overview / intro
It was diverse !
This park has so many crazy sights to behold. There's the typical nature views of valleys, hills, forests, rivers, and lakes. But then there is the wildlife spotting with chances to see wolves, elk, bison, bears, birds, fish, and more. You can also see crazy rock formations, canyons with massive waterfalls (twice the height of Niagara), and huge open meadows. And of course, the highlights are the hot spring, geysers, mud pots, and all the colorful metals and organisms in the water around the vents.
We got lucky and we able to get one of the last campsites with only a few weeks before our trip. Normally, you need to plan and reserve them 5-6 months in advance. We pretty much only were there to cook meals and sleep, but though the campgrounds were very well run. We saw an elk grazing a few feet away one night.
Our first day including checking out West Yellowstone in Montana. After entering the park, we did part of the southwestern loop. This includes the Upper, Mid, and Lower geyser basin areas. All of them are must see experiences, and include the typical stop to see Old Faithful. I was surprised at how much activity there is in that small part of the park; we must have seen 100+ bubbling hot springs and geysers. We couldn't go any farther since a wildfire closed part of the road. So after that we had an hour drive across the middle of the park to our campsite at Bridge Bay.
The second day included sites along the south east loop. We started with the grand canyon of the Yellowstone river with multiple waterfall viewings. Then on to Mud Volcano area, Yellowstone Lake, and the west thumb Geyser area. That was a full day, so back to camp for an early night. And the next day we woke up at 4am to drive south out of the park and onto Grand Teton national park, where you have to arrive early to get first come first serve camping sites.
Recommend:
Pretty much everything in the park amazed me and would recommend it all.
- Upper Geyser Basin, including Old Faithful and all the trails around it
- Mid Geyser Basin, including the Grand Prismatic spring
- Lower Geyser Basin, including the separate driving loop with Firehole Lake
- Grand Canyon of Yellowstone River
- Upper Falls & Lower Falls viewpoints
- Yellowstone Lake
- West Thumb Geyser area
- Mud Volcano
Trip Map
Pictures
see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums
USA Wyoming album
Links
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen
85 °F
90 °F
70 °F
85 °F
