowstone for those 3 days, I'm sure I would have taken off the roof - I imagine it would have been breathtaking to drive through Yellowstone topless.

 

[rws]

Last fall, my wife and I planned on taking our kids (ages 10 and 7) on a Yellowstone trip, leaving from our home in Southern California. At the time that we planned the trip, we assumed that we’d have my 2021 Bronco Badlands by then, and I was fortunately enough to have it delivered on January 5th (I was a day 1 reservation). However, for the trip, my wife really wanted to take our Explorer ST since it’s a smoother, quieter ride, and it’s a bit larger inside. Fortunately, I was able to persuade her that we should take my Bronco and that it would be roomy enough and that it would end up being a comfortable ride. We figured the trip would be about 2,600 miles and about 40 hours in the Bronco, so it would be a great test of how comfortable (or not) it would be on such a long road trip.

So we set off for our trip to Yellowstone on June 11th, noting that there were some thunderstorms showing in the forecast, but we had planned to first stop for a day and night in Las Vegas, and then a day and night in Park City, Utah. On Monday, the 13th, we made the long trek from Park City to West Yellowstone, Montana. As we arrived, there was no rain at the moment, but there was a lot of commotion near the road to the entrance to Yellowstone Park. At about that time, we receive a text form a friend about flooding and roads being washed out. We got out and started talking to people and learned about all of the flooding and damage, particularly in the northern portion of the park. We knew immediately that the park would be closed for at least the next 2 days, so we would potentially be “stuck” in West Yellowstone with "nothing" to do for at least 2 days, or maybe longer.

So we had to scramble to decide what to do. We decided to make a leap, pack our things, and leave West Yellowstone to go see Mount Rushmore. From West Yellowstone to Mount Rushmore alone is about 580 miles and 9 hours, a huge addition to our trip that was originally unplanned, and that was just travel in one direction; we’d eventually have to make our way back south and west after a few days…

The morning of the 14th, we woke up to snowy conditions on our way out of town. We were lucky that the main roads and highways in the area were still intact and very safe. We did unfortunately see a few homes with water up to their windows in the Gardiner, MT area. We feel so bad for the people that were affected by what we've been told is a once-in-a-100-year storm.

We eventually made it to Mount Rushmore the afternoon of Tuesday, June 14th, after 9 or so hours. Mount Rushmore was a great experience! The Bronco had been doing great so far, and everyone was comfortable, and it handled really well on the highway.

After Mount Rushmore, we still had to figure out how to then spend the rest of our time in South Dakota. We did some Google searching, and my wife reached out to a friend who had grown up in SD, and all signs pointed us to taking my Bronco Badlands to BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK!!! I couldn’t have been more excited (and my wife couldn’t have been more annoyed by my excitement)!

Badlands National Park is an amazing sight to see, and I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as I was driving through the park and stopping at every chance that I could to get a picture of my Badlands at its namesake park! I didn’t research (or do) any off-roading options at or around Badlands because I didn’t bring any recovery gear on our trip, and I was solo with just my family and didn’t want to take any chances when so far away from home. In any case, it was still a great experience!

We made some other stops in SD (Crazy Horse Mountain, Custer State Park, and the Black Hills Caverns) before finding our way to Hot Springs, SD to stay overnight in a cool little cabin. On the morning of Thursday, June 16th, it was time to start heading west, to get back on track with our original itinerary. We had originally planned to go through the southern-most portions of Yellowstone that day and to then drive through Grand Tetons National Park. From Yellowstone, that would have been an easy hour-long drive or so, but from Hot Springs, SD, it was about 450 miles and over 7 hours.

We drove through the Tetons, and they were quite impressive (and I even got to annoy my wife some more by taking some photos of my Bronco in front of the Tetons)! We then made our way down to Jackson, WY for the night.

After Jackson, WY, on Friday morning it was on to Tropic, Utah, near Bryce Canyon. This leg of our journey was about 520 miles and 8 hours long. Again, the Bronco performed well on this long haul and there were no complaints about its comfort, ride, and handling. On Saturday, the 18th, we drove into Bryce Canyon National Park and enjoyed the amazing views. Much like Badlands, the rock formations and colorings we like something from a Star Wars movie. It’s truly amazing what water, ice, wind and time to do to a natural landscape. I didn’t get many pics of my Bronco here, but I did still snag one.

After a picnic lunch (which was easy to set up using the tailgate table accessory) we left Bryce Canyon, we did some light off-roading on a trail that leads to Willis Creek Slot Canyon. At least I finally got to go off-roading on our trip, even though it was nothing challenging. It was still fun and the Bronco did great through the sand, gravel, and ruts! My wife and I had always wanted to walk through a slot canyon and this one did not disappoint! When we got back to our AirBnB, I rinsed off my baby and we prepped for our long ride home.

Finally, on Father’s Day, June 19th, we drove from Tropic to home, another 489 miles and about an 8 hour drive. We stopped in Vegas for some lunch at In-n-Out, since it had been about 2 weeks since we had eaten at one of our SoCal favorites. After fighting through the infamous home-bound Vegas traffic, we finally made it home that afternoon, and of course the first thing I did after unpacking was to take my Bronco to the car wash.

It was quite an adventure and even though we missed out on our main goal of visiting Yellowstone National Park, we still found lots of other things to do and explore. The big bonus to me was being able to drive my Badlands through Badlands. Plus, now we have an excuse to take another similar trip in a year or two, when we feel that things will be settled down in Yellowstone and we can finally get to see all that it has to offer (and I can take a million pics of my Bronco there as well)!

• 2021 Bronco Badlands
• Non-Sasquatch
• 2.7 L, 10 Speed Auto
• Lux Package
• MGV Seats / Washout Floors
• MIC Top

• States Travelled: CA, NV, AZ, UT, ID, MT, WY, SD
• Total Trip Miles: 3,617.8 (includes driving through parks like Badlands, Bryce, etc.)
• Total Trip Driving Time: 61:06:06 (includes driving through parks and some idling time here and there)
• Total Trip MPG: 18.0 (I have a lead foot and generally drive at least 10% over the posted speed limit, lol, and I definitely took advantage of the 80 MPH Speed Limit in many of the states that we visited.)

The Bronco did really well on the trip and my wife even admitted that I was right to push for us taking that vehicle on our trip. I found the seats to be very comfortable on the long legs of our trip, even more so than on the 2018 F-150 that I traded in for the Bronco. The 2.7 L provided plenty of power uphill and when passing. The transmission never seemed to wander for the right gear at any point, and there was plenty of pep and response when I punched it several times. The Bronco is a great road trip vehicle, and I can’t wait for future trips like the one that we just got back from!

Amazing! And thanks for sharing. These are the types of trips & adventures we had / have in mind when we reserved our Bronco oh so long ago. Still waiting on ours... but hoping to soon be out there exploring like you and so many others!

 

[desibull]

Awesome trip report! One day I might get my Bronco and will be able to make such trips!!

 

[ERock62]

Rancho... Hmmm, I am pretty sure I have seen you driving on Foothill. I remember seeing yellow D rings.

 

[HooSquatchOBX]

Awesome. We may have seen you on the way out of the west entrance of Yellowstone.

We started in Vegas (from Chicago) introduced the kids to In n Out then to Bryce, followed by Escalante, Boulder UT, Bear Lake and Jackson. Went to do a day trip in Yellowstone on Monday the 13th, got in through the South, parked at Old Faithful and were told to get out of the park ASAP. Went out through the west entrance (rangers were pushing everyone) where they were turning people around and drove up to Big Sky (snow), and then departed for home from Bozeman.

Unfortunately did that all in a minivan cuz I ordered in Feb and don’t expect my OBX anytime soon, but a good trip in all and the kid’s didn’t kill each other over their personal space.

Amazing places. Feel awful about Yellowstone and glad you had a great trip!

 

[TishaWisha]

What a great trip! Your kids will always remember it and remember it was done in your new Badlands.

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