Yellowstone

I’ve been starting some of these posts with a bit of history and education on where we’re at, but I think there’s plenty of that available to you with a quick Google search.

We were delayed getting to Yellowstone by some issues with the trailer brakes that we had to get taken care of before entering the park (I’ll post about that later) so our time there was a bit rushed for such a massive park. We didn’t get to everything we wanted to but what we did see was spectacular!

Our first stop at all the National Parks is the Visitors Center where our Park Ranger broke the park down in three ways; Geothermal, Waterfalls, and Wildlife so I’ll break it down like that for you as well.

Geo/Hydro thermal – We started with a hike up to the Grand Prismatic Lookout which was very popular due to a couple tour buses being there at the same time, but worth the effort. Check out those colors! We continued our tour of Midway Geyser Basin for a look at some paint pots and mud pools before heading over to Lower Geyser Basin to watch Old Faithful, which didn’t disappoint. With 90 minutes between eruption, you have plenty of time to people watch. I’m not sure which put on a better show, Old Faithful, or all the foreign tourists there watching.

Wildlife – There are two drives where you can see a concentration of wildlife within the park, Hayden Valley and Lamar Valley. We only had time for one and chose the Hayden Valley as it was closer to Grant Campground, where we were staying. We’ll spend time in the Lamar Valley on our next visit when I have more firepower for my camera (aka a bigger zoom lens). We saw more buffalo, some were nice enough to pose for me. Our favorite was the bull out for a Sunday stroll down the road with not a care in the world. I enjoys seeing multiple deer and elk who were in full velvet. Even Punxsutawney Phil showed up letting us know summer isn’t over yet!

Waterfalls – We spent an afternoon and the following morning chasing waterfalls seeing Upper and Lower Falls from all different angles and taking the hikes down into the canyons to experience the Brinks of the waterfalls up close. The volume of water is amazing to see and feel. Gibbon Falls also dazzled with its its cascading flows fanning out across the granite rocks.