Three Things Nobody Tells You About Visiting National Parks for the First Time

Last summer, I finally visited Yellowstone and the Grand Teton. I had watched so many YouTube videos that I felt like an expert. But within six hours, I realized how wrong I was.

First thing nobody warns you about: the driving. You think you'll park once and hike all day. Wrong. These parks are the size of small states. We spent four hours just driving from one geyser to another. The speed limits are low, there's construction everywhere, and every five minutes someone slams on brakes because they saw a bison. My advice? Pick one small area per day and explore it on foot. Don't try to see everything.

Second: the food situation is rough. The restaurants inside the parks are expensive and often have hour-long waits. The general stores sell sad sandwiches and warm Gatorade. We started packing a cooler with bread, peanut butter, apples, and cold brew coffee. Eating lunch on a rock overlooking a valley became one of my favorite memories.

Third, and this one surprised me most: you will feel small. Not in a bad way. Standing next to a thousand-foot canyon or a massive waterfall makes your daily worries seem pretty silly. I stopped checking my phone after day two. There's barely any signal anyway, which turns out to be a gift.

If you're planning your first national park trip, just know that it's messy and imperfect. You will get lost. You will forget sunscreen. But you'll also see stars like you've never seen them before. Go anyway.